UW-Madison Currie Lab

Not an ant post today, but a tip for cell counts with spore forming bacteria! Here is an image of different 10 fold dilutions of spore forming Streptomyces species. These stains can be hard to quantify as they are very slow growing. Here is an easy way by taking a loop of each of your dilutions and make 1 steak on your agar plate. You can see how the 10 fold dilution as it increases!

to collecting on top of in Colorado! It was a gorgeous day to hike and collect insects. Most of the lab members have moved on to another phase in their life, but what a great memory!

Make sure to check out Part II of Ant Wars, filmed by Cait Carlson! Who will win?

Ant Wars II Ant wars are common in the Neotropics. To protect them from attacks from other leaf-cutter ant species some species of leaf-cutter ants have evolved biominer...

Exciting coverage of our new research by National Geographic!

Leaf-cutter ants are coated in rocky crystal armor, never before seen in insects Researchers have discovered a new type of mineral, similar to dolomite, covering the exoskeleton of leaf-cutter ants.

Ant wars are common in the Neotropics. To protect themselves against attacks from other leaf-cutter ants, certain species have evolved biomineral armor (yes, like a knight!). Watch Ant Wars I to see what happens when armor is removed from an Acromyrmex echinatior leaf-cutter ant! Footage and video by Cait Carlson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFEyrS0naSg&feature=youtu.be

University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

Ant Wars I Ant wars are common in the Neotropics. To protect them from attacks from other leaf-cutter ant species some species of leaf-cutter ants have evolved biominer...

Our new discovery of 'rock' armor on leaf-cutter ants! Check out Currie Lab Postdoc Alum Dr. Hongjie Li and Currie Lab Manager Cait Carlson's publication with Dr. Cameron Currie and collaborators in Nature Communications:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19566-3

University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

Biomineral armor in leaf-cutter ants Biomineral armour is known in a number of diverse creatures but has not previously been observed in insects. Here, the authors report on the discovery and characterization of high-magnesium calcite armour which overlays the exoskeletons of leaf-cutter ants.

Charlotte Francoeur, a Graduate Student in the Currie Lab, has been up to some awesome things! Read more below:

What does fungi have to teach us about s*x? How does anthropology connect to microbiology? Check out our latest blog post with Microbiology PhD student Soleil Young as we discuss fungal s*x, women in science, and more!
📷 Photo illustrated by Sara Zadrima

https://currielab.wisc.edu/blog.php?id=20

University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
UW-Madison Research
UW-Madison Science Outreach

Undergrads have been getting a lot of questions around Madison! What ARE we doing in the woods, cutting down leaves? During the summer months, Currie Lab undergrads collect maple and oak leaves to give to our leaf-cutter ant colonies. The ants use these leaves to grow fungi, which is what they actually eat. We also begin saving up leaves to preserve for the winter months, when we don’t have easy access to fresh greenery🍃🍁

University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
UW-Madison Genetics
UW-Madison Science Outreach

“Just because you aren’t interested in science at a young age, doesn’t mean it’s not for you,” says JoJo Sardina, a Currie Lab Grad Student in the UW-Madison Genetics PhD Program. In our newest blog post, JoJo tells the story of how he got interested in science & delves into the research he does at the Currie Lab. Link below 🧫 🔬 🐜

https://currielab.wisc.edu/blog.php?id=18

[images: JoJo holding a leaf-cutter ant soldier (top) and JoJo looking into a microscope (bottom)]

University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison Science Outreach

The Currie Lab supports the goals of to take this time to reflect, plan, and take action to foster a constant environment of anti-racism in our lab, department, institution, & beyond. This is just the start.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

‪New blog post up in our series🎉Donny Hoang (pictured on the right, sampling insects) is using microbes to better understand ecology, and vis versa! He’s also looking at making biofuels more efficient with the help of microbes🦠 ‬
‪Read more here: https://currielab.wisc.edu/blog.php?id=17‬

UW-Madison College of Letters & Science
UW-Madison Science Outreach
UW-Madison Dept of Bacteriology