2023

1/3/23 Ryn Harrington begins work as our official labtech. Already, the lab's whiteboard is filling up with her checklists and plans for the upcoming year :)

2022

12/12/22 We celebrated the end of the semester with our annual holiday party, this year at Yamas in Orono :) Teresa's zebra-cookies were a hit!

12/8/22 Tayo, Teresa, and Dr. Talbot wrap up the joint Bio336/504 course. This big experiment of teaching sophomores through graduates actually worked! Thanks for your excellent work Tayo and Teresa :) This course was an absolute treat.

12/1/22 James McKechnie joins team-MMP, working with Teresa.

11/18/22 Allie Myles interviews for a position and IMMEDIATELY volunteers to help with an experiment lasting all weekend. Way to hit the ground running Allie!

11/2/22 Sadie Waterman won a CUGR award for her research! Congratulations Sadie - you wrote a mighty impressive proposal!

10/22/22 The lab went out to a pumpkin patch to celebrate Fall :)

10/14/22 Ryn Harrington and Dr. Talbot attend (and present at) the first annual Maine Biomedical Conference in Portland Maine.

9/8/22 Dr. Talbot submits UMaine's 2022 Pew proposal.

8/30/22 Tayo Adekeye begins teaching Bio336 for his Hunter Fellowship, while Dr. Talbot teaches Bio504 and Teresa TAs. We began a whirlwind juggling act of teaching undergrads and grad students in one semi-split room. (note added later: It worked! It all worked!)

(Whew- got a little behind in updates; Sam's an infant and the semester is busy!)

8/6/22 We celebrated a very productive summer with a cookout at the Talbot home - it was wonderful to gather the crew and celebrate.

8/6/22 We bid farewell to Dmitrii Krivorotko who is heading to Boston University to begin a Master's program. On his way out, he wrote a glowing article about his time in the Talbot Lab, which you can read here.

8/5/22 Kailee Sprague caps her summer research with a 3-minute Thesis and poster presentation at MDIBL; she did an outstanding job this summer.

8/1/22 We have been awarded an R15 on the Distal Arthrogryposis project!!! Our first NIH grant :)

7/1/22 We bid farewell to Emily Tomak, who is moving to Colorado. Emily will continue her Masters via a distanced format. Emily, we will miss you - and I'm excited that you're keen to continue the work from afar.

6/22-26/22 The Talbot lab takes part in the International Zebrafish Conference - Tayo and I came in person, while Kailee joined via zoom. Wow, that was amazing. I felt embraced by the zebrafish community when I received the Chi-Bin Chien award, and absolutely loved the discussions that followed. Kailee gathered the whole lab gathered around for my talk. Tayo gave a wonderful poster, met colleagues, and made the whole experience so much fun. It was *amazing*.

6/1/22 Sean Eggermann begins his BioME summer internship

6/1/22 Kailee Sprague joins the lab for summer research through the INBRE program

5/15/22 We are proud to announce the birth of Samuel Talbot :)

5/14/22 Sara Loiselle begins work as a molecular pathologist at Nordex. Congratulations Sara!

5/7/22 We congratulate the three graduating Seniors from the Talbot Lab - Sara Loiselle, Sabrina Varga, and Dmitrii Krivorotko. You three are amazing and we will miss you. I wish you the very *best* as you leave the University.

5/2/22 The Talbot Lab gathers at Yamas to celebrate the end of an incredible academic year.

5/2/22 Mika Gallati is admitted into a Master's program at Brown University. Congratulations Mika!!!

4/29/22 Dmitrii Krivorotko defends his undergraduate thesis and receives Highest Honors! Congratulations Dmitrii!

4/28/22 Sabrina Varga defends her undergraduate thesis and receives High Honors. Congratulations Sabrina!

