Kent Lab News

April 2008

ACES Global Academy trip to Chicago

Angela traveled to Chicago with the ACES Global Academy to learn about UIUC connections in Chicago. We were particularly interested in hearing about international connections with Illinois businesses and agencies.

See more photos from the Chicago trip.

Spring poster presentations

The Kent Lab was well represented at the UIUC Environmental Horizons and Undergraduate Research Symposium. We had posters there representing the Microbial Observatory microbial food web project, wetland microbial ecology, the Energy Biosciences biofuels and sustainability project, water quality and human health, and mentoring of undergraduate researchers.
See more photos of our poster presentations.







Congratulations Ariane!

Ariane's wetland poster was recognized as the best poster in Environmental Science at the Illinois State Academy of Sciences meeting last month!

Jeff Matthews (our collaborator on the wetland microbial ecology project) took first prize in Environmental Science for his oral presentation at the ISAS meeting.

Great job everyone!











Congratulations, Jeff!

Wetland collaborator Jeff Matthews successfully defended his dissertation!
We helped him celebrate!

Congratulations, Neil!

Neil was awarded a prestigious Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the American Society for Microbiology for his research on the role of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria for sustainability of biofuel crops. This award includes a stipend to support his summer fieldwork, and travel to the 2009 ASM General Meeting in Philadelphia to present his research results.

Field work at the Shedd Aquarium

Sara and Carolyn traveled to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago with Angela to collect samples for research on environmental quality in artificial marine habitats.

See more photos from our work with the Shedd Aquarium!

Diana and Ariane presented their wetland microbial ecology research at the 100th Annual Meeting of the Illinois State Academy of Science.

See more photos from ISAS meeting.

The Kent Lab attended the Emiquon Science Meeting at The Nature Conservancy's Emiquon wetland restoration site. We met with colleagues from University of Illinois at Springfield, and toured the new UIS Emiquon field station.

See more photos from our trip to Emiquon.

Ariane was elected president of the Graduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (GEEB)! She is also one of the founders (along with Sara Paver) of GEEBMicro - a new microbial ecology student group.

March 2008

Ariane's M.S. thesis research about soil organic matter dynamics in response to global change was recently published in Plant and Soil. Ariane carried out her M.S. research in the laboratory of Michelle Wander in the Department of NRES. They used the UIUC SoyFACE facility to study the effects of increased atmospheric CO₂ on the levels of soil organic matter in soybean fields. The implications of their research results were reported in a recent University news story and also in the local newspaper.



Visiting researcher:

The Kent lab will host Anita Ansevica for the month of March. Anita is a graduate student from the Latvian University of Agriculture. Anita will be learning molecular molecular microbial ecology methods that will assist with her research project investigating the nodulation efficacy of Rhizobium inoculants for leguminous plants.

Angela travels to Washington, DC with fellow scholars in the ACES Global Academy to learn more about federal and international agencies involved in funding international research and education. It was a busy trip, but Academy members learned a lot about international resources. See additional photos from the trip.

February 2008

Angela traveled to the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to attend a microbial ecology workshop for
the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). NEON is developing a continental-scale research platform for discovering
and understanding the impacts of climate change, land-use change,
and invasive species on ecology. This project will gather long-term data on ecological responses of the biosphere to changes in land use
and climate, and on feedbacks with the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.

At this workshop, microbial ecology researchers from all over the country gathered to meet with NEON planners to discuss approaches to integrate microbial biology with the ecosystem-scale science of NEON.

Friends from UW-Madison, University of Florida, University of Georgia-Athens and elsewhere were also at this workshop. See more photos from the NEON workshop.

Angela attended the Energy Biosciences Institute research retreat. This meeting brought together all of the research teams funded by the EBI. These researchers are located at UC-Berkeley, the University of Illinois, and Lawrence Berkely National Lab. This scientific retreat was the "kick-off" meeting for the new research and development organization that will bring together the disciplines of biology, the physical sciences, engineering, and environmental and social sciences to devise viable solutions to global energy challenges and reduce the impact of fossil fuels to global warming.

Angela presented preliminary results from our biofuels and sustainability project that was recently funded by the EBI. See more photos from the EBI retreat.

Angela was selected to represent the Department of NRES in the 2008 College of ACES Academy for Global Engagement. The ACES Global Academy is a year-long program designed to heighten global awareness among faculty in the College of ACES. The class of seven "scholars" will spend a year learning more about the international resources available on campus, in the state, and nation that will enhance their teaching, research and extension missions. The goal of the program is to increase learning of the international realm, and heighten global engagement by faculty in the College of ACES.

The 2008 scholars include: Kent Rausch, agricultural and biological engineering; Miguel Gomez, agricultural and consumer economics; David Miller, animal sciences; Kris Lambert, crop sciences; Nicki Engeseth, food science and human nutrition; Angela Kent, natural resources and environmental sciences; Michelle Norris, UI extension educator.

