Archive for the News Category

In an article published in Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, Dr. Molly Bletz, Brandon LaBumbard and Dr. Emily Le Sage team up with Dr. Woodhams to compare pathogen detection techniques using samples collected by swab or skin wash from the Department of Defense SERDP project focused on leopard frogs.

Bletz MC, LaBumbard BC, Le Sage EH, Woodhams DC. (2021) Extraction-free detection of amphibian pathogens from water baths. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 146: 81–89. doi: 10.3354/dao03621

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Brady Inman receives best talk award at NEPARC, and Rakeyah Ahsan presents research at the meeting for Salamander Models in Cross-Disciplinary Biological Research, and REU student Ednita Tavarez-Jimenez presents, “Commonly traded amphibian is susceptible to the emerging fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salmandrivorans.”

Dr. Molly Bletz, Brandon LaBumbard, and Dr. Douglas C. Woodhams publish results in Plos Pathogens. Eastern newts are found to be highly susceptible to the emerging fungal pathogen, Bsal. Environmental temperature has a key role in the epidemiology.

Carter ED, Bletz MC, Le Sage M, LaBumbard B, Rollins-Smith LA, Woodhams DC, Miller DL, Gray MJ. (2021) Winter is coming–Temperature affects immune defenses and susceptibility to Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans. PLoS Pathogens 17(2): e1009234. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009234

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Dr. Woodhams contributes to a new review on Sickness Behaviors Across Vertebrate Taxa published in Journal of Experimental Biology.

Lopes PC, French SS, Woodhams DC, Binning SA. (2021) Sickness behaviors across vertebrate taxa: proximate and ultimate mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Biology, 224(9):jeb225847. doi: 10.1242/jeb.225847.

Dr. Amanda Tokash-Peters is a “Scientist to Watch” featured in The Scientist. She continues to work on mosquito microbiome research after graduating from UMass Boston, and is now a professor at Centenary University.

Genome Biology publishes “Host-associated microbiomes are predicted by immune system complexity and climate”, with more than a dozen students from Dr. Woodhams’ two graduate seminar courses on microbiomes as co-authors. The paper includes combined data from the Earth Microbiome Project as well as 50 additional studies to evaluate global-scale patterns of bacterial diversity and function across 654 host species and 15,000 samples.

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Woodhams, D.C., Bletz, M.C., Becker, C.G., Bender, A.B.*, Buitrago-Rosas, D.*, Diebboll, H.*, Huynh, R.*, Kearns, P.J., Kueneman, J., Kurosawa, E.*, LaBumbard, B.C.*, Lyons, C.*, McNally, K.*, Schliep, K., Shankar, N.*, Tokash-Peters, A.G.*, Vences, M., Whetstone, R.* Host-associated microbiomes are predicted by immune system complexity and climate. Genome Biol 21, 23 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-019-1908-8

Bolded are members of the Woodhams Lab. * Denotes graduate student co-author.

 

Probiotic treatments for amphibians at risk of emerging disease is one management approach proposed by the Woodhams lab. This historical overview provides context for novel microbially-based disease management strategies and research frontiers.

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Amy McDermott, Science Writer. Proceedings of the National Academy. Feb. 18, 2019. Fighting a fungal scourge.

The Journal of Animal Ecology publishes “Preparatory immunity: Seasonality of mucosal skin defenses and Batrachochytrium infections in Southern leopard frogs” with Ph.D. candidate Brandon LaBumbard and Dr. Woodhams. The paper explores the effects of seasonality on host immune and microbial defenses against Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infections. 

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Le Sage, E.H., LaBumbard, B.C., Reinert, L.K., Miller, B.T., Richards-Zawacki, C.L., Woodhams, D.C., Rollins-Smith, L.A. Preparatory immunity: Seasonality of mucosal skin defenses and Batrachochytrium infections in Southern leopard frogs. J Anim Ecol. 2020 Nov 12. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13386. PMID: 33179786.

 

 

Herpetological Review publishes “Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is Widespread and Associated with Water Temperature in the Eastern United States”, with Woodhams Lab undergraduate Sydney Horan and postdoc Molly Bletz. The study found that in a survey of Eastern Newts down the east coast of the United States, Bd was highly prevalent and correlated with water temperature. Bsal was also found to be absent in the survey.

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Horan, S., McDonald, C., Bletz, M. C. 2020. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is Widespread and Associated with Water Temperature in the Eastern United States. Herpetological Review 51(3), p. 484-488.