Amarachi wins a presentation award!!
Amarachi won second place at this year’s REU poster session. This entitles her to represent our REU program in the Biology Department at UNF at a scientific conference. Way to go, Amarachi!!
Tardi-lab, Summer 2022
Here we go again!! This is the time of the year when the lab is busiest, and we are going to be very busy this summer. We have lab tech Mandy, Undergrad students Amarachi, Kennedi, and Tanashia, Master’s students Raul and Taylor, and Ph.D. student (Harvard) Marc Mapalo all busy …
Amarachi Nwawueze joins the tardi-lab for the summer!
We would like to welcome Amarachi Nwawueze, an undergrad from Northern Illinois University, for a summer research internship through our NSF-sponsored REU program. Welcome, Amarachi!!
Mandy graduates with Honors!!
Mandy has graduated with Honors from UNF as maybe the most accomplished undergraduate researcher ever. She has co-authored three great papers since joining the tardi-team and has won nearly every research award possible. She certainly deserved UNF’s prestigious Undergraduate of the Year Award that she won. Way to go, Mandy!!
Taneshia wins a presentation award!!
Taneshia presented a poster at this year’s UNF SOARS detailing her studies of the very important gene twist, which regulates muscle development in many animals. She was awarded a Project of Merit Award. Way to go, Taneshia!!
Mandy wins Undergraduate Researcher of the Year!!
Mandy Game completes her exceptional record of awards by winning UNF’s Undergraduate Research of the Year Award. Amazing!! https://unfsoars.domains.unf.edu/2022/undergraduate-researcher-of-the-year/
Tardi-lab conquers SICB 2022 in Phoenix, AZ!
We had six presentations at the 2022 Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology Meeting! Four students presented posters based on their 2022 summer research internships in the lab investigating potential gut-patterning mechanisms in tardigrades. 1.) Logan, a student that visited our lab from Mercer University, presented results of her study …
Spotlight on Kennedi by the UNF Newsroom!
The UNF Newsroom spotlighted the Smith Lab’s very own Kennedi Light! Congrats, Kennedi!! Here’s the link to the story. https://www.unf.edu/newsroom/2022/01/Kennedi-Light-student-spotlight.html
Raul publishes a paper in BMC Ecology and Evolution!
Raul is the first author of a paper that was recently published in BMC Ecology and Evolution. This is Raul’s first, but certainly not last, research pub! Several other Smith Lab members were co-authors of this important publication. Congrats Raul!! Here is the link to the publication: https://bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-021-01954-y
Frank is interviewed by LiveScience
Frank was interviewed by Nicoletta Lanese at LiveScience about an exciting new tardigrade fossil. Here’s the link! https://www.livescience.com/new-tardigrade-species-found-in-amber
Logan wins REU poster contest!!
Logan Scott won the best poster contest for the UNF Biology REU program. She was able to collect an extensive amount of data for a gene called HNF4 in only ten weeks. Her award entitles her to represent our REU program at the upcoming Association of the Sciences of Limnology …
Taylor joins the lab for grad school!
Let’s welcome Taylor Harrison to the lab! She earned her B.S. in Biology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She’s joining the lab to earn a Master’s degree in biology from UNF. She will be studying some really cool genes that might provide some very important insight into how segmentation evolved.
Frank is interviewed on Planet B612 podcast
Frank discusses tardigrades, art, and puppies with host Julie Lauren. Here’s the link! https://planetb612.fm/ep-51-tardigrades-with-dr-frank-smith/
Tardi-lab, Summer 2021
The whole gang is here!! New members include Tatiana Baia, Kennedi Light, and REU student Logan Scott. We are all fully vaccinated, which opens up a lot of possibilities that would otherwise be difficult…..like this cool pic that we took outside of the Biology building!! From left to right: Taneshia, …
Chloe gets a new job!!
Former lab member Chloe Ramnarine has started a new job as a Research Associate at Rocket Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey. Congrats, Chloe!!
Raul wins the Biology Department’s Outstanding Research Award!!
Every year, a single graduating senior from the UNF Biology Department is awarded the Outstanding Research Award. This year, our very own Raul Chavarria won the award. Congrats Raul!!
Raul Graduates!!
Raul has earned his B.S. in Biology! Congrats, Raul! UNF hosted a very safe graduation ceremony this weekend, which I know Raul’s family appreciated very much. Way to go, Raul!
Mandy and Raul receive Honorable Mentions at UNF SOARS 2021!
Mandy and Raul presented their research at UNF’s annual Showcase of Advancement in Research and Scholarship (SOARS). They were both awarded Honorable Mention for their poster presentations. Great job, team!
