About

Welcome to the Federated Department of Biological Sciences, a collaboration between Rutgers University-Newark and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The past decade has witnessed tremendous advances in the biological sciences and our Departments have developed a strategic plan to meet the changing needs of our students and our society. We recognize the contribution biology makes to a strong liberal arts education and understand the needs of its majors who are entering a world more biologically complex and sophisticated than a decade ago.
 

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How You Will Learn

Undergraduate students in the program choose courses from among a wide range of research fields to both develop a solid foundation in biology and to build meaningful depth of study in areas of personal interest. In addition to formal lecture and lab courses, students have many opportunities for independent study through seminar courses and research with our outstanding faculty.

Graduate students can choose an MS or PhD program. Both programs stress the importance of the research experience and its value to critical thinking. Students choose from three research tracks, each with course requirements that aim to build depth of study in specific focal areas: Cellular and Molecular Biology, Ecology and Evolution, and Neurobiology.

YAP nuclear translocation and activation regulate cellular proliferation and growth of some solid tumors. Rab11, a family of small GTPases that control the recycling endosome-mediated protein trafficking, restrains YAP localization at apical junctions and cytoplasm in mature epithelial cells. During colonic tumorigenesis, loss of Rab11 function diminishes Hippo kinase activities, leading to increased YAP nuclear translocation and accelerated tumor growth. For details, see article by D'Agostino and colleague

Research Highlights

Journal cover article from the lab of Nan Gao.

YAP nuclear translocation and activation regulate cellular proliferation and growth of some solid tumors.

 

Research Highlights

Journal cover article from the lab of Wilma Friedman

Neurotrophin receptors regulate development of the cerebellum

This picture shows Purkinje cells (green), proliferating cells (cyan), and cell nuclei (purple) in a postnatal day 7 mouse cerebellum. The p75 neurotrophin receptor promotes cell-cycle exit by proliferating cerebellar granule cell precursors. Loss of this receptor prolongs granule cell precursor proliferation, resulting in increased glutamatergic input to Purkinje cells and deficits cerebellum dependent learning. For more information, see the article by Zanin et al.
This image shows an embryonic day 12.5 mouse embryo lacking the Plexin-A4 receptor. These mice develop exuberant cutaneous sensory axonal projections, as revealed by anti-Neurofilament staining. For more information, see the article by Danelon et al.

Research Highlights

Journal cover article from the lab of Tracy Tran

Plexin regulation of embryonic neural development

iPSC-derived neurons
Biological Sciences

Boyden Hall, Room 206
195 University Avenue
Newark, NJ 07102
United States

Tel: 973-353-5347
Fax: 973-353-5518

Faculty

Farzan Nadim

Farzan Nadim

Professor, NJIT

Susan Seipel

Susan Seipel

Instructor

Rola A Bekdash

Rola A Bekdash

Assistant Teaching Professor

Maria L. Stanko

Maria L. Stanko

University Lecturer, NJIT