UC Merced Professor to Deliver Pellissier Lecture
February 15, 2017
UC Merced Professor Clarissa Nobile, this year’s Pellissier Distinguished Speaker, will discuss biofilms during the Feb. 22 event.
“Microbial Films: Why are They Important? How do They Form? And What Does This Mean for You?” looks at biofilms, the predominant growth state of most microorganisms on living and nonliving surfaces.
The annual Vital and Alice Pellissier Distinguished Speaker Series was made possible by a generous gift from the Pellissier family to establish a legacy at UC Merced.
The event is free and open to the public and takes place at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in Room 110 of the Classroom and Office Building 2. People are asked to RSVP online by Feb. 17 to reserve space. If you have questions, please call 209-228-RSVP or email specialevents@ucmerced.edu.
Complimentary parking will be offered in Lake Lot 2, and shuttle service will be provided.
Like all bacteria and bacterial products, some biofilms are helpful and some are harmful. Nobile, a UC Merced microbiologist and professor of molecular and cell biology, researches biofilms and how they form, particularly the biofilm formed by the most common human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans.
Nobile, in addition to her work at UC Merced, is the co-founder and chief executive officer of BioSynesis Inc., a Bay Area startup company that works to establish biofilm-specific diagnostics and therapeutics to detect and treat recalcitrant hospital infections.
Before joining the UC Merced faculty, Nobile undertook her postdoctoral studies at the University of California, San Francisco, and earned her doctoral degree in microbiology with distinction from Columbia University. Her work has been published extensively and she is the recipient of numerous scientific awards, including from the American Society for Microbiology and the Genetics Society of America.
In 2015, she was selected as a Pew Biomedical Scholar, a recognition given annually by The Pew Charitable Trusts to 20 outstanding biomedical researchers for their seminal research contributions to human health. She is the first UC Merced faculty member to have been named a Pew Scholar.
