Northeastern professor and coral reef expert Steve Vollmer was working as a lifeguard in California when he first learned about the Three Seas program that would change his career trajectory — and his life.

At the time, Vollmer — a surfer with a biology degree from Colorado — was talking with a coworker who was counting wave sets at Huntington Beach. He shared that he was applying to graduate schools in Hawaii and California, hoping to pursue marine biology.

There was just one challenge: despite his love for the ocean, Vollmer had no experience studying it.

“She said, ‘Steve, you need some experience. Go to East West,’” which is what the Three Seas program was called back then, Vollmer says.

Accepted into the program, he traveled the world and met scientists who inspired him to go on to get a Ph.D. in marine biology.

“It was awesome,” says Vollmer, an associate professor at Northeastern’s Marine Science Center who teaches a Three Seas course on coral reefs. “The program did exactly what I needed it to do.”

Read more from Northeastern Global News.

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

This April, a group of Northeastern University undergraduate students traveled to Chicago to participate in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s annual meeting. Representing one of the largest groups Northeastern has ever sent, undergraduates Bita Adel-Zadeh, Ava Kominski, Migue Van Louis Darcera, Hiroki Yamaguchi, Jillian Zerkowski, Priya Thuran, Rupsa Jana, and Mark Teh proudly presented their research led by Professor Kirsten Fertuck, Biochemistry Program Director and ASBMB Chapter faculty advisor. 

The event opened with the Undergraduate Poster Competition on Saturday, April 12, where hundreds of undergraduate and even high school posters were presented. Among the participants, fifth-year cell and molecular biology major Migue Van Louis Darcera received an Honorable Mention for his research on pulcherriminic acid as a regulatory signal in bacteria biofilms, conducted in Professor Yunrong Chai’s lab. 

The undergraduate presenters gained valuable experience sharing their research with fellow students and received constructive feedback from judges. Adel-Zadeh presented her work on the characterization of tau species in plasma as a detection method for Alzheimer’s disease. Jana introduced her development of engineered STING-ICG lipid nanoparticles for trackable delivery in BRCA-deficient breast cancer treatment. Kominski explored the function of a plausible DNA polymerase protein, Pol A2. Teh discussed the role of plant UDP-glycosyltransferase in cardiotonic steroid biosynthesis. Thuran presented on structurally characterizing Noonan Syndrome-associated NRasT50I mutation. Yamaguchi examined the pathway through which Lon protease regulates the cell envelope in Acinetobacter baumannii, and Zerkowski investigated the coloration mechanism of Mercenaria mercenaria. 

Outside of their research presentations, students explored a wide range of sessions tailored to their individual interests. Topics spanned from biochemistry’s role in addressing climate change to advances in protein design for drug discovery, offering endless opportunities for learning and inspiration. A standout moment was a keynote talk on scientific perseverance, delivered through a memorable poker analogy that captured the challenges and realities of today’s research environment. Additionally, a women’s networking dinner featured a candid discussion on the complexities of pursuing a career in research as a woman, providing attendees with valuable mentorship and advice. 

Students also expanded their professional networks throughout the conference, forging new connections with researchers from other institutions. Thuran had the opportunity to meet Kendra Marcus, a past graduate student of the Mattos lab and current faculty member at Amherst College, for a coffee chat, leading to a valuable conversation in navigating early scientific careers. The group also had an opportunity to get to know one another better over a dinner organized by Professor Fertuck.  

For those who missed this year’s excitement, ASBMB annual meeting will return from March 7–10, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Students interested in presenting should stay connected with the Biochemistry Club ([email protected]) for updates on application deadlines and details. 

We look forward to seeing another strong Northeastern presence in ASBMB in 2026! 

Springtime temperatures mean the emergence of tiny blacklegged ticks that carry Lyme and a host of other diseases.

While the adult ticks are compared to the size of a sesame seed and the nymphs that emerge in May to the even smaller poppy seed, don’t let their minuscule proportions fool you.

Blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks, exhibit resilience traits that verge on superpowers when it comes to hunting down blood meals.

Northeastern University professor Constantin Takacs, who studies ticks in his lab, says that while they may be hard to kill there are steps people can take to prevent ticks from biting them — and their pets — and transmitting disease.

Read more from Northeastern Global News. 

Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

An avalanche is caused by a chain reaction of events. A loud noise or a change in terrain can have a cascading and devastating impact.

A similar process may happen when living tissues are subject to being pushed or pulled, according to new research published by Northeastern University doctoral student Anh Nguyen and supervised by Northeastern physics professor Max Bi.

As theoretical physicists, Bi and Nguyen use computational modeling and mathematics to understand the mechanical processes that organisms undergo on a cellular level. With this more recent work, they have observed that when subjected to sufficient stress, tissues can “suddenly and dramatically rearrange themselves,” similar to how avalanches are formed in the wild.

This observation challenges the notion that mechanical responses in tissues are entirely localized, suggesting instead that stress redistribution can lead to coordinated rearrangements across larger regions, explains Bi.

“What Anh has found in these computational simulations is that these [cells] are actually talking mechanically, meaning that if rearrangement happens with four cells, the energy that gets released from these four cells is enough to trigger other cells to undergo rearrangement.”

Read more from Northeastern Global News.

Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University