Jonathan Snow
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Department
Biology, Neuroscience & Behavior
Office
1006 Altschul Hall
Office Hours: Wednesdays 10 - 11 am & Tuesdays 2 - 3 pm
Contact
212-854-2084
jsnow@barnard.edu
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The primary focus of our current research is the cellular stress responses of the honey bee, a species that is crucial to agricultural and ecological systems. Honey bee colonies in the United States and elsewhere have suffered from an increased rate of die-off in recent years, likely stemming from a complex set of interacting stresses that include nutritional deficiencies due to loss of appropriate forage, chemical poisoning from pesticides, changes to normal living conditions brought about through large-scale beekeeping practices, myriad environmental changes due to climate change, and infection by insect parasites and pathogenic microbes.
My research program now focuses on two main questions to help understand the challenges facing honey bee colonies and to generate solutions for use by beekeepers in the field. First, we believe that an important aspect for understanding how the stressors listed above impact honey bees requires defining specific common cellular processes that are impacted by multiple stressors. To that end we have focused on how honey bees respond to stresses thought to play a role in honey bee health and disease at the cellular level. Specifically we have begun to characterize the pathways of the proteostatic network in bees.?Second, we have focused more directly on one stressor, the infection of honey bees by the microsporidia species Nosema ceranae. We have begun to characterize the cellular responses to these same stressors in this key pathogen of the honey bee, focusing again on the pathways of the proteostatic network. The goal is to uncover elements that are unique to N. ceranae, and thus offer avenues for the development of novel therapeutics that have minimal impacts on the honey bee hosts.
Using the honey bee as a model also promises to improve our understanding of the dialogue between humans and our environment and will help move our society toward a more sustainable future.
B.A., Williams College
Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences Program, University of California, San Francisco
Research Fellow, Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University
Immunology
Cellular Stress Responses
Signal transduction
Regulation of gene expression
BIOL BC1502 Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology
BIOL BC3310 Cell Biology
BIOL BC3311 Laboratory in Cell Biology
BIOL BC3590 Senior Seminar in Immunology
BIOL BC3597 Guided Research
HSPP BC1001-1002 Research Apprenticeship Seminar
For publications, see the following database listing:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=snow_jw%5BAuthor%5D+AND+%222000%22%5BPDAT%5D+%3A+%222022%22%5BPDAT%5D+NOT+grogan+j+%5BAuthor%5D&sort=date
In The News
STEAM in the City Grows Its Living Laboratory
After its successful debut last summer, the program returned for its second year, welcoming more educators and learning specialists from across New York City.
September 9, 2022
Research Spotlight: the Snow Lab
Today we sit down with Melissa Flores, Natalie Lovinger, and Nora McNamara-Bordewick, all Snow Lab alums, to discuss their publication from this past year and their experiences in the lab under the mentorship of Professor Jonathan Snow.
June 1, 2022
Professor Jonathan Snow Publishes a New Book Chapter on Microbial Attacks on Western Honey Bees
May 26, 2022
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Science
As part of a team of staff and faculty, Melissa E. Flores ’16 helped Barnard’s Biology Department redesign its curriculum to ensure inclusivity for students from all backgrounds. #BarnardCelebratesWomensHistoryMonth
March 14, 2022
Student Spotlight: Eliana Elikan
Today we sit down with Eliana Elikan, a junior Biology major and research assistant in the Snow Bee Lab. Under the mentorship of Professor Jon Snow, she has been focusing on a parasite infecting the bees called Nosema ceranae, which is believed to be acting in conjunction with several stressors to drive the decline in honey bee populations.
March 11, 2022
Professor Jonathan Snow, Alongside Several Barnard Affiliates, Publishes New Research on Biomarkers of Stress in Honey Bees
November 18, 2021
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