The program activities begin in February when the scholars will meet with campus international leaders. The group will travel to Washington D.C. in early March to gain exposure to funding agencies and resources that can assist with international activities in higher education. Throughout the spring semester, the Academy will explore options for an interdisciplinary project theme which will allow them to creatively work together at a selected international site later this year.

January 2008

Proposal funded: "Ecology and exploitation of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria in biofuel crops"
Sponsor: Energy Biosciences Institute, $608,000

This project is part of a large interdisciplinary bioenergy initiative involving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of California, Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and BP.
Learn more about the Energy Biosciences Institute.

December 2007

Angela presented a guest seminar to the Evolution, Ecology and Behavior Program at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. She spoke about ecological drivers of microbial community variability in aquatic ecosystems. Angela's host was Heather Reynolds, Associate Professor in the IU Department of Biology. Heather will join the Kent lab during her sabbatical (Fall 2008)
to learn more about the molecular techniques we apply in our soil microbial ecology studies.

November 2007

Sara is awarded a prestigious Odell fellowship to support her graduate studies. Congratulations, Sara!

Zach is awarded a SURE fellowship from the UIUC Environmental Council to support his work on water quality in the Chattooga River. Congratulations, Zach!

The Kent lab and the Aquatic Microbial Ecology students take a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium. Dr. Bill Van Bonn and Dr. Allen LaPointe give us a 'behind-the-scenes' tour, and discuss animal health and environmental quality.

See more photos from our field trip!

October 2007

Proposal funded: "Microbial Observatories: Drivers of microbial community diversity and composition in humic lakes."
Sponsor: National Science Foundation, $1.5 M
Learn more about the North Temperate Lakes Microbial Observatory.

September 2007

Angela traveled to Taipei, Taiwan to attend the International Symposium on Soil Biodiversity and Ecology. She presented research findings from the wetland microbial ecology study: "Microbial community structure and function in restored floodplain forest wetlands". The conference included a field trip to Kinmen Island near the Chinese mainland.
See more photos from Angela's trip.

Angela and Tony took the Aquatic Microbial Ecology students on a weekend field trip to Kickapoo State Park to collect samples for microbial community analyses. We had a great time and got a lot of "hands-on" experience in limnology and aquatic microbiology! Check out the photos from the camping trip.

August 2007

Angela traveled to Montreal for the International Society for Limnology (SIL) conference. She organized a technical session with Trina McMahon and Jim Rusak, and participated in a workshop on frontiers in freshwater microbial ecology research.

See more photos of Angela and the Wisconsin North Temperate Lakes group at SIL.








Ariane Peralta begins her PhD studies with the PEEC program!
New NRES MS students Sara Paver and Yu-rui Chang join the lab!

July 2007

Angela and Tony Yannarell traveled to Bozeman, MT to participate in a NSF-sponsored FIBR workshop entitled "Do Species Matter in Microbial Communities?" at Montana State University. The workshop included a field trip to the research sites at Yellowstone National Park.

See more photos from the Montana trip.

May 2007

New publication! "Synchrony in aquatic microbial community dynamics" is published in the inaugural issue of The ISME Journal, the new journal of the International Society of Microbial Ecology.

Angela traveled to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago to participate in a workshop on Managing Cetaceans for Optimal Health. She presented a talk entitled "Comparing microbial community composition in natural and managed aquatic ecosystems".

Angela traveled to Toronto, Ontario for the 2007 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. She participated in a colloquium entitled "Do microbes play by the rules? New explorations in microbial ecology" and presented a talk on temporal variability in microbial communities. Sara Paver was also at ASM, presenting her undergraduate research on bacterial communities at the air-water interface (with Mike Lemke at University of Illinois at Springfield).

April 2007

The Kent lab hosted participants of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project on Development and Use of Rumen Molecular Techniques for Predicting and Enhancing Livestock Productivity as they visit UIUC to attend a week-long workshop on Molecular Analysis of Rumen Microbial Community Composition. Researchers from eight developing nations learned about techniques for microbial community analyses.

See more photos from the IAEA workshop.

January 2007

Proposal funded: "Investigating the biological basis of soil fertility: the effect of sustainable management practices on microbial populations that contribute to efficient nutrient cycling"
Sponsor: Illinois Department of Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture program

August 2006

Angela traveled to Vienna, Austria for ISME-11 to present a talk entitled: "Synchrony and temporal concordance in microbial community succession in a suite of north temperate humic lakes".

Angela returned to Madison, WI to present a talk entitled "Microbial community structure is correlated with mercury methylation in northern Wisconsin lakes" at the Mercury 2006 conference.

New NRES M.S. Student Diana Flanagan joins the lab!

June 2006

Angela traveled to Victoria, BC for the 2006 ASLO Summer Meeting. She presented research results about ecological forces that influence the composition and dynamics of aquatic microbial communities.

Our statewide wetland survey begins. This research is a collaboration with Jeff Matthews in the Illinois Natural History Survey. We are collecting data on soil conditions, plant communities, microbial activities, and microbial community composition. Great Rivers Research interns, Arun Soni and Pat Baldwin, are assisting with the field work for this research.