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| What have we been up to? | |
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There is never enough time in the day this time of year. Kim has been working non-stop making splits, rearing queens, and generally keeping on top of the colonies that made it through winter (only a 22% overwintering loss, which is pretty good considering the extremely cold February and March when we had most colonies deplete their honey stores). Molly and Claudia have been busy getting their experiments up and running, both of whom are doing some in vitro cage experiments but Claudia's experiment on laying workers will also be at the full-colony level as well. Brad is busy coordinating several undergraduates on their projects, and we're happy to have Joe Guillemette on board to help Brad with the drone-temperature experiments (among many other things). We're definitely off and running this spring! |
| Lab spotlight | |
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Parker Profet is an undergrad in Biology who will be graduating this upcoming spring. He has quickly become an integral member of the team, where he was initially helping Kim out in the field with some basic beekeeping, then was a central researcher on a project measuring the egg laying rates of queens in colonies treated with different antibiotics and miticides, and now he is both processing digital images of brood patterns as well as working in the molecular lab helping Molly quantify the virus levels in some of our experimental hives last season. He's a hard worker and fun to have around, so we really appreciate his efforts! |
| What you should be doing in your apiary this month (April 2026) | |
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The last two months was the beginning of the beekeeping season, whereas April is the heart of beekeeping in North Carolina... Read full article |
| New publications and grant awards | |
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Ali McAfee was the lead author in the top-tier journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which is a huge accomplishment. The study gives us significant insights into why honey bee colonies replace their queens, sometimes years prematurely, which can be problematic for bees and beekeepers alike. Read the press release or the open-access paper. |
| Welcome aboard | |
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Claudia Roller recently joined our team bringing with her a vast array of scientific and beekeeping experience. She was the lead technician with Buddha Bee in the Triangle area for several years, and her research project will center around mitigating laying worker colonies. She will also be coordinating our BeeMORE summer internship program. |
| Teacher's corner | |
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AEC 203, "An Introduction to the Honey Bee and Beekeeping," was recently approved to fulfill the Interdisciplinary Perspectives requirement for NC State undergraduates, in addition to already fulfilling the Natural Science requirement. Hopefully this will make it even more popular than ever! |
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