News
July 17, 2025
Research steps: the movement behind making science work
Mett Nelson is a research engineering technician with the Bond LSC facilities crew. They keep the buildings parts — from air handlers and refrigeration to electrical supplies and scientific instruments — running when problems arise. | photo by Roger Meissen, Mizzou Division of Research By Sophie Rentschler | Bond LSC Each day Bond Life Sciences Center’s occupants collectively contribute hundreds of thousands of steps in the pursuit of science. Faculty, staff and students can be seen hurrying across its bridges that connect east and west wings of the building, and one can get a full picture of the people contributing…
May 22, 2025
How large language models can lead to disease analysis
Mizzou researchers train AI models with social media posts to analysis COVID-19 By Sophie Rentschler | Bond LSC Social media is where some turn when they get sick, searching for what their symptoms mean and forms of treatment. People turned to Twitter to share symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Jiacheng Xie, PhD student in Dong Xu’s lab at Bond Life Sciences Center, saw this online crowd seeking answers as a dataset ripe to draw conclusions. Now, this sharing helps him still keep tabs on the disease using social media after most agencies have put case…
May 16, 2025
Stacey receives Hales Prize from ASPB
Congrats to Bond LSC principal investigator Gary Stacey for recently receiving the 2025 Stephen Hales Prize from the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) for his noteworthy service in plant biology. His home department wrote up this summary of the award.
May 13, 2025
Bond LSC honors namesake in death
Kit Bond speaks to Thom Payne, vice chancellor for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, at the groundbreaking for the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center on September 8, 2001. Christopher “Kit” Bond died Tuesday, May 13, 2025. We hold enormous gratitude to his efforts that contributed to our center’s creation. Bond LSC Director Walter Gassmann summed up our sentiments, writing “We mourn the passing of U.S. Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond and send condolences to his family and all who’ve been touched by his many years of service. Sen. Bond displayed an admirable…
May 13, 2025
Bond LSC honors namesake in death
Kit Bond speaks to Thom Payne, vice chancellor for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, at the groundbreaking for the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center on September 8, 2001. Christopher “Kit” Bond died Tuesday, May 13, 2025. We hold enormous gratitude to his efforts that contributed to our center’s creation. Bond LSC Director Walter Gassmann summed up our sentiments, writing “We mourn the passing of U.S. Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond and send condolences to his family and all who’ve been touched by his many years of service. Sen. Bond displayed an admirable commitment…
April 29, 2025
The lab as a grad program’s proving ground
Video shot by Nick Andrussian | Mizzou Visual ProductionsPackage produced by Evan Johnson | Bond LSC As Mizzou seniors think about life after graduation, the research lab could serve as a proving ground for future plans. That was the case for Bennett Flannagan, who graduated from Mizzou in 2024. He spent the last year as a research specialist I in the Paul de Figueiredo lab at Bond LSC, pushing himself and growing his expertise in preparation for graduate school. His work paid off when he heard he was one of 20 applicants accepted into the Translational Biosciences…
April 28, 2025
Behind the cell structures of childhood sleep disruption
How high-performance computing connects brain differences to apnea Adobe Stock image By Sophie Rentschler | Bond LSC A good night’s rest lays the foundation for your daily performance but when a child’s body hampers airflow, that can lead to cognitive problems in their waking lives. One recent Mizzou study looks at healthy neurological processes and how this differs for patients with obstructive sleep apnea. The study collected a wealth of patient information that can be utilized to help clinicians give a diagnosis quicker in the future. Yen On Chan,…
April 9, 2025
Seeing beyond chlorophyll’s glow
Mizzou researchers genetically engineer plants to optimize microscopy By Sophie Rentschler | Bond LSC Gary Stacey’s lab is a breeding ground for model plants, curated to get the most precise image of the plant leaf tissues. Those plants help scientists at Mizzou and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) bridge plant science and microscopy to capture high quality snapshots of a plant’s cellular structure. The collaborators recently co-published their latest contributions to lattice light-sheet microscopy imaging in The Biophysical Journal. It shows a way to better see plant…
March 27, 2025
Donald Burke-Agüero among faculty honored as 2024 AAAS Fellows
Four MU researchers were recognized as 2024 AAAS Fellows, which represent some of the most distinguished leaders in science and innovation. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recognized four University of Missouri Faculty as 2024 AAAS Fellows for their distinguished work in various fields of science. Among the list is Donald Burke-Agüero, a principal investigator at MU’s Bond Life Sciences Center and professor of biochemistry and molecular microbiology and immunology in the School of Medicine. Burke-Agüero is being recognized for his distinguished contributions to the development of RNA aptamers to investigate viral and cancer biology and…
March 19, 2025
Dai driven by the craft of recycling carbon
Susie Dai, engineering professor and Bond LSC principal investigator | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Sophie Rentschler | Bond LSC Susie Dai doesn’t like to waste time, something obvious as she translates Emily Dickinson poems from English to her native Chinese while waiting for an oil change. She would much rather prefer to be doing research. “You cannot write a paper or a grant [in a waiting room lobby],” she explains about why she resorts to her hobbies. Dai gets bored easily, so she keeps busy in any way she can,…
Feb. 14, 2025
Bing Yang honored by St. Louis Academy of Sciences
ST. LOUIS, MO – The Academy of Science – St. Louis is proud to announce the recipients of the 27th Annual Outstanding St. Louis Scientists Awards, recognizing individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the advancement of science, engineering, and technology. The awards ceremony will be held on April 3, 2025, at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Since its inception, the Outstanding St. Louis Scientists Awards has honored some of the brightest minds in the region, celebrating their exceptional achievements, groundbreaking discoveries, and lasting impact on…
Feb. 4, 2025
Searching for alternative lung cancer treatment
Non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma occurs in the glandular tissue of the lung and is illustrated here with a histopathology light micrograph and the structure of Thomas’ aptamer used in their study. | Adobe Stock By Roger Meissen | Bond LSC Treating lung cancer is tricky business. Not only is it more deadly than other cancers due to late diagnosis, but resistance also grows quickly against its few existing treatments and therapeutics, so new approaches are vital to higher survival. That’s especially true for one subset of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), and University of Missouri scientists have shown promising progress toward…