Michael Moore, Professor of Biology, publishes with colleagues from Spain in American Journal of Botany

Blanco-Sanchez M; Moore Michael J; Ramos-Munoz M; Pias B; Garcia-Fernandez A; Prieto M; Plaza L; Isabel I; Escudero A; Matesanz S. Phylogeography of a gypsum endemic plant across its entire distribution range in the western Mediterranean. American Journal of Botany, Early View, March 2021. DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1625

Conclusions of this research, from the abstract: "Lepidium subulatum diverged from its nearest relatives similar to 3 million years ago, and ITS and psbA/matK trees supported the monophyly of the species. These results suggest that both geological and climatic changes in the region around the Plio-Pleistocene promoted its origin, compared to other evolutionary processes... Despite being an edaphic endemic, Lepidium subulatum possesses high genetic diversity probably related to its relatively old age and high population sizes across its range. Our study highlights the value of using different markers to fully understand the phylogeographic history of plant species."

Co-authors He Ren '20, Jane Sedlak '19, and Matthew Elrod publish in Environmental Science and Technology

 This latest article from alumni Ren and Sedlak, former research students in the Elrod lab, describes a method "that allows for the study of the reaction of sulfate radicals and several olefinic precursors." 

Ren, He; Sedlak, Jane A.; Elrod, Matthew J. 2021. General mechanism for sulfate radical addition to olefinic volatile organic compounds in secondary organic aerosol.  Environmental Science & Technology 55(3): 1456-1465  DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c05256 (goes to American Chemical Society publications site)

From the abstract:

"Specific mechanisms for each olefinic precursor were developed, as well as a generalized mechanism that can be used to predict the sulfate radical reaction pathways for any olefin. The product yield results indicate that this mechanism is dominated by carbon backbone fragmentation pathways: 61, 83, 79, and 100% for AA, MVK, MBO, and MA, respectively. Several of the observed organosulfate products have also been detected in field observations of SOA, which indicates the potential relevance of this mechanism in the atmosphere."  Learn more about Professor Elrod's research interests.

New Publications from Matt Elrod, Oberlin alumni, and Aaron Goldman

New Publications from Chemistry Faculty and Alumni, and Biology Faculty:

Elrod, Matthew J., Professor of Chemistry; Jane A. Sedlak (OC '19); He Ren (OC '20). Accurate Computational Model for the Hydration Extent of Atmospherically Relevant Carbonyls on Aqueous Atmospheric Particles. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 2021, 5, 348-355.  (full-text access through Interlibrary Loan)

Goldman, Aaron D., Associate Professor of Biology; Liberles, D. A. The Journal of Molecular Evolution Turns 50. Journal of Molecular Evolution.  DOI: 10.1007/s00239-021-10000-w, Early Access, Feb. 2021.

Kevin Woods publishes in Semigroup Forum; Aaron Goldman in Journal of Molecular Evolution

Two new publications from Math and Biology faculty; as indexed in Web of Science 

Bogart, T., Goodrick, J. and Woods, Kevin (Professor and Chair of Mathematics). Periodic behavior in families of numerical and affine semigroups via parametric Presburger arithmetic. - Semigroup Forum DOI: 10.1007/s00233-021-10164-3 (Early access; no volume or pagination available)  Subscriber access at publisher's website (SpringerLink)

From the abstract: The tool we use is expressibility in the logical system of parametric Presburger arithmetic. Generalizing to higher dimensional families of semigroups, we also examine affine semigroups  𝑆𝑛⊆ℕ𝑚$S_n\subseteq {\mathbb{N}}^m$ generated by vectors whose coordinates are polynomial functions of n, and we prove that in this case the Betti numbers are also eventually quasi-polynomial functions of n.

Goldman, Aaron. D. (Associate Professor of Biology) and Kacar, B. Cofactors are Remnants of Life's Origin and Early Evolution. - Journal of Molecular Evolution  DOI: 10.1007/s00239-020-09988-4 (Early access; no volume or pagination available)  Free full text at publisher's website (SpringerLink)

From the abstract: The RNA World is one of the most widely accepted hypotheses explaining the origin of the genetic system used by all organisms today. It proposes that the tripartite system of DNA, RNA, and proteins was preceded by one consisting solely of RNA, which both stored genetic information and performed the molecular functions encoded by that genetic information. Current research into a potential RNA World revolves around the catalytic properties of RNA-based enzymes, or ribozymes....Evidence from prebiotic geochemistry, ribozyme biochemistry, and evolutionary biology, increasingly supports these hypotheses. Certain coenzymes and cofactors may bridge modern biology with the past and can thus provide insights into the elusive and poorly-recorded period of the origin and early evolution of life.

