The College of Biological Sciences (CBS) is one of seven freshman-admitting colleges at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. Established in 1869 as the College of Sciences, the College of Biological Sciences is now located across both the

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and the

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

campuses. The current interim dean is David Greenstein.

Institution

The College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota is one of the few colleges nationwide devoted to biological sciences. CBS explores a world of opportunities, from molecules to ecosystems, to improve human health, develop renewable resources, enhance agriculture, and restore the environment. College of Biological Sciences undergraduates are among the most qualified at the University of Minnesota. The 2008 incoming freshman class, on average, had the highest class rank and ACT scores of any college within the university system. There were 1,789 undergraduates registered for the fall of 2006 and 82 percent graduated in the top 15 percent of their high school class. There were a total of 377 freshmen and 135 faculty members. CBS faculty conducts basic research on a range of applications in human health, agriculture, biotechnology and environmental sciences.

History

In 1887, the Animal Science Department was established in the College of Science, Letters, and Arts, followed by the Botany Department being created in 1891. Eight years later, the Lake Itasca Forestry and Biological Station was established with a forestry training program. It is now the site for the "Nature of Life" program CBS students must attend for four days in the summer before their freshman year. Then the Agricultural Biochemistry Department was formed within the Institute of Agriculture. In 1928, Snyder Hall, named for agricultural scientist Harry Snyder, was built to house Agricultural Biochemistry. Snyder Hall is now the headquarters for CBS, located on the St. Paul campus. In 1973, the Biological Sciences Center was built to house the botany department and the Genetics and Cell Biology Department.University of Minnesota, College of Biological Sciences
/ref> In 1993, the Ecology Building was constructed on the St. Paul campus. Two years later, administration of the Bell Museum was transferred to the College of Natural Resources. In 1998, Dean Robert Elde led a university-wide reorganization to consolidate and realign departments in order to strengthen biological sciences and raise the university's national standing. The College of Biological Sciences’ (CBS) current structure grew out of that effort. In 2001, ''Biodale'' opened, offering biological research support services to faculty, students, and industry. It is currently one of the most used resources on the University's campus. In 2004, University Enterprise Laboratories, Inc. was dedicated. Founding sponsors included

Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...

, the City of

, the

, 3M, Medtronic,

Dorsey & Whitney Dorsey & Whitney LLP (known as Dorsey) is an American law firm with over 500 lawyers, and a similar number of staff, located in 21 offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The firm's headquarters is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where ...

, Surmodics,

Guidant Guidant Corporation, part of Boston Scientific and Abbott Labs, designs and manufactures artificial cardiac pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, stents, and other cardiovascular medical products. Their company headquarters is lo ...

Boston Scientific Boston Scientific Corporation ("BSC"), incorporated in Delaware, is a biomedical/biotechnology engineering firm and multinational manufacturer of medical devices used in interventional medical specialties, including interventional radiology, i ...

, and

Ecolab Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation that is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of applic ...

Structures

Administrative offices for the College of Biological Sciences are located in Snyder Hall on the St. Paul campus. These include the Dean's Office, Communications, and Alumni Relations. Student services are located in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Building on the East Bank campus. The departments of Plant and Microbial Biology and Ecology, Evolution and Behavior are in adjacent buildings. The Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics is across the street. The Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics is located in Jackson Hall on the Minneapolis campus, and the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development is in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Building on the Minneapolis Campus. The Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics and the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development are shared with the

University of Minnesota Medical School The University of Minnesota Medical School is the medical school of the University of Minnesota. It is a combination of two campuses situated in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota. The University of Minnesota Medical School is also part of one of ...

. The Department of Plant and Microbial Biology is shared with the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS). The Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior remains exclusive to CBS with close ties to CFANS, which administers the Bell Museum of Natural History. The Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Microbiology—both part of the Medical School—are affiliated with CBS. The BioTechnology Institute is a joint effort of CBS and the Institute of Technology. CBS also operates two field stations—Cedar Creek Natural History Area, the birthplace of the modern science of

ecosystem ecology Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living ( biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components s ...

, and Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories, used for education programs, field research, and public outreach.

Research facilities and fields

The College of Biological Sciences shares several researches, education and outreach facilities. Biodale, CBS's resource for research support services, houses $40 million in bioscience research equipment that is available to faculty and industry scientists. The Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics provides a hub for genomics researchers university-wide. Faculty conducts basic research in functional genomics of microbes and crop plants to identify innovative ways to make crops more resistant to disease and drought, clean up the environment, and improve human health. The Molecular and Cellular Biology Building was opened in 2002 on the Minneapolis campus and houses classrooms and labs. It is home to the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics and the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development. University Enterprise Laboratories (UEL) is a non-profit entity that provides lab space for biotech start-up companies. Sponsors include

, 3M,

Allina Allina Health ( ) is a not-for-profit health care system based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It owns or operates 12 hospitals and more than 90 clinics throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Its subsidiary, Allina Medical Transpo ...

, Medtronic,

Guidant Corporation Guidant Corporation, part of Boston Scientific and Abbott Labs, designs and manufactures artificial cardiac pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, stents, and other cardiovascular medical products. Their company headquarters is lo ...

