Events will be hosted January – December, 2025, on the last Wednesday of every month, 12:00 – 14:00 pm ET. Presented over Zoom.
After each talk, we will continue the discussions in an informal social meeting with MSE. All speakers and members of the audience are welcome to join the social meeting.
Hosted by: Sue Ishaq, MSE, and finacially supported by the University of Maine Institute of Medicine and the UMaine Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Committee.
Summary:
Microorganisms are critical to many aspects of biological life, including human health. The human body is a veritable universe for microorganisms: some pass through but once, some are frequent tourists, and some spend their entire existence in the confines of our body tissues. The collective microbial community, our microbiome, can be impacted by the details of our lifestyle, including diet, hygiene, health status, and more, but many are driven by social, economic, medical, or political constraints that restrict available choices that may impact our health. Access to resources is the basis for creating and resolving social equity—access to healthcare, healthy foods, a suitable living environment, and to beneficial microorganisms, but also access to personal and occupational protection to avoid exposure to infectious disease. This speaker series explores the way that microbes connect public policy, social disparities, and human health, as well as the ongoing research, education, policy, and innovation in this field.
You can find recordings from previous series here.
“The role of methane-producing anaerobes in One Health”
Dr. Geo Santiago-Martínez, PhD
Apr 30, 2025, 12:00 EDT. This event has passed, watch the recording here.
Geo is an Assistant Professor for Microbiology at
The University of Connecticut (UConn), specializing in the physiology of methane-producing microbes of the Domain Archaea (methanogens) and the biochemistry of biomolecules involved in their metabolism. Using comparative omics data, his team first identifies possible molecular mechanisms and then experimentally tests functions and phenotypes. The goal of this research program is to understand the role of methanogens in nutrient cycling and the health of host-associated ecosystems and microbiomes. Projects at the UConn Microbial Ecophysiology Laboratory focus on evaluating the molecular mechanisms that regulate cellular processes in methanogens and how energy status influences their ability to withstand environmental stress conditions, using protocols on anaerobic microbial physiology, classical biochemical approaches, transcriptomic analysis, ultrastructure, metabolic modeling, and genetic manipulation.
You can find his lab website here!
Logo designed by Alex Guillen
The Ishaq Lab 