From LEED office buildings to Mars rover: new publications from John Scofield and Christina Smith

Recent publications from John Scofield, Professor of Physics, and Christina Smith, Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, as reported in Web of Science

Scofield, John H., Brodnitz, S., Cornell, J., Liang, T. and Scofield, T. 2021. Energy and Greenhouse Gas Savings for LEED-Certified US Office Buildings.  Energies. 

From the abstract: [Here]we present results from the largest study of measured, whole-building energy performance for commercial LEED-certified buildings, using 2016 energy use data that were obtained for 4417 commercial office buildings... Only LEED offices certified at the gold level demonstrated statistically significant savings in source energy and greenhouse gas emissions as compared with non-LEED offices. 

Energies is a peer-reviewed, open access journal from MDPI, "a pioneer in scholarly open access publishing".

Smith, Christina L., Lemmon, M., Moores, J. E., et al. 2020. The Line-of-Sight Extinction Record at Gale Crater as Observed by MSL's Mastcam and Navcam through similar to 2,500 Sols.  Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets 125: e2020JE006465.

From the abstract: [Finding based on monitoring by Mars rover Curiosity]... Extinction as a function of azimuth and elevation angle were investigated and the extinction as a function of azimuth was generally found to be smooth and thus the dust well-mixed horizontally. The extinction as a function of elevation shows increased dust loading at lower elevations during dusty seasons, indicative of dust lifting from the base of the crater.

JGR-Planets is one of dozens of journals published by the American Geophysical Union, accessible in the Wiley Online Library.

Dan Stinebring collaborates in NANOGrav, resulting in three new publications

 These three articles were published in December 2020, from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves.  Professor of Physics Dan Stinebring has long collaborated in the NANOGrav Collective.

 

• Alam, M. F., Arzoumanian, Z., Baker, P. T., et al. 2021a. The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Observations and Narrowband Timing of 47 Millisecond Pulsars. - Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 252: 4.
• Alam, M. F., Arzoumanian, Z., Baker, P. T., et al. 2021b. The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Wideband Timing of 47 Millisecond Pulsars. - Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 252: 5.
• Arzoumanian, Z., Baker, P. T., Blumer, H., et al. 2020. The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Search for an Isotropic Stochastic Gravitational-wave Background. - Astrophysical Journal Letters 905: L34.

 Learn more about NANOGrav.

Access Astrophysical Journal Letters and Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series at The Institute of Physics, IOP Science website (subscribers only).

Research of Michael Moore and collaborators featured in "Plants Are Cool, Too!"

 Reposted from the Oberlin College Campus Digest, February 5, 2021: 

The research of Professor of Biology Mike Moore and collaborators (including several Oberlin students) on rare Hawaiian plants is the subject of the January 28, 2021 episode of the "Plants Are Cool, Too!" video series. The episode "How to save a species from going extinct," documents the many biologists involved in preventing the extinction of ultra-rare plants that grow only on the island of Kaua'i.

(see Faculty and Staff Notes)

Image extracted from the video

Roger Laushman publishes in Plant and Soil, with Jake Nash '16 (now at Duke Univ) and C. Schadt, Univ Tennesee

Nash, Jake, Laushman, Roger, Professor of Biology, & Schadt, Christopher. (2020). Ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity interacts with soil nutrients to predict plant growth despite weak plant-soil feedbacks. Plant and Soil, 453(1-2), 445-458. doi:10.1007/S11104-020-04616-Y  

From a special issue:  Agroforestry: a belowground perspective.

Burr Oak leaves and acorn, image from USDA
via Wikimedia Commons

Partial abstract: "We investigated whether plant-soil feedbacks of an ectomycorrhizal tree (Quercus macrocarpa) [Burr Oak] varied based on soil nutrient status and whether fungal community composition and diversity could explain feedback patterns. ...There was a positive home vs. away plant-soil feedback, though feedbacks with individual hosts were not significant regardless of fertilization. Still, hosts harbored distinctive fungal communities that were predictive of plant growth." 

Full-text at OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center

Senior Geology major Opal Perron-Feller is co-author in Current Biology

Lamsdell, J. C., V. E. McCoy, Opal A. Perron-Feller, and M. J. Hopkins. 2020. Air Breathing in an Exceptionally Preserved 340-Million-Year-Old Sea Scorpion. Current Biology 30:4316-+.

From the abstract: 

"Arachnids are the second most successful terrestrial animal group after insects and were one of the first arthropod clades to successfully invade land. Fossil evidence for this transition is limited, with the majority of arachnid clades first appearing in the terrestrial fossil record. Furthermore, molecular clock dating has suggested a Cambrian-Ordovician terrestrialization event for arachnids, some 60 Ma before their first fossils in the Silurian, although these estimates assume that arachnids evolved from a fully aquatic ancestor. ... Here, we present details of the respiratory organs of Adelophthalmus pyrrhae sp. nov. from the Carboniferous of Montagne Noire, France, revealed through micro computed tomography (m-CT) imaging. ... The discovery of air-breathing structures in eurypterids indicates that characters permitting terrestrialization accrued in the arachnid stem lineage and suggests the Cambrian-Ordovician ancestor of arachnids would also have been semi-terrestrial."  Published by Cell Press, online at Elsevier's ScienceDirect.com.

