News
Sep. 5, 2019
Post-doc receives prestigious Spanish plant science award
Sara Zandalinas is a post-doc researcher in Ron Mittler’s lab | Photo by Mariah Cox, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC International flights usually require months of planning to score the best deals and to ensure minimal layovers, so Sara Izquierdo Zandalinas, a post-doc in the Ron Mittler lab, was faced with a challenge as she flew to Spain twice within a month’s span this summer. But the reason for those flights was a pleasant surprise. Zandalinas recently received the 2019 Sabater award given every two years at the Meeting of the Spanish Society of…
Sep. 4, 2019
University grant brings faster, cheaper genome sequencing
Nathan Bivens, Director of the DNA Core, and Wesley Warren, Bond LSC primary investigator. | Photos by Mariah Cox & Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC The discoveries from research capture the public’s and other scientist’s attention, but what about the tools, instruments and data management systems that provide more efficient means of getting there? A new genome sequencing instrument is on its way to the Bond Life Sciences Center thanks to a Tier 1 grant from the UM system’s mission to enhance the ‘well-being for Missouri, the nation and the…
Sep. 3, 2019
University funding moves cancer-targeting research forward
Cross-collaborative research team looks to refine delivery of cancer treatments David Porciani, Josiah Smith, Leah Cardwell, Mark Daniels, Bret Ulery and Donald Burke | Photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC “When you want to use a tool to do something in the house, you have to use the right size tool. It does no good to use a large screwdriver to fix the tiny screw on your glasses.” That’s Donald Burke, Bond Life Sciences Center lead primary investigator, as he begins to explain a project looking to optimize the targeting of cancer…
Aug. 29, 2019
#IAmScience Carolyn Robinson
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC When Carolyn Robinson was a kid, she was fascinated by the world around her. She remembers putting scabs under magnifying glasses and squishing bugs to try and understand the oddities of the world. “Science continuously blows my mind,” Robinson said. “There’s always something where you almost don’t believe it at first, and there is so much we still don’t know, even about something as simple as a virus.” As a now 3rd-year graduate student working on her Ph.D. in molecular pathogenesis and therapeutics…
Aug. 22, 2019
#IAmScience Henry Wan
Henry Wan | Photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Every year we all tend to pay a visit to the doctor to get ahead of cold and flu season. Nothing could be worse than being in the midst of a hectic time at work or school and being out of commission. Many don’t think twice about the annual flu shot, it just becomes a part of their autumnal routine. But for Henry Wan, a new primary investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, a significant portion of his life revolves around understanding…
Aug. 16, 2019
Robots and Africa: Tech transfer accelerates data collection
Ke Gao and Sam McInturf reveal Sun Bear to presidents and administrators of UWC and MU. By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Fourteen days. That’s how long it took Sam McInturf and Ke Gao to put together a root imaging machine named ‘Sun Bear’ at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa this past June. The pair, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Bond LSC’s David Mendoza and a computer science Ph.D. candidate, brought the automated approach to capturing data on root growth abroad as part of a technology transfer collaboration under…
May 16, 2019
A program that pushes science forward
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC It’s the little things we take for granted, and for science experiments, one of those are enzymes. French chemist Anselme Payen discovered the first enzyme, diastase, in 1833, but it wasn’t until 1877 that the word enzyme was used. While it’s a compact name, it’s really a category of proteins produced by living organisms that speed up chemical reactions regardless of whether it’s in the body or the test tube. The way these proteins are folded make their chemical interaction very specific, but when they bind with the right molecules,…
May 16, 2019
Three years in a lab
As Rosenfeld’s students graduate, awards and future plans celebrate excellence Brittney Marshall, a graduating Biological Sciences major, and mentor Cheryl Rosenfeld. Marshall has done undergraduate research in Rosenfeld’s lab for three years. | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Brittney Marshall, a soon-to-be-graduating senior from MU’s College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in biological sciences, received one of 15 University of Missouri Awards for Academic Distinction as well as the 2019 Outstanding Senior in Biological Sciences Award. Marshall started research three years ago in Bond Life Science Center as a…
May 12, 2019
Understanding a hijacker
Figuring out how a virus takes over cells could help with gene therapy Kinjal Majumder and David Pintel | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC When we catch a cold or contract the flu, we usually attribute it to picking up a virus from a friend or someone we know. Our bodies’ built-up immune systems have a way of attacking viruses to help us stay healthy, but sometimes viruses can hide. A study published in eLife by lead researcher Kinjal Majumder, a postdoctoral fellow in the Bond LSC lab of David Pintel,…
May 3, 2019
#IAmScience Ethan Myers
Ethan Myers is a senior biochemistry major studying oil production in soybeans. | photo by Mariah Cox, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox Preparing home-cooked meals regularly and maintaining houseplants can oftentimes be too time-consuming for stressed-out college students, but not for Ethan Myers. At Myers’ student apartment you can find a bonsai tree and a plethora of herbs such as catnip, basil, mint and even some pepper plants. This love of plants comes from his childhood when he spent his summers helping his grandma plant shrubs, flowers and trees in her garden. Using the herbs she…
April 27, 2019
#IAmScience Chris Pires
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC Through Chris Pires’ eyes, science isn’t an unconnected ideology in which scientists hold the proper way of understanding the world, it is an answer-seeking process in which humans strive to understand existence and the things around and within it. “I don’t think science is a thing, it’s a way of thinking” Pires said. “I like to think I live the life of the mind.” As a kid in a rural northern California town, he dreamt of exploring the universe and alien landscapes, but enthusiastically settled for the unobserved below the…
April 25, 2019
DNA Day
A time to celebrate the thing that makes us who we are By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC In 1865, after a decade long search into patterns of inheritance, Gregor Mendel discovered how individuals receive traits from their parents. Through working with pea plants, he found that genes come in pairs and are inherited as distinct units. He tracked those genes through dominant and recessive traits. Like many vital scientists throughout history, Mendel wasn’t appreciated in his own time due to his unpopular ideas. Now seen as the “father of genetics,” Mendel is recognized as the scientist…