Lab News

New Collaborative MGM Papers!

Clare Smith

In this first year while getting our Mycobacterial and mouse work up and going, we are thrilled to have been a part of some cool work with our MGM friends, including a new SARS-CoV2 BioRxiv preprint with the awesome Heaton Lab and co.

Also check out a beautiful Trends in Microbiology review led by Jeff Bourgeois from the Ko Lab, where we dive into current trends in defining host-bacterial interactions at the genome-wide level, including screens that harness CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and natural genetic variation. So whether you are into viral or bacterial pathogenesis or host resistance, these MGM collabs have you covered. Check them out!

 

 

Rotations in the Time of COVID-19

Rachel Meade

The Smith Lab was excited to host Aruna Menon as a rotation student this fall.

Aruna received her B.S. in Microbiology from UC Berkeley in 2018. During this time, she fell in love with the diversity of microbes as well as the tools used to understand microbial communities. Through her undergraduate education and years as a lab tech, she solidified her love of science and research.  As she begins her Ph.D. at Duke, she is excited to learn more about how chemistry, genetics, and bacterial physiology intersect to play a role in infectious disease.

Aruna’s joint rotation between the Smith Lab and the Tobin Lab down the hall allowed her to study of tuberculosis in both mouse and zebrafish models. Throughout her rotation, she studied macrophage recruitment and the ESX secretion system in mycobacteria. We look forward to seeing all that she will accomplish during her time at Duke!

Erin Flash-Talks It Up

Clare Smith

In this year’s pandemic virtual edition of the MGM retreat, we heard from the latest department research effort on COVID19, fantastic trainee talks, the annual Joklik Distinguished Lecture from Dr. Susan Weiss, alumni career panels and a fabulous talk from Dr. Gustavo Silva to close the conference. Instead of the traditional posters, trainees had the challenge of 1 min flash-talks to showcase their work. A big congrats to Smith Lab grad student Erin Curtis who received one of the awards for Best Flash Talk!

Of Pets and PPE

Rachel Meade

Not quite how we imagined the Smith Lab would launch, but Fionn, Scout, Ashe, and Ember have thoroughly enjoyed learning QTL mapping & TnSeq analysis in Collaborative Cross and BXD mouse panels at home over the last few weeks.

Rachel Meade, Mask
Rach with her cockatiels, Fionn (left) & Scout (right)
Erin, Mask
Erin with her cats, Ashe (left) & Ember (right)

TAGC 2020 Online

Rachel Meade

Smith Lab is tuning in during the very first online broadcast of The Allied Genetics Conference! Clare enjoyed moderating the session on “Modeling Human Diseases in Diverse Systems.”

We are so thankful to the Genetics Society of America and other organizers for converting the talks and posters to the virtual format at such a fast pace, setting the standard for science accessibility in the future!

Clare's TAGC 2020 Session

 

Coding in COVID19

Rachel Meade

Smith Lab is all bunkered up at home to work on dry lab projects! With our brand new tech Kelli Walters and rotation student Hannah Schmidt, we’re excited to continue mapping clinical traits in various mouse panels, processing transposon sequencing data from Mtb library infections, and clustering host and pathogen traits via Weighted Gene Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA), all in our PJs!

Looking forward to starting wet lab as soon as this is all over!

Hope everyone is staying home and social distancing. We will push through COVID19 together.