MGI’s Dohun Pyeon spoke with WOOD Radio about his team’s discovery of how HPV-related cancers evade the immune system—and how to reveal them—opening doors to new treatments. Listen here: tinyurl.com/9wsceryc

Congratulations to MGI Graduate Student Bryce Waller for receiving an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Bryce works in Greg Bonito's lab developing sustainable biomaterials using fungi.

Adam Kibiloski, an MGI graduate student in Rob Abramovitch's Lab, is working to better understand how Mycobacterium tuberculosis metabolism changes in acidic environments such as those found in the human body.

MGI graduate student Emily Perez, of the Crosson Lab, is studying how bacteria sense and respond to the world around them because these attributes can be used to control their growth. It is especially important for animal and human pathogens such as the one she studies, Brucella.

MGI Assistant Professor Scott Sherrill-Mix has been creating videos for the American Society for Microbiology helping to explain basic statistics concepts. Here's part 1 about using Contingency Tables. asm.org/videos/decod... Great work, Dr. Sherrill-Mix!

Congratulations to MGI alum, Dr. Sergio Hernandez-Ortiz! His final paper from his PhD thesis research made the cover of the Journal of Bacteriology. Dr. Hernandez-Ortiz is now doing postdoctoral work at Duke University where he's studying halophilic archaea. journals.asm.org/journal/jb

Copper mining waste called "stamp sands" has contaminated soils along Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula for over a century — and yet quaking aspen trees are still growing there. Mashal Copperman is an MGI graduate student in the Lebeis Lab investigating how this works.

MGI's @waterslab.bsky.social hosted a booth at the MSU Science Festival! They made art using fluorescent E. coli - In the lab, they use the fluorescent proteins as tracers for cellular sorting and imaging. But as postdoc @micahferrell.bsky.social said, "Sometimes we just want to have fun with them!"

So proud of our undergraduates who presented their research at the MGI Undergraduate Research Showcase yesterday. Loved seeing student and faculty deep in conversation about their work.

Satya Kulkarni is a MGI DVM-PhD dual-degree student in the Contag and Hardy labs. He engineers bacteria that live inside mammalian cells as quasiorganelles, or organelle-like structures, that can change the way those cells behave.

MGI's Rudolph Hugh Endowed Professor Sean Crosson gave a talk at this weekend's "Classes Without Quizzes" event entitled "Many Microbes, One Health: Bacteria at the interface of animal, plant, and human health." Read more about the event here: natsci.msu.edu/alumni-frien...

Soil is full of bacteria—some help plants stay healthy, and others can cause disease. In his research, MGI grad student Alex Demetros of the Lebeis Lab is studying how a beneficial bacterium can protect plants from a harmful one.

Last week, we came together to celebrate the extraordinary impact and legacy of Dr. Vilma Yuzbasiyan-Gurkan. Thank you to the colleagues and former students who shared reflections, research, and memories in her honor.

Congratulations to MGI graduate student Ira Zibbu @coolscootre.bsky.social of the Barrick Lab on winning the Graduate Student Excellence Award from the SMBE @official-smbe.bsky.social

At this weekend’s MI branch ASM meeting, MGI students earned top honors—4 first-place awards! Congrats to Maddy Quinlan and Jeannette Farnham (oral & poster presentations) and to Drew Johnson and Marissa Malleck (undergrad poster awards). 🎉

Congratulations to MGI Professor Dohun Pyeon on his election as a 2025 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science! Dr. Pyeon was recognized for his research in human papillomavirus and associated cancers. tinyurl.com/yc3x65yz

MGI graduate student James Zieba of the Sherrill‑Mix Lab is developing new veterinary clinical assays inspired by the rapid testing innovations that emerged during the 2020 COVID pandemic.

MGI postdoctoral researcher Dr. Aathmaja Anandhi Rangarajan @aathmaja.bsky.social will be presenting a talk to Biology on Tap on April 2nd entitled "Swim Alone or Stick Together: How Bacteria Decide Their Lifestyle." Join her at 7 pm on 4/2 at the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy!

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

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.

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. Meghan Milbrath of MSU's dept. of entomology. She spoke about bacterial brood diseases in honey bees. Thank you, Dr. Milbrath!

MGI Professor Christoph Adami (@chrisadami.bsky.social) 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

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

Happy Birthday, Long-Term Evolution Experiment!!!

