University of Missouri

Jan. 3, 2018

Embracing similarities

Alexander Franz presents his research on arboviruses and mosquitoes to the Host/Pathogens Research Network. The network brings researchers from across campus together to foster cross-discipline research. | Photo by Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Bond LSC connects scientists in “hot topic” research By Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC An immunologist, a plant biologist and a biochemist enter a room. No, that’s not the start of a geeky science joke, but rather is the start of a conversation meant to spur ideas. As a group of scientists crowd a conference room in the Bond Life Sciences Center in…

Dec. 29, 2017

Madison Ortega #IAmScience

Madison Ortega, a junior biology major, works in the Rosenfeld lab at Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because research gives me an avenue to explore my curiosity and possibly discover something groundbreaking.” Research is all about discovering the answers to the unknown, pushing boundaries and exploring the depths of the field. As a junior biology major, Madison Ortega is already getting a taste of that. Her freshman year, Ortega got a brochure for the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity program (IMSD). This program encourages…

Dec. 18, 2017

The business of proteins

Proteomics Center associate director Brian Mooney holds up a sample before using a machine to collect data on its proteins. | Photo by Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC The Proteomics Center runs on proteins. This research core facility is like a small business and is situated in the Bond Life Sciences Center. It has helped improve agriculture, opened doors for new medical applications and lead to greater insight into human diseases. Proteins are some of the most plentiful and common building blocks of all living organisms, making structures in cells but also…

Dec. 15, 2017

Janlo Robil #IAmScience

Janlo Robil, a Ph.D. candidate in Plant Developmental Genetics, admires one of his plants. Robil works in the McSteen lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because adding a small puzzle piece to the bigger picture is my source of joy.” Janlo Robil found himself with a difficult decision when he entered a master’s program at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. His passion for insects made him want to pursue entomology, but the lack of coursework in the area made him consider…

Dec. 11, 2017

Bond Life Science Investigator honored with two distinctions

Chris Pires in his greenhouse in the Bond Life Sciences Center. By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC “If you told me when I was an undergrad at Berkley or when I was working at a consulting firm in San Francisco when I was 22 that I would be a professor in Missouri working on broccoli, I would have laughed my ass off,” Bond Life Sciences investigator Chris Pires admitted. But that work on broccoli has taken him far. Pires recently received the 2017 Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Faculty Research and Creative Activity in Biological Sciences. Pires…

Dec. 8, 2017

Madeline McFarland #IAmScience

Madeline McFarland, a senior biochemistry major, works in the Burke Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC Science isn’t limited to the lab. It’s more of a mindset than a discipline, and Madeline McFarland knows this all too well. As a senior biochemistry major working in Donald Burke’s lab in Bond LSC, McFarland experiments with ribonucleic acid (RNA) to study the origin of life before DNA and protein served as genetic material and catalyst, respectively. “I’m interested in the RNA World Hypothesis and how RNA may have played a role in getting…

Dec. 6, 2017

Inside agriculture’s hottest controversy: dicamba

A soybean plant grows in the Bond Life Sciences Center’s greenhouse. | Photo by Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC. By Samantha Kummerer, Bond Life Sciences Center Every summer, MU Bond Life scientists Gary and Bing Stacey plant soybeans. In the summer of 2016, they were testing mutant crops’ tolerance to different herbicides. Among the multiple weed killers tested was one called dicamba. The researchers knew this particular chemical was tricky so they turned to an expert to apply it, MU herbicide researcher Kevin Bradley. The next morning, a soybean breeder with a neighboring plot discovered his soybeans…

Dec. 4, 2017

German heart and lung researcher speaks at Bond LSC

Scientist Thomas Braun speaks at Bond LSC about skeletal muscle regeneration. Braun is the director of the Max-Planck Institute that studies the heart,lungs and blood vessels.| Photo by Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Thomas Braun, a researcher with the German-based Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, visited MU for a Bond Life Sciences and Mizzou Advantage seminar. The Max Planck Institute aims to find treatment for heart and lung disease. Part of its research focuses on stem cells and how they can decrease damage done to patients’ tissues who suffer…

Dec. 1, 2017

Makenzie Mabry #IAmScience

Makenzie Mabry, a Ph.D. candidate, works in the Pires Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC For Makenzie Mabry, every day is a new puzzle when it comes to science. That desire to solve new problems led her from wanting to be a veterinarian to considering much less cuddly focus in plants. “I think the beautiful thing about research is that it evolves itself,” Mabry said. Although she had an acceptance letter to vet school in tow, she altered her career path to work with a new passion: plants. That led her…

Nov. 30, 2017

Celebrating a mystery solved

Roberts honored for breakthrough discovery in reproductive biology 30 years ago By Eleanor C. Hasenbeck | Bond Life Sciences Center In 1987, Michael Roberts published a groundbreaking discovery that changed the world of reproductive biology research. Roberts and members of his lab discovered that a type of protein, an interferon, impacted how the bodies of animals such as sheep, goats and cows, recognized an embryo early in pregnancy. Previously thought to only be a part of a cell’s immune system response, this new signaling role changed the field. In honor of his lab’s groundbreaking discovery,…

Nov. 29, 2017

Engineering the Immune System

Chemical engineering students Caitlin Leeper and Rui Zhang work in Bret Ulery lab. The lab conducts innovative research combining chemical engineering with immunology.| Photo by Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC.   Saturday Morning Science talks engineering our next defense By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Saturday Morning Science brings science to the people, bagels included. In an effort to highlight this outreach effort, we’re profiling a recent SMS speaker who talked about … well, read for yourself below. Inside your body is a complex network of interlocking biological pieces. Tissues, cells and organs are consistently working together…

Nov. 22, 2017

Kris Budd #IAmScience

Kris Budd, a Ph.D. candidate in Lori Eggert’s lab, works with Bond LSC to track elephant DNA in Southeast Asia. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I have the ability to transform the fate of endangered species.” If someone had told Kris Budd that she’d be investigating elephant feces on daily basis in her Ph.D. program, she wouldn’t have bought it. If they’d said she’d realize it’s a passion of hers, she would’ve been in shock. As a third year Ph.D. candidate in Lori Eggert’s lab, Budd is able to do meaningful…