MSU Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology

“Project Hail Mary” is a great way to explore what life on other planets could look like beyond the Marvin the Martian stereotype. @msumgi @eesmsu @msunews What 'Project Hail Mary' gets right about microbes: msunatsci.info/4lEaQtV

MGI doctoral candidate Sarah Gonzalez Henao has been selected for the NASA Early Career Collaboration Award, a competitive fellowship that supports early career scientists working in astrobiology. Congratulations and Bon voyage, Sarah! Read more here: tinyurl.com/3hahv6dx

Go Green, always. 💚

This Tuesday, Ihika Lagisetty from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center joined us to present a seminar entitled "Building the Future of Genetic Counseling." Thank you, Ihika!

This week's Work in Progress seminars were given by MGI graduate students Sole Soverina of the Olive lab and Hazel McGuffin of the Parent lab.

Understanding the factors contributing to the growth, persistence, and virulence of this bacterium is critical to unlocking effective practices to eliminate EFB from honey bee colonies around the world.

Due to its clinical presentation and challenges to grow in the lab setting, M. plutonius is severely understudied with major advances only recently having been made.

This week's Work in Progress seminars were given by MGI graduate students Kathleen Sotelo of the Barrick Lab and Jessica Hodgkins of the Milbrath Lab.

MGI Prof. Ned Walker visited Rwanda to launch a new Gates Foundation–supported project using drones, AI, & community partners to fight malaria linked to agricultural expansion. The work focuses on smarter land and water management to reduce mosquito breeding in farming areas.

This week's MGI Research Seminar was presented by Asst. Prof. @MeghanMilbrath of MSU's dept. of entomology. She spoke about bacterial brood diseases in honey bees. Thank you, Dr. Milbrath!

MGI Professor @ChristophAdami has a new article out in npj Complexity which addresses the question of whether we can use AI to promote a more cooperative society. Read more here: tinyurl.com/3cjxujmm

To recreate this process in the lab, he uses experimental evolution with synthetic gene accordions made of fluorescent proteins. This approach will allow him to identify the forces that maintain these systems and how they allow microbes to adapt to changing environments.

Tyler de Jong spoke about his work studying gene accordions—systems used by microbes to quickly change and diversify their genes by expanding and shrinking repeated DNA segments through recombination.

Ira Zibbu and Tyler de Jong are MGI graduate students working in the @barricklab . Both of them do research related to the Long-Term Evolution Experiment - and they both presented Work in Progress seminars this week.