Photo by Imaan Moin ‘22
By Imaan Moin ’22
Staff Writer
The Pioneer Valley Microbiology Symposium took place on Saturday, March 5, 2022 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Microbiologists at all stages in their careers, from students to researchers to faculty members, attended to spend a day sharing new research and learning from the Pioneer Valley community. Mount Holyoke College had several students and faculty attend the symposium, with Dr. Amy Hitchcock Camp and the Camp Lab attending presentations, Dr. Katie Berry giving a keynote talk during the day’s events and members of the Berry Lab presenting posters.
Linh Nguyen ’22, a member of the Berry Lab, presented a poster at PVMS. This was her second time presenting at PVMS but her first time presenting in person, as PVMS 2021 was held virtually.
“It’s absolutely amazing to be able to do this in-person this year,” Nguyen said. Ngyuen’s poster presentation outlined her research project with the Berry Lab about “[optimizing] a genetic assay to study bacterial RNA-protein interactions,” Nguyen explained. Nguyen’s favorite part of PVMS is that “it’s a pretty close-knit community,” and that “it’s a nice way to connect with the scientific community, different people and different institutions around [the Pioneer Valley].”
Sungeun Jo ’22, another member of the Berry Lab, presented a poster at PVMS for the first time. In her research, Jo “[investigated] novel sRNA binding proteins in strains [of bacteria] other than E. coli,” such as Chlamydia trachomatis.
At the conference, Jo learned about machine learning and genetic sequencing. “ Even though I couldn’t understand all of [the presentations], it was really interesting to see how the computational work and lab work can be combined,” Jo said.
Katherine Dailey ’22 also presented a poster at PVMS as a member of the Berry Lab. “Even though I’m a senior in the lab and I have been in the lab since my sophomore year, I haven’t had the chance to give a poster presentation because I was separated from my bacteria for a really long time,” Dailey said. “So being able to do research and then being able to actually talk about the research is a really cool, rewarding experience.”
Dailey’s poster presentation was about “an RNA binding protein in E. coli called ProQ, specifically focused on the accuracy of different structural models that we have of those proteins.” Something Dailey learned at the conference is that “poster boards flip over way too easily.” As if aiming to prove Dailey’s point during her interview with Mount Holyoke News, a nearby easel holding a poster board fell over. PVMS is an opportunity for microbiology experts to learn from one another. At the conference, Berry learned “that 26 percent of the diversity of organisms on the planet is a sort of subclass of bacteria that are actually symbionts of other bacteria,” Berry said. “They were new to me. It was super fun and interesting to learn about [these bacteria].”
For Berry, PVMS “feels like coming back to a group of friends.”
“I came to my first PVMS just after I had accepted the job at Mount Holyoke but before I began, so it was a way that I got to know a lot of the faculty in the area.” Her favorite part of PVMS is the community and conversations, “whether that’s over coffee or the poster sessions,” Berry said.
Editor’s note: Imaan Moin ’22 attended the Pioneer Valley Microbiology Symposium and is pictured in the above photo.