Bond LSC News
Oct. 12, 2018
#IAmScience Toni Morcos
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Science and spaghetti are an unlikely combination. For Toni Morcos, this combination led her to research. “Growing up, my dad researched muscular dystrophy and my mom was an OB-GYN,” Morcos said. “Every night, my mom would talk about her surgeries that day then my dad would talk about this gene targeting thing. I would be eight years old, just eating spaghetti wondering what the heck they are talking about. And now I’m here studying biology just to understand and be a part of that dinner table conversation.” Morcos is more than just…
Oct. 4, 2018
#IAmScience Juexin Wang
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Boring may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of someone’s research story. But for Juexin Wang, it was a dull job that steered him toward research. “My undergrad was in Beijing, I was studying computer science,” Wang said. “After I finished my undergrad I went to work in the industry for two years as a software engineer, and I realized that work was so boring to me and I wanted to discover something new.” Wang…
Sep. 30, 2018
#IAmScience Ron Mittler
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Ron Mittler always thought he would be a veterinarian, until he was exposed to the lab. “I went to school to be a vet,” Mittler said. “I made the mistake of working in the lab to make money in the summer and I got hooked on research. I worked with plants and I realized it is the best job to have for me.” That “mistake” has turned into a career of research and teaching in academia. The latest chapter in that journey started in July when Mittler joined Bond LSC as a…
Sep. 24, 2018
MU researchers develop gene therapy vector in quest to conquer devastating childhood disease
For scientists, studying a disease presents a puzzle looking for an answer, but there are real people behind the research that may one day cure the illnesses that turned their lives upside down. Chris Lorson and Monir Shababi work on one of these puzzles in Bond LSC. Find out more about their work and the faces behind SMARD, a rare, often fatal, genetic motor neuron disease in the following story courtesy of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Monir Shababi, an assistant research professor in veterinary pathobiology, and Christian Lorson, Bond LSC principal investigator, College of Veterinary Medicine professor…
Sep. 21, 2018
#IAmScience Wes Warren
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC When you walk into Wes Warren’s office you may notice the Charles Darwin bobble head, or the platypus on the cover of Nature magazine or even the shelf of colorful books in the corner. At every glance, you’ll probably see a picture of a different kind of animal. Animals aren’t just a passion for Warren, they are the target of his research. Over the past 17 years, he has worked with around: 10 mammals, 6 bird species, 10 fish genomes, five different species of Tsetse fly, sand fly, even the common house…
Sep. 14, 2018
#IAmScience Bing Yang
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Rice ties together much of Bing Yang’s life. From his childhood in China where his father farmed the crop to more than 20 years of research on the staple, it’s more than just food. “Rice by itself is the major crop in the world,” said Yang, one of Bond LSC’s newest researchers. “It provides more than half of the population’s food. Rice is a model crop species and can be used for other crop plants. It can be applicable to other crop species since it is easy to study.” Originally from Southwestern…
Sep. 7, 2018
#IAmScience Brittany Cruzan
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC When Brittany Cruzan does her laundry, she can’t stop thinking about science. “Science controls our everyday life,” Cruzan said. “Coffee, tea, the way you cut your hair, it’s all science. I’ve liked science since I was a kid. I am obsessed with knowing how things work. I don’t care why but I care for how. Cruzan applies that desire to know how things work to work in the lab. From her first semester of freshman year to now as a junior, Cruzan been in Mannie Liscum’s lab chasing the how behind the…
Aug. 31, 2018
#IAmScience Gilberto Perez
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Research is like a puzzle, and figuring out how the pieces fit together is Gilberto Perez’s favorite part of research. “In research you have to think about the steps,” Perez said. “Most likely, I’m not going to complete the puzzle in my lifetime, but it will help someone else put a piece in it and hopefully, down the road, it will be finished.” Before coming to Mizzou, Perez had mindless jobs in high school and that’s why he likes the idea of a puzzle. He came here unsure of what he wanted…
Aug. 24, 2018
#IAmScience Alex Marx
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Sometimes there’s a deeper meaning behind why we do the things we do. Whether it be what we study, or research, the meaning is always there. Alex Marx always knew he would go into medicine, but didn’t expect to do research. Growing up with two parents who are in health care, and a great grandmother with Alzheimer’s Disease, medicine and certain neurological diseases intrigued Marx. When Marx came to college he became friends with Dr. Setzer, professor in Biological Sciences, who soon introduced him to research and, more specifically, Anand Chandrasekhar’s lab…
Aug. 20, 2018
#IAmScience Chase Heim
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Chaise Heim wasn’t reluctant in his pursuit of science. In high school, a program called Triple E gave him his first major exposure to his desired career in the form of an internship. That led him to David Emerich’s lab in MU’s biochemistry department where he spent a cumulative 40 hours during the program. “From working there, I realized I liked the sciences,” Heim said. “I came to college and continued to work with him, but realized plant science wasn’t the direction I wanted to go, so I talked to my mentors…
Aug. 10, 2018
#IAmScience Rebecca Craigg
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Being involved in research changes perspective in and out of the lab. Senior Rebecca Craigg came to college thinking science always had an answer. “When I came in as a freshman I thought everything should work,” Craigg said. “If you do an experiment you should get a result. Now, I am not afraid to fail.” Craigg joined the Cornelison lab freshman year. As a first-generation college student Rebecca was unsure of what was in store for her. But as she grew as a researcher, she also did as a person and started…
Aug. 2, 2018
#IAmScience Skyler Kramer
Senior Skyler Kramer has spent each year of college in a different lab, he currently works in the Sumner Lab at Bond LSC. | photo by Erica Overfelt, Bond LSC By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC College is a time of finding yourself and finding what you actually want to do. For senior Skyler Kramer, he knew his first year of college. Kramer currently works in the the Sumner Lab as a summer intern, however, this is the fourth lab he has worked in since coming to MU. Kramer started out college in a biology lab…