Archive for the News Category

A collaborative effort of 26 investigators, led by Dr. Doug Woodhams, has put together a culture collection and database of bacteria associated with the skin of amphibians from North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. All isolates were tested for activity against the chytrid fungus responsible for disease emergence and amphibian die-offs around the world. This growing database will allow researchers to identify native beneficial bacteria that can be used for probiotic therapies against the fungus.

Woodhams DC and 25 co-authors (2015) Antifungal isolates database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria and function against emerging fungal pathogens. Ecology, 96:595.

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Becker et al. characterized over 450 bacterial isolates from the skins of Panamanian amphibian species and tested them for antifungal function. Antifungal isolates were widely distributed among all bacterial phyla, with high proportions in three genera: Stenotrophomonas, Aeromonas, and Pseudomonas.

Becker M, Walke J, Murrill L, Woodhams DC, Reinert L, Rollins-Smith L, Burzynski E, Umile T, Minbiole K, Belden L. (2015) Microbiol Phylogenetic distribution of symbiotic bacteria from Panamanian amphibians that inhibit growth of the lethal fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Molecular Ecology

 

A student from Ecuador, Jorge Bresciano, published his research on bacteria from tadpoles and adult frogs across field sites ranging from Amazonian rainforest to Andes montane rainforest. He discovered Janthinobacterium lividum among other bacteria thought to reduce susceptibility to the emerging disease chytridiomycosis.

Bresciano JC, Salvador CA, Paz-Y-Miño C, Parody-Merino AM, Bosch J, Woodhams DC. (2015) Variation in the presence of anti-Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis bacteria of amphibians across life stages and elevations in Ecuador. EcoHealth

 

The Woodhams Lab now has a state-of-the-art research space in the new Integrative Science Complex at UMass Boston.  This new building provides 220,000 gross square feet of space featuring: research lab and support space for biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, physics, and psychology; undergraduate introductory biology teaching laboratories; an interdisciplinary undergraduate sandbox teaching lab, an infant cognition lab; and a new research center—the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy.  This $182 million dollar project was funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the UMass Building Authority, and Mass Development.

Interviewed for his professional perspective, Dr. Woodhams is quoted in The New York Times piece, Hope for Frogs in Face of a Deadly Fungus.  The article highlights recent discoveries that amphibians are able to acquire immunity to B. dendrobatidis.  This may lead to effective vaccination strategies against the disease, responsible for threatening amphibian populations worldwide.