News & Announcements
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
Christina Arther
Friday, March 20, 2020
2:00 PM
Zoom Web Link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/186474510
Thesis Title: Origin of gene specificity in the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis
Nine Plant Biology Graduate Students Awarded Spring 2020 Lotta M. Crabtree Fellowships
Nine Plant Biology Graduate Students Awarded Spring 2020 Lotta M. Crabtree Fellowships
Plant Biology Graduate Students Stravoula Fili, Harry Klein, Ian McCahill, Rebecca Brennan, Jedaidah Chilufya, Rachael Bernstein, Ayousha Shahi, Xiang Li, and Antonia Gray have been awarded Lotta M. Crabtree Fellowships to support their reseasrch this spring 2020. The Lotta M. Crabtree Fellowship is awarded on a competitive basis.
Miriam Hernandez-Romero Receives Travel Grants from the Mexican Society of Biochemistry and UMass Amherst Spaulding-Smith for the XVIII National Congress of Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Merida Yucatan
Miriam Hernandez-Romero Receives Travel Grants from the Mexican Society of Biochemistry and UMass Amherst Spaulding-Smith for the XVIII National Congress of Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Merida Yucatan
- Miriam was one of 25 students selected to give a Lightning Talk
- Miriam was awarded 'honorable mention' for best poster
Miriam reports:
I feel fortunate to have attended the 22nd National Congress of Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology which took place in Merida, Yucatan. For the first time, the American Society of Plant Biologists joined in on this meeting to promote and strengthen research collaborations between Mexico and the US. This goal resonated with me deeply and I knew I couldn’t miss this conference. (Being in a warm tropical climate had nothing to do with my attendance.).
The four days were packed with plenary talks by researchers from Cornell, Stanford, University of Michigan, including familiar names that have held PB program seminars. The topics were quite diverse, and there were definitely sessions/talks for every discipline. A striking difference about research in Mexico, is the prominence of working directly with crop plants, not model systems. Much of the genetic and breeding work is done on maize, wheat, common bean, rice, etc., and some uncommon work that stood out to me was focused on improving the cultivation of agave and date palm in Mexico.
I was selected to give a lightning talk, a short oral presentation geared toward garnering interest in my poster, to this end, I was pleasantly surprised to get an ‘honorable mention’ for best poster. Overall, it was a privilege to connect with new students and professors whose passion for research and genuine kindness was unmatched, and I was grateful for the chance to reconnect with old friends and familiar faces. As if that wasn’t enough, it was a treat to see professors that we’ve invited to give seminars at UMass. Amherst, and dance Salsa at the social events (I won’t name any names).
Merida is a very special place, and for those interested in visiting Yucatan, I have a very long list of activities to do, including visiting Mayan ruins and thriving Mayan villages, eating way more conchinita pibil and poc chuc than I could handle, and birding, (yes, birding). Even those with no Spanish speaking ability, whatsoever, will have no problem attending this conference and I guarantee it will be like no other (and it happens every two years!)
Bioinformatics Training Hosted by Members of Li-Jun Ma's Lab and the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department
Bioinformatics Training Hosted by Members of Li-Jun Ma's Lab and the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department
Members of Professor Li-Jun Ma’s lab and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will be hosting a Bioinformatics Training. The training will be comprised of 4 sections, running November 7th through December 5th, 2019. Each section will be held on a Thursday, from 6-7pm, in LSL N415. Each of the 4 sections will cover a different topic including:
Section 1: Linux introduction and data quality control
Section 2: RNA-seq data analysis
Section 3: Functional DEGs analysis
Section 4: IGV visualization
Registration is due Monday, November 4th, 2019.
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
Sam Glaze-Corcoran
Monday, November 25, 2019
9:00 AM
Location: 107 Fernald Hall
Thesis Title: Developing alternative forage production strategies for environmental and economic resiliency on New England dairy farms
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
Rakesh Kumar
Friday, November 15, 2019
12:00 PM
Location: LSL N610
Thesis Title: Tracking a long distance iron deficiency signal
Biology and Art: The UMCA launches a collaboration with the Natural History Collections in October
Biology and Art: The UMCA launches a collaboration with the Natural History Collections in October
One of the exciting happenings on the UMass Amherst campus this fall is a seed of something huge to come: an innovative collaboration between the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) and the Natural History Collections. The pilot project for this partnership, ongoing through 2020/21, is Fielding, a show by guest artist Emily Tareila ’19G (MFA), mounted in pop-up fashion in Morrill Science Center. In a time of global environmental shifts, the methodical catalog of species that natural history collections furnish is a particularly valuable resource. “The collections are the foundation of a lot of biological research, documenting and recording life on earth, for scientists to study in terms of what has happened, and what’s coming,” says Assistant Professor of Biology, Madelaine Bartlett. “We have a legacy of herbarium records that can now be used to track the impact of climate change.” Read more
Ana Caicedo and Jacob Barnett's Tomato Research Featured in: Vegetable Growers News
Ana Caicedo and Jacob Barnett's Tomato Research Featured in: Vegetable Growers News
Professor Ana Caicedo and OEB PhD student Jacob Barnett are studying the evolution of wild tomatoes in an effort to create plants that are disease and pest resistant and also have good flavor and appearance. Their research is being featured in a story published in the "Vegetable Growers News." Read more
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
We are pleased to announce the following PB PhD thesis defense
Mingqin Chang
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
10:00 AM
Location: Morrill Science Center II, Room 222
Thesis Title: Isoform Specialization Among the Sec23 Gene Family Has Significant Consequences For Growth
Announcing the Inauguration of the On-Ramp Summer Pre-graduate Program
Announcing the Inauguration of the On-Ramp Summer Pre-graduate Program
The Interdepartmental Graduate Programs in the Life Sciences (IDGPs) launched a brand-new On-Ramp program for entering students on August 1st, with 18 soon-to-be PhD students participating. The month-long On-Ramp program is designed to facilitate the transition to graduate school by providing mentoring and professional development opportunities prior to the start of fall classes. Participants have the opportunity to work closely with a faculty member and current graduate students in a laboratory or in the field on research. In addition to hands-on training experience, On-Ramp students participate in lab meetings, journal clubs, and professional development workshops. On-Ramp students are paired with a graduate student peer mentor and join current students for social and programmatic events. There has been enthusiastic support for On-Ramp from all four IDGP graduate programs (MCB, NSB, OEB, and PB). We hope the On-Ramp Summer Research Program becomes a permanent part of the IDGP graduate experience at UMass.
Molecular and Cellular Biology Program
Neuroscience and Behavior Program
Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program
Plant Biology Program