WiPS Schedule - Spring 2026
Work in Progress Seminars (WiPS) for Spring 2026
All WiPS seminars are at 12:00 P.M., MONDAY, in BPS Room 1425.
Seminar Coordinator: Amber Bedore
Please use this QR code to access the WiPS Evaluation form:
| Date | Speaker | Title | Faculty Evaluators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 12 | Zack Blount | Stopping to Think if We Should: The Moral Limits of Science | N/A |
| Jan 19 | Martin Luther King Day - University Closed | ||
|
Jan. 26 |
Maria Guzman Reguera Lab |
Deep-Sea Nanowires for Recovery of Strategic Metals | A. Rowe |
| Sarah Gonzalez Henao Schrenk Lab |
Comparative Metagenomic Analysis of Microbial Biofilms in Terrestrial and Marine Serpentinizing Systems: Implications for Astrobiology | C. Vieille | |
| Feb. 2 | Chris Chavtur Rowe Lab |
Exploring the Role of Novel Genes in Extracellular Electron Uptake in Shewanella oneidensis | V. DiRita |
| Abdul-Halim Osman Giri Lab |
Immunomodulatory and Neuroinflammatory Roles of Gut–Derived Phenylalanine Metabolites in Multiple Sclerosis | J. Scott | |
| Feb. 9 | Kasumi Nakagawa Rowe Lab |
Basics of Electrochemical Microbiology for High-pH Microbial Fuel Cells | M. Schrenk |
| Pranesh Rao Barrick Lab |
High-Resolution of fitness trajectories over 75,000 Generations of a Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli | S. Sherrill-Mix | |
| Feb. 16 | Sydney Chen Lebeis Lab |
Characterizing salicylic acid selected isolate collection's relationship with Arabidopsis thaliana | W. Wang |
| Han Wen Xi Lab |
Comparison of Wolbachia wPip and wAlbB infections in An. stephensi: Tissue distribution, Stability, and Plasmodium blocking efficiency | J. Hardy | |
| Feb 23 | Ira Zibbu Barrick Lab |
Chromosomal Rearrangements Over 75,000 Generations of a Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli | C. Waters |
| Tyler De Jong Barrick Lab |
Characterizing Gene Accordion Population Dynamics in Real-time | C. Adami | |
| Mar. 2 | Spring Break - no WiPS | ||
| Mar. 9 | Kathleen Sotelo Barrick Lab |
Protecting Honey Bees via Paratransgenesis | Z. Blount |
| Jess Hodgkins Milbrath Lab |
The Honey Bee Opportunistic Pathogen Melissococcus plutonius and its Mysteries | E. Walker | |
| Mar. 16 | Sole Soverina Olive Lab |
Strain-specific innate immune signatures during Mycobacterium abscessus infection | K. Yu |
| Hazel McGuffin Parent Lab |
Podophage interaction with inner membrane protien YajC | K. Kashefi | |
| Mar. 23 | James Zieba Sherrill-Mix Lab |
A. Olive | |
| Kevin Santiago-Morales Lebeis Lab |
Characterizing salicylic acid selected isolate collection's relationship with Arabidopsis thaliana | G. Severin | |
| Mar. 30 | Alex Demetros Lebeis Lab |
Community immunity: Exploring the ROS-auxin feedback loop and resistance against opportunistic pathogens | Y. Zhang |
| Leah Knorr Lebeis Lab |
Investigating the role of coumarins in shaping the plant microbiome under pH stress | S. Crosson | |
| Apr. 6 | Satya Kulkarni Contag Lab |
One Quasiorganelle to Rule Them All: Multifunctional Cancer Immunotherapy using Listeria monocytogenes | B. Schutte |
| Mashal Copperman Lebeis Lab |
Assembly of Copper-Resistant Synthetic Bacterial Community | J. Barrick | |
| Apr. 13 | Carrissa Hutchison Shames Lab |
The role of SidI and MesI on Legionella pneumophila's environmental fitness. | E. Heath-Heckman |
| Emily Perez Crosson Lab |
A Brucella ovis Histidine Kinase Stimulates the Dephosphorylation of a General Stress Response Anti-Anti-Sigma Factor | R. Abramovitch | |
| Apr. 20 | Vanessa Estrada Pestka Lab |
Macrophages as Targets for Fatty Acid Modulation of Type I IFN Expression | Z. Blount |
|
Sarah VanDiepenbos |
Elucidating the Role of Lysolipid Dynamics in Coral Bleaching Resistance |
||
| Apr. 27 | Adam Kibiloski Abramovitch Lab |
Combined lactate- and phosphate-dependent cytoplasmic acidification drive Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth arrest on lactate at acidic pH | N. Hammer |
| Jeannette Farnham Crosson Lab |
Characterization of a novel motility regulator in an atypical Brucella sp. | S. Shames | |