📬

The Hénaff Lab Summer Tour

It’s out of the lab and on to the conference floor for the folks in the Hénaff Lab this June!

First up, Alma Rocha, a PhD Candidate in the Silverman and Hénaff Labs, presented work entitled, “Experimental Considerations for Quantifying Sunlight-Mediated Decay of Plasmid-bound DNA Targets” at the 22nd Annual Health Related Water Microbiology Conference in Amersfoort, Netherlands.

Our Alma takes center stage in her talk on quantifying sunlight-mediated decay of plasmid-bound DNA targets.

A visual postcard from Alma of beautiful Amersfoort, Netherlands! What a place to talk about water!

Next, PhD Candidate Diedre Brown, and Post-Doctoral Researcher Phoebe Mankiewicz each presented work at the Gordon Research Seminar and Conference on Microbiology and the Built Environment in New Hampshire. Phoebe presented a talk and poster entitled “Characterizing the Influence of Biomechanical Indoor Green Infrastructure on Room-Scale Microbiome and CO2 Exposures within a Typical Office Environment.” Diedre presented a poster on the lab’s assessment of urban aerobiomes, which began as a NYU CUSP 2022-2023 Seed Grant Project.

Phoebe (far right) spoke at the inaugural GRS Microbiomes of the Built Environment during the session entitled Pathogens and Microbiomes on Surfaces and in the Air. (In photograph from left to right: Ke Zhang(University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Nicholas Nastasi (The Ohio State University), Kathryn Langenfeld (University of Michigan), Mengyi Dong (Duke University), and Phoebe Mankiewicz Ledins (Yale CEA)

Diedre was happy to represent the ongoing work of our Aerobiome Team at both the GRS and GRC Microbiomes of the Built Environment poster sessions.

Phoebe explains the intricacies of the sampling methodology she and her team developed to Cresten Mansfedt, University of Colorado Boulder at the GRC Microbiomes of the Built Environment.

It was off to the woods on the Mad River Trail, NH for Phoebe and Diedre, who were in their element with all the plants and animals.

Karolina (right) and Hao-Wei (left) presenting their work at the Seventh International Symposium on Bioremediation and Environmental Biotechnology, taking place June 23–26, 2025, in Boston, Massachusetts. Karolina gave a talk on LAMP-PCR based biosensor and Hao-Wei presented his research poster on Engineering Microbial Surfaces.

For the final destination of the lab’s grand tour, PhD Candidate, Hao Wei Shih, and Research Associate (and IDM Class of 2025 graduate 👩‍🎓), Karolina Sulich, presented work at the International Symposium on Bioremediation and Environmental Biotechnology in Boston. Their works, “Engineering Microbial Surfaces for Petroleum Hydrocarbons Biodegradation Poster Session at International Symposium and Bioremediation and Environmental Technology” and “LAMP-PCR Based Biosensor for Identification of Contaminants and Biodegradation Pathways Presentation at International Symposium on Bioremediation and Environmental Biotechnologies” are part of the lab’s long-term research of the Gowanus Canal microbiome.

Hao-Wei Shih in front of his poster at the Sheraton Hotel, Boston.

Let’s hope they send some microbiome postcards back!