Biology

All are welcome to attend poster presentations as the culmination of the 2026 Limno-STOICH Database Conference supported by midd.data and the National Science Foundation. Aquatic ecologists from a range of institutions and Middlebury College students enrolled in BIOL 304 Aquatic Ecology will present on database-driven research they have done related to the field of ecological stoichiometry in aquatic ecosystems. Light refreshments will be provided.

More information here.

Mishal Lalani
“Saving Smiles One Protein at a Time: Targeting SloR in S. mutans”

Anabell Cloney
“Proteins have a Social Life: What is SloR’s relationship with the Streptococcus mutans Clp proteasome?”

Ryan Mauney
“Development of Electroporation and Fluorescent Live-Cell Imaging in the Chytrid Fungus Allomyces macrogynus”

Elly Tuffey
“An Assessment of Mercury Accumulation in Different Forest Types”

Sarah Case
“Determining the regulatory role of Tre6P in nectar production in Arabidopsis thaliana.”

Jordan Gardener
“The Effects of Testosterone on Place & Response Learning and BDNF Signaling”

Anna Cerveny
“Distribution and Morphology of Chemosensory Hairs in a Model Butterfly”

Isabel Pentony
“Molecular Mechanisms of Plant-Pollinator Interactions in Cucurbita pepo.”

Ariel Zhang
“Testing the island rule using an introduced population of muskrats in the Gulf of Maine”

Claire Ellerbrook
“Using stable isotope analysis to assess carnivore diet in the northeast”

Asha Kannan
“Optimizing Bryophytes and Biocrusts in a Dryland Carbon Cycling Model”

Lauren Marsala
“Impacts of cyanobacteria symbiosis on desiccation and ecophysiological stress tolerance of Syntrichia caninervis.”

Please join the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Climate Sciences, Geography, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Physics, and Psychology for a reception celebrating graduates in these disciplines. 

The following departments invite grads and their guests to join them in the locations listed below.

Biology | Great Hall | 2:00-3:15 pm
Chemistry | Great Hall | 2:00-3:15 pm
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | Great Hall | 2:00-3:15 pm

Earth and Climate Sciences | MBH 417 | 2:30-3:15 pm

Geography | Great Hall | 3:45-5:00 pm
Neuroscience | Great Hall | 3:45-5:00 pm
Physics | Great Hall | 3:45-5:00 pm
Psychology | Great Hall | 3:45-5:00 pm

Join the BioSAC to hear professors speak about their educational and career experiences. Feel free to come with questions. Dinner will be provided, please RSVP using the QR code.

A one hour presentation and discussion with Professor Molly Costanza-Robinson about research pathways in environmental chemistry.

Alexa Duchesneau will give the second talk in the annual Anthro & Friends Winter Speaker Series, titled “Simians and the Story of Us: What Biological Anthropology Brings to STEM.” In an increasingly divided world, Biological Anthropology and Primatology are a bridge between divided academic disciplines: the social sciences and the hard sciences. The combination of observational studies and hypothesis testing places these fields in the unique position of being truly interdisciplinary.

Join the Biology department’s bon voyage celebration for Susan DeSimone, Assoc. Lab Professor. Susan has been with department for over 25 years and we will gather to wish her well as she embarks on new adventures.