Stacey, an undergraduate student, joined the lab as a Research Tech at the beginning of October. We are thrilled to have her on board!
Fun Fall Seminars
Leonora gave seminars at Tulane University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of Oregon between September and October, 2020. They were all virtual, but still a lot of fun! So great to talk with friends and new people about science. You can watch my U of O talk on YouTube if you are interested.
August, 2020: Welcome to Jessica Bernardin and Aubrey Osorio
In August, 2020, both Jessica (new PhD student) and Aubrey (undergraduate student) started in the lab. And Jacob Heil officially transitioned from Research Technician to PhD student. Welcome to all! So happy to have you as part of the team.
NSF Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms grant!
We are super thrilled to have been awarded an NSF Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms grant!! It is a collaborative grant together with Ben Baiser at University of Florida, Erica Young at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Zac Freedman at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sarah Gray from the University of Fribourg and Dominique Gravel from Université de Sherbrooke are international collaborators. Our project is titled: Using successional dynamics, biogeography, and experimental communities to examine mechanisms of plant-microbiome functional interactions (more info here). We will be using Sarracenia purpurea pitcher plant microcosms as our study system.
Four new papers out in March and April 2020
Four papers all came out right around the same time, in March and April of this year. Two were led by Kadeem Gilbert and were about microbial communities in different Nepenthes pitcher plants from Southeast Asia: “Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) act as ecological filters by altering properties of their fluid microenvironments” and “Investigation of an elevational gradient reveals strong differences between bacterial and eukaryotic communities coinhabiting Nepenthes phytotelmata”. One was led by Lauren Shoemaker and Allie Barner, and came out of a Research Jam they initiated at the Santa Fe Institute: “Quantifying the relative importance of variation in predation and the environment for species coexistence”. And the final one was the main paper coming out of my postdoc: “Context-dependent dynamics lead to the assembly of functionally distinct microbial communities”. Very exciting to have them all published!
Seminar at Utah State University
On February 26th, 2020, Leonora gave a talk for the Biology Seminar series at USU. It was great to meet with Robert Schaeffer, Valerie Martin and others to talk about plant, insect, and microbial interactions.
NSF Microbiome Workshop
Leonora attended an amazing workshop on Deciphering the Microbiome in Washington, D.C. in December 2019. It was wonderful to discuss cutting edge techniques, and new ways to move the field forward, while also meeting new people and seeing old friends.
Seminar at University of Chicago
Leonora visited the University of Chicago in November, 2019, and gave a seminar. It was great to meet the faculty and students, and to see Chicago for the first time.
Moving to Idaho!
Leonora will be moving to Boise at the end of the summer, and officially starting as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Boise State University in January 2020.