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NYIT’s NYCOM Hooding Ceremony Honors 291 New Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine
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May 20 2012
NYIT Salutes the Class of 2012 at its 51st Annual Commencement
May 18 2012
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May 18 2012
Occupational Therapy Grads Hold Valedictory Ceremony
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Nursing Students Receive Graduation Pins
May 30 2012
NYIT-Vancouver Professional Enrichment Workshop: Tools to Supercharge your Business Vocabulary
May 30 2012
50th Semi-Annual New Jersey Collegiate Career Day
Jun 01 2012
NYIT-Amman Graduation Ceremony 2012
Jun 04 2012
Architecture Presentation for Boxing Gym
Jun 04 2012
NYIT-Bahrain Graduation Ceremony 2012
All News
Feb 01 2012
The Lizard Family Tree: NYIT Professor Explores Links That May Help Today’s Research
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Old Westbury, N.Y. (February 1, 2012) ─ Could news about an 80 million-year-old poisonous lizard help a diabetic patient today?
It’s possible, says Dr. Jack Conrad, assistant professor of anatomy in NYIT’s New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“Learning anything new about the evolutionary history of a group may help us in unforeseen ways,” says Conrad, who recently published, with three other experts, a meticulous description of the fossil of the lizard Gobiderma pulchrum in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.
Conrad’s says his research shows the “remarkable interconnections” within the field of biology, along with the “mosaic nature” of anatomical evolution.
The lizard Conrad studied is known as a “transition fossil” for a group of lizards known by the fearsome name of Monstersauria.
Today, the Gila Monster and the Beaded Lizard are the chief representatives of this group of dangerous venomous lizards. They bite and chew on their prey or attackers, forcing venom out of their glands and through grooves in their lower-jaw teeth. The two-foot long Gobiderma existed in the stage immediately before this venom delivery system evolved.
Conrad said that some scientists are studying the use of Monstersaur venom to treat diabetes, making information about the lizard family tree relevant to research.
“Using newly found links from the fossil record may help us understand the evolutionary history of a group of organisms,” he said. “This may help us choose new organisms to study.”
Conrad traveled to Beijing, Paris, London, and Warsaw to study the lizard fossils. Closer to home, he studied new specimens at the American Museum of Natural History and then analyzed his data at NYCOM’s labs.
About NYIT
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has 14,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.
Led by President Edward Guiliano, NYIT is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world. To date, 89,000 graduates have received degrees from NYIT. For more information, visit nyit.edu.
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