The MicroSocial Seminar Series aims to facilitate scientific exchange and community building across UMD’s microbiome research community. Monthly seminars feature UMD speakers, including students and faculty, who give short research presentations (either 2 x 12 minutes or 1 x 20 minute talks) followed by a social happy 1/2 hour over coffee and snacks. We welcome presentations about in-progress work or recent results, with the goal to provide an overview, receive feedback, promote opportunities for collaboration, or identify community interests and needs that the center may address. Open to all of UMD, the monthly seminar takes place on Tuesdays from 4–5 p.m.
To present at the MicroSocial Seminar Series, please contact Gabi Steinbach (gabis@umd.edu) to be added to the schedule.
Spring 2025 Schedule
| Date | Speakers | Talk Title | Location |
| March 4 | Darby Steinman, Ph.D. student, Bioengineering Taiwo Bankole, Ph.D. student, Nutrition and Food Science | TBD TBD | ESJ 2204 |
| April 15 | Qingyue Zeng, Ph.D. student, Food Science Dhiraj Chundru, Ph.D. student, Veterinary Medicine | TBD TBD | ESJ 2204 |
| May 13 | Yuzhu Mao, Ph.D. student, Environmental Engineering | TBD | ESJ 2204 |
Fall 2024 Schedule
| Date | Speakers | Talk Title | Location |
| October 15 | Raunak Dey, Ph.D. student, Physics Holly Childs, Ph.D. student, Nutrition & Food Science | “Multimodal Inference of Virus-microbe Infection Networks and Microbial Interactions from Population Dynamics” “A Comparison of Daidzein-Metabolizing Phenotypes and its Relationship to Cardiovascular Disease Risk” | ESJ 1224 |
| November 12 | Sydney Overton, Ph.D. student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Madhusudan Timilsina, Ph.D. student, Veterinary Medicine | “Electrochemical Detection of Gastrointestinal Serotonin Toward Understanding the Gut Brain Axis” “Exploration of the Upper Respiratory Tract Microbiome and Probiotic Interventions In Chickens” | ESJ 1224 |
| December 10 | Robert Kirian, Ph.D. student, Bioengineering Lora Cheng, Ph.D. student, Environmental Engineering | “Biocalorimetry to Predict Bacterial Extracellular Vesicle (bEV) Production and Improve Biomanufacturing” “New Horizons in Microbial Dynamics within Anaerobic Bioremediation Systems” | BRB 1103 |