Biology at UMass Boston

Undergraduate student Fareeha Syeda and graduate students Mhamed Bashir and Deepshe Dewett from the Rister lab presented research at the 64th Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Chicago. Great job, everyone!

Ph.D. student Melba Torres is holding a great black-backed gull during a sampling effort conducted on Nantucket Island. Melba is part of Biology professor Nichola Hill's laboratory studying avian influenza in wild and domestic birds. Swabs and blood are collected from the birds, who then are released back into the wild.

Biology Professor Jens Rister's collaborator Rhea Datta from Hamilton College created a wonderful educational video for their Bioessays publication ‘The power of the (imperfect) palindrome: Sequence-specific roles of palindromic motifs.’

BioEssays: The power of the (imperfect) palindrome: Sequence-specific roles of palindromic motifs A palindrome reads the same forward as backward (compare top left to right). A regulatory palindrome is typically an imperfect inverted sequence repeat that ...

The Woodhams lab and collaborators describe rewilding the amphibian microbiome in preparation for reintroductions from captivity in Panama in an article published in Biological Conservation entitled, "Effects of captivity and rewilding on amphibian skin microbiomes".

Effects of captivity and rewilding on amphibian skin microbiomes Captive breeding to safeguard against extirpation in the wild is a practice for many animal groups. Animals in captivity experience reduced contact wi…

Congratulations to Emmi Kurosawa from Dr. Kesseli’s lab 🥳 She has been selected as a 2022 New England Botanical Society Graduate Student Research Award recipient for her project entitled, "How Carnivorous Are You? Seasonal changes in carnivory and prey preference among carnivorous plants of New England."

Biology Professor Jens Rister and his lab published a new paper on palindromes entitled, "The power of the (imperfect) palindrome: Sequence-specific roles of palindromic motifs in gene regulation." Congratulations to the Rister lab🥳

The power of the (imperfect) palindrome: Sequence‐specific roles of palindromic motifs in gene regulation A palindrome reads the same forward as backward (compare top left to right). A regulatory palindrome is typically an imperfect inverted sequence repeat that is bound by a transcription factor homodim...

PhD student Khanh Lam-Kamath from the Rister lab received an original piece of the Berlin wall as a finalist of the Boston edition of the ‘Falling Walls’ global interdisciplinary breakthrough idea pitch competition that was hosted by the MIT and the German consulate.

Congratulations to undergraduate student Tenley Spataro from the Rister lab who received a Travel Award from the Genetics Society of America! 😊

Congratulations, Undergraduate Travel Award winners! To promote excellence in undergraduate research and education, GSA established the Undergraduate Travel Award, which supports travel costs for undergraduate members who are presenting at and attend…

Congratulations to biology undergraduate student Alexis Perry from the Rister lab who was a recipient of the Victoria Finnerty Travel Award. The Victoria Finnerty Travel Award supports conference-attendance costs for undergraduate GSA members who are presenting research at the Annual Drosophila Research Conference. To learn more, check out the article below!

Congratulations, 2021 Victoria Finnerty Travel Award recipients! The Victoria Finnerty Travel Award supports conference-attendance costs for undergraduate GSA members who are presenting research at the Annual Drosophila Research Conference. The conference will b…

Biology Professor Stephanie Wood was recently cited in an article entitled, "Conservation success or pests? Seals spark passionate debate." She also did an interview with Mindy Todd – The Point, which is a regular show on the Cape/Islands NPR station.

The Rebound of the Seal Population The seal population in the Northwest Atlantic has rebounded thanks to the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in the 1970’s. Some are concerned

Herpetological Review publishes “Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is Widespread and Associated with Water Temperature in the Eastern United States”, with Woodhams Lab undergraduate Sydney Horan and postdoc Molly Bletz. The study found that in a survey of Eastern Newts down the east coast of the United States, Bd was highly prevalent and correlated with water temperature. Bsal was also found to be absent in the survey.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is Widespread and Associated with Water Temperature in the Eastern United States | Request PDF Request PDF | On Oct 5, 2020, Sydney Horan and others published Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is Widespread and Associated with Water Temperature in the Eastern United States | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

Yvonne Vaillancourt did a Q&A with the Cape Cod Times about her experiences at the Nantucket Field Station!

Q&A: The Nantucket Field Station's Yvonne Vaillancourt This Q&A was first published in the Spring 2020 issue of Nantucket Today   Yvonne Vaillancourt has called the University of Massachusetts-