, and Surmodics. Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories established in 1909, houses many buildings for research as well as the summer portion of the freshman program, "Nature of Life" which all incoming CBS freshman must attend before entering their first year at the university. This portion of Nature of Life prepares students for the upcoming year and gives them an idea of one of the research facilities provided by CBS and the university. The program continues for the next 4 semesters, during which each enrolled student is expected to fully immerse themselves into CBS and university-wide events and communities. Other research facilities include

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve The Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve is an ecological research site located primarily in East Bethel, Minnesota in the counties of Anoka and Isanti on the northern edge of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. Name Originally t ...

, the Ecology Building, Plant Growth Facilities such as the CBS Conservatory and Botanical Collection, and Snyder Hall/Gortner Laboratories/Biological Sciences Center complex.

Notable faculty and staff

In 1995, Edward B. Lewis (B.S. '39) received the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

for discovery of the collinearity principle in fruit flies, which revealed that the linear arrangement of genes on a

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

corresponds to the development of

body segment Segmentation in biology is the division of some animal and plant body plans into a series of repetitive segments. This article focuses on the segmentation of animal body plans, specifically using the examples of the taxa Arthropoda, Chordata, an ...

s. The finding was later confirmed in humans. In 1997, Paul D. Boyer won the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

for the discovery of how cells make

adenosine triphosphate Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an organic compound that provides energy to drive many processes in living cells, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, condensate dissolution, and chemical synthesis. Found in all known forms o ...

(ATP). Boyer was on the faculty of the biochemistry department from 1945–1957. G. David Tilman is the current director of

and member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is currently the most cited ecologist in the Web of Science database.

Majors offered

Biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

(BIOC) *

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

(BIOL) *

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, and Behavior (EEB) *

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

, Cell Biology, and

Development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

(GCD) * Microbiology (MICB) *

Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

(NSC) * Plant and Microbial Biology (PMB)University Catalogs
/ref> * Cellular and Organismal Physiology (COP)

Minors

*Behavioral Biology *

* Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience * Computational Biology *

* Integrative Neuroscience *

Plant Biology Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

* Marine Biology * Microbiology * Pharmacology

Graduate programs

*Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics (BMBB) *Ecology, Evolution and Behavior (EEB) *Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology, and Genetics (MCDB&G) *Plant Biological Sciences

Research projects

In addition to the Nobel Prize winners for Physiology and biochemistry, other important research projects have been conducted by the university and CBS. Being a research based college, faculty and students often use related opportunities to research a variety of topics.
MCDB&G Faculty ResearchBMBB Faculty ResearchEEB Faculty Research

Grants

Funding is needed for all projects. One recently was the 2.8 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation which supported interdisciplinary training for ecologists and civil engineers. This grant was used to train graduate students in ecology, civil engineering, and geology to study the combined effects of physical and biological changes on environmental quality, in particular the Mississippi River watershed.Greg Breining, Mary Hoff, Terri Peterson Smith, Peggy Rinard, "Star Search", '' College of Biological Science BIO, Vol 4 No. 2, Fall 2005 Another grant was the $8.5 million grant from the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment(IREE). Projects included bio-energy and bio-products; economic and policy assessments; production and distribution of hydrogen;

carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. Carbon dioxide () is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes. These changes can be accelerated through changes in lan ...

; Nanotechnology; solar thermal heating systems; and conversion of livestock waste to energy and products. They awarded this grant to 24 renewable energy projects at the university in August 2006, including CBS.

Student involvement

Leadership

Many CBS students are also involved in student organizations related to the biological sciences. Administrative sponsored student clubs include: *CBS Student Board *CBS Events Board *CBS Ambassadors *Deans' Scholars Program *CBS Circles

Student groups

University of Minnesota students also have the opportunity to create their own student groups. Examples of these student groups include: *AED Pre-Medical Honor Society *AMSA Premed *Biochemistry Club *Biological Science Research Club *Biology Without Borders *Brain Club *Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Club *Forensic Science Club *Future Leaders Aspiring in Science and Healthcare *Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development Club *Health and Biological Research News Club *Inter-Professional Pre-Health Students *Marine Biology Club *Microbiology Club *Microbiota in Health and Medicine Interest Group *Minnesota Medical Leaders *Minnesota Science and Business Association *Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students *MSTEM *Pharmacology Club *Pre-Dental Club *Pre-Genetic Counseling Club *Pre-Meds in Action *Pre-Occupational Therapy Group *Pre-Optometry Club *Pre-Pharmacy Club *Pre-Physical Therapy Club *Pre-Physician Assistant Organization *Pre-Veterinary Club *Student Society of Stem Cell Research ClubUniversity of Minnesota, College of Biological Sciences
/ref> *Synthetic Biology Society *Undergraduate Public Health Association *Undergraduate Surgery Interest Group

References

Footnotes

*"UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, U.S.;Researchers from University of Minnesota, U.S., report recent findings".17 March 2007 *"A Smart Start For Bioscience", ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'', 10 October 2004: B10 *Breining Greg, Hoff Mary, Peterson Smith Terri, Rinard Peggy, "Star Search", '' College of Biological Science BIO, Fall 2005, Vol 4 No.2 *"The Wildest Classroom in Minnesota." ''Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories''. 26 Mar. 2007. Regents of the University of Minnesota. 7 May 2007.
University of Minnesota, College of Biological Sciences

External links

University of Minnesota, College of Biological Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnesota College of Biological Sciences Educational institutions established in 1869 University of Minnesota 1869 establishments in Minnesota