May 6, 2021
I’m happy to share my little (so far!) collection of my nature drawings with a heavy focus on insect drawings, of course! ...read more
April 3, 2021
Our systematic review on PCR approaches to insect gut content analysis is published!
I’m happy to share that our review paper entitled “Choosing an effective PCR-based approach for diet analysis of insect herbivores: A systematic review.” is published in Journal of Economic Entomology. ...read more
March 25, 2021
Presented at the EB-ESA-2021 meeting
This week I presented my research on interspecific and intraspecific interactions of Anastatus reduvii at the Eastern Branch meeting of the Entomological Society of America. ...read more
February 5, 2021
Will serve on the University Senate!
I’m very grateful and I feel deeply honored to be elected as a PTK senator, to represent the needs, interests, and views of professional track faculty on the University Senate. ...read more
January 1, 2021
Reviewer Board Member for Agriculture!
I was invited to serve on Reviewer Board Member for Agriculture. I really enjoy serving as a reviewer and find it very rewarding. ...read more
November 4, 2020
Our paper on host plant DNA detection from the potato leafhopper gut contents is published!
I’m happy to share that our paper entitled “Detecting Ingested Host Plant DNA in Potato Leafhopper (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae): Potential Use of Molecular Markers for Gut Content Analysis” is published in Journal of Economic Entomology. ...read more
October 15, 2020
Field season 2020 is done, and I’m looking forward to analyzing the data, parasitoid identifications, and preparing to the next summer. ...read more
August 3, 2020
Started as an Assistant Research Scientist in Dr. Shrewsbury's lab!
I am very excited to join Dr. Paula Shrewsbury’s lab as an Assistant Research Scientist! In my new position, I continue my research on novel species interactions and will focus on native and introduced parasitoid interactions for biocontrol of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug. ...read more
July 27, 2020
Presented at Botany 2020 - Virtual!
This week I presented at the Botany-2020 virtual meeting, Annual Meeting of the Botanical Society of America. ...read more
April 11, 2020
Developed an undergraduate course in Invasion Ecology
I’ve finished developing the main outline of my course in Invasion Ecology which I hope to teach some day. This is a semester-long course; I see it as an upper-division undergraduate course but I think it can be easily adapted for a low-division undergraduate course or an elective graduate course. ...read more
April 1, 2020
Our paper on molecular gut content analysis of the invasive spotted lanternfly published in Insects!
So happy to see our paper on molecular gut content analysis of the invasive spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, published today in Insects special issue “Molecular Gut Content Analysis: Deciphering Trophic Interactions of Insects”! ...read more
March 18, 2020
Joined the Reviewer Board for journal 'Insects'
I have accepted an invitation to join the Reviewer Board for journal “Insects”! I’ll be serving as a reviewer in the following subject areas: molecular gut content analysis, eDNA, DNA barcoding, invasion ecology, plant-insect interactions, insect morphology, and host plant usage. ...read more
January 3, 2020
I was very pleased to know that our grant proposal entitled “Identification of host plant use by the invasive spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) using next-gen DNA sequencing technology” has been funded by Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station Competitive Grant Program! ...read more
December 26, 2019
Lanternfly paper published in PLOS ONE!
One year of work, four months in review, two months in revision, and here you go - a wonderful Christmas present from PLOS ONE! This paper summarizes the results of my morphological work on the spotted lanternfly, an aggressive invasive insect in the eastern US. In part, thanks to intensive training in scanning electron microscopy at the Laboratory for Biological Ultrastructure. ...read more
September 26, 2019
Bryan continues studying Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland!
I was very pleased to learn that my former mentee, Bryan, a high school student, was admitted to the University of Maryland where he continues studying Molecular Biology. Bryan was working with us during last Spring semester, and I was really impressed by his incredible progress during those several months. ...read more
September 16, 2019
Guest Editor for Insects, special issue on molecular gut content analysis!
I’m serving as a Guest Editor for journal Insects, Special Issue “Molecular Gut Content Analysis: Deciphering Trophic Interactions of Insects”. I’m co-editing this special issue with Dr. Bill Lamp. Our proposal for this special issue has been approved, and the special issue has just been announced ...read more
September 15, 2019
Presented at the 2nd UMD Postdoctoral Research Symposium
Last Friday, I had a poster presentation at our 2nd UMD Postdoctoral Research Symposium. I presented ‘the morphological part’ of my lanternfly research – ...read more
June 10, 2019
Successful amplification of COI partial gene from dragonfly prey
Molecular identification of prey in predator diet - this is a new challenge in my DNA barcoding work; I amplify DNA from dragonfly prey items (a new lab project I’m involved in). ...read more
May 6, 2019
Guest lecture on invasive species tomorrow!
I’m very excited about my upcoming guest lecture tomorrow. This lecture is on invasive species for an undegraduate honors class on insect biodiversity. ...read more
April 27, 2019
We had a great time on campus enjoying yet another Maryland Day! While I was busy in our “Discover a Swamp” room, the rest of my family enjoyed ice-cream, baloons, trucks, books, and of course, our bugs! ...read more
April 26, 2019
Nina succesfully presented at her school research symposium
Last Friday, I enjoyed attending Eleanor Roosevelt High School Annual Research Symposium. Nina, one of my mentees, presented final results of her DNA barcoding work. ...read more
April 15, 2019
Teaching summer course in Evolutionary Biology
I am super excited to teach a graduate course in Evolutionary Biology this summer as an instructor of record. This is a fully online course offered through the Master of Chemical and Life Sciences program ...read more
March 13, 2019
Presented at the EB-ESA meeting in Blacksburg!
