November 2025
Sydney Brown presented on the distribution of Microcoleus in the Shenandoah River and the effects of nitrogen on Microcoleus growth and toxin production at the 28th Biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Conference in Richmond.
October 2025
During the 2025 Potomac River Conference: Integrating Science, Policy, and Communications to Combat Harmful Algal Blooms, organized by the ICPRB, our research group—together with collaborator Dr. Bruce Cahoon—presented the progress of our projects on benthic HABs, supported by NSF URoL:EN,ICPRB, and 4-VA@Mason Collaborative Research Grants. For abstracts, see the conference booklet. LINK
October 2025
Hannah, Jake, Emma, Katia, and Rwan (left to right in the photo) enjoying a fun moment after their presentations on algae at the 2025 Annual Southeastern Phycological Colloquy, held at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Eastern Shore Laboratory in Wachapreague, VA.
July 2025
Sydney and Jake sampled benthic cyanobacterial proliferations of Microcoleus in the South Fork Eel River, California, as part of our collaborative NSF project. The graduate student field crew was led by Dr. Joanna Blaszczak from the University of Nevada, Reno.
June 2025
Undergraduate summer scholar Armon Ghaffari presented his research at the RISE Research Symposium in GMU.
May 2025
All graduate students from the lab presented their research at the 2025 Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) Annual Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
May 2025
Sydney Brown talked about the effect of thiamine on Microcoleus growth and toxin-production at the 2025 SFS meeting.
May 2025
Jacob Mormando presented a poster on effect of temperature onMicrocoleus growth at the 2025 SFS meeting.
May 2025
Rwan Alsaadi presented a poster on suspended algae in North Fork Shenandoah River at the 2025 SFS meeting.
May 2025
Graduate students from the lab took a break from the 2025 SFS meeting and explored the culture and nature of Puerto Rico.
May 2025
Dr. A. Bruce Cahoon, a Buchanan Endowed Chair of Biology (Department of Natural Sciences, UVA Wise) visited our lab for collaborative research on benthic cyanobacteria. He is a co-PI for the project entitled “Integrative characterization of the anatoxin-a-producing benthic cyanobacterial genus Microcoleus in the Shenandoah River”, funded by the 4-VA@MasonCollaborative Research Grants.
April 2025
Undergraduate research students from the lab (Emma Boyden, Mackenzie Allen, Melinda Hauda – left to right on the picture, and Ellen Beall) presented their studies at the National Conferenceon Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2025 in Pittsburgh, PA with travel support from the GMU’s OSCAR Office.
December 2024
Colette Berkenfield from Dr. J. Blaszczak Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno visited our lab for a training in processing and identification of algal samples collected as part of our collaborative NSF URoL:EN Project.
December 2024
Busy lab work for the graduate research assistant students Sydney Brown, Jake Mormando and Rwan Alsaadi who are building their precise algal datasets.
November 2024
Dr. Sally Entrekin, a Professor of Aquatic Entomology from Virginia Tech Department of Entomology and President of the Society for Freshwater Science, gave an invited lecture entitled “Aquatic Insects Know No Boundaries: Carbon Transfer and Transformation Across Ecosystems” for the 2024 EVPP 350 Freshwater Ecosystems class.
November 2024
Dr. Sally Entrekin (Virginia Tech, Department of Entomology) and Dr. Rosalina Christova identified chironomid larvae collected from the Potomac River.
October 2024
Dr. Rosalina Christova gave a talk “Toxic algae on the rise: proliferation of harmful cyanobacteria mats in rivers and streams. Should we be concerned?” for the Bio-Seminar at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minnesota (invited by Dr. Paula Furey).
October 2024
Dr. Rosalina Christova and Sydney Brown presented their research on diatoms from southern California at the North American Diatom Symposium, Iowa Lakeside Lab.
June 2024
All research students from the lab presented their studies at the Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, and at the Chesapeake Community Research Symposium 2024 in Annapolis, MD.
June 2024
Sydney Brown talked about her research on cyanobacterium Microcoleus at the Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
June 2024
Dr. Rosalina Christova talked about freshwater harmful blooms at the Chesapeake Research Consortium Roundtable: UninHABitable: Harmful Algal Blooms Across the Watershed LINK
June 2024
Dr. Rosalina Christova organized the workshop “Algae and the Environment” at PEREC, attended by international and national phycologists and GMU students studying algae. Read more about it here.
June 2024
Undergraduate summer scholars in our lab presented their research at the RISE Research Symposium in GMU.
May 2024
Our ongoing research on anatoxin-producing cyanobacterium Microcoleus from streams was featured in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) and Dr. Christova was quoted. LINK
May 2024
Emma Boyden collects data on mat-forming cyanobacteria associated with coral reefs near Roatan Island, Honduras, as part of her study, funded by the Litchfield Undergraduate in Environmental Microbiology Endowed Scholarship.
April 2024
The Association of Friends of the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin‑Dahlem, Germany, supported an international integrative molecular-morphological study of diatoms isolated in monoclonal cultures from streams in California in collaboration between Dr. Regine Jahn’s research team and Dr. Christova. Read more about the project here.
March 2024
Dr. Rosalina Christova and Sydney Brown present their research on the cyanobacterium Microcoleus at the US EPA Benthic HABs Discussion Group Webinar. LINK
March 2024
Emma Boyden received the GMU Litchfield Undergraduate in Environmental Microbiology Endowed Scholarship to study microalgal communities associated with Caribbean coral reefs.
Sydney Brown received award from the Endowment Fund for the Society for Freshwater Science to support her research on the cyanobacterium Microcolues.
Sydney Brown received award from the Endowment Fund for the Society for Freshwater Science to support her research on the cyanobacterium Microcolues.
February 2024
Dr. Rosalina Christova talks about the diatom genus Cocconeis from streams in California at the Diatom Web Academy. LINK
November 2023
Sydney Brown and Dr. Rosalina Christova present their research on Microcoleus at SETAC North America 44 th Annual Meeting, Louisville.
October 2023
Sydney Brown and Dr. Rosalina Christova present their research on the Shenoandoah algae at 45th Annual Southeastern Phycological Colloquy in Fort Pierce and Water Symposium at PEREC.
August 2023
The Algae Ecology Lab has moved to George Mason University in Virginia.
Copyright © Rosalina S. Christova, Ph.D.