College of Science News
Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences

A team of RIT researchers will explore how tiny particles of plastic pollution are impacting Lake Ontario thanks to new funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The multidisciplinary group will examine how microplastics are transported and transformed in the lake, where they ultimately end up and what effects they have on the ecosystem.

Darci Lane-Williams, assistant director of Title IX and Clery Compliance, has received the 2020 Edwina Award for her significant contributions to enhance gender diversity and inclusiveness at RIT. In addition, 10 graduating students were also named as “Legacy Leaders.”

Essay by Maureen Ferran, associate professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, published by The Conversation.

KayLee Steiner knows her way around a research laboratory. Her extensive undergraduate research experience made her an appealing candidate when she began applying to Ph.D. programs. After receiving offers from top-notch graduate programs including Duke, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and others, she will pursue her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine.

After transferring to RIT, Kevin DiMagno became a biochemistry major to prepare for medical school after graduation. In this student spotlight, he talks about his interest in characterizing the function of NUDIX hydrolases enzymes and the focus of his research.

Learn how environmental scientists combine their love of nature with cutting-edge research to help understand the origins of infection.

Discover the genetic variation that impacts disease and treatment outcomes as an evolutionary biologist.

Callie Donahue ’18 (biotechnology and molecular bioscience) is helping to test thousands of compounds on human cells infected with live samples of coronavirus in search of medicine that can be effective in deterring the virus’s infection and replication cycle.

Maria Romero-Creel ’17 (biomedical engineering) and Wendy Salamone ’10 (biotechnology) are just two of the people responsible for the analyzer database update launched by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics on April 14. The team is responsible for ensuring that calibrations, precision fluid information and analyzer settings for new assays like COVID-19 are properly entered and working for analyzers in the field.

A federal grant matched by New York state and RIT is enabling university researchers to study a competitive solution to polyethylene mulch and identify a more sustainable alternative to conventionally used plastics in farming.

Learn about the natural world on a molecular level. Find out how biotechnologists are confronting challenges in the real world.

Find out how blending biology and computer science brings bioinformaticians to the forefront of research and discovery.