This week I presented at the Eastern Branch meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Blacksburg, VA. The meeting was very interesting, especially its special symposium on the spotted lanternfly. ...read more
March 6, 2019
Scanning Electron Microscopy: Round 2
I’ve finished the 2nd round of scanning electron microscopy of the lanternfly mouthparts and tarsi which I conducted in The Laboratory for Biological Ultrastructure (my special thanks to Tim Maugel for his continuous help!!). We received beautiful SEM images, most of them are included now in my poster for the upcoming EB-ESA meeting. These images helped us to explore how ...read more
February 23, 2019
Presented at the MOFFA meeting
Last Saturday I presented at the Annual Meeting of the Maryland Organic Food & Farming Association (Maryland Dept. of Agriculture, Annapolis, MD). ...read more
January 5, 2019
This paper is on interactions of exotic leafhopper, Sophonia orientalis, with its novel hosts in Hawaii. It took quite a bit to analyze two-year data, to write a manuscript, and to wait for all of the reviewers’ comments. ...read more
November 30, 2018
I gave my first talk at our weekly departmental seminar: “Novel plant-insect associations: implication of the lack of coevolution”. It was very exciting and interesting experience, ...read more
November 15, 2018
Busy 2018 ESA meeting in Vancouver!
This time the ESA meeting (2018 ESA, ESC, and ESBC Joint Annual Meeting) was especially busy for me. I served as a moderator in one session, a judge in two other sessions; ...read more
October 11, 2018
My systematic review and meta-analysis on feeding preferences of acridid grasshoppers on native vs. introduced plants has just been published in Plants, Special Issue “Plants Interacting with other Organisms: Insects”. ...read more
September 8, 2018
Summer is over. It was a busy Summer - full of interesting work, trips, and a lot of writing. Looking back, I’m happy to share a few highlights. ...read more
May 7, 2018
We had a wonderful time on campus celebrating our annual Maryland Day! I was really impressed how well everything was organized and how many things there were to do with friends and family, and of course with little and not so little kids. ...read more
April 20, 2018
My first adventures in the aquatic world
Being almost exclusively ‘terrestrial’ person in my research it has been quite an interesting experience for me to “get wet” with both Dr. Lamp’s lab and his Aquatic Entomology class. ...read more
April 19, 2018
Exploring family-friendly places in Maryland
If not every weekend, but at least every other weekend we try to get out to a new place with our growing little one. ...read more
January 20, 2018
Starting a postdoc at the University of Maryland
I’ve just started as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland! ...read more
October 20, 2017
Week 5 of Planting Science program
It has been 5 weeks of Planting Science program and my online mentorship of high school students teams in their plant investigations. ...read more
October 4, 2017
New (or old?) mode of transport for invasive species
Carlton et al. Science 29 Sep 2017: ”..We document 289 living Japanese coastal marine species from 16 phyla transported over 6 years on objects that traveled thousands of kilometers across the Pacific Ocean ...read more
July 29, 2017
Last week I spent in Colorado Springs at the Digging Deeper Summer Professional Development workshop which is part of my Planting Science fellowship I received earlier this year. ...read more
May 10, 2017
Our GenBank submission has just been approved!
Our GenBank submission has just been approved! Here it is: ...read more
April 21, 2017
Three poster presentations of my students. Great job, guys!
Today my students presented their molecular biology term projects at 4th Annual Grand View Scholarship Symposium. Very exciting! ...read more
March 10, 2017
My paper from my postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been just published in Insects, in special issue “Invasive insect species ...read more
December 16, 2016
My last dissertation chapter is published! Now I can retire...
It will be included in January issue of The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society: ...read more
August 28, 2016
Started working at Grand View University
I am very excited to join Department of Biology at Grand View University in Des Moines, IA as an adjunct Genetics Instructor! ...read more
March 2, 2014
Another story about my research on plant DNA detection from grasshopper gut contents has been just published in India! ...read more
February 8, 2014
My protocol paper just came out in the February issue of Applications in Plant Sciences! ...read more
December 28, 2013
Plant DNA detection from grasshopper gut contents... published!
My paper “Plant DNA detection from grasshopper gut contents: a step-by-step protocol, from tissues preparation to obtaining plant DNA sequences” has just been accepted for publication in Applications in Plant Sciences! ...read more
November 28, 2013
First place at ESA meeting in Austin, TX
Last week I presented my research project on molecular confirmation of insect diet at the Annual Meeting of Entomological Society of America in Austin, TX (November, 2013) and won the first place in the Graduate Student Ten-Minute Paper Competition in the plant-insect interaction section! ...read more
March 20, 2013
Second place at ESA Eastern Branch
Yesterday I presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America and won second place in the PhD student oral competition! ...read more
January 8, 2013
Last summer I started my grasses/grasshoppers feeding experiments in the field. The main problem I had to solve was building the cages. ...read more
January 7, 2013
The board is your friend! (part 2)
I liked the idea of writing a lab flow on the board so much, that soon I started to add “Next lab assignment” rubric as well. As I usually need all space on the board during the lab, ...read more
December 17, 2012
I teach biology labs. Our typical lab usually includes a short lecture, a discussion about homework (so called pre-labs), a wet lab (i.e., an experiment), and exercises or answering questions. ...read more
November 21, 2012
At the end of each semester I receive students evaluations. It was a very difficult moment for me when I had just started teaching in the US. Mostly because there is no such thing as students evaluations in my native country. ...read more
November 17, 2012
In my very first evaluation that I received from my students here in the US I saw this comment: she is very straightforward. I wasn’t sure what that meant. ...read more
October 29, 2012
Professor Sprout: How this blog started
At first this blog was anonymous. It lived at www.professorsprout.me – an address which captured my attachment to biology and, yes, the Harry Potter books. Eventually I decided to move it to this new website that has a more formal name. But I’m keeping my first post unchanged – with all its Harry Potter references – for the sake of a little bit of magic. ...read more
