Embedded Files
Happy Laboween!
Happy Laboween!
October 30, 2020
We dressed up as marine life (and as one very specific PI!) for Laboween to do some socially-distanced Fish-Or-Treating around the department!
Welcome to Ali!
Welcome to Ali!
September 14, 2020
We are very pleased to welcome a new postdoc, Dr. Shahid Ali to our lab community! Ali comes to us from Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, where he worked on comparative genomics and functional assays in zebrafish and mouse models.
Farewell to Ben
Farewell to Ben
July 31, 2020
After being in lab nearly since the first day, Ben is moving on to new adventures! We celebrated him and wished him a very fond farewell at a socially distanced lab party.
Joan starts as a research technician!
Joan starts as a research technician!
June 22, 2020
We are thrilled to welcome McMenamin Lab graduate (and amateur snake charmer) Joan Donahue back to the lab in a new capacity!
Steps towards anti-racism in the McMenamin Lab
Steps towards anti-racism in the McMenamin Lab
June 6, 2020
Like humans everywhere, we were horrified and outraged to watch the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of an officer of the law. We recognize this as not an isolated incident, but rather merely the latest example of decades of documented police violence that disproportionately affects Black communities. The officers responsible for the violence must be held accountable and brought to justice. However, while it is relatively easy to pin the blame on individuals who carry out acts of brutality, the violence is one symptom of much larger, much older endemic, structural problems. The inequalities that have always existed within our society have been thrown into high relief in the current global pandemic crisis. As biologists, we recognize that boundaries between races are not a genetic reality, nonetheless, racism--and specifically anti-Blackness--in its many forms is alive and well at all levels of our society, creating a toxic and deadly public health crisis.
We affirm facts that are self-evident: Black contributions matter; Black opinions matter; Black community matters; Black health matters; Black education matters. Most of all: Black Lives Matter.
This is not a moment to 'perform allyship,' to scapegoat or self-flagellate, but to genuinely reflect and begin to take action towards dismantling systemic racism. Academia, and STEM fields in particular, are demonstrably and systematically biased against non-white people. This is reflected in the lack of diversity in many academic departments, including our own. Within this framework, we will take steps--imperfect and inadequate as they are--to improve the diversity and inclusivity of our community. These actions include:
Individually educating ourselves about implicit bias and discrimination in research and higher education settings
Within the lab, holding space for ongoing public and private dialogues about race
Providing support to groups working to promote a diverse student body at Boston College
Calling on the leadership at Boston College make meaningful changes to hiring policies that allow better recruitment and retention of racially diverse faculty members
Graduating Seniors
Graduating Seniors
May 17, 2020
Congratulations to our three seniors, Mary, Joan and Pranav for graduating! It's a poor substitute for your commencement, but we hope you felt celebrated at our virtual lab graduation ceremony.
Melody advances to candidacy!
Melody advances to candidacy!
May 1, 2020
Congratulations to Melody, who defended her thesis proposal to her committee (virtually!) via videochat, passing her qualifying exam and advancing to PhD candidacy!
Virtual Lab
Virtual Lab
April 13, 2020
Our lab looks pretty different after COVID19 has shut everything down. We are still finding ways to stay in touch and stay productive from afar!
(and yes, that is an invisibility cloak!)
Lab meeting treats
Lab meeting treats
March 2, 2020
Spring break and (slightly) warmer weather meant lab meeting at the ice cream parlor!
Notochord vacuole paper!
Notochord vacuole paper!
January 29, 2020
Congratulations to Jennifer Bagwell, a student in Michel Bagnat's lab at Duke on publication of her paper in press at eLife! Check out Stacy's beautiful uCT analyses of the mutants.
Congratulations, Catherine!
Congratulations, Catherine!
December 16, 2019
Catherine successfully defended her Masters thesis on the effects of thyroid hormone on bond density. Congratulations to the lab's first graduate!
Merry Fishmas!
Merry Fishmas!
December 14, 2019
We had a great time at our annual Fishmas party! It was the first time we'd seen an elf wearing fish slippers.
Visit to Rutgers
Visit to Rutgers
December 4, 2019
Sarah had a great visit to Rutgers University. Thank you to Tetsuya Nakamura for the invitation, and for all the faculty and students who took time to meet!
Special issue cover
Special issue cover
November 6, 2019
Yinan Hu's paper is out in this month's special Evo Devo issue of Developmental Dynamics, and his image of the lateral line is featured on the cover!
Northeast SICB
Northeast SICB
November 2, 2019
Sarah McMenamin and Chris Kenaley co-hosted the northeast regional meeting for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology here at Boston College. We had 68 talks in one day (!!!) including great results from lab members Stacy Nguyen and Melody Harper!
Visit to Tufts
Visit to Tufts
October 25, 2019
Sarah had a great visit to the Tufts campus to give a seminar. Many thanks to Eric Tytell for the invitation, and to all the faculty for some wonderfully stimulating meetings!
Escape from the Lab
Escape from the Lab
September 19, 2019
Some recent lab outings have included a kayaking trip, an escape room (we escaped!), a hike to Halibut Point State Park and trivia night at at the McMullan Museum on campus (we were team Fishcraft and Wizardry, and we dominated!)
