AGENDA:

GUEST SPEAKER: Zachary Lamas

GUEST SPEAKER TOPIC: Rearing bees in the laboratory: A new window into the bee world

DAY: Wednesday, January 13, 2021

TIME: 7:00pm - 9:00pm (link will work starting a 15-minutes early so you can set up your computer or phone)

WHERE: Online ONLY. Use the Zoom Link Below

PARTICIPATE TO LEARN: new scientific method in queen rearing and new prospective colony monitoring technology.

You can view the recording of Zac's talk at the bottom of our 'Donate' Page. It will be available for viewing through Feb 2021.

TALK DESCRIPTION:

Two years ago we figured out how to get a small number of bees to rear a queen in the laboratory or how to get a small number of bees to support a laying queen and produce brood. What can 100 bees and a queen tell us about the bee world? I'll show you how we are using this new method to study viral transmission, and what is next in the laboratory.

BIOGRAPHY:

"Zac Lamas is a Ph.D. student in the Hawthorne Lab at the University of Maryland where he studies varroa feeding behavior and how pesticides affect honey bee queens. His current work uncovered how varroa is actively feeding and switching from one adult bee to another. Zac also created a novel method to rear honey bee queens in the lab, that he hopes will eventually help lower the cost of pesticide research on queens. He was the recipient of the PAm-Costco award. As a fellow, he is continuing to research these topics. His articles can be found in BeeCulture and BeeWorld magazines, and he actively speaks at bee clubs and professional conferences. Zac previously worked for Michael Palmer at French Hill Apiaries in Saint Albans, Vermont and has owned and operated his own business, RockStar Queens, where he's provided quality NUCs and queens in Central Maryland. Zac spends his off hours hiking and enjoying the outdoors and building incredibly interesting things: lately, his new home-away-from-home/mobile lab for off season touring and data analysis!"