Jack Murtagh

February 27, 2025February 28, 2025 by Jack Murtagh

Riley Lab Researchers Win Grants (Spring 2025)

Five members of the Riley Lab received research grants for the Spring of 2025, provided by the Commonwealth Honors College (CHC). Benjamin Vengalil (Team Acne), Merin Thomas (Team SciComm), Catherine Chu (Team Chicken), Tamara Turk (Team Enteric), and Ella Zhang (Team Acne) were all awarded due to their innovative research in the Riley Lab. These…

Riley Lab Members Publish Innovative Research

In June of 2024, the Riley Lab published a pioneering paper detailing nisin as an effective antibiotic against Gram-negative bacteria, challenging the previous hypothesis that the bacteriocin was effective solely against Gram-positive bacteria due to the thick peptidoglycan wall thought to inhibit nisin’s activity in Gram-negative bacteria. This paper was many years in the making,…

Team Acne Member Wins Award In Isenberg Competition

This past October, Riley Lab member Ben Vengalil participated in The Minute Pitch Competition, hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship in the Isenberg School of Management here at UMass. The competition entails startups giving a 60-second pitch to compete for a $2,500 prize pool including an audience choice award. Ben’s pitch highlighting nisin as…