Full-text available in the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center, for those at OhioLINK libraries.

Christopher Marx publishes in IMRN

 New publication for Christopher Marx, Associate Professor of Mathematics, as reported in Web of Science

Hislop, Peter D., and Christoph A. Marx. "Dependence of the Density of States on the Probability Distribution for Discrete Random Schrodinger Operators." International Mathematics Research Notices 2020.17 (2020): 5279-341. Web.

This Oxford University Press journal is accessible in the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center.

Michael Moore Publishes in Gene, with Collaborators at Hainan Univ, China

 Wang, J., Moore, Michael J., Wang, H., Zhu, Z., & Wang, H. (2021). Plastome evolution and phylogenetic relationships among Malvaceae subfamilies. Gene, 765, 145103. 10.1016/j.gene.2020.145103

From the abstract: "Malvaceae s.l. is the largest family of Malvales, comprising more than 4225 species. Within Malvaceae, the phylogenetic relationships among subfamilies remain controversial. To resolve these relationships and explore plastome evolution in Malvaceae, we assembled a complete plastome data set of 39 Malvales species, including newly reported sequences for 13 Malvaceae and two Dipterocarpaceae species. ...Phylogenetic reconstructions based on 78 protein-coding genes strongly supported nearly all relationships among Malvaceae subfamilies. The diversification of the subfamilies of Malvaceae was dated to the late Cretaceous and early Eocene, during a time of global warmth."

Malvaceae, also known as the mallow family, includes Hibiscus, okra, cotton, and cacao.  More from Britannica.com.

Matthew Elrod publishes in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry

Matthew Elrod, Robert and Eleanor Biggs Professor of Natural Science and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, co-authored this paper with three currently enrolled students: senior Erika Aoki, junior Jon Sarrimanolis, and junior Sophie Lyon.

Aoki, E., Sarrimanolis, J. N., Lyon, S. A., & Elrod, M. J. (2020). Determining the relative reactivity of sulfate, bisulfate, and organosulfates with epoxides on secondary organic aerosol. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 4(10), 1793-1801. 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.Oc00178

From the abstract: "The relative reactivities (nucleophilic strengths relative to water) of sulfate, bisulfate, and methyl sulfate anion were measured through a series of model epoxide-nucleophile experiments using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy."

This is a relatively new journal from the American Chemical Society.  From an editorial in the first issue, published in 2017:  "The launch of ACS Earth and Space Chemistry presents an opportunity to deepen and expand the conversation about the integral role that chemistry plays in the study of fundamental and applied research in the fields of geology, astronomy, oceanography, and atmospheric science."

New Publications from M. Moore, Biology; C. Oertel, Chemistry; and R. Hoyle, Computer Science

Hammer, A. C., Jia, X., Zeller, M., Coughlin, E. J., Zhang, W., & Oertel, Catherine. M. (Chemistry) (2020). Ligand geometry directs the packing and symmetry of one-dimensional helical motifs in lead oxide naphthoates and biphenylcarboxylates. Crystengcomm, 22(39), 6465-6477. 10.1039/d0ce01150a

Hoyle, Roberto (Computer Science), Stark, L., Ismail, Q., Crandall, D., Kapadia, A., & Anthony, D. (2020). Privacy norms and preferences for photos posted online. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 27(4), 30. 10.1145/3380960

American Journal of Botany
published by Wiley 

Sanchez-del Pino, I., Alfaro, A., Andueza-Noh, R. H., Mora-Olivo, A., Chavez-Pesqueira, M., Ibarra-

Morales, A., Moore, Michael J. (Biology), Flores-Olvera, H. (2020). High phylogeographic and genetic diversity of Tidestromia lanuginosa supports full-glacial refugia for arid-adapted plants in southern and central Coahuila, Mexico. American Journal of Botany, 107(9), 1296-1308. 10.1002/ajb2.1536

Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Forum 2020

Who is on the ballot for Ohio Supreme Court? Find out here!

Beethoven 9 Project | Cleveland Orchestra musicians

A glorious thing for a perfect fall Saturday afternoon.  Neuroscience tells us that listening to and making music are good for your honing your creative and deductive thinking... ergo, music and science make for a wonderful partnership.  Enjoy!

All New Books List on the Redesigned Libraries Website! Check Us Out.

