The Neuman-Lee Lab focuses on questions centering on the immune response in reptiles. We think about the following questions:
- What makes up the immune response in reptiles?
- How do the immune components interact with each other?
- What are the influences of other physiological processes on the immune function and the interactions among immune comments?
- For example
- Reproduction
- Stress
- Disease
- Life History
- Ecological pressures
Individual variation in these responses can provide valuable information about the health of the population and, ultimately, the ecosystem. Our research combines field studies with manipulative laboratory experiments in vertebrate models. Our field and lab work are highly integrated and we measure responses at a molecular, cellular, individual, and population levels.
Lori Neuman-Lee
Lab Announcements
Summer 2024
Isabella Davis and Norman Hunter presented their research at the 2024 Joint Meeting of Ichthyology and Herpetology!
The Memphis Zoo Turtle Team has another successful year at the zoo!
Spring 2024
Congratulations to the graduates from our lab in the Spring of 2024!
(From left to right): Ethan Saffle, Diana Ashley, Dr. Lori Neuman-Lee, Wade Boggs, and Courtney Babcock.
(From left to right): Ethan Saffle, Diana Ashley, Dr. Lori Neuman-Lee, Wade Boggs, and Courtney Babcock.
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Diana Ashley successfully defended her Honors Senior Thesis: Characterizing the activity of Phagocytic B cells in Pantherophis obsoletus
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Ethan Saffle successfully defended his Honors Senior Thesis: Effects of reproductive technologies on tadpole growth and physiology in Fowler's Toads!
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Courtney Babcock successfully defended her Honors Senior Thesis: Heterophil:Lymphocyte Ratios and the Presence of the Haemoparasite Plasmodium in Turtle Species.
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Spring 2023
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Dr. Neuman-Lee was awarded the Emerging Faculty Scholar Award from AState!
https://www.astate.edu/news/faculty-achievement-award-winners-are-announced-during-convocation-of-scholars |
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Alexia Vanoven received a scholarship from a partnership between the Memphis Zoo and AState to help fund her research! See more details on Memphis Zoo's website: https://www.memphiszoo.org/zoo-news/posts/arkansas-state-university-memphis-zoo-continue-creating-adventures-and-saving-wildlife.
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Katy Willis won the Psychology Student of Distinction award for 2022-2023!
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Ori Regn successfully presented and defended their PhD Proposal. Their presentation was titled "The ecotoxicological, economic, and environmental implications of switching from fluorescent to light emitting diode lighting for zooplankton culturing and whole effluent toxicity testing." Photo soon to be added!!
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Ethan Saffle and Isabella Davis were nominated as Arkansas State University Goldwater Scholarship candidates for 2023!
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Both Katy Willis and Alex Gibson made it through the first phase of competition and were named Fulbright Semifinalists for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program!!
They have been selected by Fulbright’s U.S. screening committee to move forward in the competition, which continues throughout this semester. Alex Gibson is being considered for an English Teaching Assistantship to teach in Spain. Katy Willis is being considered for a Fulbright Future Scholarship (PhD grant) to conduct research and study in Australia. |
Katy Willis
Alex Gibson
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Jen Terry presented her research, "Innate Immune Component Tradeoffs in a Wild Freshwater Turtle" at SICB 2023 in Austin, TX. This is Jen's first in-person presentation at SICB!
Fall 2022
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Under the transcendent organizational capabilities of Jen Terry, members of the Neuman-Lee Lab manned an activity table at the recent Franken-STEM event held by the ASU Museum.
Multitudes of children and adults were captivated by lab members explaining How to be a Turtle Scientist and How to Appreciate Snakety-Snakes. The event and outreach activities were a resounding SUCCESS!! |
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Congratulations to our lab members Katy Willis and Alex Gibson!!! They were both chosen as 2023 Fulbright Candidates!!!!!! Check out information on the Fulbright Program at https://us.fulbrightonline.org/.
Lab member Destiny Taylor was awarded the Herman W. Strickland, Jr. Memorial Scholarship!
This scholarship was established in 2021 by Rhonda Strickland, Dr. Herman and Maxcine Strickland, Rick Neal and John O'Connor (spouse, parents and colleagues) to honor his legacy. The endowed scholarship rewards outstanding minority students at A-State who share his passion for public service. The recipient must have past, present and future interest and work in community service.
This scholarship was established in 2021 by Rhonda Strickland, Dr. Herman and Maxcine Strickland, Rick Neal and John O'Connor (spouse, parents and colleagues) to honor his legacy. The endowed scholarship rewards outstanding minority students at A-State who share his passion for public service. The recipient must have past, present and future interest and work in community service.
Summer 2022
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Lori Neuman-Lee, Jen Terry, Natalie Haydt, and Emily Field went to Spokane, Washington to attend the 2022 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) Meeting.
Jen presented her research on physiological tradeoffs in red-eared sliders. Natalie presented her research on predicting the occurrence of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola using bacterial soil communities. Emily presented her research on physiological tradeoffs in watersnakes. We had a fantastic time! |
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Lori Neuman-Lee is a co-organizer of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Symposium at the Joint Meetings of Herpetology and Ichthyology. If you are interested in resources from her talk on Balancing Family and Research as a child-bearing primary caretaker, check out the pdf of the talk and resources. To see a summary of the entire symposium, check out Dr. Neuman-Lee's live tweeting!
