Bond LSC News, Page 48 // Bond Life Sciences Center

July 16, 2014

Researchers flex new muscle in SMA drug development

By Paige Blankenbuehler Lauren and Claire Gibbs share contagious laughter, ambition and a charismatic sarcasm. Both are honor students at Shawnee Mission East High School in a Kansas City suburb. They also share a neuromuscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), designated as an “orphan disease” because it affects fewer than 200,000 people in the…

July 14, 2014

At the Bond LSC, the wall wears the plants

The unusual red color of the Lobelias leaves make them stand out among 200 other species that thrive in the 20-foot plant wall at the Bond Life Sciences Center | Paige Blankenbuehler Story by Madison Knapp | Bond Life Sciences summer intern A hidden treasure on the University of Missouri’s campus is a living and…

July 1, 2014

Hearing danger: predator vibrations trigger plant chemical defenses

Experiments show chewing vibrations, but not wind or insect song, cause response As the cabbage butterfly caterpillar takes one crescent-shaped bite at a time from the edge of a leaf, it doesn’t go unnoticed. This tiny Arabidopsis mustard plant hears its predator loud and clear as chewing vibrations reverberate through leaves and stems, and it reacts…

June 20, 2014

Nerve cell communication mechanisms uncovered, may lead to new therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases

Story by Madison Knapp/ Bond Life Sciences summer intern Simple actions like walking, swallowing and breathing are the result of a complex communication system between cells. When we touch something hot, our nerve cells tell us to take our hand off the object. This happens in a matter of milliseconds. This hyperspeed of communication…

June 10, 2014

SoyKB: Leading the convergence of wet and dry science in the era of Big Data

Yaya Cui, an investigator in plant sciences at the Bond Life Sciences Center examines data on fast neuron soybean mutants that are represented on the SoyKB database. The most puzzling scientific mysteries may be solved at the same machine you’re likely reading this sentence. In the era of “Big Data” many significant scientific discoveries —…

June 4, 2014

MU Scientists Successfully Transplant, Grow Stem Cells in Pigs

New line of pigs do not reject transplants, will allow for future research on stem cell therapies Story by Nathan Hurst/MU News Bureau COLUMBIA, Mo. – One of the biggest challenges for medical researchers studying the effectiveness of stem cell therapies is that transplants or grafts of cells are often rejected by the hosts. This…

May 12, 2014

New screening tool gives scientists more control over genetic research

A tangled spool of yarn represents DNA, while the fingers holding the section represent the insulators just added by MU researchers to improve a scientific, screening tool. | Paige Blankenbuehler Here’s a scenario: You are trying to find a lost section of string in the world’s most massively tangled spool of yarn. Then try cutting…

May 6, 2014

Trail to a Cure, Inc. helps fund training of future scientists, physcians

Over the weekend, Bond LSC HIV researchers Stefan Sarafianos, Marc Johnson and Donald Burke-Aguero joined Trail to a Cure, Inc., a Columbia nonprofit organization that helped fund important HIV research. Since 2008, the organization has raised $74,000 for HIV/AIDS research, with some of that funding going directly to the Bond LSC providing additional hours of…

April 28, 2014

A drug that packs a punch: new compound works better against resistant HIV

Bond LSC researcher Stefan Sarafianos stands in the LSC atrium. The virologist is an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology and Chancellor’s Chair of Excellence in Molecular Virology with appointments in MU’s School of Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry. Resistance is the price of success when it comes to treating HIV. Virologists at…

April 25, 2014

Frogs help researchers find genetic mechanism for mildew susceptibility in grapevine

Powdery mildew on a cabernet sauvignon grapevine leaf. | USDA Grape genetics publications and research A princess kisses a frog and it turns into a prince, but when a scientist uses a frog to find out more information about a grapevine disease, it turns into the perfect tool narrowing in on the cause of crop…