News

Joel's ProfSlam talk
May 05, 2023

Joel wowed the crowd with his 3 minute talk (which included a wardrobe change) explaining our Tardigrade research and walked away as the 2023 Professor Slam Winner!  Congratulations!

To view the ProfSLAM ::

https://www.alumni.ucsb.edu/events/all-gaucho-reunion/prof-slam

Sam's Grad Slam talk photo
April 20, 2023

Samantha Fiallo earned the runner up prize in the UCSB final GRAD SLAM of 2023!  She gave an amazing 3 minute talk on her mitochondrial research in the Rothman Lab.  Her award includes an $1000 prize. She explained the importance of studying the process of mitochondrial selection. This was the 10th anniversary of the Grad SLAM contest, with the final competition being between 9 presenters from across the University!

Congratulations SAM!

Joel and Molly with Ted the tardigrade
March 10, 2023

lab Toast for MollyMolly Kirk is the proud recipient of a 3 year postdoctoral fellowship from the NIH.  She is only the second researcher to receive an NIH award for work with Tardigrades!

Tsunghan defence talk with C. elegans
December 10, 2022

Tsunghan Yeh brought his PhD thesis work to a close at the end of 2022 with a successful hybrid talk defending his thesis to attendees both in person at UCSB and across the world over Zoom.  He presented his work identifying transdifferentiation regulatory genes by pooled sequencing strategy.  He is looking forward to publication of his thesis work coming soon!

Filming Caroline for Jove article
July 27, 2022

Joel capturing the sceneThis summer the Rothman Lab was once again infiltrated by a camera crew.  This time it was Jove filming video for the recent publication on the protocol Caroline Ackely developed for her gravitaxis studies.  Joel was even seen scaling the walls to get a better view!

slide from talk
June 01, 2022

Pop the champagne! Title: Feeling the Weight of the World: Gravity sensation and sensory integration in C. elegans

April 01, 2022

Two Rothman lab members won recognition for their entries in the 2022 Art of Science Competition!

Caroline Ackley's submission "Gravity sensation: a heavy feeling"  won honorable mention

"Ethan" Chee Kiang Ewe won the people's choice award for his submission "little worm, big impact" 

January 31, 2022

The world's largest general scientific society, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) bestows this honor upon AAAS members selected by their peers for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.  Joel was among 6 UCSB Researchers named as an AAAS fellow for 2021. Read the Full story in the UCSB Current.

January 06, 2022

The recent publication on the Skylight Project Interstellar project generated a buzz in the news.  Read the journal article in Acta Astronautica, or a nice summary article in the UCSB Current!  

Epigenetics work was highlighted by Joel in an interview for an article in Discover Magazine. 

Cartoon of Ethan and cover of science magazine
December 15, 2020

Cartoon of Ethan and cover of science magazineRothman Lab's own "Ethan" Chee Kiang Ewe shares his story and has officially spread his wings to soar with the eagles in his latest article published in Science.  He chronicles his evolution as a scientist and embraces the journey he has taken to rediscover his identity along the way.

Zoom screen shot
April 20, 2020

Cat watching zoomEven during our shelter in place the Rothman Lab journal club continues and we enjoy discussing the latest pandemic news, science papers, favorite hats, and our pets' antics!

picture of Sage, Melissa and Erik
December 06, 2019

Congratulations!!

Sagen Peterson/Flowers, Melissa Alcorn and Erik Spickard all successfully defended their PhD thesis this week!  

September 12, 2019

Former Rothman Lab graduate student Yamila Torres Cleuren along with several other Rothman Lab members recently published their research into genetic pathways for gut development across many species of C. elegans.  This research exposes multiple ways different but related species build their gut thereby providing new insight on the evolutionary process in development. eLife publication

Spaceship
January 02, 2018

Interstellar travel, light-driven spacecraft, suspended animation. It sounds like the formula for countless science fiction stories, but it could be reality in the not-so-far future if UC Santa Barbara researchers Philip Lubin and Joel Rothman get their way.

“Humanity has dreamed of interstellar flight for more than 100 years. We are working on bringing this dream to reality for all of us, but particularly for the next generation,” said Lubin, a physicist. He leads the UCSB Experimental Cosmology Group, which investigates, among many things, travel in deep space and searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Through the UCSB NASA Project Starlight program, Lubin’s team plans to use laser-propelled miniature spaceships (or “spacechips,” as they have been called) to transport the Rothman Group’s miniature lab animals across vast interstellar distances. These humble microscropic creatures — nematodes and tardigrades — are extremely hardy and can be placed in suspended animation to withstand the cold of space and the rigors of near light-speed travel through the cosmos.

December 06, 2017

HBO film makers came to the Rothman Lab to learn more about our Starlight project and turning our favorite worms into interstellar travelers.