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Our collaborative work with Drs. Jeremy Chamberlain and Daniel McDermott from Southern Arkansas University was featured on the front page of the Jonesboro Sun on June 22, 2022.
This article was then featured on the Sigma Xi Smart Brief Newsletter! Grant Dawson has been working hard to move this research forward! 
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Spring 2022
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Congratulations!
At the College of Science and Math Convocation Ceremony, the following lab members were honored: Alex Gibson was awarded the highest COSM award--the Chancellor's Award! Grant Dawson was awarded Best Pre-Professional Graduating Student. Carolina Cequera Hernadez was awarded the Best Biotechnology Graduating Student. |
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Isabella Davis, Grant Dawson, Alex Gibson, Alyssa Hartzheim, Natalie Haydt, and Katy Willis presented their research at Create@State! Natalie Haydt won the Dean's Award for Best Graduate Student Poster. |
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Grant Dawson successfully defended his Honor's Thesis entitled Context-Dependent Physiological Shifts in the Diamond-backed Watersnake!
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Dr. Neuman-Lee, Jen Terry, Dr. Virginie Rolland, and collaborators (Dr. Sinlan Poo and Courtney Janney) at the Memphis Zoo received a Memphis Zoo C.A.N. grant for their proposal, "Health and Demographics of Freshwater Turtles within the Memphis Zoo." Stay tuned for updates.
Observations of Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminikii) from the 2019 field season will be featured in an article in an upcoming special issue of Southeastern Naturalist. Jen Terry will be listed as a co-author on this project headed up by Dr. David Steen. |
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Fall 2021
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Isabella Davis joined the lab as an ABI Undergraduate Research scholar!
Katy Willis received the Bertie Kay's Honors Scholarship and the Arkansas State University Student Research Grant. She has also accepted the position of Student Research Ambassador! Grant Dawson has been working hard on his Honors Thesis in the lab, using flow cytometry to examine leukocyte populations in snakes. |
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Summer 2021
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Jen Terry successfully defended her Master's Thesis and is now a PhD student in the lab!
Tristan Bulice accepted a new job as the Conservation Program Technician for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission at Shirey Bay Rainey Brake Wildlife Management Area! Multiple lab members attended the 2021 SUPERB Scholarship Retreated! |
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Spring 2021Katy Willis has joined the lab as an ABI Undergraduate Summer Researcher!
Jen Terry presented her work, "Ecophysical tradeoffs in female red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta)" at SICB 2021! |
2020 Neuman-Lee Lab Photo
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Summer 2020
Alyssa Hartzheim and Emily Field defended their MS proposals!
Fall 2019
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Congratulations to the following students for their awards this semester:
Bailee Carter: Gilman International Scholarship Lindsey Martin-Krikorian: A-State Student Research & Creativity Grant Jen Terry: Arkansas Audubon Society Trust, A-State Student Research & Creativity Grant We are pleased to announce that Tristan Bulice will be continuing his work in the Neuman-Lee lab as a MS student in the Spring! The Neuman-Lee Lab grew this semester! Welcome Emily Field (graduate student, SUPERB scholar), Alyssa Hartzheim (graduate student, SUPERB scholar), Meghan Hughes (SUPERB undergraduate student), Bailee Carter (SUPERB undergraduate student), and Olivia Sitzes (SUPERB undergraduate student)! Congratulations to Tristan Bulice, who was recently hired at Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as a Natural Resources Technician! |
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Summer 2019MS Student Jen Terry received a Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) Grant in Herpetology for Laboratory Research. Congratulations, Jen!
The Neuman-Lee Lab welcomes two ABI interns, Shawn King and Ambrette Veach to the team! Fieldwork at Bearitage Farms is underway! MS student Jen Terry is leading a crew throughout the summer in which they are capturing turtles (and snakes) for Jen's project. Christian Vickery, Taylor Fiedor, and Ambrette Veach make up Jen's core team, but other members of the lab and guests join their efforts. The lab hosted the Jonesboro Girls in STEM group! The students made blood smear slides and identified cells through the microscope, measured turtles, and had the opportunity to ultrasound a female Eastern river cooter to look for eggs! Both lab members and our guests had a blast. Grant, Jen , and Lindsey attended the Society for Preserving Natural History Collections Meeting in Chicago, IL. Dr. Neuman-Lee, Jen, and Lindsey attended the 2019 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists in Snowbird, UT. Jen and Lindsey presented posters on their work and all three played active roles as members of the Herpetologists' League. |
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Spring 2019Grant Dawson won Best Undergraduate Poster for the College of Science and Mathematics at Create @ AState for his poster, "Helping the Herps: Restoring the Past for Arkansas State's Future." Congratulations, Grant!
The Neuman-Lee Lab is monitoring Illinois Chorus Frog populations in NE Arkansas for the state. Not only were we able to hear calls throughout the area, but we were able to catch quite a few as well! Jen Terry defended her MS proposal! |
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October 2018The Neuman-Lee Lab participated in the 3rd annual ACBC Bioblitz at Bearitage Farms. Members of the lab set out hoop traps for turtle trapping, educated attendees, led nature hikes, and assisted with set up and break down of the event!
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September 2018Lab member Jen Terry recently had her first publication published! Jen was a part of this project as an undergraduate at Bucknell University in the Takahashi Lab.
Postoviposition paternal care in a giant salamander: nest cleaning by a den master The lab celebrated the new semester with a lab retreat at Bearitage Farms. The crew (lab members and friends) had a great time herping and getting to know each other over a campfire! |
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