Our Lab ❤️
Our Lab ❤️
August 29, 2019
Melody cartooned this picture of all the wonderful people who make up our lab. It even shows Raj's fish tattoo!
Congratulations, Melody!
Congratulations, Melody!
August 20, 2019
We our annual BC Biology Department retreat in Portsmouth NH. There were lots of great talks, but PhD student Melody Harper was awarded the Donald J. Plocke award for Best Talk!
Evo Devo Paper Published!
Evo Devo Paper Published!
August 10, 2019
Collaboration with the Cooper lab is now published in Evolution & Development!
SDB 2019
SDB 2019
July 30, 2019
The lab had a great time at the Society for Developmental Biology annual meeting held in Boston! Stacy, Catherine, Melody and Yinan all presented fantastic posters.
Here is Catherine finding that her beautiful image of a snake embryo is being used on an SDB promotional poster!
Farewell to Anna
Farewell to Anna
June 30, 2019
Our lab technician Anna Redgrave is starting a PhD program at the University of Michigan! We said farewell with a BBQ at Sarah's house. Here is Yinan cutting Anna's "Goodbye Pie!"
We welcomed back Dominic Lanni from Vassar College! He was incredibly productive last summer, and we're thrilled to have him back in the lab this summer!
Lab Bubble Run
Lab Bubble Run
June 15, 2019
The lab ran in a 5K race with Bubbles! We got even wetter and dirtier than during a fish room clean up.
Dev Dyn Paper Published!
Dev Dyn Paper Published!
June 3, 2019
Our lab's first independent, non-collaborative paper, Thyroid hormone coordinates developmental trajectories but does not underlie developmental truncations in danionins has been published in Developmental Dynamics! Congratulations to first author Yinan and the four undergraduate authors, Angela, Joan, Raj and Ben!
NSF CAREER Article
NSF CAREER Article
May 23, 2019
Read about our lab's NSF CAREER award at BC News!
Undergrad Research Day
Undergrad Research Day
May 3, 2019
Congratulations to undergrads Andrew, Raj, Cristina and Pranav for their great posters at the BC Undergraduate Research Day! Congratulations to Ben for submitting the lab's first undergraduate thesis!
Department Seminars
Department Seminars
April 24, 2019
Thank you to Kryn Stankunas of University of Oregon and to Ken Poss of Duke University for coming to our department to give amazing seminars! We loved hearing about your exciting research.
Anatomical paper published!
Anatomical paper published!
April 15, 2019
The first paper from our NIH- and Burroughs Wellcome-funded collaboration with the Hernandez Lab has been published! Congratulations to all involved!
NESDB 2019!
NESDB 2019!
April 8, 2019
We had so much fun at the Northeast Regional Society for Developmental Biology meeting in Woods Hole this weekend! Sarah co-organized with Marcos Simoes-Costa. Our lab presented seven posters (including three undergraduate first-author posters) and two flash talks by postdoc Yinan Hu and PhD student Catherine May. This was a first meeting for Melody, Pranav, Mary and Raj, and they presented their first posters ever! Thanks to everybody for a great meeting, and congratulations to Yinan for his SDB award! Stacy Nguyen (grad student) and Pranav Parikh (undergraduate) were also awarded prizes as runners up for their posters!
At the MBL graveyard tour
Taking bets on what kind of sea creature will appear (octopus!)
Ready for more sessions
NSF CAREER Awarded!
NSF CAREER Awarded!
March 19, 2019
Sarah has been awarded an NSF CAREER grant! This award will fund the lab for the next five years!!
Positions available!
Positions available!
March 14, 2019
We are hiring! Applications from potential technicians and postdocs are now being reviewed! More information here , or contact mcmenams@bc.edu.
Women in STEM Lecture
Women in STEM Lecture
March 6, 2019
Sarah is honored to be hosting a Women in STEM seminar by Dr. Joan Roughgarden on March 19th at 4:30 in Devlin 101. Dr. Roughgarden is a renowned evolutionary biologist, a proponent of the Christian faith, and a trans activist. She will be giving a talk entitled "Holobiont Evolution: Model with Vertical versus Horizontal Microbiome Transmission."
Welcome, Melody!
Welcome, Melody!
February 26, 2019
The lab welcomes our newest PhD student, Melody Harper! We're thrilled to add another talented researcher to our group.
Museum of Science Outreach
Museum of Science Outreach
February 17, 2019
Our lab did our first outreach activity at the Boston Museum of Science, in the Hall of Human Life Living Laboratory! We talked to more than 70 people, from toddlers to grandparents, about zebrafish research, fish development and skeletogenesis.
We will be there again Feb 24 , Mar 3, Mar 10, Mar 24, April 28, May 5, May 12 and May 26! Come visit us and look at our samples under the microscope!
Zebrafish PI meeting
Zebrafish PI meeting
January 18, 2019
Sarah returned from her first Strategic Conference for Zebrafish Investigators in beautiful Asilomar CA, where she presented several of the lab's ongoing projects. Many thanks to the International Zebrafish Society for travel support!
