Members of the Helms lab traveled to St. Louis, Missouri in November to participate in the 2019 Entomological Society of America Meeting. John and Morgan both presented their research and participated in the Linnaean Games. John also received 2nd place in the student competition for his poster presentation on cucumber root volatile-mediated interactions. Anjel co-organized a symposium with Dr. Loren Rivera-Vega from Texas A&M and Swayamjit Ray from Penn State called “A Microbe, an Herbivore, and a Plant Walk into a Field…Microbes in Plant-Herbivore Interactions”. Anjel also presented a talk in the symposium titled “Entomopathogenic nematodes and their bacterial symbionts influence plant defenses and herbivore performance”. Overall, it was a great time to catch up with friends and collaborators, meet new people, and learn about some of the latest entomology research.

John, Morgan, and Anjel with John’s poster