A new bacterium has been named for the late Prof. Terry Beveridge, a long-time researcher in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) and U of G’s former department of microbiology.

Bacillus beveridgei honours the memory of Beveridge, who joined Guelph as a faculty member in 1978. He held a Canada Research Chair and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He died in 2007.

Commenting on the newly named organism, MCB professor Joe Lam said: “This is an honour and a tribute to the late Dr. Beveridge, who made a significant impact on microbiology and who basically is the pioneer and founder of the field of geomicrobiology research. It is a wonderful way for the scientific community to remember him.”

Described in a 2009 paper written by researchers at the United States Geological Survey in California and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, the bacterium was found in Mono Lake, Calif. This extremophile lives in a mineral-rich, alkaline and highly salty environment where it “eats” ions of tellurium, selenium and arsenic.