Lab News!

The latest (and hopefully greatest) from our group.

Science, science-adjacent, and life in Minnesota.

Attending the @EntsocAmerica meeting this November? Consider attending our program symposium on #sciart and #scicomm in #entomology! So many awesome in-person and on-demand speakers on diverse topics! 2022/11/15
It is Minnesota’s favorite time of year: the state fair. We spotted a nested symbiosis! 2022/08/28
Congrats to Laura who passed her prelims today!!! 🎉🎉🎉 We now have lab tradition of wearing the onychophoran as a crown for special occasions. So proud of Laura and all her great progress. 2022/08/10
While at the Beneficial Microbes meeting in Madison, WI, we were gifted some micromalthids. Read about these wacky beetles <here>. 2022/07/14
Megan shared her latest on coinfecting Wolbachia at the Beneficial Microbes meeting in Madison, WI. 2022/07/12
Laura presented her work on parthenogenesis inducing Wolbachia at the Beneficial Microbes meeting in Madison, WI. 2022/07/12
The lab’s first publication is online! You can read more about how multiple Wolbachia infect a single insect <here> 2022/06/22
The first crosses with Laura’s new fly stocks are emerging and we have a phenotype! 2022/06/02
Welcome, new MS student Sarah Lisak! Sarah is co-advised by Bob Koch and will be using molecular approaches to quantify biocontrol of soybean gall midge. 2022/06/01
Megan’s FiSH protocol is working! Next step, confocal training. 2022/05/23
Amelia received the Exemplary Faculty Award from the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS). 2022/04/21
Laura presented her non-thesis seminar which focused on the use of insects in art across history. We all learned SO much: you can view the recording <here>. 2022/04/21
Megan presented her thesis proposal on endosymbiont niche partitioning. You can watch the recording <here>. 2022/04/16
Megan and Laura showcase their science-themed art at the UMN SciArt Exhibition. 2022/04/01
The lab’s first preprint is on BioRxiv! Megan is leading the charge on Wolbachia confections; read more <here>. 2022/03/30
Amelia is selected as the Excellence in Early Career award recipient by NCB ESA. 2022/03/22
The lab attends the NCB ESA meeting and Gloria wins an award for her presentation on gall midge predation. 2022/03/22.
Laura wins a free T-shirt. 2022/03/14
First annual lab spring cleaning, featuring Mim’s for lunch, inventory checks, and some elbow grease. 2022/03/10
Welcome, Ashlyn Anderson! Ashlyn joins us from Bemidji State/North Hennepin to work with Laura on PI-Wolbachia. 2022/03/01
Gloria presents her M.S. thesis proposal seminar. 2022/02/15
Amelia was featured on RadioBio. You can listen to the podcast <here>. 2021/12/13
Congrats, Tessa! Tessa defended her M.S. thesis on cryptic species after Amelia stepped in as interim advisor a few months ago. 2021/12/09
Laura presented her Ph.D. thesis proposal seminar. 2021/11/16
Laura and Gloria attended ESA 2021 and gave excellent talks on their research! 2021/11/02
Amelia was selected as the SysEB awardee for this year’s ESA early career standout symposium. 2021/11/01
Finally, a lab group photo! L->R: Megan, Hailey (Aukema Lab adoptee), Laura, Tina (Koch Lab adoptee), Amelia, Gloria. 2021/10/28
Welcome, new grad student Megan Jones! She is joining us with an Excellence in Entomology Fellowship to work on mechanisms of Wolbachia infection. 2021/09/07
Discovery of Edward (Scissorhands) 2021/07/22
Laura generated the lab’s first yeast transformants. 2021/07/17
Amelia receives the Faculty Award for Mentorship in Entomology 2021/07/13
Welcome Gloria Melotto, new M.S. student in the Koch and Lindsey Labs, working on soybean gall midge biocontrol! 2021/06/30
Our fluorescence microscope is here! 2021/06/14
We’ve been finding an abundance of “smooth Kens” (i.e. males with no genitalia). 2021/05/05
Publication of the DROP database for Drosophila parasitoids is out in Molecular Ecology <here>. 2021/05/29
Laura was awarded Honorable Mention for her GRFP proposal! Huge congrats! 2021/03/23
A lucky sighting of the northern lights. 2021/03/20
Hannah Tubby and Annie Lyra get to be honorary scientists. 2021/02/13
Amelia’s postdoc work is published in mBio <here>. 2021/02/09
The qPCR machine is here! We are ready to run lots of samples. 2021/01/08
The walk-in insect incubator is (finally) up and running! 2020/12/20
The lab’s first PCR! 2020/09/22
We have pipettes! 2020/08/05
Amelia’s review on Wolbachia‘s mechanisms for host interaction is published <here>! 2020/07/16
Welcome, Laura Fricke, PhD student and UMN DOVE Fellow! Laura will tackle Wolbachia-mediated parthenogenesis. 2020/07/10
The lab is born! 2020/07/07
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