Past News & Announcements

News from the Holden Research Laboratory

August 2012: James Holden and a team of researchers recently provided the first detailed report on methane-exhaling microbes that live deep in the cracks of hot undersea volcanoes. The findings, which were sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Read more

Earthsky.org recently featured Jim Holden and these findings in a podcast, Earth Sky 22: Planets, Perseids, and the waning crescent moon.

May 2012: James Holden, Associate Professor of Microbiology, has received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This three-year research award will focus on "Functional Dynamics, Interactions and Biogeochemical Impact of Chemolithoautotrophic Subseafloor Microbial Ecosystems at Axial Seamount, a Mid-Ocean Ridge Cabled Observatory."

Research Featured as Cover Article of Eukaryotic Cell

July 2012: The research of Michele Klingbeil, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Jeniffer Concepción, Microbiology Ph.D. candidate, and a team of researchers is currently being featured as the cover article of Eukaryotic Cell. Important research findings by Ms. Concepción led to reporting the first detailed characterization of the way key proteins in the model parasite Trypanosoma brucei organize to replicate its mitochondrial DNA (mdDNA). These advances could lead to new methods of fighting parasitic diseases. Read more

Faculty Promotions

June 2012: Effective September 1, 2012, Dr. Wilmore Webley has been awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, Dr. John Burand has been promoted to Professor and Dr. Kelly Nevin has been promoted to the rank of Research Associate Professor.

Academic Achievements

April 2012: Congraulations to Benjamin Waldman, '13, who was recently named a Goldwater Scholar. The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in 1986 and honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater. The program is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.

May 2012: Two members of the Microbiology Class of 2012, Tara Mahendrarajah and Christopher Roy, have been named 21st Century Leaders for their far-ranging achievements, initiative and social awareness. In 2011 Ms. Mahendrarajah was also awarded the Goldwater Scholarship for Excellence in Education. Mr. Roy helped form Bacteriotix which led to him and a team of researchers winning $30,000 in the Isenberg School of Management's Innovation Challenge.

Sequencing Grant Awarded

Kristen DeAngelis, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, was awarded a grant through the Community Sequencing Program at the Joint Genome Institute. Kristen DeAngelis and her collaborators, Jeff Blanchard (UMass Microbiology) and Tanja Woyke (Joint Genome Institute), were awarded the grant based on their proposal "Microbial ecology and genomics of carbon-storing bacteria in rhizosphere soils." The award includes sequencing of soil communities, multiple soil metagenomes and single-cell genome sequencing.