4/27/22 Dr. Talbot receives the university's "Graduate Faculty Mentor Award", after being selected by a committee of graduate students. Afterwards, my three grad students gave me a really nice card and a cute mug. I am so thankful for them, and am so flattered that they think highly of me. :)

4/8/22 Dr. Talbot is announced as this year's Chi-Bin Chien awardee by the International Zebrafish Society (IZFS). Wow, this is exciting! IZFS states: "The award recognizes outstanding graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, or recently appointed faculty members from any country who have made significant contributions to the field of zebrafish research and have exhibited the generosity and openness that characterized and motivated Chi-Bin Chien." I am utterly floored to be considered in the same light as Chi-Bin Chien.

You can read more about it, and how this award relates to ZebraShare, here. 3/30/22 Sean Eggermann is awarded a summer internship via BioME. Congratulations Sean!

3/27/22 We took our spring photo on a sunny day when most of the lab was here :)

2/16/22 *Congratulations* to Tayo Adekeye for receiving UMaine's prestigious Hunter Fellowship! 2/14/22 Jan Wusik begins a GSBSE rotation in the Talbot Lab :)

2/11/22 Carolina Cora wraps up her Talbot Lab rotation - she gave an excellent lab meeting this week and ended the week on a high note with some new cell tracking.

2/3/22 Big news! The University of Maine is recategorized as a "Research 1" University, which is highest tier of research in the Carnegie Classification.

2/1/22 The Six1-Cancer story is published. We had long known that Six1 promotes tumor progression, and in this new story, Jessica Hsu (lab of Heide Ford and Kristin Artinger) demonstrates a mechanism for how the gene can promote both progenitor identity and fiber differentiation - leading to potential differentiation approaches to treat cancer down the road. I was happy to play a small role in this story, which I think will be foundational to future work. You can read our open-access paper here 1/14/22 Dr. Talbot is admitted to the newest class of CUGR faculty fellows

1/13/22 Our ZebraShare paper is listed among the top-read Developmental Biology papers in PeerJ for 2021. Check it out here

1/7/22 Sophie Craig presents at lab meeting about the new phenotypes she was able to discover during her 8-week rotation. Great work Sophie :)

1/3/22 Lights on for a new year in the Talbot Lab. Though, I think Tayo never actually left. Happy New Year!

2021

12/16/21 We celebrated the holidays at the Orono Brewing Company. I think this will become a new tradition :)

12/9/21 We wrapped up another term of Bio336 this week. Students gave excellent final presentations; the pre-post test comparison showed that you learned a *ton* this semester. It was fun to work with you all.

11/30/21 The Six1-Cancer connection story is accepted in Cell Reports!!! I'll post a link as soon as one goes live :)

11/15/21 GSBSE student Carolina Cora begins a rotation in the Talbot Lab; looking forward to working with you.

11/8/21 Dr. Talbot presents a virtual seminar at Valparaiso University

11/5/21 Most of the Talbot Lab gathers for our annual fall photo :)

11/1/21 Sophie Craig begins a whirlwind 8-week rotation. Welcome, Sophie :)

10/28/21 Sabrina Varga receives a competitive INBRE fellowship for her thesis project. Congratulations Sabrina!

10/13/21 Willow Throckmorton-Hansford gains early admission to the Tufts early assurance med school program. She will be stepping away from the lab to focus on her studies in preparation for this program. Congratulations Willow, and good luck!

10/3/21 Jared Austin finishes his time as a labtech and moves on to begin work as an EMT at Norther Lights Hospital. We will miss you Jared, and wish you the best in your medical career :)

10/8/21 and 10/18/21 Tayo Adekeye presents a project update to the Talbot lab, and then at a joint meeting with the Henry lab.

10/1/21 Emily Tomak presents her first lab meeting - off to a great start.

9/20/21 Tayo Adekeye becomes the proud papa of his newborn son, Daniel.

9/10/21 We had a mingler with four muscle research labs on campus. It felt great to talk to so many local colleagues

8/31/21 The Talbot lab submitted our latest proposal to Pew. Fingers crossed!

