Most recently, Assistant Professor of Biology Ethan Clotfelter received a grant to study aggression in fish. Clotfelter received a $20,692 grant last month from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, which allowed him to purchase equipment and supplies. Although the Foundation typically sponsors projects in the social sciences, Clotfelter's research will be entirely biological. "I was extremely gratified to receive this grant," said Clotfelter. "It's very exciting for me to be able to cross disciplinary boundaries and communicate to those in other fields the importance of understanding environmental effects on aggression in animals and, potentially, in humans."
Clotfelter will be examining why a certain class of contaminants, phytoestrogens-contaminants released into the environment from wood pulp mills, agricultural field runoff, and sewage treatment plants-cause fish to become more aggressive.
His goal is to determine the physiological mechanism in fish that causes behavioral changes when fish come in contact with phytoestrogens. Although Clotfelter's research pertains only to fish, his discoveries may elucidate aggression in humans as well, because fish and humans have biologically similar endocrine systems. "This research gives us a better idea of how environmental contaminants might affect human behavior, as well as a better understanding of the basic physiological mechanisms underlying aggression itself," said Clotfelter.
Clotfelter is currently working on his research with biology major Meredith McNitt '06. "Professor Clotfelter is great to work with," said McNitt. "He clearly explains his studies and experiments, which helps me understand what exactly I should be doing in lab."
Six months ago, Professor of Biology Patrick Williamson and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Anthony Bishop were both awarded grants. Williamson received a grant to study changes in dying cells. The National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent federal agency, awarded Williamson $477,000 for three years, starting in the summer of 2005. Williamson emphasized the role of the NSF. "It is the single most important institution supporting science at places like Amherst, because they understand better than [other organizations] how important education is in the practice of science and vice versa," he said.
Williamson is using the grant to study changes that occur in the membranes of apoptotic cells, or cells that are about to die. In apoptosis, the membrane of a dying cell undergoes changes, causing the healthier, living cells around it to recognize and engulf the dying cell. Nevertheless, the mechanism by which living cells recognize dying cells is "poorly understood," according to Williamson. The research will be educational and will be "an expansion of our understanding of how living things work," Williamson said.
Williamson has already worked alongside several biology majors in his laboratory, including Jio Vasaya '05. "Professor Williamson was great at guiding me through the project and explaining what experiments needed to be performed, while at the same time pushing me to work and think independently," said Vasaya. "The project for which Professor Williamson was awarded the NSF grant was particularly interesting, because it involved a completely novel experimental approach that has never been used before."
Bishop's $213,512 award from the National Institute of Health (NIH) is also designed to fund three years of research. According to Bishop, NIH "is one of the two major federal scientific agencies" in the country. "It is the backbone of much of U.S. biomedical research, as well as biologically oriented basic science," he added.
Bishop is researching a type of protein-protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs)-that speeds up chemical reactions. Nevertheless, he is not trying to speed up reactions, but rather slow them down by developing very specific inhibitors-molecules that impede the activity of PTPs. He has already applied "his inhibitor strategy to three different PTPs" and has published his discoveries in the Journal of American Chemical Society (2005) and Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry (2006) since he received the grant.
The potential benefits of Bishop's research are immense. "The inhibitors we are developing may have applications both in basic research and in the validation of 'drug targets' for treating human disease," Bishop said. "Aberrant PTP activity has been implicated in many diseases, including Type II diabetes and colorectal cancer. Thus, specific PTP inhibitors may be useful for validating PTPs as potential targets for new therapies."
Bishop underlined students' importance. "Amherst undergraduates will be vital to the success of the project," he said. Clotfelter expects that five to 10 students will work with him in the lab over the course of his three-year grant.