Happy 38th birthday to the #LTEE! #BOTD in 1988. Keep on evolving! #science #evolution #microbiology

This week's MGI seminar was a promotion seminar given by Dr. Kaz Kashefi. His talk was entitled, "Life at the Limits: Extremophiles as a Gateway to Student-Drive Scientific Discovery." Thank you for a great talk, Dr. Kashefi!

Sydney Chen, an MGI graduate student in the Lebeis Lab, gave the second Work in Progress seminar this week. Her research explores how a plant’s immune system shapes the tiny microbial communities that live inside its roots.

Han Wen is an MGI doctoral candidate in Dr. Zhiyong Xi's lab who gave one of this week's Work in Progress seminars. Wen discussed his work establishing a line of Wolbachia-infected Anopheles stephensi, a type of mosquito.

This week's MGI Research Seminar was given - virtually, no less - by Dr. Jannell Bazurto of the Univ. of Minnesota. She spoke about "Formaldehyde Homeostasis: Do or Die." Thank you for a fantastic talk!

MGI Asst Prof Zachary Blount @zdblount.bsky.social is giving a talk in celebration of Darwin Day TONIGHT at 7 pm called "Today’s Junk, Tomorrow’s Triumph: Lessons on Evolutionary Contingency, Inertia, and Innovation from the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with E. coli."

Kasumi Nakagawa is a visiting researcher in the Rowe Lab @electromicrowe.bsky.social who gave a Work in Progress seminar this week. Nakagawa studies electricity-producing bacteria derived from traditional Japanese indigo (Aizome) vats.

Pranesh Rao, an MGI doctoral student in the Barrick Lab, presented a Work in Progress seminar today. Rao's project aims to study the long-term E. coli evolution experiment to link specific DNA changes to how well bacteria grow.

BPS is a winter wonderland today!

Abdul-Halim Osman of the Giri Lab at Henry Ford Health is studying how phenylalanine and gut microbes shape immune responses that ultimately affect the brain in diseases like multiple sclerosis. He presented his work at this week's Work in Progress Seminar.

MGI grad student Chris Chavtur (@crchavtur97.bsky.social) of the Rowe Lab (@electromicrowe.bsky.social) gave one of this week's Work in Progress seminars.

MGI graduate student Ira Zibbu of the Barrick Lab will be speaking tonight at Biology on Tap. The talk is open to the public - see details below!

MGI PhD students Camille Boucaud & Briana Tell of the Heath-Heckman lab (@drheathheckman.bsky.social) recently presented research posters at the SICB conference in Portland, OR. Boucaud's attendance was made possible in part by the SICB Charlotte Magnum Travel Award she received. Great work!

Congratulations to Josh Lensmire, this year's recipient of the MGI Early Career Award! Yesterday, he delivered a wonderful research seminar, and today he is giving a seminar entitled "Beyond the PhD" about careers in industry.

Today's Work in Progress seminars were given by Maria Guzman of the Reguera Lab (@microgem.bsky.social) and Sarah Gonzalez Henao of the Schrenk Lab. Join us each Monday at noon in 1425 BPS to hear our grad students talk about their research!

Next up in our Micro Biography series is Bobby Zuniga, MGI's first graduate student working in a lab at @henryfordhealth.bsky.social! Read about Bobby and his research here: mgi.natsci.msu.edu/people/micro...

New pre-print from the lab! Lead by Mariia Mikhova and in collaboration with Kefei Yu’s lab @msumgi.bsky.social we dug into the molecular mechanism of class switch recombination in B cells using simultaneous RNA and protein single-molecule imaging. 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Join us for our latest "Moment of Science" with MGI undergrad Drew Johnson of the Waters Lab. Here he shows us how to culture cholera in a low-tech lab environment.

Vaughn Cooper’s new Scientific American article offers a clear look at the potential threats posed by mirror‑life. He trained with MGI's Rich Lenski @relenski.bsky.social, whose contributions to the field are referenced in the piece. Important context for a complex topic.

This week's MGI Research Seminar by given by our very own Aretha Fiebig. Her talk, entitled "Microbial Physiology in an Ecosystem Context," was delivered to a standing-room-only crowd.

Thank you to Dr. Kevin Theis of Wayne State University for delivering today's MGI Research Seminar. His talk was entitled "The hologenomics of reproduction."

Today we kicked off our Work in Progress Seminars for the spring semester with an excellent talk by Dr. Zack D. Blount (@zdblount.bsky.social). He led a terrific discussion about the morality of science and knowing when you should do something vs. knowing that you can.

Welcome back, students, and happy spring semester! We missed you!