A man examining the soil and vegetation by a natural water source.

School of Life Sciences News

Life sciences involves studies of living organisms and their life processes, including their evolution and relationships with other living organisms and our planet. The courses and programs offered by the School of Life Sciences are designed for those students pursuing professional careers in medicine, science, and science education.

Current Life Sciences News

Drew Peltier in lab with tree samples
Research |

Life Sciences professor Drew Peltier explores how trees grow, survive, and reproduce despite poor conditions — and when they might not recover.

A UNLV student studies with the Strip in the distance.
Campus News |

Headlines and highlights featuring the students and faculty of UNLV.

A rear view of UNLV students, dressed in red caps and gowns, filtering into the Thomas & Mack Center with the stage in the background
Campus News |

An enduring UNLV end-of-semester tradition is to highlight exceptional students who embody the academic, research, and community impact of the graduating class.

man in sweater and glasses in front of shelves inside lab
Research |

Life Sciences professor Prasun Guha has the 'guts' to explore the connections between gastrointestinal health and disease.

UNLV XMAS
Campus News |

This month’s frosty headlines and highlights from the students and faculty of UNLV.

Wearing black medical scrubs, Dr. Chase Shropshire poses with his arms crossed in a mock hospital triage area at the UNLV School of Medicine
People |

Even well into his undergraduate studies, Chase Shropshire didn't envision a career in medicine. Now he’s the School of Medicine’s first Alumnus of the Year.

Life Sciences In The News

The Salt Lake Tribune

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says it will soon save the amount of water it takes to support 3,000 homes in a given year.

KVVU-TV: Fox 5

Two days of record high temperatures could trigger an early response from Mother Nature.

KSNV-TV: News 3

The devastating wildfires tearing across Southern California are being exacerbated by climate change, according to Drew Peltier, an assistant professor of ecology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Simply Recipes

You dry pots with it, wipe your hands on it, and use it to swab the counter, but when you’re done—if you’re like me—you probably hang your trusty kitchen towel right back on the oven or dishwasher door handle. And this cycle repeats for days, weeks, maybe even months with a single dish rag.

Earth Notes

Bullfrog removal at Pakoon Springs, by multiple parties including the University of Arizona and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, began in 2010 and was completed in 2019, when the last bullfrogs were removed. After repeated surveys confirmed the bullfrogs were gone, Relict Leopard Frogs, raised in a captive breeding program at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, were finally released at Pakoon Springs in 2022. Follow-up surveys confirm that a self-sustaining population now thrives at Pakoon Springs.

Yahoo!

Coyotes are common throughout North America. Like other wildlife, they tend to adapt to their environments and might become bolder in urban or suburban neighborhoods. Still, people can easily coexist with coyotes if they follow experts’ tips on coyote behavior, protecting pets, and avoiding feeding coyotes or other wildlife.

Life Sciences Experts

An expert in ecology, fire management, and U.S. National Parks.
An expert on hibernation, pupfish, evolution, and cellular biology.
An expert on bacterial gene regulation and bacterial pathogens, including E. coli, Shigella, and Salmonella. 
An expert on mammals.
Nora Caberoy is an expert on eye diseases, specifically the factors and pathways associated with damage of the retina. 
An expert on mutagenesis, DNA repair, and bacterial genetics.

Recent Life Sciences Accomplishments

Sarah M. Wolff (Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education), Jonathan C. Hilpert, (Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education) and Christy Strong (Life Sciences) published a brief research report titled, "Using the fused graphical lasso to explore the motivational self-system after a multimedia self-regulated learning…
Hui Zhan (Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine) has published a research article titled “Biomarker Identification for Alzheimer’s Disease Through Integration of Comprehensive Mendelian Randomization and Proteomics Data” in the Journal of Translational Medicine on March 6. The study is co-authored by Dr. Jeffrey L. Cummings (Brain Health…
Dr. Jingchun Chen (Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine) and her team used deep learning AI techniques to develop genetic models based on polygenic risk scores (PRS). A PRS functions like a genetic risk calculator, combining the effects of thousands of small genetic variations to estimate the likelihood of developing specific diseases.…
Matthew Medeiros, Laura Seo, Aziel Macias, and Donald Price (all Life Sciences), along with Joanne Yew from the University of Hawaii, have published a paper in the International Society for Microbial Ecology Communications: New Developments in Microbial Ecology journal in November 2024. Madeiros is a post-doctoral researcher in Price's and Yew's…
Donald Price (Life Sciences) was part of a team including scientists from Stanford University, Yale University, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, University of North Carolina, University of California Davis, Bangor University, Case Western Reserve University, Syracuse University, Syracuse, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Czech Academy of Sciences,…
Kelly Tseng (Life Sciences) was an invited speaker for the XXVIth International Society for Eye Research Biennial Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her talk was titled "Mechanisms regulating plasticity during embryonic eye regrowth." She presented her research group's findings on the molecular pathways that control eye stem cells and…