The evaluation committee had the following comments on Gammerdinger's (advisor: Thomas Kocher) top-ranked article: "A very impressive analysis of next-generation genome sequencing to describe sex chromosome systems (XY and ZW) in Lake Tanganyika cichlids. The work reveals surprisingly rapid sex chromosome evolution, AND a novel color polymorphism locus. Based on an EECG award."

A major goal of the project is to accelerate the analyses of SARS-CoV-2 genomic data needed by scientists and public health officials battling the virus.

Awardees included Assistant Professor Quentin Gaudry, Professor Bill Fagan and Associate Research Scientist 
Katrina MacLeod.

Two of the 50 things in the article involve Biology faculty members David Inouye's work with pollinators and James Dietz's work on Golden Lion Tamarins in Brazil.

He will take the reins from Bill Fagan, who has served as department chair since 2013.

Professor Karen Lips helps find a significant drop in snake diversity following amphibian declines from chytrid fungus. The results were published in the February 14, 2020, issue of the journal Science.

The major is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Department of Biology in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences and the Department of Psychology in the College of Behavior and Social Sciences. Senior Lecturer Hilary Bierman co-directs the new program.

A new study in mice led by Professor Elizabeth Quinlan and Principal Faculty Specialist Sachiko Murase reveals that complete visual deprivation can reactivate a powerful synaptic plasticity pathway in adults, which can promote the recovery of brain function. The research was published on December 23, 2019 in the journal eLife.

In the largest-ever caribou study, a University of Maryland-led team disputes long-held assumptions about migration timing and suggests warming summers may negatively affect calving. The study, with lead author Associate Research Scientist Eliezer Gurarie, was published in the December 12, 2019 issue of the journal Ecosphere.

Broad University of Maryland expertise on the gap between how human language developed from a limited set of vocal actions to the incredibly complex systems of meaning we use today is strongly featured in a new special edition of the august British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.