News & Announcements
Natural Science Lecturers Receive Professional Development Awards
Natural Science Lecturers Receive Professional Development Awards
The College of Natural Sciences (CNS) has announced the five recipients of the spring 2019 Lecturers’ Professional Development Fund awards. The awards offer support for technology assistance, conference and research travel, and other activities with the goal of helping recipients become more effective teachers and mentors. Ludmila Tyler, biochemistry and molecular biology, received an award to attend the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Statistical Methods for Functional Genomics short course. Read more
Research Team Studies How Chemotherapy Can Cause Cancer Cells to Become Active
Research Team Studies How Chemotherapy Can Cause Cancer Cells to Become Active
Researchers have received a five-year, $1.76 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study how, in some people, cancer cells in the human body that have left the original site of the cancer change from dormant to active due to chemotherapy. They are developing implantable tissue-engineered microenvironments where it is possible to see in detail what causes that change in a living system. The research team is headed by Jungwoo Lee, assistant professor of chemical engineering. Read more
Ana Caicedo Awarded Mutual Mentoring Grant for 2019-20
Ana Caicedo Awarded Mutual Mentoring Grant for 2019-20
Eight teams and eight individual faculty have been selected for mutual mentoring team and micro-grants by the Office for Faculty Development. The Mutual Mentoring Team and Micro Grants encourage faculty to develop robust professional networks that support their growth as researchers, teachers and leaders in their fields. The Mutual Mentoring Micro Grants provide up to $1,500 for one year to individual faculty. Micro Grants are intended to encourage faculty to identify desirable areas for professional growth and to develop the necessary mentoring relationships to make such opportunities possible. Read more
Mine Canakci PhD dissertation defense
Mine Canakci PhD dissertation defense
Monday, April 8, 2019
9:00 AM
Life Sciences Laboratory, Room S330
Dissertation Title: “Engineering of an Antibody-Conjugated Nanogel Platform for Targeted Drug Delivery to T Lymphocytes"
Advisors: Barbara Osborne and S. Thayumanavan
UMass Amherst Graduate Programs Receive National Recognition in U.S. News & World Report Rankings
UMass Amherst Graduate Programs Receive National Recognition in U.S. News & World Report Rankings
Graduate programs in several science and social science disciplines at the University of Massachusetts Amherst rank among the best in the nation in fresh rankings featured in the 2020 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools, which was released this month. According to this list, UMass Amherst ranks 54th of Graduate Programs in Biological Sciences. Read more
Alexandria Wells PhD dissertation defense
Alexandria Wells PhD dissertation defense
Monday, March 18, 2019
10:00 AM
Life Sciences Laboratory, Room S330/340
Dissertation Title: “Let-7 miRNAs program the fate of CD8 T cells"
Advisor: Leonid Pobezinsky
Jiménez Gets Five-Year NSF CAREER Grant to Study Blood Flow and Arterial Stents
Jiménez Gets Five-Year NSF CAREER Grant to Study Blood Flow and Arterial Stents
Juan M. Jiménez, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, has received a five-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study how blood flows around artificial stents in coronary arteries affects the cells that line the arteries and directs how they heal. The grant is from the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program. Jiménez says his research project is focused on heart disease, the leading cause of death globally and in the U.S. Read more
Gierasch Honored with Merrifeld Award
Gierasch Honored with Merrifeld Award
In the latest of her many career honors, Lila Gierasch, Distinguished Professor of chemistry and biochemistry and molecular biology, was recently recognized for her “outstanding contributions to peptide science” by the American Peptide Society (APS). She will formally receive its lifetime achievement honor, the Merrifield Award, at a ceremony at the society’s annual meeting in Monterey, California, in June. Marcey Waters, president of the APS, wrote to Gierasch,“The society is excited to recognize you for your research accomplishments, and we also appreciate your service to the society as former editor of Peptide Science.” Gierasch will present a lecture at the annual meeting and will receive a $25,000 honorarium. Read more
Goldner and Ross Among Faculty Named Chancellor Leadership Fellows for 2019
Goldner and Ross Among Faculty Named Chancellor Leadership Fellows for 2019
Six faculty have been awarded Chancellor’s Leadership Fellowships for 2019, according to John McCarthy, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and Anna Branch, associate chancellor for equity and inclusion. Lori Goldner, professor of physics, is working with McCarthy in academic affairs. Two fellows, Melissa Wooten, associate professor of sociology and Linda Tropp, professor of social psychology, are working with associate chancellor Anna Branch in the office of equity and inclusion. Jennifer Ross, professor of physics, Angela de Oliveira, associate professor of resource economics and Karen Helfer, chair and professor of communication disorders, will work with Michelle Budig, vice provost for faculty development in the office of faculty development. Read more
Study Explores the Role of Citrus Peel in Reducing Gut Inflammation
Study Explores the Role of Citrus Peel in Reducing Gut Inflammation
University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor Hang Xiao, Clydesdale Scholar of Food Science, has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how substances produced in the gut from citrus compounds are involved in decreasing inflammation in the colon. The ultimate goal of his research is to develop diet-based strategies to prevent and treat inflammation in the colon and associated diseases, such as irritable bowel disease and colorectal cancer. Read more