Past News & Announcements

Are You a Valley Microbe?

December 2015: The Pioneer Valley Microbiology Symposium will be held on Friday, January 15, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. in the Integrated Sciences Building at UMass Amherst. Come and present your research to the microbial community in the Valley! The deadline for abstracts is October 30. The Symposium is cosponsored by the UMass College of Natural Sciences and Departments of Biology, Food Science, Microbiology, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Veterinary & Animal Sciences; Smith College; Mt. Holyoke College; NE Biolabs; Illumina; Thermo Fisher Scientific and the American Society for Microbiology. Read more...

DeAngelis Discovers New Species of Bacteria

November 2015: Kristen DeAngelis and former Microbiology graduate student, Andrew Billings, discovered and characterized a new species of Tolumonas, named Tolumonas lignolytica sp. nov. Also the type strain for this new species, this bacteria is of interest due to its ability to degrade lignin under anaerobic conditions. Research into this and other related strains is ongiong to improve the efficiency of lignocelulosic biofuels in collaboration with the Joint BioEnergy Institute and the Department of Energy. The findings were recently reported in Standards in Genomic Sciences.

Inauguration Speech of UMass President Martin Meehan Features Wilmore Webley

November 2015: On November 12, Martin T. Meehan was inaugurated as President of the University of Massachusetts. During his inaugural speech, President Meehan made reference to Microbiology Professor and Director of Pre-Medical advising, Wilmore Webley. Watch the video...

Stewart Receives Rutherford Foundation Trust Post-Doctoral Fellowship

November 2015: Lucy Stewart, Ph.D., a graduate of the UMass Microbiology Ph.D. program was recently awarded the prestigious Rutherford Foundation Trust Post-Doctoral Fellowship by the Royal Society of New Zealand. The Trust aims to develop the skills of New Zealand’s most promising young researchers by providing them with early career support. Read more...

Massachusetts Towns Support UMass Amherst Tick Testing Program

November 2015: The Laboratory of Medical Zoology (LMZ) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is partnering with a group of Massachusetts towns to offer tick testing services at a cost of $30 per tick to the town. Under this co-pay model of tick testing, 100 residents from each of the participating towns will pay a co-pay of $10-$15 per test. Participating towns include all of Barnstable County along with six towns from Franklin County: Charlemont, Conway, Hawley, Heath, Leyden and Shelburne. In June a one-time state subsidy ended which paid for 100 ticks being tested from each of 32 participating towns. Read more...

5th Annual Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium

October 2015: On Friday, November 20th, the 5th Annual Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in room 610 of the Life Sciences Laboratory. The symposium will feature student talks, a poster session and awards. Read more...

Xu and Rich Discover New Genus and Two Species of Beetles

October 2015: Zootaxa recently reported on the discovery made by Microbiology faculty members, Guang Xu and Stephen Rich, of a new genus and two new species of beetles. Read more...

Tovar Recipient American Society for Microbiology Award

October 2015: Recent Microbiology graduate, Dorothy Tovar, has been selected as a 2015 award recipient of the American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Research Capstone Program. The capstone program's goal is to fulfill the later stages of undergraduate professional development for underrepresented minority students. The awardees must demonstrate superior research project involvement and knowledge, commitment to research, and academic achievement. Dr. Wilmore Webley mentored Ms. Tovar on her research project, "Delta-Tocotrienol Reduces Susceptibility to Chlamydial Infection in Macrophages and Lung Epithelial Cells." Read more...

Lovley Among "World's Leading Scientific Minds"

September 2015: Derek Lovley, Distinguished University Professor, was one of seven faculty members from the College of Natural Sciences at UMass identified by Thomson Reuters as Highly Cited Researchers for 2015 for authoring publications that are among the most influential in their fields. Thomson Reuters compilers sought to identify "some of the best and brightest scientific minds of our time." The other CNS researchers from CNS were food scientists Eric Decker and David Julian McClements, chemist Vincent Rotello, polymer scientist Thomas Russell, soil chemist Baoshan Xing of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture and astronomer Mauro Giavaliso.

New Microbiology Department Head

September 2015: Steven Sandler has been named Microbiology Department Head effective September 1, 2015.

Lopes Named Associate Dean

September 2015: John Lopes, former Microbiology Department Head, has been named Associate Dean for Operations and Graduate Programs in the College of Natural Sciences effective September 1, 2015. He served as Microbiology Department Head from September 1, 2007 - August 31, 2015.

Researchers to Examine Hydrothermal Venting of Recent Volcanic Eruption

August 2015: Professor James Holden and Ph.D. student Begum Topcuoglu will examine the aftermath of an April 2015 volcanic eruption on Axial Seamount and its hydrothermal venting in the Pacific Ocean August 14-29. The cruise will use the research submarines Jason II and Sentry to map and sample the eruption site at a depth of 1500 m. Details and daily updates can be found at axial2015.blogspot.com. The expedition is funded by grants from theNational Science Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.