News
Feb. 13, 2019
What makes us trust science?
Mariah Cox | Bond LSC When Simine Vazire began teaching undergraduate research methods she focused on its difference from pseudo-science or nonscience, the value of the scientific method and the notion that science is self-correcting. However, it became harder for her to teach that lesson with a clear conscience as she began to grapple with issues of credibility and replicability in the field of psychology with her own research. “Credibility is arguably the eye of the storm of the in the replication crisis. I didn’t call this the replication crisis in psychological science because that’s pretty controversial,”…
Feb. 8, 2019
#IAmScience Ashley Meyer
Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Situated in the Bond Life Sciences Center is an almost empty research lab on the fourth floor, which to some may look like an end but is really just a new beginning. Inside you may find a few boxes of gloves, a stack of brightly colored test tube racks and a sole thermocycler sitting on the lab bench. You’ll also find Ashley Meyer, the first researcher hired on by Wes Warren. “This is a brand-new lab. Dr. Warren came from Washington University in Saint Louis, and he didn’t bring anything with him…
Jan. 30, 2019
The start of an academic relationship
Joint recruitment weekend welcomes prospective grad students to MU family By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC As laughter and conversation began to fill the hall with the arrival of graduate students from across the country, new relationships began to form. Entering its 10th year, the annual Graduate Life Sciences Joint Recruitment Weekend continues a unique recruitment tradition at the University of Missouri that has only grown with time. Chris Pires, a Bond Life Sciences Center investigator, professor of biological sciences and associate dean for research in MU’s College of Arts and Science, has utilized the event every…
Jan. 28, 2019
10th annual Agroforestry Symposium focuses on entrepreneurship in research
Rob Riedel from Wild Ozark Ginseng Farm introduces their products at the Agroforestry Symposium on Jan. 26, 2017 | photo by Jinghong Chen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Farmers, scientists and tree experts, from field to forest, will bring their work inside this Wednesday and Thursday to hear how research can improve all of their livelihoods. The 10th annual University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry Symposium is set to take place Jan. 30-31 at the Bond Life Sciences Center on the University of Missouri’s campus. The two-day event will focus on innovation and…
Jan. 3, 2019
#IAmScience Julie Gauthier
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Many might agree that their sex education was not taught well in school. This poorly taught education inspired junior Julie Gauthier to look deeper medicine and sexually transmitted diseases, and it spurred her interest in science. “My high school had an uninformed sex education curriculum,” Gauthier said. “It was not based in science as much as I thought it should be, so when I got here I did a lot of personal research on sex health. Scientists are curious, and I was curious on the subject.” While Gauthier’s initial interest was in science surrounding health, her current research…
Dec. 14, 2018
Closure comes with final defense
Ph.D. dissertation wraps up student career. By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Ending your career as a student is a whirlwind of emotion. Ph.D. student Ben Spears soon will be saying his final goodbyes to his lab after he gave his final presentation earlier this month. Spears spent the past six years in Walter Gassmann’s lab in Bond LSC, and he has been a student for almost all of his life. “You know it is kind of surreal,” Spears said. “It’s hard to describe. I mean, I don’t know what it is like to not be a…
Dec. 11, 2018
Stacey named National Academy of Inventors Fellow
By Roger Meissen, Bond LSC Science and invention are both about discovering the possibilities in something. Those possibilities can create something new that improves the lives of people and advances our understanding of the world. It’s no surprise that Gary Stacey, a Bond Life Sciences Center primary investigator, is being recognized this year as one of 148 academic fellows by the National Academy of Inventors. “I am very proud to welcome another class of outstanding NAI Fellows, whose collective achievements have helped shape the future and who each day work to improve our world,” said Paul R.
Dec. 7, 2018
#IAmScience Shawn Abrahams
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC “Eccentric” is generally a word you do not want to use for a future boss. But that’s what led Shawn Abrahams to the Chris Pires’ lab at Bond LSC. Abrahams first met Pires at the Botany 2013 conference in New Orleans. “If you have ever met Chris before you know he is full of advice. At the time Chris told me about his expectations for grad students, how many papers you should have to be successful and that you should always be considering your 10-year plan,” Abrahams said. “I appreciated it as…
Nov. 30, 2018
#IAmScience Trupti Joshi
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Juggling research, teaching, collaborative meetings, grant writing, and training postdocs and students is no problem for Trupti Joshi. That array of responsibilities is just part of the job for a Bond LSC researcher focused on bioinformatics, an area that connects so many types of science by collecting and analyzing genetic data. “Bioinformatics is a very interdisciplinary science that marries the wet and the dry labs,” Joshi said. “It applies software tools and computational techniques from computer science, engineering, mathematics and statistics towards efficient ways to analyze, integrate and mine large-scale genomics and…
Nov. 15, 2018
#IAmScience Sarah Unruh
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Orchids are just weird. No, like really weird, even bizarre. But sixth-year biological sciences Ph.D. student Sarah Unruh likes bizarre things. “Name me a plant rule and I can tell you how orchids have broken them,” Unruh said. “Not all of them have leaves, a lot grow on top of trees and some grow underground not requiring photosynthesis, but one of weirdest characteristics is that their seeds are very small and they don’t have a lot of the nutrition to get the plant started.” That last property has led Unruh to spend…
Nov. 12, 2018
#IAmScience Nikita Gudekar
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC You’ve probably seen TV in shows like Law & Order or CSI and not viewed them as career inspiration. But for graduate student Nikita Gudekar, all she could think about was the science behind their techniques. As a child, Gudekar thought she could use the scientific techniques to catch the criminals, and as she grew up that initial goal evolved into working in the lab of Michael Petris in Bond LSC. Gudekar, originally from Mumbai, India, received her undergraduate study in Mumbai before furthering her education at Mizzou. Gudekar is now a…
Nov. 2, 2018
#IAmScience Monir Shababi
By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC Research Assistant Professor Monir Shababi and mothers of SMARD children started out as friends on Facebook. Now, they’re friends for a lifetime. It was an unexpected turn for someone who spends most of her professional life in a lab. SMARD1 is an acronym for the rare genetic neuromuscular disease spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress, which has been the focus of Shababi’s research for the past five years. While it shares part of its name with the better known spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the disease-causing gene is not the same. Both diseases…