The lab is looking for a postdoc with experience in bacterial genetic engineering or synthetic biology! You’ll be developing genetic tools for freshwater Actinobacteria, related to the light project. Please apply here or contact Julie for more information.
MO1 L_05 Micrograph
Don’t worry everyone, I haven’t broken anything (yet).
The Actinobacteria are growing respectably once again. I’m extracting DNA from these pellets so Janae can do some cloning, but the next experiment will be co-cultivation with Synechocystis.
This is Bacillus sp. S4, which makes antifungal compounds. Lab PhD alum Mengyin Yao isolated it, and Sarah Yannarell showed that it had antifungal activity. Next steps: a little further characterization of the antifungal compound in Nicole Donofrio’s lab, and genome sequencing!
This summer, we welcomed Hannah Tompkins a student at Whitworth University. She was a wonderful addition and we wish her all the best in her future work!
Hannah is currently completing a dual degree in Physics at Whitworth University and Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. This summer she worked as an intern to quantify how bacteria isolated from concrete induce precipitation of calcium carbonate for the application of bio-repair of concrete. Her work included assessing the growth of such bacteria in conditions of low water availability to determine their viability for bio-repair in the harsh environment of concrete. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, shopping at Trader Joe’s, and convincing people to wear Hawaiian shirts on Fridays.
Congratulations to Priscilla and Anders who passed their candidacy exams in May and June. Priscilla is a PhD candidate in Bioinformatics & Systems Biology and Anders is a PhD candidate in Molecular Biology & Genetics.
Congratulations to Archana, who graduated with her M.S. in Biology!
Maresca lab members attended The 2019 University of Delaware Civil and Environmental Engineering External Advisory Council Meeting. Anders presented a poster, “Detection of Alkali-silica Reaction in Concrete with Microbial Bioindicators” and Emma presented a poster, “Physical and Biological Two-Step Degradation of Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Substances”.
Congratulations to Priscilla and Anders who have won University of Delaware Office of Graduate and Professional Education Professional Development Awards to attend the 2019 Applied and Environmental Microbiology Gordon Research Seminar and Conference in July.
Emma presented her poster, “Potential for Degradation of Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Substances” at the 2019 Human and Climate Series II: Future of Water in the Mid-Atlantic: Agriculture, Restoration and Technology Symposium at Stroud Water Research Center in Avondale, PA.
UD DENIN and Stroud Water Research Center in Avondale, Pennsylvania joined together for an all day symposium titled “Future of Water in the Mid-Atlantic: Agriculture, Restoration and Technology” on March 22, 2019.
An article was published in UDaily on our recent work in light-enhanced bacterial growth. Click below for the full article!
UD researcher Julia Maresca studies how bacteria in freshwater environments respond to light. Article by Julie Stewart | Photo by Evan Krape | Photo illustration by Joy Smoker
Maresca Lab attended the 2019 DENIN Environmental Symposium. Emma presented a poster, “Potential for Degradation of Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Substances” and Priscilla gave a talk, “Cryptic Light-Enhanced Growth in Heterotrophic Actinobacteria”.
The annual DENIN Graduate Student Symposium for 2019 took place in the ISE Lab on Thursday, March 7th and featured several brief talks and a judged poster session. – (Evan Krape / University of Delaware)
Pictured: Priscilla Hempel
