Post-doc Rachel Koch started working in the Herr lab at the beginning of September and she’s already got a few posters worth of data analyzed! Here’s one of our new projects happening at the UNL’s Center for Plant Science Innovation 2019 research symposium!
The Herr Lab group, along with the Rhae Drijber Lab in UNL’s Agronomy & Horticulure Department, just wrapped up a reallly large field sampling to inspect the role of agricultural microbiomes in plant health and productivity. We’re super exhausted, but we also had a lot of fun! Incredible efforts by everyone!
We were so excited this summer to host Emma and we’re equally excited to know she’ll continue to work in the lab over the next year. Emma is a superbly stellar Junior from nearby Nebraska Wesleyan University who came to the lab group with mentor Jerry Bricker during Jerry’s Sabbatical visit to the laboratory. Emma’s research is focused on understanding the role of inputs from plant host and environment in structuring microbial communities in local Native grassland prairies. She is an expert in DNA extraction and will beat any anyone in overall yield and extraction quality! Look out lab olympics! We have a new champion!
Alex (short for Alexandra) has been one of our DOE Bioenergy REU this summer. We couldn’t have asked for a more awesome lab visitor. I (Josh) was super excited to host Alex because she is a student in the Biochemistry Department at Virginia Tech – the same department I got my undergraduate degree. Alex jumped in a worked with Erin Carr and Herr Lab collaborator Wayne Riekhof in studying the plant growth stimulation capabilities of different Methylobacterium strains isolated from soil, soil crusts, plants, and a dirty stream across the street!
Here’s Alex discussing her poster with laboratory mentor Erin Carr.
We had a great summer REU research symposium today!
Thais passed her comprehensive exam today and, although not all of us were available, we headed out for laboratory pizza dinner at Yia-Yia’s. We had a great time celebrating Thais’s accomplishments and greeting our summer research visitors: Alex, Emma, and Seth!
We had a great lab outing tonight at Hop Cat to celebrate the successful defense of my first graduate student, Timothy! Congratulations Timothy!