School of Biology and Ecology

umaine invention Maine Innovation, Research and Technology Accelerator (MIRTA)

First five MIRTA teams showcase their discoveries

Five discoveries, including one designed to monitor the health of beehives using radar, were showcased by University of Maine faculty-led teams from the Maine Innovation, Research and Technology Accelerator (MIRTA) May 30 at the Foster Center for Student Innovation on campus. The five MIRTA projects are: A high-value, low-cost geoinformatics system to better compile broad-scale […]

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biology premed student umaine emma fournier

Student spotlight: Emma Fournier

Hometown: Turner, Maine In May, after just three years of college, Emma Fournier earned a degree in biology with a concentration in pre-medical studies. She teamed with assistant professor Allison Gardner to identify regions in Maine most vulnerable to Lyme disease and to explore if dogs are sentinels for Lyme disease transmission. “I love to […]

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WABI reports on Townsend’s grant to study aging fat tissue

WABI (Channel 5) spoke with Kristy Townsend, an assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Maine, about her recent $750,000 grant from the American Heart Association to study the aging of fat tissue and its effects on cardiovascular and metabolic conditions. The project, a collaboration with a researcher at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar […]

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Drummond speaks with WABI about beekeeping

Frank Drummond, a professor of insect ecology at the University of Maine and the insect pest management and blueberry extension pollination specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, was interviewed by WABI (Channel 5) for a two-part series on beekeeping in Maine. The popularity of beekeeping is increasing — there are over 1,000 beekeepers […]

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umaine gill fossil

NSF CAREER Award to fund unique research project

Explaining the dynamics of an ice age landscape to a classroom of middle-schoolers can be a daunting challenge for teachers. Researchers in the lab examine evidence such as pollen and other tiny fossils, and particulate matter contained in sediment core samples to “see” what the ancient landscape once was. But how can this data be […]

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Growing collaboration

Maine’s forest industry annually harvests up to 7 million cords of wood to build homes and make products. But only 25 percent of students in biology courses on six University of Maine System campuses knew incorporation of CO2 gas from the atmosphere into molecules by leaves is the process that contributes most to increase timber […]

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The bee list

The first checklist of Maine bees has been compiled using wild blueberry research records from the 1800s to the present, as well as private and public collections, and citizen science observations. It has documented a total of 278 species — all but eight of which are native, according to a scientific team led by University […]

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Science Trends publishes piece on insecticide resistance by Alyokhin

Science Trends published the article, “The evolutionary context of insecticide resistance,” by Andrei Alyokhin, a professor of applied entomology at the University of Maine. Thoughts from the article also are described in  “Adaptation to toxic hosts as a factor in the evolution of insecticide resistance,” which was recently published in the journal Current Opinion in […]

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AP reports on Townsend’s $750,000 grant to study aging fat tissue

The Associated Press reported Kristy Townsend, an assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Maine, has been awarded a $750,000 grant from the American Heart Association to study the aging of fat tissue and its effects on cardiovascular and metabolic conditions. Townsend will partner with David Harrison, an expert on mechanisms of aging and […]

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umaine heart health

Townsend awarded $750,000 to study effects of aging fat tissue on cardiometabolic health

An assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Maine has been awarded a $750,000 grant from the American Heart Association for a three-year study looking at the aging of fat tissue and its effects on cardiovascular and metabolic conditions. Kristy Townsend, an expert on brain-adipose communication, energy balance regulation and cardiometabolic disease, received a […]

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