The March regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, March, 28th, 2023 at 7:30 pm.

Dr. Michelle Flenniken - The impact of viruses on honey bees at the colony, individual, and cellular levels

Honey bees are the primary insect pollinators of agricultural crops (valued over $17 billion annually in the US) and plants that enhance the biodiversity of diverse ecosystems.

Unfortunately, for the past 10+ years, honey bee colony losses average over 30 percent, annually. Join Dr. Michelle Flenniken, a microbiologist/virologist and co-director of Montana State University'sPollinator Health Center, for a presentation on the impact of viruses and other pathogens on honey bee health. She will highlight recent research from her lab and discuss the importance of basic and applied science to address this important global challenge.

Michelle Flenniken is an Associate Professor in the Plant Sciences Department at Montana State University.

She is a microbiologist investigating honey bee host–pathogen interactions and Co-Director of the Pollinator Health Center at MSU.

Michelle received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Iowa, then was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, before obtaining her Ph.D. in Microbiology from Montana State University.

She did postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco prior to becoming a faculty member at MSU