Department of Biology Archives

One of Stephen Schneider's priorities as the new arborist is improving record-keeping of plant collections to benefit researchers decades from now. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

He cultivates the campus’s ‘urban forest’ with an eye on the future

All it took was a botany class at Northeastern to change Stephen Schneider’s career path. Today he’s in charge of keeping thousands of the trees and shrubs in the university’s arboretum healthy.

by Peter Ramjug August 26, 2021

This superbug dodges antibiotics. He's finding a way to kill it.

Superbugs are a persistent challenge for hospitals. On a given day, about one in every 31 hospital patients has an infection contracted in a healthcare facility, according to the CDC. And most are antibiotic resistant. Edward Geisinger, assistant professor of biology at Northeastern, is finding a way to disarm one of those damaging pathogens.

by Eva Botkin-Kowacki August 16, 2021

A user explores the SaluTemp website on a smartphone.

A class project inspired this healthcare device to solve a common drug storage problem

Theodora Christopher and Anastasia Mavridis are developing a temperature-sensing device that can help patients store their medications safely. Their startup, SaluTemp, has received an inaugural $5,000 Innovator Award from Northeastern’s Women Who Empower inclusion and entrepreneurship initiative.

by Ian Thomsen July 15, 2021

It’s tick season. Here’s everything you need to know about Lyme disease.

Lyme disease isn’t just a concern for outdoorsy people. This tick season, what do you need to know about the condition? Kim Lewis, university distinguished professor of biology at Northeastern, breaks it down.

by Eva Botkin-Kowacki June 21, 2021

Megan Carter and Sammy Shupe stand outside their co-op stations.

These athletes pursue championships while on co-op

Megan Carter, a sophomore who maintains a 4.0 grade point average in biology, was on co-op at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston while striving for a national title in women’s ice hockey. Here’s how she and other student-athletes learn to balance sports, academics, and co-op.

by Ian Thomsen April 27, 2021

Graduate student Suzanne Stasiak is part of a team of researchers studying how smooth muscle cells in the human airway behave to trigger asthma. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Cells in your airway talk to each other. For some, what they say can trigger an asthma attack.

Conventional asthma research has largely focused on diseased cells in human airways. But now, researchers at Northeastern have found that asthma attacks are not only the result of diseased cells acting up—healthy cells get caught up in the mix, too.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa August 24, 2020

Social insects like this termite have evolved multiple strategies over millions of years to keep pathogens from wiping out their colonies. Perhaps it’s time we learned from them. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

What can ants and termites teach us about fighting disease?

Social insects have evolved multiple strategies over millions of years to keep pathogens from wiping out their colonies. Perhaps it’s time we learned from them, says Rebecca Rosengaus, an associate professor in marine and environmental sciences.

by Laura Castañón August 18, 2020

Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Our drinking water was always full of microbes. Are the wrong ones thriving in the pandemic?

It’s been months, and life has changed dramatically across the planet. Zooming in where only a microscope can see, Northeastern researchers are trying to determine how the lifestyle changes caused by COVID-19 might be helping harmful bacteria grow in our drinking water.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa June 25, 2020

Abhishek Mogili, a third-year biology and political science student at Northeastern, works as a department technician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Photo by Adam Glanzman for Northeastern University

He’s preparing the ER for a surge of COVID-19 patients. There’s nowhere else he’d rather be.

Every night at 8 p.m., as many of us are winding down for the evening, Abhishek Mogili pulls a mask over his face and wriggles his hands into purple nitrile gloves. He’s ready to begin another 12-and-a-half-hour shift in the emergency department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

by Khalida Sarwari March 27, 2020

Samples of skin tissue from older mice are helping Justin Crane, an assistant professor of biology at Northeastern, explore anti-aging mechanisms important for skin health. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

We know exercise is good for your skin. This protein mimics those effects in mice.

Skin cells lose their ability to heal themselves with age. Northeastern biologist Justin Crane is testing how a new treatment to heal wounds in older mice can help researchers understand the cellular mechanisms of aging and healing in the skin cells in elderly people.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa January 17, 2020