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GEMS trainee David Vereau Gorbitz defends his dissertion!
12 November 2025
GEMS PhD candidate in the Heath and Vanderpool Lab, David Vereau Gorbitz, successfully defended his thesis entitled “Plasmid evolution and transmission of the nitrogen-fixing mutualist Rhizobium leguminosarum”! Congratulations, Dr. Vereau Gorbitz!
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Illinois News Bureau article features GEMS researchers
29 July 2025
Ivan Sosa Marquez, Katy Heath, and Amy Marshall-Colon are featured in an article by the Illinois News Bureau highlighting their recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article by Diana Yates discusses the researchers’ work to gain a better understanding of the interactions within the root nodules of legumes between […]
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GEMS trainee Ivan Sosa Marquez defends his dissertation!
8 July 2025
GEMS PhD candidate in the Heath Lab, Ivan Sosa Marquez, successfully defended his thesis entitled “Modularity and function of symbiotic genetic systems”. Congratulations, Dr. Sosa Marquez!
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GEMS trainee Mackenzie Caple defends her dissertation!
2 April 2025
GEMS PhD candidate, Mackenzie Caple, from the Lau Lab has successfully defended her thesis entitled “Cooperation under changing conditions: Tests of mutualism theory in legume-rhizobium systems”. Congratulations, Dr. Caple!
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GEMS Nuggets Winter 2025
24 January 2025
Issue 05 Winter 2025 Inside this Issue Note from the Editor: Website Welcome Hello, GEMS, and Happy New Year! If this is your first time looking through the new website, welcome! If this is not your first time seeing the new website, you get my brand new, totally official “Best GEM” award. A big thank […]
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GEMS trainee Laura Suttenfield defends her dissertation!
21 January 2025
GEMS PhD candidate in the Whitaker Lab, Laura Suttenfield, has successfully defended her thesis entitled “The evolution of transmission mode of a temperate transposable virus of P. aeruginosa and its effect on the host”. Congratulations, Dr. Suttenfield!
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Successful STEM Day
18 November 2024
GEMS participated in the 2024 STEM Day, hosted by the Champaign Park District at the Martens Center on November 9, 2024. This free event was in partnership with other local organizations including X-time and University of Illinois Science Explorers. Approximately 100 students of all ages attended the event, and there were many different science activities […]
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Two GEMS researchers featured in University of Illinois News Bureau article
24 October 2024
The University of Illinois News Bureau recently published a story featuring Ed Hsieh, Adam Dolezal, and their research on how good nutrition helps honey bees better withstand pesticides and viruses. The article, written by Life Sciences Editor Diana Yates, highlights the benefits of high-quality habitats near agricultural areas to boost bee resilience.
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New GEMS Preprint!
22 October 2024
Trainee David Vereau Gorbitz (Heath/Vanderpool labs, UIUC) has just released his first pre-print on BioRxiv. The paper, titled “Plasmid transmission dynamics and evolution of partner quality in a natural population of Rhizobium leguminosarum“, details his efforts to more deeply understand plasmid populations in a model symbiont. Read the paper below!
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GEMS Represents at IGB World of Genomics
15 October 2024
Multiple GEMS trainees from the IGOH (Infection Genomics for One Health) theme at the UIUC IGB recently traveled to Chicago to present at World of Genomics, a large outreach event at the Museum of Science and Industry. GEMS Trainee Sierra Bedwell designed activities representing One Health in collaboration with the IGB Outreach team and recruited […]