MGI Professor Jeff Barrick was invested with his Hannah Professorship yesterday. Congratulations, Dr. Barrick! Read more about him and his research here: tinyurl.com/2s36k7nd

MGI Professors have some fantastic hobbies. Prof. Chris Adami will be singing at the Wharton Center this weekend!

We've had several fantastic seminars recently from our very MGI faculty. Two weeks ago, Prof. Chris Waters (left images) spoke, and yesterday, Assoc. Prof. Rob Quinn presented. Thank you, both, for your terrific seminars.

Today's WiPS speakers were Emma Bush of the Zhang Lab and Roksana Riddle of the Contag Lab. Great work! Please join us every Mon from noon - 1 pm in 1425 BPS to hear our grad students tell us about their current research.

Congratulations to MGI PhD student Bassel Abdalla of the Abramovitch Lab who won the Best Oral Presentation Award at last week's Integrated Pharmacological Sciences Training Program Retreat.

Congratulations to Dr. Sergio Hernandez-Ortiz, MGI's newest PhD graduate!

Next up in our Micro Biography series is Alex Wessel, an MGI doctoral student in Chris Waters' Lab. Learn about him & his research right here: tinyurl.com/4kjth4cj

MGI Asst. Prof. Phillip Delekta was recently featured on the Crowdmark Sessions podcast (Episode #5) discussing the challenges of conducting assessments in large classes. Check it out here: crowdmark.com/crowdmark-se...

Today's WiPS presentations were given by Bobby Zuñiga of the Mi Lab and Danielle Gregory of the Manning Lab. Great work! Join us every Monday @ noon in 1425 BPS to hear our students present their Work in Progress Seminars.

What a weekend at the 1st Great Lakes Plant Science Conference! 🪴 MGI Assoc Prof Sarah Lebeis delivered the keynote address, and her doctoral student, Mashal Copperman, earned second place in the poster presentations. 👏Kudos to them both! #GPLSC2025

Congratulations to Dr. Megan Korne, MGI's newest PhD graduate!

This week's WiPS presentations were given by Michael Wischer of the Olive Lab and Kendall Mara of the Dodd/Mani Lab. Thank you for the terrific talks! Join us every Mon @ noon in 1425 BPS to hear our students present their Work in Progress Seminars.

This summer, Sydney Chen and Imani Pascoe, doctoral students in Sarah Lebeis' lab, traveled to Cologne, Germany to present their research at the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. Representing the Lebeis Lab and MGI with excellence! 🦠🌱

Today, Dr. Zack Blount kicked off this semester's Works in Progress Seminar series with a talk about Jacques Monod entitled "The Paragon - Jacques Monod as Scientist, Hero, and Philosopher." Join us each Mon., 12 - 1 pm in 1425 BPS to hear our grad students discuss their work.

Next up in our MGI Micro Biography series is Joel Marty, a PhD student in Norbert Kaminski's lab. Read more about Joel's research and path to MGI here: tinyurl.com/2s4j33tu

On Tuesday, we kicked off our MGI Research Seminar Series with a talk by MGI Professor & Associate Chair Kefei Yu. Thank you for a fantastic talk!

Yesterday, we kicked off our MGI Research Seminar Series with a talk by MGI Professor & Associate Chair Kefei Yu. Thank you for a fantastic talk!

MGI's Research Seminar series kicks off next week with our very own Dr. Kefei Yu, MGI Professor and Associate Chair. Join us on Tues, August 26 from noon - 1 PM in 1425 BPS!

Congratulations to Dr. Marcela Tabares, MGI's newest PhD graduate!

This summer, MGI hosted 21 Brazilian doctors for a weeklong Molecular Mycology Workshop. The event marked the continuation of a decades-long collaboration between MSU and the ISMD, a medical training and diagnostics institute based in Brazil. 🔗https://tinyurl.com/4r6z9dms

MGI is thrilled to welcome back Jeff Barrick as a Hannah Distinguished Professor. His arrival is not only a personal homecoming, but also the return of one of the most influential experiments in evolutionary biology: the Long-Term Evolution Experiment. #LTEE 🔗https://tinyurl.com/2s36k7nd

Next up in our MGI Micro Biography series is Heather Murdoch, a doctoral student in Rob Abramovitch's (@abramovitch.bsky.social) lab. Read more about Heather and her research here: tinyurl.com/32t8rddn

Congratulations to Dr. Tom Kim, MGI's newest PhD graduate!

Dr. Amit Meir (@amitmhbh.bsky.social) is coming from the @uofglasgow.bsky.social to give an MGI Research Seminar on Mon., Aug. 4th. She'll be talking about "A fish (virus) out of clade: structural insights into herpesvirus evolution." Join us! 11 am - noon, 1425 BPS.

If you went back 500 million years and re-ran evolution, would life be totally different today? MGI's Rich Lenski (@relenski.bsky.social) and Zack Blount (@zdblount.bsky.social) weigh in via this @vox.com podcast 12 tiny worlds: megaphone.link/VMP6403302711

MGI's Elizabeth Heath-Heckman (@drheathheckman.bsky.social) recently authored a @pnas.org commentary highlighting new research which reveals that Hydroides elegans—a marine tubeworm—relies on the immune signaling protein MyD88 to undergo metamorphosis in response to bacterial cues.

