Snyder Lab of Soil Ecology presents at international conference

Faculty, students and a recent graduate from the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences attended the 20th International Congress of Myriapodology this summer in Srebrno Jezero (Silver Lake), Serbia. They presented three oral presentations:

Lance Andrew (BS Environmental Science 2023, MS Biology 2025) presented “An overview of the millipede diversity of Georgia, USA” which focused on his research creating the first checklist and distribution maps for millipedes across the state.

Elena Cruz (BS Biology 2023, current MS Biology student) presented “Tissue-specific DNA isolation from dissected millipedes for nanopore sequencing” along with coauthors William Wittstock (MS Biology 2024) and Arnab Sengupta, assistant professor of Biology. This presentation highlighted multiple projects to sequence and explore the DNA and RNA in millipedes collected from Lake Laurel.

Sydney Irons (senior, Environmental Science) presented “Using fluorescent powder as a method for marking millipedes,” a project that is being expanded to include millipedes from a nationwide cooperative breeding program. Sydney’s conference attendance was supported by an award from the Honors College’s Saladin Scholarship program.

In addition to coauthoring these presentations, Dr. Snyder proposed hosting the 21st International Congress of Myriapodology at Georgia College in 2027.