:: Microbiology Department News ::

:: Spring 2008 Seminar Schedule :: Microbiology Graduate Student Group ::

Mellon Mutual Mentoring Team Grant Awarded

May 2008: The Department of Microbiology has been selected to receive a $10,000 Mellon Mutual Mentoring ("M3") team grant for the 2008-2009 academic year from the Office of Faculty Development and the Provost's Office.  Organized by Dr. Patrick Schloss, the Microbiology team's award is timely as all five junior faculty will be submitting mini-tenure or full-tenure package portfolios in the next year.  The project seeks to improve the grantsmanship, tenure documents, and work-family balance of the department's five junior faculty. Read more...

Interested in Bacteria, Viruses and Parasites?

April 2008: Have you ever thought about becoming a Microbiology Major? Come to the first ever Microbiology Awareness Event organized by the Microbiology Graduate Student Group and students in Microbio 310 Honors Colloquium. The event will be held on Friday, May 9, 2008 from 1:30-3:30 p.m., N201-N202 Morrill IV.

Honors Research Presentations

May 2008: Commonwealth College Seniors in the Microbiology Departmental Honors Program will present their research in a poster session Wednesday, May 14 from 10:00-2:00 in the Microbiology Conference Room, N202 Morrill IV. Other undergraduate researchers who would like to participate and present their work should contact Dr. Susan Leschine.

Wilmore Webley Receives 2008 Distinguished Teaching Award

April 2008: On Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at the University of Massachusetts' Celebration of Teaching Dinner, Dr. Wilmore Webley, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, was one of four faculty members presented with the Distinguished Teaching Award for 2008. Dr. Webley currently teaches Microbiology 160-Biology of Cancer & AIDS and Microbiology 542-Immunology Laboratory. Read more...

Congratulations 2008 Microbiology Graduates!

Emily Clark (M.S. '08) has been accepted and has received a fellowship to the Ph.D. program at the University of  Lausanne (Switzerland) to work with Dr. Claus Wedekind. Gregory Vladimer (B.S. '08) has been accepted to the Ph.D. program at UMass Worcester where he will study Yersinia pestis.

Other Microbiology Undergraduate News.....

Joseph Burbage, a Microbiology Junior studying in the research lab of Dr. Elizabeth Stuart, has received an internship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for Spring 2008 and will continue his project through Summer 2008.

Leschine Research Highlighted by Governor

April 2008: In Governor Deval Patrick's Earth Day talk at MIT on April 22, 2008, Dr. Susan Leschine, Professor of Microbiology, was mentioned as a leader in green energy through her role as co-founder of SunEthanol, a company that uses microbes for ethanol production.

Nüsslein's Work Chosen as One of Time Magazine's Top Inventions of 2007

October 2007: MIGHTY MICROBES is the title in Time Magazine's Top Inventions of 2007, in which Dr. Klaus Nüsslein 's work on soil bacteria was chosen to be among The Best Inventions of the Year. In this interdisciplinary effort common soil bacteria are used to solidify loose sand. Bacterial activity forms calcium carbonate cement (CaCO3) between sand particles when specific bacterial cells are co-injected together with their food source into loose sand. This bio-geotechnichal feature could aid in solidifying foundations of buildings, making sandy soils earthquake proof, strengthen levees and bluffs, or support earth dams. The

technical aspects to use common soil bacteria to stabilize sandy foundations was an effort undertaken in collaboration with Dr. J. DeJong from UCDavis. This bio-soil improvement research was published recently in the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.

 


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Department of Microbiology
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