8/30/21 Welcome to the start of a Fall 2021! This is my first time teaching in a fully "in person" semester

8/30/21 Teresa Easterbrooks officially joins the lab as our newest Masters student

8/9/21 Congratulations to Mika Gallati for her new position as a lab tech in the Hart lab at Brown University :)

7/16/21 The Talbot and Tilbury labs receive an Institute of Medicine grant for a collaborative project. Much celebration ensued. Read more about it here.

7/14/21 Alicia Ebert's lab demonstrated that crk and crkl are needed for reliable eye development; Dr. Talbot is a co-author on this because he contributed some mutants and was engaged with the writing/review process. Our story is was accepted for publication today! Check out our paper here.

6/23/21 We submitted our first major grant today- an R15!

6/16-22/21 Dr. Talbot, Emily, and Tayo attend the 16th Annual International Zebrafish Society Meeting. Sara attends "Microbes and Social Equity"

The Talbot lab, Summer 2021:

6/4/21 The Talbot lab enjoys a summer kickoff BBQ.

6/1/21 Emily Tomak begins her Master's project on muscle physiology. We are so excited that you will be staying in the lab, and look forward to seeing your story unfold.

5/15/21 We submitted a small internal grant to let us explore new techniques in muscle imaging. Finger's crossed!

5/11/21 Dr. Talbot is named UMaine's 2021 nominee for a Pew Biomedical Fellowship! Wish me luck in the national competition.

5/7/21 We celebrate the end of finals at UMaine, and I celebrate my first full year of teaching. Three courses taught, one pandemic endured, and one lab built.

CONGRATULATIONS to our three graduates: Kaitlyn Bear, Emily Tomak, and Jared Austin

4/30/21 Jared Austin presents his Capstone project at a joint lab meeting with the Henry lab. Fantastic job Jared!

4/23/21 Kaitlyn Bear presents her Capstone project at a joint lab meeting with the Henry lab. Nice work Kaitlyn!

4/13/21 The ZebraShare paper is published! Check it out here.

4/9/21 SBE hosts Carl Zimmer for a talk on 'A Planet of Viruses'. Our lab had fun hyping this one up in advance of his arrival - and he gave a very engaging talk.

4/2/21 This week, FOUR students gave Dr. Talbot results from their four projects that were SO EXCITING that he happy danced. Kudos to Tayo Adekeye, Sadie Waterman, Jared Austin, and Kaitlyn Bear for getting outstanding results all in one week.

4/2/21 Tayo Adekeye presents his first lab meeting; nice work Tayo :)

3/27/21 The Talbot lab has a socially-distanced Life Aquatic watch party.

3/16/21 Sara Loiselle receives a summer fellowship from the Center for UnderGraduate Research. Congratulations Sara!

3/12/21 Sara Loiselle presents on her recently submitted CUGR proposal

3/12/21 Dr. Talbot hosts Gerald Downes for an SBE seminar: "From Swimming to Seizures: Investigating Locomotor Behavior and Epilepsy in Developing Zebrafish"

2/26/21 Sabrina Varga presents on her image-analysis project :)

2/23/21 Dr. Talbot presents to the Zebrafish Disease Models Society: "Rapid muscle loss in a zebrafish model of distal arthrogryposis"

2/19/21 Brady-bunch photo of the Talbot lab, since we can only gather via zoom:

2/12/21 Sadie Waterman presents an excellent journal club on T-Tubules. Thanks Sadie!

2/2/21 The ZebraShare manuscript has been accepted! You can find this open-access paper here.

2/1/21 Emily Tomak officially signs on for a Masters project that will begin this summer!

1/25/21 Matt Akers takes a job at Aspen Dental - Congratulations Matt!

1/25/21 Dr. Talbot begins a new term of Bio450 - this time, with an in-person lab.

1/25/21 Jared Austin and Kaitlyn Bear begin their Capstone term.

1/18/21 Tayo Adekeye arrives in Orono to begin his Ph.D. in the Talbot lab. Welcome, Tayo!

1/4/21 Research begins for a new year. Dr. Talbot and Jared Austin brighten the doors and begin experiments with new mutants :)