More good news, our manuscript in collaboration with the Hernandez lab was accepted for publication at The Anatomical Record!
NESDB 2019
NESDB 2019
January 10, 2019
We are getting excited about the Northeast Regional Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology, which will be held in Woods Hole April 5-7! Sarah and co-organizer Marcos Simoes-Costa are hard at work finalizing a terrific lineup of speakers. Now our meeting has some beautiful artwork! Our lab's favorite is shown at the left!
Happy Birthday Lab!
Happy Birthday Lab!
January 1, 2019
Today is the second birthday of our lab! We're so proud of everything we've accomplished since 2017!!
Merry Fishmas
Merry Fishmas
December 15, 2018
Our annual lab Fishmas Party! We had fun decorating fish butter cookies and playing lab trivia. We were surprised by special guest lab graduate Angela Mauri ('18, right)! It was a Fishmas miracle!
Women in STEM Panel
Women in STEM Panel
October 24, 2018
Along with other PIs from different departments, Sarah will participate in a panel on Women in STEM fields this afternoon at 4:30 in Stokes 115N. Join us if you can! All career stages and genders very welcome!
PIs in the fish room
PIs in the fish room
October 20, 2018
Functional morphologist and evolutionary anatomist Patricia Hernandez from George Washington University was in our lab this week for a productive and super fun meeting! Thanks for a great visit, we look forward to many more.
Fall lab dinner
Fall lab dinner
October 19, 2018
All of the McMenamin Lab undergraduates during our lab dinner. Look at this, there's a perfectly good, empty couch, and they all choose to huddle together on the floor.
We had a fun lab dinner, with special guests Patricia Hernandez (George Washington University) and Kellee Sigfried-Harris (UMass Boston).
Visit to University of Vermont
Visit to University of Vermont
September 17, 2018
Sarah traveled to beautiful Burlington, VT to give a seminar at the University of Vermont. Thanks to Melissa Pespeni for the invitation and for hosting!
NE Face 2018
NE Face 2018
August 10, 2018
Jennifer Fish (UMass Lowell) and Sarah McMenamin were thrilled to host the first meeting of the Northeast Craniofacial Meeting: NE Face 2018 at Boston College! We had a whole day of amazing talks by regional researchers working on many aspects of craniofacial development, structure and function. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful meeting!
Seminar in at WHOI
Seminar in at WHOI
August 3, 2018
Sarah spent the day in Woods Hole and gave a seminar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Thanks to John Stegeman for the invitation!
NE Face 2018 at BC
NE Face 2018 at BC
July 10, 2018
Jennifer Fish (UMass Lowell) and Sarah McMenamin will be hosting the first meeting of the Northeast Craniofacial Meeting: NE Face 2018! There is still time to register for this exciting event!
Logo art by McMenamin Lab PhD student Catherine May!
New micro-CT!
New micro-CT!
June 8, 2018
Some of the first few scans from our new Bruker Skyscan micro-CT!
Scans and reconstructions by Stacy Nguyen.
Welcome, Stacy!
Welcome, Stacy!
June 1, 2018
The lab welcomes our newest PhD student, Stacy Nguyen!
Lab Escape Room
Lab Escape Room
May 21, 2018
To say goodbye to graduating senior Angela Mauri, we did an escape room as a whole lab! Fortunately we escaped this time.. We'll miss you, Angela!!
NESDB 2018
NESDB 2018
April 22, 2018
Anna, Catherine, Stacy, Sarah Yinan and undergrads Angela and Ben traveled to Woods Hole for the Northeast Regional Society for Developmental Biology meeting. Sarah gave an invited talk, Anna, Catherine, Yinan, Angela and Ben presented awesome posters. Congratulations to Ben for winning Best Undergraduate Poster!! Sarah was elected to co-organize the 2019 meeting along with Marcos Simoes-Costa!
Our lab is certified 100% dork free
Angela and Ben at the seashore
Relaxing by the sea
Lab lunch at Pie in the Sky!
We love fish!
We love fish!
April 13, 2018
We know fish. Look, we even made one!
Growing lab
Growing lab
April 1, 2018
We've added some new people to our lab! Left to right: undergrad Ben, postdoc Yinan, undergrad Raj, undergrad Pranav, undergrad Angela, PI Sarah, undergrad Mary, undergrad Joan, PhD student Stacy, technician Anna. Not pictured: PhD student Catherine.
Lab Dinner
Lab Dinner
March 27, 2018
Spring semester Lab Dinner at Sarah's House!
Kinematics paper published!
Kinematics paper published!
December 1, 2017
Our lab's first independent paper is out! Work done in collaboration with Jim Cooper's Lab at Washington State University.
Summer Lab Photo
Summer Lab Photo
June 1, 2017
Our lab is growing! Left to right: Sarah (+ prenatal lab assistant), technician Anna, undergrad Angela, grad student Catherine, undergrad Raj, postdoc Yinan and undergrad Ben.
microCT paper published!
microCT paper published!
Lab Open House
Lab Open House
September 5, 2017
Please join us for an open house! Come see our new lab at Boston College!
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