The Department of Biological Sciences provides students with a wide choice of experiences and opportunities in the life sciences — from medicine, to the environment, to basic and applied research in botany, ecology and evolutionary biology, marine biology, microbiology, and molecular biology.
Biology, the study of life, is composed of many disciplines unified by the fact that all living things—plants, animals, and microorganisms—follow the same fundamental laws of heredity, reproduction, growth, development, self-maintenance, interaction, and response. A central focus of the Department of Biological Sciences is to engage students in the study of life through active learning in the classroom and through collaborative research in the laboratory and field. Perhaps the most necessary skills of a biologist are an inquisitive outlook and enthusiastic curiosity.
Students in Biological Sciences spent the summer pursing independent research in both the laboratory and the field. But a few of the projects they collaborated on are described below
Dr. Patricia Dorn and her co-authors' article on Chagas disease, which shows that kissing bugs in California and Arizona are both infected with the Chagas parasite and have fed on humans will be published and highlighted on March 14 in the 'Emerging Infections Diseases' journal.
Biology alumna, Rachel Nuwer, publishes "Bugs That Transmit 'Silent Killer' Are Biting More in U.S" online in 'Scientific American.'
Interested in knowing more about the Department of Biology? Start here!
These critical distinctions are at the very heart of what it means to obtain a Jesuit education at Loyola. Learn more!