Congratulations are in order for Associate Professor Emma Aronson! Her grant, one of 10 projects in the new National Science Foundation Critical Zone Cluster Network, has been selected for funding. Her project is the sole microbiology-focused project in the entire network, and is called "Geomicrobiology and Biogeochemistry in the Critical Zone." The total award is...
From the UCR News Article by Iqbal Pitalwala: "A research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has outlined how the Zika virus, which constituted an epidemic threat in 2016, suppresses the immune system of its host. The Zika virus, or ZIKV, spreads through mosquito bites and sexual intercourse. Currently, no approved...
From the UCR News Article by Jules Bernstein: "Scientists are closer to gaining the upper hand on a disease that has wiped out citrus orchards across the globe. New models of the bacterium linked to the disease reveal control methods that were previously unavailable. Metabolic models of organisms are like road maps of cities. “They...
Congratulations to Dr. Hailing Jin on this discovery that will help control Citrus Green Disease. From the UCR News Article: "The new treatment effectively kills the bacterium causing the disease with a naturally occurring molecule found in wild citrus relatives. This molecule, an antimicrobial peptide, offers numerous advantages over the antibiotics currently used to treat...
Congratulations are in order to Dr. Alex Putman, who is a Co-PI on a $10M grant from the United Stated Department of Agriculture focused on developing artificial intelligence for sustainable agriculture! You can read the UCR News Article titled "UCR wins $10 Million to develop AI for sustainable agriculture" here: https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2020/06/22/ucr-wins-10-million-develop-ai-sustainable-agriculture Dr. Putman will be...
Dr. Hailing Jin and her group are featured in an "Outlook" piece just published in Nature. The story focused on how her group is developing sprays consisting of extracellular vesicles containing RNA to silence genes in fungal pathogens of crops. Read the piece on the Nature site here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01771-1
Congratulations are in order for Dr. Ansel Hsiao, who is the corresponding author on a paper just published in Cell! "Interpersonal gut microbiome variation drives susceptibility and resistance to cholera infection". Other authors of the paper include Hsiao lab members: Salma Alavi, Jonathan D. Mitchell, Jennifer Y. Cho, Rui Liu, and John C. Macbeth. The...
The Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology joins in solidarity with our Black community of students, staff, and colleagues to strongly condemn racism. As a department, we pledge to continue our work implementing policies aimed at advancing diversity, equality, inclusion, and justice in our community by: 1) Immediately forming a Committee for Diversity and Inclusion...
Dr. Sydney Glassman's Op-Ed "Gov. Newsom must make a priority of funding our UCs" was published in the print edition of the Press-Enterprise. You can read the article at the following link. https://www.pe.com/2020/06/10/gov-newsom-must-make-a-priority-of-funding-our-ucs/
Congratulations to Dr. Rao, who has co-authored a paper in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) focused on the structure of the multipartite Brome Mosaic Virus (BMV)! Graduate student Antara Chakravarty was also an author on the study. You can read the paper at the following PNAS website link: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/20/10673.short?rss=1 The UCR press...
Congratulations to Dr. Hailing Jin Professor in the department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology on being elected a Fellow of the AAM (American Academy of Microbiology). From the AAM website: "Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology, an honorific leadership group within the ASM, are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on...
Dr. Juliet Morrison, Assistant Professor and Virologist in the department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology discussed COVID-19 treatments with UCR news. A section from the UCR article Hope for the Infected: "Though no proven treatment for COVID-19 currently exists, UC Riverside virologist Juliet Morrison feels there’s a good chance one will emerge. Morrison, an assistant...
Congratulations to Dr. Caroline Roper, Associate Professor in the department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology for receiving the 2020 Lee M. Hutchins Award from the American Phytopathological Society. The Hutchins Award recognizes significant research on basic or applied aspects of diseases of perennial fruit plants within the past 10 years.
Congratulations to Dr. Shou-Wei Ding, Professor in the department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology for receiving the 2020 Noel Keen Award from the APS (American Phytopathological Society). With this award Dr. Ding joins a long list of very distinguished plant molecular pathologist honored by the American Phytopathological Society.
Congratulations to Dr. Jason Stajich, Professor in the department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology on being elected a Fellow of the AAM (American Academy of Microbiology). From the AAM website: "Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology, an honorific leadership group within the ASM, are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on...
Congratulations to this years Edmond C. Calavan Memorial Scholarship Award Winners Daniel Chen, and Wiphawee Lessuthphonchai, graduate students in Plant Pathology. This award is presented annually to meritorious graduate students that have demonstrated excellence in research and creative, forward thinking in the field of Plant Pathology. The prize consists of a cash award, a plaque...
Congratulations to this years Microbiology Interdepartmental Graduate Student Award Winner Alexander Carrillo, graduate student in Microbiology. This award is presented annually to a meritorious graduate student in an Interdepartmental Graduate Program working in the laboratory of a Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology faculty member. The prize consists of a cash award, a plaque, and...
Congratulations to this years Peter and Pamela Tsao Endowed Graduate Student Award Winners Amy Boyd (GGB Graduat Student), Nichole Ginnan (Plant Pathology Graduate Student, and Natasha Jackson (Microbiology Graduate Student). This year this award was presented to 3 meritorious graduate students in the department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology with a research focus on soil-borne...
Congratulation's to Dr. Hailing Jin, Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology for making the list of the most highly cited researchers. From the UCR News Article: " In its annual list, Clarivate Analytics names the most highly cited researchers — those whose work was most often referenced by other scientific research papers...
A paper from the Georgios Vidalakis Lab at UC Riverside has now been published on PLOS ONE. In the study they propose/argue for a more through and standardized way of designing and validating diagnostics. Below is a an excerpt from the discussion but you can read the paper titled " Full genome characterization of 12...
