September 2025 Newsletter - Welcome Back!
Welcome Back, Scientists!
I hope that everyone had a great summer and is settling comfortably into the new school year. This is the first of our monthly department newsletters for the 2025/2026 school year.
Perhaps our biggest new development is the addition of two new faculty members! You can read more about Dr. Rachael Best and Dr. Steve Kutos in section 2. Be sure to give them a big Loyola welcomes when you see them around campus! We'll also get into exciting summer happenings, Biohealth events to put on your calendar, and interesting study abroad and volunteer opportunities. And just for fun, I've added a few easter eggs for the movie buffs. Can you spot them?
Stay Curious!
Ada Maxwell
Biology Program Specialist
Loyola Biology at the Animal Behavior Society Annual Meeting
Sarah Oliver and Hannah Graham presented their research at the 2025 Animal Behavior Society meeting in Baltimore. They presented their poster "Investigating the Impact of Predator Exposure on Shoaling Behavior in Juvenile Convict Cichlids" to researchers and students from across the world.
Dr. Natalie van Breukelen presented research at the 2025 Animal Behavior Society meeting. The presentation "Shoaling vs. Hiding: Predator Avoidance Decisions in Juvenile Convict Cichlids" described research carried out as part of a senior project by Karen O'Brien from Goucher College. This research has resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in the journal Ecology of Freshwater Fish.
Dr. Natalie van Breukelen planned and organized the ABS Outreach Fair at the Maryland Science Center. This event showcased research for 12 different labs in the field of animal behavior engaging with the public through games and interactive stations. In addition, two local community organizations joined the event which engaged with nearly 300 kids.
7 Students Mentored by Biology Faculty in Hauber Summer Research Fellowship
Mentored by Dr. Cassandra Holbert
Michael Moseley: Differentiation and Cytokine Production of Polyamine Depleted CD4+ T Cells
Jamie Cashour and Lauren Imasa: The impact of polyamine depletion on macrophage polarization and phagocytic ability
Yuri Singh: Potential Disruption of Cytokine Production in Polyamine-Induced CD4+ T-Cell Lineages
Mentored by Dr. Craig Myrum
Andres Socarras: Orexin-A induction of Arc protein expression
Zaira Rehman: Investigating Arc Expression in the Hippocampus Across the Sleep-Wake Cycle
Joshua Player: Comparing Estradiol and Estrone Arc-Expression
Learn more about the Hauber Summer Research Fellowship and apply to be a 2026 Fellow.
Dr. Rachael Best
As a Maryland native, Dr. Rachael Best is excited to move back to the Baltimore area! Dr. Best completed her MS in College STEM Teaching and PhD in Biological Science at Florida State University. Her dissertation investigated mechanisms of intraspecific variation in response to variable environments in tropical octocoral species from the US Virgin Islands, as well as a temperate octocoral species from the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Best investigated intraspecific variation in polyp morphology and utilized carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses to quantify trophic strategy differences through shifts in reliance on heterotrophic feeding and autotrophic endosymbionts in relation to polyp tentacle lengths. Then, to isolate intraspecific variation of the host in response to environmental variation, independent from autotrophic endosymbionts, Dr. Best studied phenotypic plasticity in a temperate, heterotrophic octocoral species in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. After defending, Dr. Best spent a year as a SPIRE Postdoctoral Fellow at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in the Biology Department. At UNC, she worked on both a cyanobacteria mat system in the Caribbean as well as lab-based freshwater hydra to investigate mechanisms influencing community dynamics and intraspecific variation. Dr. Best's training and experience in the classroom fostered and propelled her love of teaching and mentoring, which she is excited to continue as an Assistant Teaching Professor at Loyola. Outside of academia, she enjoys reading, music, hiking, and scuba diving. Dr. Best is looking forward to getting to know everyone in the Loyola community!
Dr. Steve Kutos
Dr. Steve Kutos is a new Assistant Professor in the Biology department starting Fall 2025. He spent three years at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute as a postdoctoral researcher exploring the ecological and microbiological dynamics of coffee farms in Central and Latin America. Just after completing his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Fordham University in 2021, he spent a year in New Mexico on a USDA funded project exploring the ecological health impacts of organic matter additions to dry rangeland ecosystems. His research that he will explore at Loyola University Maryland will be focused on the complex dynamic relationships between plants, soils, the microbiome, and shifts in environmental patterns.