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Meet Dr. Hannah Zierden, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UMD. Zierden's research goals surround understanding and leveraging the vaginal microbiome to improve women’s health outcomes. Her previous work identified the vaginal microbiome as a critical mediator of cervicovaginal mucus barrier properties—an important consideration for both understanding disease and designing vaginal drug delivery vehicles. The Zierden Lab is now focused on extracellular vesicles from vaginal bacteria as mediators of microbe-host communication, and as potential drug delivery carriers to treat reproductive disease. As part of the UMD Center of Excellence in Microbiome Sciences, Zierden hopes to develop collaborations and expertise to perform metagenomics and metatranscriptomics experiments, and genetically modify vaginal bacteria. Reach out to Hannah to connect and discuss joint interests.

Center Events

MicroSocial Seminar Series

The MicroSocial Seminar Series aims to facilitate scientific exchange and community building across the University of Maryland's microbiome research community. Seminars feature short talks by students and faculty, followed by 30 minutes of informal socializing over coffee and snacks.

Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Time: 4 p.m.

Location: BRB 1103

Speaker: Robert Kirian, Ph.D. student, Bioengineering

Talk: "Biocalorimetry to Predict Bacterial Extracellular Vesicle (bEV) Production and Improve Biomanufacturing"

Speaker: Lora Cheng, PhD student, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Talk: "New Horizons in Microbial Dynamics within Anaerobic Bioremediation Systems"

Save the Date – Annual Microbiome Symposium

When: Friday, March 21, 2025

Where: University of Baltimore

UMD Courses of Interest

Winter 2025

Advanced Topics in Biology; Infectious Disease Dynamics: A Systems Approach (BIOL708F & BSCI439C)

Are you interested in how infectious diseases spread through populations? This course is open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students from diverse disciplines. See flyer for more details and requirements.

Instructors: Associate Research Scientists Gabi Steinbach and Stephen Beckett

Spring 2025

Soil Microbial Ecology (ENST 422 & ENST 622)

The interdisciplinary study of soil microorganisms and their interactions with the mineral matrix; resulting in processes such as nutrient cycling, decontamination, and natural product production. We will focus on the diversity of soil communities, their survival strategies, and the new strategies used to study these communities.

Instructor: Stephanie Yarwood, associate professor of environmental science and technology


Microbiomes in Health, Disease, and Applications (CBMG613)

The course examines how microbiomes function metabolically and interact with host physiology across diverse contexts—from human gut-brain and hormonal interactions to anaerobic adaptations in termites and rumen—while exploring sequencing methods, health implications, and practical applications in industry and medicine.

Instructor: Brantley Hall, assistant professor of cell biology and molecular genetics


Food Microbiology (NFSC430 & NFSC679M)

A study of microorganisms of major importance to the food industry with emphasis on food-borne outbreaks, public health significance, bioprocessing of foods, disease control, and the microbial spoilage of foods.

Instructor: Ryan Blaustein, assistant professor of nutrition and food science


Food Microbiology Laboratory (NFSC434)

A study of techniques and procedures used in the microbiological examination of foods.

Instructor: Ryan Blaustein, assistant professor of nutrition and food science

Other Resources

News of Interest

NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize

The award recognizes innovative research by investigators who received their M.D., Ph.D, or M.D/Ph.D. in the last ten years, and are working on the functional attributes of the microbiota. The research can include any organism that has potential to contribute to our understanding of human or veterinary health and disease, or to guide therapeutic interventions. The winning essay will be published in Science, comes with a $25,000 cash award, and an online subscription to Science! Learn more here.


NASEM report on Women's Health Research: Transformative Change at the NIH

The NIH Office of Research in Women's Health tasked the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine to assess the state of women's health research at NIH, identify critical knowledge gaps, assess the level of funding for women's health research, and more. Read and watch here about the resulting report on specific recommendations for NIH women's health research priorities; training efforts for a robust women's health research workforce; improving internal structures, systems and processes; and ensuring appropriate levels of funding.

Conference

West Coast Bacterial Physiologists Annual Asilomar Meeting

When: December 13–15, 2024

Location: Pacific Grove, California

Learn more about the conference including trainee financial support.

NSF Funding

Building Synthetic Microbial Communities for Biology, Mitigating Climate Change, Sustainability and Biotechnology

Deadline: Monday, February 3, 2025

The National Science Foundation is accepting applications for projects that use a model synthetic microbial community to better understand the formation, maintenance, or functionality of natural communities and to understand a natural community’s impact on the host. It also seeks projects that create synthetic communities with novel capabilities and aim to understand the biological underpinnings for these capabilities. Learn more.

Microorganism-Mediated Organismal Resilience to Climate Change

Deadline: Thursday, January 23, 2025

The National Science Foundation is seeking proposals of microorganism-mediated organismal resilience to climate change. The overarching goal is to leverage the power of microorganisms to develop practical solutions for mitigation and adaptation to climate change and build a resilient planet, leveraging systems-level approaches to query microorganism resilience and the dynamic dialogue across the host-microorganism continuum, which ultimately regulates microorganism-mediated resilience to environmental change across temporal (e.g., lifespan) and/or spatial (e.g., landscape) scales. Learn more and reach out to Mihai Pop if interested in a joint proposal.

To have your research, events, or other resources included in the next newsletter, contact the center's program coordinator Gabi Steinbach at gabis@umd.edu.