Department of Biology
New Mexico Tech

Department of Biology

The Biology Department offers cutting-edge research opportunities in high-tech laboratories. Students engage in research projects in molecular biology, microbiology, ecology, cell biology, and physiology. NMT biology graduates are also well-prepared for medical, dental, and veterinary school.

   Scroll down for department seminars and events.

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Biology Department News

Newly graduated Masters Student Bridie Alexander-Lawrie also has her first paper published - "Inhertance through the cytoplasm" in Heredity. Read it here!
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-022-00540-2

♦ Asst Professor Joel Sharbrough awarded prestigious NSF CAREER Award!

♦ The Biology Department is excited to announce that New Mexico Tech will be the first college in New Mexico to join over 200 other colleges in over 40 states as part of the SEA-PHAGES program which is part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Alliance (HHMI-SEA).  The first group of students will be freshman from the Biology and Biomedical Sciences programs. During this year-long course, students will hunt down, capture, and characterize viruses that infect bacteria (called “bacteriophages”) from the environment.  Each student has the opportunity to name their novel phage, and contribute a sample to the national data bank at the University of Pittsburgh. The class as a whole will select one phage that will have its DNA sequenced, and in the second semester, this sequence will be fully analyzed and annotated by the class. Phages discovered by undergraduate students through this program have been used to treat patients suffering from multi-drug resistant bacterial infections (see this link). While only a few students are able to participate in this pilot course, the Biology Department plans to expand enrollment next year as part of our mission to increase opportunities for students to participate in authentic research experiences.

 

https://nmt.edu/news/2023/goldwater-scholar.php

Cassandra Skaar earns prestigious Goldwater Scholarship.

♦ BMS graduate Wayne Vigil, Jr, now at UC-Riverside has published his first paper "Spectral deconvolution of redox species in the crotonyl-CoA-dependent NADH:ferredoxin oxidoreductase from Megasphaera elsdenii. A flavin-dependent bifurcating enzyme" in the Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abb.2021.108793

♦ Congratulations to graduate students Marina Hein and Katie McLain for seeking out funding opportunities and being awarded a grant from the Native Plant Society ofNew Mexico to further their research. 

♦ We are proud to announce that new Biology Accelerated MS student Catherine Batchelder is the recipient of a Macey Scholarship for 2020-2021!

♦ Biology Acellerated MS student Kasandra Velarde applied for and received her own grant under PI Dr. Linda DeVeaux to fund her own project. This is the article the NM Water Resources Research Institute wrote about it.

♦ El Defensor Chieftain article on the new licensing agreement withParnell Pharmaceuticals to develop an anti-viral nasal spray to prevent COVID-19 that comes out of biology department research.

Click here for a list of scholarships for women

 

 

Biology Department Events Summer 2024-Spring 2025

NM-INBRE Sponsored Biology/Biomedical Seminar Series is held on Mondays from 4:30pm to 5:30 pm in Jones-Annex 101 and via Zoom unless noted otherwise. Email biology.dept@npe.nmt.edu for a Zoom link.

7/23/2024
4pm Jones-Annex 101

Damilola Odumade, MS Defense

"Effect of ploidy on chloroplast size and abundance"

7/24/2024
4pm Jones-Annex 101

Andre Ortiz,
MS Defense

“Genome-wide Patterns of Homoeologous Gene Flow in Allotetraploid Coffee” 
9/16/2024
4:30pm Jones Annex 101
Arjak Bhattacharjee, PhD. NMT Materials & Metal. Engineering "Utilization of polymer–ceramic composites with plant-derived compounds for 3D printing-based tissue engineering and sustainability applications"
9/23/2024
4:30pm Jones Annex 101
Debra Johnson, PhD.
ThermoFisher Scientific
“From Biology to Business: My Journey from Graduate School to Product Management at Thermo Fisher Scientific”
9/30/2024
4:30pm Jones Annex 101
Randy Klabaka, PhD.
Utah Tech University
"What New Mexico's state reptile is teaching us about genetics, evolution, physiology"
10/14/2024
4:30pm Jones Annex 101

Talysa Ogas Viera, PhD
PostDoc UC - Davis

TBD

11/4/2024
4:30pm Jones Annex 101

Corey Green, PhD
Eastern NM University
TBD
     
     
     
     
     
     

 

 Click for printable pdf directions to the Biology Department 

Past Events 2018-2019

Past Events 2019-2020

Past Events 2020-2021

Past Events 2021-2022

Past Events 2022-2023

Past Events 2023-2024

NMT Isopod

Biology Staff

NAME TITLE PHONE DEPARTMENT LOCATION EMAIL
Dr. Kaarin Goncz Instructor 575-835-5098 Biology Jones Annex 221 Kaarin.Goncz@nmt.edu
Casia Esparza Lab Associate   Biology Jones Annex 205 casia.esparza@nmt.edu
Vanessa Quinones Department Specialist 575-835-5612 Biology Jones Annex 219 Vanessa.Quinones@nmt.edu