Associate Professor of Biology

Education
B.S., University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University

Courses Taught

• General Microbiology
• Genetics
• Seminar: Biology & The Control of Life
• Contemporary Biology
• Integrated Natural Sciences

Research Interests
Dr. Powers' Ph.D. thesis at the Medical College of Virginia focused on the interaction of bacterial endotoxin with subcellular fractions of animal cells in tissue culture.

Dr. Powers' postdoctoral research was completed at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. In this research the activation of receptors on human and mouse mast cells in culture during the allergic response was studied. Events at the membrane leading to changes in lipid content were examined.

Current Research
Water quality
A three-year ongoing project involves the study of the contamination of the Charles River at a site in Weston, Mass. Monthly monitoring and identification of microorganisms are carried out. Bacterial isolates from goose droppings on the riverbank are compared to those recovered from the river.

Antibiotic resistance
A project done in conjunction with the water quality study researches the antibiotic resistance of the isolated bacterial cultures as a means of characterizing these organisms.

Tissue culture
Tissue culture techniques will be used in a new project. Animal cells in culture will be grown and chromosomes isolated and characterized.

Publications

• Verna Ann Power and Anne M. Powers, "Isolation of Plasmids from Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria", Eastern New England Biological Conference, April 18, 1998.
• Melissa A. Farrow and Anne M. Powers, "The Comparison of Escherichia coli Isolated from the Charles River and from Goose Feces along the Riverbank", Eastern New England Biological Conference, April 18, 1998.
• McGivney (Powers), A., Crews, F.T., Hirata, F., Axelrod, J., and Siraganian, R., 1981, Rat Basophilic Leukemia Cell Lines Defective in Phospholipid Methyltransferase Enzymes, Ca Flux, and Histamine Release. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, 78, 6176.
• McGivney, A., Morita, Y, Crews, F.T., Hirata, F., Axelrod, J., and Siraganian, R., 1981, Phospholipase Activation in the IgE-mediated and Ca Ionophore A23187 Induced Release of Histamine from Rat Basophilic Leukemia Cells, Archives Biochem. and Biophysics, 212, 572.
• McGivney, A., and Bradley, S.G., 1980, Action of Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide on the Respiration of Mouse Liver Mitochondria., Infection and Immunity, 27, 102.
• McGivney A. and Bradley S.G., 1979, Effects of Bacterial Endotoxin on Lysosomal and Mitochondrial Enzyme Activities of Established Cell Lines, J. Reticuloendothelial Society, 26, 307.