John Tumberger and Gabi Shipman received a research grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative inquiry for the Fall semester of 2020.
Undergraduate Students present work at the 19th Annual Kansas-IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Symposium
Gabi Shipman and John Tumberger were selected to present their work at the The 19th Annual Kansas-IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Symposium virtually January 14-15, 2021.
https://k-inbre.org/documents/2021symposium/2021_symposium_booklet
John Tumberger named Johnson Cancer Center Research Fellow
John Tumberger, an undergraduate researcher in the Olson Lab was named a Johnson Cancer Center Research Fellow for the 2020-2021 academic year.
https://cancer.k-state.edu/awards/2020-2021StudentAwardees.html
Volvocales – Losing genes, gaining complexity
Our paper on gene loss during the transition to multicellularity is available on BioRxiv. Here we show that as the volvocines gain biological and developmental complexity that they are losing more genes than they gain. Importantly, the result of this appear to be that their protein interaction networks are altered to do this. This was a large multi year effort led by PhD student Bereníce Jimenez-Marín and included several undergraduate researchers and collaboration with Tom Platt’s lab. It is currently under revision after peer review.
Jess Rakijas featured at Select Science
Former post-doc Jessica Rakijas was recently featured at Select Science for her new role at Guardant Health.
Volvox 2022 – Virtual
The Volvox 2022 meeting (https://www.volvox2022.org) will be virtual via zoom this year. Registration is free, so come and join us for three days of talks
Join the Volvox community!
First, there is now a Volvox specific Slack channel – send an email to Brad for an invitation link.
Second, we are starting monthly Volvox and volvocine algae specific virtual lab meetings. Email Brad for details on how to participate. Both are open to all researchers at all levels.
Olson Lab research featured at Nature Ecology and Evolution
Research in the Olson Lab was featured by Nature Research Ecology & Evolution. Brad’s seminar at Volvox 2019 discussed recent genomic advances in the volvocine algae. Berenice’s was given an award for her seminar on the genes important for the transition to undifferentiated multicellularity.
Berenice wins “Best Young Scientist Presentation Award” at Volvox 2019
Bernice made a big splash at Volvox 2019 in Tokyo, Japan where her seminar was awarded “Best Young Scientist Presentation Award”. This is a huge honor from Bernice’s peers in the Volvox community.
Berenice presents her research at Volvox 2019 in Tokyo, Japan
Berenice Jimenez, a PhD student in the Olson Lab, presented her research on the evolution of cell adhesion at Volvox 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. Berenice earned travel awards from the KSU Graduate Student Council, the Kato Memorial Bioscience Foundation and the University of Tokyo Foundation. Congrats to Berenice on international recognition of her work!
The Olson Lab 