Frank is recognized at the 2021 STARS celebration!
Frank was recognized as a principal investigator who obtained research funding of $250,000 or more during fiscal year 2019-2020 at the 2021 Scholars Transforming Academic Research Symposium (STARS). The recognition came with some very nice prizes — a fancy travel bag and a research stipend!
Raul receives an NSF GRFP award!!
Raul won a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program award!! This award is highly competitive. It will fund him during his two years as a Master’s student in the Body Plan Lab, starting Fall 2021, and his first year in a Ph.D. program. Wow!! Congrats, Raul!!
Paula gets a job!
Former REU student Paul Nolte accepted a lab tech position at the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We wish her the best of luck on this next step in her career.
Frank publishes a News and Views article in Nature Ecology and Evolution
Frank and his PhD advisor, Elizabeth Jockusch, co-authored a News and Views article for Nature Ecology and Evolution. They wrote about two important articles about the origin of insect wings that were published in the journal. Frank always has fun talking evo-devo with Elizabeth, especially when they get to talk …
Happy Veterans Day, Taneshia!!
The Tardigrade Lab would like to wish our very own Taneshia Wyman a very happy Veterans Day!
Taneshia returns to her research!!
Taneshia has been unable to visit the lab since the University was shut down in the Spring. We are happy to report that she is now back to her research. This semester she will be studying a very weird and interesting gene called fushi tarazu. She is really hoping to figure …
Mandy publishes a paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B!
Mandy has been diligently studying leg patterning since she joined the Smith Lab. Her research has been very well received at several scientific conferences where she presented it. In fact, she won several presentation awards for her research. Now, we’re pleased to report that her research has been published. Pretty …
Cool tardigrade embryo
Mandy produced a very cool image of a tardigrade embryo on our confocal microscope, just using autofluorescence. This tiny embryo is only 50 microns in length. The head is at the top and it’s facing to the right. It’s curled up into a “C” shape. You can see the little …
Paula graduates!
The Smith Lab’s very first REU student, Paula Nolte, graduated from Hope college!! She plans to work in the field of Microbiology for a bit, before applying to graduate school to study Microbiology in more depth. Paula did an excellent job studying tardigrade embryos during her time in The Smith …
Lab reopens!! Raul and Mandy are back to work!!
We are very grateful to Dr. John Kantner and his team for all of their hard work drafting UNF’s research, scholarly, and creative activities reopening plan. The plan requires a very detailed description of our research activities and how we will maintain important social distancing protocols and a clean lab …
Mandy wins poster presentation award at SOARS!!
UNF hosted the Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship conference remotely today. Great job to the faculty and staff that made this possible. Both Mandy and Raul presented their research remotely. Great job to both of them for their fine presentations. Mandy won a Staff Choice Award. She …
Research moves remotely!!
Like most research labs, the Smith lab is closed for the foreseeable future, due to the pandemic. However, that doesn’t mean that the research stops! We are very busy working on manuscripts and bioinformatics studies from our homes. Here is a cool pic of Mandy’s home lab bench. She is …
Ariana was awarded a SURF grant at UCONN!!
Ariana has been awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research with Faculty grant at UCONN. She will be working with Frank’s PhD advisor, Elizabeth Jockusch, which is super neat. Hopefully some research can still take place this summer, but either way, writing a funded grant proposal is an excellent award. Great job, …
Mandy wins another poster award!!
Mandy was very excited to win a best poster award at the Southeast Regional SACNAS Meeting in Gainesville. Mandy has pretty much won the Quadruple Crown at this point, in terms of poster awards. But….she’s not done yet! SOARS 2020, here she comes!
Mandy and Raul present their research at the 2020 Southeast SACNAS regional meeting!
They both did fantastic jobs presenting posters at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) meeting in Gainesville. Mandy, Raul, and Frank had a great time talking to students and faculty from many institutions that were in attendance, and learned about some very exciting …
Mandy presents her research at the Capital
Mandy represented UNF at the Undergraduate Research Posters at the Capitol event in Tallahassee! We are very proud of her for being one of only four undergraduate researchers at UNF to be chosen to represent our University at the event. Great job!
Frank receives an NSF grant!!
This grant will fund Frank’s NSF proposal RUI: Investigating tardigrade development to unravel the evolution of animal body plans. It provides three years of funding. The funding will open up many research opportunities for undergraduate students at UNF, and undergrads that visit the Smith Lab over the summer through the REU …
Raul wins best student poster at SICB 2020!
Raul won the best student poster award in the Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology at at this year’s SICB in Austin! Way to go, Raul!
