Despite several new players entering the competition, the second annual Dolan Lab mini golf competition came down to Gunar and Jess again. This year, Gunar had the edge and emerged victorious. 2026 will be a bloodbath.
Special mention to Deeya for most balls lost.
Well done to Gunar who was selected as an EPIC Seifert Scholar for Summer 25. Gunar will spend his time in the lab working on how fungi respond to stressors.
Massive congrats to Mallory who won the Clemson University College of Science Bluekey Academic and Leadership Award, 24/25. This award recognizes one student in each of the seven colleges at Clemson who has distinguished themselves in academic scholarship and campus leadership.
Stephen attended The Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2025 in Liverpool (31 March - 3 April). Along with taking the opportunity to catch up with past colleagues from the UK and Europe, he also attended the Microbiology Editorial Board meeting.
The Dolan Lab was well represented at this semester's ASM-SC Branch meeting. Emily, Cameron, Lindsay, and Jess presented posters with Cameron and Jess securing prizes in their respective categories. Shafi gave his first talk as a PhD student and also came away with a prize.
Congratulations to all, a great day for the lab!
Jess and Stephen's contributions to a new collaborative study led by Dr. Gustavo Goldman (University of São Paulo) have been published in the ASM journal, mBio. The paper is titled 'Aspergillus fumigatus secondary metabolite pyripyropene is important for the dual biofilm formation with Pseudomonas aeruginosa'.
Stephen travelled to Newport for the CFF (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation) Career Development Retreat, March 3-6, where he was one of the facilitators for a breakout session on leadership.
Stephen and Dr. Bruce Rafert have received a Clemson Major Research Instrumentation grant (CU-MRI) for their project “CU-MRI: Next-Generation Hyperspectral Snapshot Imaging for Enhanced Phenotypic Profiling of Eukaryotic Pathogens Impacting Human Health”.
The funds will allow them to acquire the university’s first hyperspectral snapshot imaging (HSI) system, a transformative technology poised to revolutionize pathogen research. This system will provide unparalleled spectral and spatial imaging capabilities, allowing researchers to enhance phenotypic profiling of eukaryotic pathogens that impact human health.
The Dolan Lab is excited to welcome two new members, Shafi (PhD student) and Lindsay (research tech). Wonderful to see the team continue to grow (Stephen is most definitely outnumbered now!).
Cameron was awarded a COSMIC Spark of Excellence award in recognition of her work over the summer and during her first semester at Clemson. COSMIC is the College of Science Mentoring and Inclusion Collaborative. It is an award-winning peer mentoring program intended to support incoming students with their transition to Clemson by matching them with upperclassmen mentors who come from similar backgrounds and share similar interests.
Stephen attended ABRCMS, a conference which was founded by ASM to encourage minority, first-generation, veteran, and disabled students to pursue higher education in STEM, from 13-16 November on behalf of EPIC and the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry. Alongside meeting with students from all over the US and discussing the opportunities that are available at Clemson with them, he judged poster presentations in the microbiology category.
The lab didn't have to go far for the Fall 24 SC ASM meeting! Well done to Deeya, Mallory, and Gunar for their poster presentations and a massive congratulations to Cameron for giving her first talk (and being the only freshman student to give a talk!).
The evening ended with pizza, a firepit, and the decision that Stephen is best defined as the color red.
The Dolan Lab attended the 12th Cellular Biology of Eukaryotic Pathogens Meeting (CBEP), EPIC's annual conference, on 28/29 October. This was a very successful outing for the lab: both Deeya and Gunar presented posters on their work, and Jess gave a talk on her research. Stephen was an organizer, and chaired one of the sessions which included a talk by invited speaker, Dr. Anna Selmecki from the University of Minnesota. The meeting culminated with the presentation of the Bauer Family Travel award, with Jess successfully securing one of two awards.
Well done to everyone!
Stephen was an invited speaker at the 7th International Conference on Model Hosts (12-17 October). He had the opportunity to present his work on interkingdom crosstalk between fungi and bacteria during infection (and may have enjoyed some excellent food and top notch sea views on the side!).
Stephen, Jess, and Mallory attended the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC), 26-28 October. This annual meeting brings together scientists, clinicians, and caregivers from around the world to discuss and share ideas on the latest advances in CF research, care, and drug development and to exchange ideas about ways to improve the health and quality of life for people with CF. Both Jess and Mallory presented posters, and Stephen chaired a session alongside Dr. Deb Hogan (Dartmouth).
Welcome to the newest member of the lab, Anna (MS student). Glad to have you on the team!
Cameron Kennedy completed her five-week summer rotation as part of the EUREKA! program. This program gives incoming first-year Honors students the opportunity to gain research experience before beginning their freshman year. Cameron's project focused on how bacteria change in the presence of fungi. The Dolan Lab are delighted that Cameron will be returning in Fall 24 as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome to the team, Cameron!
Stephen's paper on bacterial-fungal interactions, "Convergent evolution in toxin detection and resistance provides evidence for conserved bacterial–fungal interactions", has been published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). This work has been highlighted in the Clemson News. The Dolan Lab will build on this work moving forward.
Logan Gardner and Zechariah (Zech) Karsana joined the lab in June for an eight-week rotation as part of the EPIC MEnTOR (Medical Enrichment Through Opportunities in Research) program. MeNTOR provides NIH-funded traineeships to selected students who have completed their first year at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Zech and Logan's project was based on understanding the genetic basis of how Aspergillus fumigatus responds to bacteria.
The Dolan Lab took to the lanes (sides down!) in Easley for a summer get together. A good time was had by all, despite some people receiving way cooler shoes than others. Stephen emerged victorious (maybe they let him win).
The Dolan Lab participated in the Great Strides walk, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s largest national fundraising event, in Greer City Park: a great opportunity to get out in the sunshine for a very worthy cause! The lab was presented with a 'New Strider on the Block' award for our fundraising efforts and we look forward to this becoming an annual event.
Congratulations to Mallory who was selected as an EPIC Seifert Scholar for Summer 24. This program provides up to 3 undergraduate research students with the opportunity to spend a summer in an EPIC lab completing cutting edge research. Mallory will spend six weeks in the Dolan Lab working on how fungi respond to bacteria.
The first annual Dolan Lab mini golf competition took place at The Oasis Ranch on a balmy spring evening. The competition was stiff with Jess taking victory and Gunar a close second. Special mention goes to Shamrat who had never golfed before and chose a child's club for his round (it should be noted that he still beat Stephen).
The Dolan Lab travelled to Coastal Carolina University for the ASM-SC Branch Spring Conference. Both Jess and Shamrat presented posters and Stephen gave a talk on bacterial:fungal interactions. This was Jess' first presentation and she won the best poster prize for her work. Congrats, Jess!
NIAID K22 NOA: 'Defining mechanisms of fungal-bacterial interactions during infection' - NIH NIAID Career Transition Award. This award will support the Dolan Lab polymicrobial research for the next 2 years.
Jess was competitively selected and funded to participate in the ‘Fundamentals of Proteomics’ Workshop at the National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
Shamrat was selected to present his research poster to life sciences industry experts at the SCbio 2024 Annual Conference.
A warm welcome to the newest members of the Dolan Lab: Jess, Deeya, Mallory, Gunar, and Emily. Exciting science ahead!
Shamrat presented his first poster from the lab at the 11th Cellular Biology of Eukaryotic Pathogens Meeting. Great work, Shamrat!
The Dolan Lab at Clemson EPIC is open for business!