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Armed with a gallon of liquid nitrogen connected to a small vacuum device, Tim Weaver '05 set off for a local bee farm in the beginning of summer. Weaver vacuumed the bees into the liquid nitrogen, where they were instantly frozen. Now, he is working with Tom Heacock '06 and Associate Professor of Biology Herm Lehman to examine TBH and octopamine levels in insects, which may help them explain how genes and behavior are related.

For Kat Lexa '05, Heather Michael '07 and Meghan Dunn (George Washington '06), examining nearly 36,000 different molecular structures has proven both difficult and rewarding. The students are spending this summer in Hamilton's new Science Center studying the molecular composition of peptides in an effort to eventually produce a more effective drug for the treatment of breast cancer.

In the summer of 2002, biology professor Bill Pfitsch and his students began studying the ecology of the Rome, NY, sand plains and the the wild blue lupine, a host plant for the endangered frosted elfin butterfly. Now, in the third year of the study, they are beginning to see some progress in their efforts, according to Mollie Wright and Ashley Kuenzi, both '05, who are continuing the research this summer.