News
Dec. 30, 2019
Stopping transport: How limiting copper can combat cancer
Vinit Shanbhag (left) is pictured with a few of his co-collaborators Nikita Gudekar, Michael Petris (principal investigator), Kimberly Jasmer and Aslam Khan (from left to right). | Photo by Jinghong Chen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC We find copper in currency, electrical equipment and jewelry, but it also plays an essential role within our bodies. From its use in the production of red blood cells to maintaining healthy bones, blood vessels, nerves and immune function, a tiny level of copper makes us function. But recent research points to a darker side: its…
Dec. 13, 2019
#IAmScience Madison Green
By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC It’s hard for a sixth-grader to nail down exactly what she wants to do for the rest of her life, but that’s when the process started for Madison Green. After all, it isn’t the easiest of decisions. With a wide range of possibilities, it can be hard for anyone to be truly sure of a decision that will shape the rest of their life. For Green, a junior biology and public health dual major, her path shifted toward science when she joined Science Olympiad, a national nonprofit organization dedicated…
Dec. 5, 2019
#IAmScience Mannie Liscum
For Mannie Liscum, thinking is a privilege, and his job gives him the chance to be fascinated by human’s capacity to conceptualize and learn new things. “It’s my goal to use as much of the stuff between my ears as I can while I’m here,” said the Bond LSC primary investigator. “And that’s what drives a lot of people into science.” Along with that internal tick to learn, he’s inspired by the scientific pursuit to better understand the world. He said it’s easy to see things and from one mindset, but in reality, it’s always…
Nov. 28, 2019
Jordyn Lucas #IAmScience
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC Fourteen billion years ago, the universe began expanding. Four billion years ago, the earth formed. Four million years ago, humans began to roam the Earth. Four years ago, Jordyn Lucas began her graduate degree studying the origins of life in the lab of Donald Burke at Bond LSC. “We have this really cool grant from NASA that I’m working on,” she said. “We’re working with RNA to see if it would have been a good progenitor molecule for life, and testing the bounds of what it can do on its…
Nov. 25, 2019
A return to mentor: Gant advises on PREP for Ph.D.’s
Kristal Gant, a former MU PREP Scholar and current Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin – Madison | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Roger Meissen | Bond LSC Kristal Gant is a long way from the student she was when she donned a lab coat and wielded a pipette in labs at Bond Life Sciences Center nearly four years ago. As she stood in front of a group of MU students hoping to one day follow their own routes to graduate school, Gant recounted her long and winding path to her Ph.D. program at…
Nov. 22, 2019
#IAmScience Rachel Martin
By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Rachel Martin always faced challenges head-on. As a budding freshman who began her college career in the School of Journalism, she switched to biological sciences, tackled a double major in music, joined two research labs and kept up with clubs throughout her undergraduate career. Through it all, she has maintained an unwavering ambitious spirit. Now in her final year, Martin has wrapped up her music degree and enjoys a more relaxed course load than she’s used to. From freshman to junior year, she often took over 18 credit hours at…
Nov. 19, 2019
A blight-free future
Bond LSC scientist works with global consortium to eliminate costly rice disease Rice terraces in Sapa, Vietnam: Rice is the world’s most important food plant, playing a vital role for nutrition in Asia and Africa in particular. In those countries, rice is generally grown by small farmers. If their fields are infected by bacterial blight, their very existence is threatened. | Photo by HHU / Sarah M. Schmidt By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC COLUMBIA, Mo. – Deep in the basement of the Bond Life Sciences Center is a small room emanating neon purple…
Nov. 15, 2019
#IAmScience Clayton Kranawetter
By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Taking things apart to figure out how they function was a huge part of Clayton Kranawetter’s childhood. From dismantling his parents’ old computer to disassembling a baseball pitching machine, he’s always been curious about the way things work. Kranawetter always looked for old machines or items that weren’t being used anymore to take apart and analyze. The comical part is that he never put them back together. Throughout his life, Kranawetter has carried a sense of curiosity about him that has led him to learn new hobbies or languages…
Nov. 12, 2019
Exceeding the Challenge
Focus on new grants results in research funding bump On Oct. 11, 2019, as part of University of Missouri Homecoming festivities, Chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright shared about MU’s value to society during the annual State of the University address. | Contributed by MU News Bureau By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC It’s an inconvenient truth that every scientist knows; progress in research is driven by the money they receive to pursue discoveries. As MU’s Chancellor Alexander Cartwright addressed the Mizzou community in October, he announced positive gains in securing grants for future science. “Not long ago, we…
Nov. 8, 2019
#IAmScience Maddy Creach
“Science is concrete, but it isn’t rigid. Research is constantly new and fresh.” By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC For Maddy Creach, a scientific career was always the end goal, and television and books have played a part in that inspiration. When she was a kid, her “big science nerd” of a dad watched NOVA all the time with her along with dinosaur documentaries, and she could always turn to him for support in her career aspirations. That support has continued for her current dream — to work for NASA’s plant research team. Astronaut Scott…
Nov. 1, 2019
#IAmScience Sharon Pike
By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Sharon Pike grew up in an era that didn’t encourage young girls to pursue fields predominantly occupied by men. Through trial and error in various careers, she eventually landed a spot as a lab technician at MU in 1985. Since then, she found her passion and voice in science, and at the age of 77, she doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. Pike felt the limitations of being a girl, growing up in the Midwest and lacking the financial means to obtain an education beyond the undergraduate level. But,…
Oct. 24, 2019
#IamScience Paul Martin
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC Two years ago, Paul Martin found his love for biology in a freshman-level non-majors course. He’s now a researcher in Walter Gassmann’s lab helping to study transcription factors that regulate a plant’s immune response to bacterial pathogens. Martin grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, near Arrowhead Stadium and has always loved sports. He recalled caring more about baseball stats in school than learning. By the time he reached high school, he loved to write and thought he could make a career out of it. …