MGI's Dohun Pyeon (@dpyeon.bsky.social) is the PI on a new $3M grant to study HPV-positive head and neck cancers. The research is supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. 🔗https://tinyurl.com/yjem9ae8

From the Red Cedar to Kāne‘ohe Bay, MSU, Duke, and Hawaiʻi researchers - including MGI's Rob Quinn and Sarah VanDiepenbos - have discovered that corals can pass heat resistance to their offspring—offering new hope for reef survival in a warming world. 🔗https://tinyurl.com/3s45zfmx

Congratulations to MGI Asst Prof Phillip C. Delekta on being named a 2025 Lilly Teaching Fellow, a prestigious honor that recognizes his commitment to excellence in undergraduate education! Read more here: tinyurl.com/y7cnakub

MGI researchers have uncovered hidden enzyme redundancy in S. aureus, revealing new potential targets for antibiotics. Their findings could help combat drug-resistant infections like MRSA. Published in @mbio.bsky.app and supported by the NIH. Read more: tinyurl.com/3s689wsh

Next up in our MGI Micro Biography series is Kendall Mara, a doctoral student in the Dodd Lab. Read more about Kendall and her research here: tinyurl.com/y2r6h92b

MGI Prof Emeritus James Tiedje published new research spanning 14 yrs and > 4000 manure samples. The takeaway? Livestock waste is a major reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes - some of which can potentially transfer to bacteria that infect humans. Read more here: tinyurl.com/4mskr2bf

Congratulations to MGI's newest graduate, Dr. Manos Kokarakis! His dissertation is entitled, "AHL Quorum Sensing Systems Utilization in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942."

Dr. Aathmaja Rangarajan, an MGI postdoctoral researcher in the Waters Lab, shares highlights of her first trip to ASM Microbe last week. The trip was supported by the ASM Peggy Cotter Travel Award. Read more here: tinyurl.com/rwdmcnm

Team MGI had a blast cheering on the Lansing Lugnuts as they took down the Dayton Dragons last night! Bonus highlight: Victor DiRita got to meet the one and only Big Lug!

MGI assoc prof Matt Schrenk and grad student Sarah Gonzalez are studying microbial biofilms in extreme Earth environments to unlock clues about life on Mars! Their work in Costa Rica’s high-pH springs could inform missions in the search for extraterrestrial life. Read more: tinyurl.com/yc4zjrwc

MGI's Ned Walker, an MSU University Distinguished Professor, gave a keynote address at the 9th #APLMA conference in Bali (June 16), addressing malaria vector control. Leaders from 13 Asia-Pacific nations & global health orgs gathered to tackle progress & persistent challenges. #malaria

Today we welcomed a special guest at MGI—Dr. Terry Dardas, an alum who earned his MS ('64), PhD ('67), and MD ('69) from MSU! 🎓🧬 MGI doctoral student Tom Kim gave Dr. Dardas and his family a tour, and they met with our chair, Dr. Vic DiRita.

Next up in the MGI micro biography series is Rosemary Northcote, a doctoral student in the Crosson Lab. Read more about Rosemary and her research here: tinyurl.com/edn3brdv

Congratulations to MGI doctoral student Vanessa Estrada on being selected for a Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship from the Lupus Foundation of America!

MGI associate professor Jonathan Hardy and recent MSU human biology graduate Djeneba Diallo went out to Eisenhower Elementary in Flint, MI to introduce sixth-graders to the world of microbiology! Read more here: tinyurl.com/mr3ab7zu

A group of MSU researchers is working to understand how certain bacteria produce an iconic neurotoxin known as tetrodotoxin. What does that have to do with these adorable newts? Read the article to find out: tinyurl.com/y9r8vppk

Next up in our Micro Biography series is Camille Boucaud, an MGI doctoral student in the Heath-Heckman Lab. Read about Camille here: tinyurl.com/mwdjwttu

🎓Congratulations MGI Class of 2025! 🎓 We are so proud of all of our Undergraduate, Masters, and PhD graduates. Here's to new beginnings and a lifetime of possibilities! We know you are going to do great things.

33 exceptional students were recognized at the 2025 MGI Awards Ceremony on April 22. The event was made possible thanks to the generous donors who endowed these awards. Thank you! Read more here: tinyurl.com/mbc6m7mp

Congratulations to MGI's newest graduate, Dr. Morgen Clark! Clark successfully defended her dissertation research, entitled "Adaptive mechanisms for metal detoxification by electroactive bacteria." Her work was done in the Reguera Lab (@microgem.bsky.social).

Congratulations to MSU MGI doctoral student Jared Godfrey on being awarded a John A. Penner Fellowship in Hematology, Thrombosis, and Inflammation from the College of Natural Science. Godfrey works in Andrew Olive's lab.

Congratulations to Dr. Troy Burtchett on his successful defense! His dissertation, entitled "The intersection of cell envelope maintenance and metabolic versatility in Staphylococcus aureus," was completed in Neal Hammer's lab.

MGI Professor Chris Adami delivered the Science & Cocktails address in Copenhagen last month, and the talk is now available on YouTube. Check it out!

Two MSU MGI doctoral students, Danielle Gregory and Kyleen Hall of the Manning Lab, have been awarded prestigious APHL-CDC (@aphl.org) fellowships. Congratulations! Read about their research here: tinyurl.com/yrr89vvk