 

From the Science Libraries page, link to the new books LibGuide.  Browse by subject area, where books are listed in call number order, and you can quickly jump to the OBIS record for each book to get more details.  In OBIS, click on Request Item and we will get the book ready for you to borrow.

Michael Moore publishes in Systematic Biology and in an important new monograph from Springer

Two new publications from Michael Moore, Biology:  

Zhang, R., Y. Wang, J. Jin, G. W. Stull, A. Bruneau, D. Cardoso, L. P. De Queiroz, Michael J. Moore, S. Zhang, S. Chen, J. Wang, D. Li, and T. Yi. 2020. Exploration of plastid phylogenomic conflict yields new insights into the deep relationships of Leguminosae. Systematic Biology 69:613-622. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa013

Springer ebook, available to subscribers

Ochoterena, H., H. Flores-Olvera, C. Gómez-Hinostrosa, and Michael J. Moore. 2020. Gypsum and plant species: a marvel of Cuatro Ciénegas and the Chihuahuan Desert. pp 129-165 in Mandujano, M. C., I. Pisanty, and L. E. Eguiarte, editors. Plant Diversity and Ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert: Emphasis on the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, Springer International Publishing, Cham.

Recent publications of science faculty and rising senior in Biology, Neuroscience and Physics

Harris, A. J., and Aaron D. Goldman (Biology). 2020. The complex phylogenetic relationships of a 4mC/6mA DNA methyltransferase in prokaryotes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 149:106837. Open access.

published by Elsevier

Holtzman, Joshua (Class of 2021) and H. Lee. 2020. Emerging role of extracellular vesicles in the respiratory system. Experimental and Molecular Medicine 52: 887-895. Open access.

Masia-Roig, H., J. A. Smiga, D. Budker... Jason E. Stalnaker (Physics), et al. 2020. Analysis method for detecting topological defect dark matter with a global magnetometer network. Physics of the Dark Universe 28:100494. access at ScienceDirect or OhioLINK EJC for subscribers

Nadel, J. A., S. S. Pawelko, D. Copes-Finke, M. Neidhart, and Christopher D. Howard (Neuroscience). 2020. Lesion of striatal patches disrupts habitual behaviors and increases behavioral variability. Plos One 15:e0224715. Open access.

Sun, Y., T. Deng, A. Zhang, Michael J. Moore (Biology), J. B. Landis, N. Lin, H. Zhang, X. Zhang, J. Huang, X. Zhang, H. Sun, and H. Wang. 2020. Genome sequencing of the endangered Kingdonia uniflora (Circaeasteraceae, Ranunculales) reveals potential mechanisms of evolutionary specialization. Iscience 23(5): UNSP 101124. Open access.

SARS-CoV-2-Reactive T Cells Found in Patients with Severe COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2-Reactive T Cells Found in Patients with Severe COVID-19: A small subset of uninfected people also had SARS-CoV-2-fighting T cells, a finding that scientists are still trying to figure out.

Kopo Oromeng '18, PhD candidate, shares recollections of OC and POC in STEM

Oromeng at GSA 2019 Conference

We're celebrating Juneteenth with a look at a few* Black women in science and medicine who began their careers at Oberlin.

Kopo Oromeng’18 (Economics and Geology)

MS in Hydrology, University of Delaware ’20
PhD candidate in Geography & Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware

At Oberlin: Oberlin gave me a very wholesome undergrad STEM experience. I learned to be the kind of scientist who interrogated social structures, wrote well, and engaged in community service. As a Bonner Scholar, I spent my time at the Oberlin Public Library working at the children’s desk. My position challenged me to make science fun for pre-k and first graders (which requires a lot of free toys and glitter), but I also noticed that many younger children of color at Oberlin struggled with reading and writing. As a double major in Economics, I took classes in Urban and Development economics along with Geology classes.

Advice: The first time I met a black female geologist was at the National Association of Black Geoscientists. She was an Obie and would later mentor me over a summer research internship at the University of Arizona. Seeing someone who looked like me excel in a STEM field validated my aspirations. My advice to current Oberlin students is to seek out alumni, connect with us, and we’ll meet you wherever you are because we’ve been there too.

We, of course, need more people of color in STEM now more than ever before. We need Black data and artificial intelligence scientists, physicists, marine biologists, mathematicians, and so many more scientists who can design systems that do not exclude people who look like us, and who will contribute to science that challenges the status quo and changes the way we understand the world.

--contributed by Kopo Oromeng at our invitation, with minor editing

*Please look for the other Black women in science and medicine we will profile this Juneteenth: Matilda A. Evans, MD;  Jé Judson, MPH; Lauren V. Wood, MD; in the Science Library's Instagram, Twitter and tumblr posts.  Thank you!
#oclcelebratesjuneteenth #ocjuneteenth #POC in STEM #BlacksInSTEM #Juneteenth2020