Mandy presents her research at SICB
Mandy presented a poster that builds of her recent discovery that tardigrade legs only exhibit distal identity relative to the legs of onychophorans and arthropods. Her recent work has focused on additional candidate leg patterning genes. Her results reinforce just how weird tardigrades are.
Raul presents his research at SICB
Raul presented results of his recent investigation into canonical Wnt signaling in tardigrades. Results of his study have important implications for the evolution of the tardigrade body plan. Raul has only been part of the Smith Lab for a year, and has collected embryonic expression data for nearly all of …
Ariana presents her research at SICB
Ariana presented the results of her REU project from last summer at SICB. She made several important discoveries about gut patterning in tardigrades in just a short 10 week period. Mandy, Raul, and Frank were very happy to get to spend a few days with Ariana before she heads back …
The Smith Lab attends SICB 2020 in Austin, TX
We had a great time at SICB this year. Austin was a lot of fun. It was great catching up with the Evo-Devo community. We saw some very interesting and thought provoking talks and posters. Most importantly, Ariana, Mandy, and Raul all gave excellent poster presentations!
Smith lab students receive their B.S. in Biology!!
It is always with mixed emotions that we congratulate Smith Lab students on graduating. On one hand, we are so proud of them. On the other hand, we are losing valuable members of the lab team. But, mostly we are just very excited about the future accomplishments of our lab …
Mandy was chosen to represent UNF as an undergraduate researcher!
Mandy is only one of four undergraduate students that have been chosen to represent UNF at this year’s Undergraduate Research Posters at the Capitol event in Tallahassee. Each university in Florida’s state university system can only send a select few students to this event. So, this is quite an honor. …
Ariana won an award!!!
Ariana won a Travel to Present research Award from the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Connecticut. This will help support her travel to the upcoming Society for Integrative Biology meeting in Austin, TX. She will be presenting research from her visit to the Smith Lab last summer. …
Frank gave a talk in South Korea
Frank gave a research talk at the Korea Polar Research Institute in Incheon, South Korea. He had an especially great time talking to Dr. Tae-Yoon S. Park and his students about panarthropod body plan evolution.
Bri presented her research for her senior seminar project!!
This is one of the last requirements Bri had to fulfill to graduate. Congrats Bri!!
Mandy received a Broadening Participation Travel Award from SICB!!
This award will help fund her trip to the 2020 SICB meeting in Austin, TX. Congrats, Mandy!!
Zach presented his Senior Seminar research
Zach gave an oral presentation of his research in the Smith Lab as part of his Senior Seminar requirement. He gave a great presentation and did a great job of answering questions. Congrats!!
Smith Lab students receive travel grants from SICB!
Ariana and Raul won Charlotte Mangum Support Awards to help fund their trip to the 2020 SICB meeting in Austin. Excellent!!
Ariana presented her research at UCONN
Ariana presented her research at the Frontiers in Undergraduate Research poster exhibition at the University of Connecticut. She performed this research last summer in the Smith lab. Great job!
Tardigrades visit the MOSH
Mandy and Raul took some tardigrades and some microscopes to the Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville for World Animal Day. The visitors were amazed by our little water bears!
Smith Lab students receive conference grants!
Mandy and Raul were awarded Conference Grants from the Office of Undergraduate Research at UNF. This will help fund their trip to the 2020 SICB meeting in Austin. Great job!!
2019 Pan-Am Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology in Miami
Mandy presented her research at the 2019 Pan-Am Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology in Miami. She won 2nd place for Best Undergraduate Poster! Great job!!
2019 Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship
Mandy and Zach presented their research at the Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship. Mandy won an Award of Excellence for Outstanding Poster Presentation!!
FURC at UNF
The Florida Undergraduate Research Conference took place at UNF this year. Mandy and Zach both presented their research.
Best Poster Award!!
Mandy won a Best Poster Award in the Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology at the 2019 SICB meeting!!
Students present at the 2019 SICB meeting
Mandy and Paula presented their posters at SICB in Tampa!! Great job!!
Tardigrade protocols published!
Frank published two protocols for studying gene expression patterns in tardigrade embryos in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols—and in situ hybridization protocol and a immunohistochemistry protocol. The entire issue of this journal is dedicated to tardigrade protocols!
Paula presented her research!
REU student Paula Nolte presented her research at at the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Symposium!!
Tardigrade meeting
Frank gave a talk at the 14th International Symposium on Tardigrada, in Copenhagen. It was great to catch up with the world’s tardigradologists.
Paper Accepted!!
Mandy and Frank co-authored a paper that was accepted for publication in EvoDevo. https://evodevojournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13227-018-0106-1
