News
Oct. 20, 2017
Ronnie LaCombe #IAmScience
Ronnie LaCombe, a Ph. D candidate in biological sciences at MU, stands near her lab station in D Cornelison’s lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I feel most alive when I’m talking to people, both in and out of my field, about my work.” While other kids were playing with Legos and dolls, Ronnie LaCombe was exploring the world through a microscope. Alongside her cousins, LaCombe used science at an early age as both a way of learning and for entertainment. “I’ve…
Oct. 20, 2017
Expanding the limits of knowledge
Purva Patel presents her research on iron in plants during the undergraduate research fair. Patel works in Dr. Mendoza’s lab in the Bond Life Sciences Center. By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Purva Patel grew up captivated by newspaper articles discussing a method to grow plants without soil called hydroponics. Today, she is one of the scientists mixing the mineral and nutrient solutions to plant seeds in this rapidly growing soil-less method. The University of Missouri senior spent the past year working in David Mendoza-Cózatl’s Bond Life Sciences lab. Her research, which started out as a capstone…
Oct. 17, 2017
A love story closes LSSP 2017
Jim Obergefell’s love endured through his partner’s death and all the way to the Supreme Court. Jim Obergefell speaks about winning the landmark Supreme Court case that granted equal marraige rights to same-sex couples. Obergefell received a standing ovation after his lecture. Photo by Eleanor Hasenbeck | Bond Life Sciences By Eleanor C. Hasenbeck | Bond Life Sciences Jim Obergefell had a destination wedding, but not by choice. On a chartered medical jet on a tarmac in Baltimore, Obergefell married John Arthur, his partner of 20 years, in a union that would result in…
Oct. 16, 2017
McKibben urges climate action in campus lecture
Bill McKibben explained the impact of increasing carbon emissions on the global climate and explored solutions to slowing the trend Bill McKibben responds to an audience member’s question at his lecture on Oct. 4 in Jesse Hall. The screen behind him shows demonstrators blocking an oil rig from leaving harbor. McKibben called them “kayak-tivists.” Photo by Eleanor Hasenbeck | Bond Life Sciences Bill McKibben responds to an audience member’s question at his lecture on Oct. 4 in Jesse Hall. The screen behind him shows demonstrators blocking an oil rig from leaving harbor. McKibben called them…
Oct. 13, 2017
Katy Guthrie #IAmScience
Katy Guthrie, a Ph.D. candidate, works in Dr. Paula McSteen’s lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I want to take the knowledge I gain and teach it to other young scientists so they share in this excitement, too.” Katy Guthrie grew up as one of five girls. All five sisters took very different paths —one ended up in hospital management, another in marketing and advertising, one became an engineer and the other works in logistics for a start up. But Guthrie took a…
Oct. 13, 2017
The state of the American marriage
Eli Finkel explains not all modern marriages are getting worse. Finkel spoke about his new book, “The All-Or-Nothing Marriage”. | Photo by Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC “And they lived happily ever after. Like, what the hell?” Eli Finkel exclaimed. “That’s a foolish way of thinking. Really what you’re doing is stepping on the welcome mat of what’s actually going to be interesting, of what’s actually going to be challenging.” Finkel set out to write a book about how the quality of American marriages have declined. But while the modern marriage is…
Oct. 12, 2017
Examining the African American marriage
Charlandra Bryant reveals some of her findings on what influences African Americans’ marriage quality. Bryant spoke on the effects of health on African American couples on Saturday, Oct. 7. | Photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC “Race matters, even in marriage,” Charlandra Bryant said to open her talk on the marital functions of African American couples. Bryant asked the crowd that gathered for the Annual Life Sciences & Society Program Symposium on Saturday, October 7, to name successful African American couples. After naming the Obama’s, many people’s minds come up empty,…
Oct. 11, 2017
The power of a hug
Kory Floyd speaks about humans’ need for affection. Floyd spoke during the 13th annual Life Sciences and Society Symposium on Saturday, Oct. 7. | Photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Kory Floyd was stressed and having an all-around bad day, but then a coworker offered him a hug. “That hug didn’t change anything about what had gone in my day but it changed everything about what the way that I felt,” Floyd said. “Suddenly all that stress, suddenly all that disappointment, all that worry, it didn’t go away but it seemed…
Oct. 10, 2017
Being friendly can payoff
Dr. Brian Hare speaks about how friendliness and natural selection are connected at the 13th annual LSSP symposium, The Science of Love. | photo by Roger Meissen Hare explains survival of the friendliest as component of natural selection By Allison Scott Dogs really are a man’s best friend if you ask Brian Hare. Our four-legged friends are a direct result of chance coupled with domestication. And over the course of hundreds of years, that domestication has led to deep bonds between humans and dogs. “You love your dog, physiologically, the same way as your…
Oct. 9, 2017
Forming a bond
Dr. Larry Young opens the second day of The Science of Love. | photo by Roger Meissen Larry Young explores chemicals behind monogamy in prairie voles, humans By Allison Scott Upon first glance, it wouldn’t seem that humans and small rodents have that much in common. However, Larry Young extensively studies the prairie vole because their desire to mate for life. “Prairie voles mate for life,” Young said. “That’s very unusual, in fact, only three to five percent of mammals do this.” This commonality between the small mammal and humans allows Young to relate…
Oct. 7, 2017
Balancing lust, romance and attachment
Dr. Helen Fisher opens the 13th annual LSSP symposium, The Science of Love, on Friday, Oct. 6. | photo by Allison Scott Helen Fisher delves into the relationships we choose and why in our digital age By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center We might not understand what drives us to establish and maintain romantic relationships, but Helen Fisher has made her living trying to figure it out. The romantic love expert spoke Friday, October 6, in Bond LSC about the neurological reasons behind why humans behave the way they do. “Romantic love…
Oct. 4, 2017
The future of lab technology
Ph.D. student Ke Gao and computer scientist Filiz Bunyak collaborate with researchers at the Bond Life Sciences Center. The pair helps advance high-throughput phenotyping by developing applications and algorithms for image analysis. | Photo by Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Computer scientists create applications to speed up research in the lab By Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Three years ago, Ke Gao stood uncomfortably beside rows of biomedical students and plant scientists at the Bond Life Sciences research fair. His poster wasn’t discussing the DNA of seeds or how plants transport nutrients but rather a scientific device.