News & Announcements
UMass Amherst, Peking University Scientists Advance Knowledge of Plant Reproduction
UMass Amherst, Peking University Scientists Advance Knowledge of Plant Reproduction
Two groups of plant molecular biologists, at UMass Amherst and Peking University, China, have long studied how pollen tubes and pistils, the male and female parts of flowers, communicate to achieve fertilization in plants. They report in a Science early release paper that they have identified a pair of receptors essential to these communications as well as molecules that modulate the receptors’ activity. Read more
Tracking Effects of a Food Preservative on the Gut Microbiome
Tracking Effects of a Food Preservative on the Gut Microbiome
Antimicrobial compounds added to preserve food during storage are believed to be benign and non-toxic to the consumer, but there is “a critical scientific gap in understanding the potential interactions” they may have with the hundreds of species of microbes in our intestines, say David Sela, a nutritional microbiologist, and colleagues. Read more
Keith Ballard PhD Dissertation Defense
Keith Ballard PhD Dissertation Defense
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
3:00 PM
Life Science Laboratories Building, Room N210
Dissertation Title: A BIG role for small heat shock proteins: Examining sHSP-substrate capture and chaperone network coordination through crosslinking
Advisor: Elizabeth Vierling
Pilsner Awarded $2.26 Million Grant to Extend Phthalate Research
Pilsner Awarded $2.26 Million Grant to Extend Phthalate Research
Richard Pilsner, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, recently received a five-year, $2.26 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to extend and replicate findings in an animal study of his earlier investigation into the effects of phthalate levels on sperm epigenetics and reproductive success in humans. Read more
Alfandari Awarded $1 Million Grant to Produce Monoclonal Antibodies for Research
Alfandari Awarded $1 Million Grant to Produce Monoclonal Antibodies for Research
Dominique Alfandari, veterinary and animal sciences, recently received a four-year, $1 million National Institutes of Health grant to produce and characterize monoclonal antibodies to proteins in a species of frog, Xenopus, used as a model system for developmental biology and human diseases. Read more
Sun Receives $400,000 NSF Grant to Study Mechanics that Cause Neural Tube Birth Defects
Sun Receives $400,000 NSF Grant to Study Mechanics that Cause Neural Tube Birth Defects
Yubing Sun, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering is using a three-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the biomechanical forces and chemical factors that cause birth defects of the brain and spinal cord in the first few weeks of fetal development. Known as neural tube defects, these conditions occur when critical parts of the central nervous system don’t develop properly. Read more
Derrick Deming PhD Dissertation Defense
Derrick Deming PhD Dissertation Defense
Thursday, November 30, 2017
3:00 PM
Life Sciences Laboratory, Room S330
Dissertation Title: Structural studies of acid alpha-glucosidase and Pompe disease
Advisor: Scott Garman
Ketan Mathavan PhD Dissertation Defense
Ketan Mathavan PhD Dissertation Defense
Friday, December 8, 2017
12:30 PM
Life Sciences Laboratory, Room S330/S340
Dissertation Title: Cadherin-11 ectodomain signaling in cranial neural crest migration
Advisor: Dominique Alfandari
Rotello Serves as Guest Professor in Beijing
Rotello Serves as Guest Professor in Beijing
Vincent Rotello, Charles A. Goessmann Professor of Chemistry, served as guest professor at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences during a trip to Beijing in October. Rotello also gave an institute-wide molecular sciences forum presentation at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Read more
LSGRC 7th Annual Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium, Friday, November 17!
LSGRC 7th Annual Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium, Friday, November 17!
The 7th annual UMass Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium will be held on Friday, November 17. The event brings together graduate students from all areas of life sciences research at UMass to present their work in both talks (9:00am - 5:00pm, Life Sciences Laboratories Building, Room S340) and a poster session/lunch (12:30pm - 2:00 pm). This event is open to everyone who wants to learn about the fantastic life sciences work going on at UMass! The schedule for presentations is available on the LSGRC facebook page.