University of Missouri

March 1, 2016

Unmasking the unknown

Scientists explore genetic similarities between plants and mice University of Missouri PhD Candidate Daniel L. Leuchtman peers through an Arabidopsis plant. Leuchtman has been experimenting with replacing a gene in the plants immune system with a similar gene from mice. | Photograph by Justin L. Stewart/MU Bond Life Sciences Center By Justin L. Stewart | MU Bond Life Sciences Center Almost two-thirds of what makes a human a human and a fly a fly are the same, according to the NIH genome research institute. If recent research at the University of Missouri’s Bond…

Jan. 26, 2016

Bond Life Sciences Center Scientists Named to Thomson Reuters’ 2015 List of Highly Cited Researchers

By Bobby Remis | MU Bond Life Sciences Center You can imagine it’s hard to distinguish yourself from the crowd when it comes to scientific papers. But, publishing quality work in a well-known journal adds value to the whole scientific world by assisting others and inspiring new science. Three Bond LSC researchers recently were recognized for doing just that. Bond Life Sciences Center scientists Chris Pires, Shuqun Zhang and Yidong Liu are among five University of Missouri System researchers named in the 2015 Thomson Reuters’ Highly Cited Researchers list. This list spotlights the top 1 percent of papers published from nearly…

Nov. 25, 2015

You shall not pass: the basic science of blocking HIV

  Marc Johnson, associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Bond Life Sciences Center, studies viruses such as HIV. | photo by Jennifer Lu, Bond LSC Nineteen colorful foam flowers decorate the walls of Marc Johnson’s office, a memento from his lab members when they “redecorated” while he was out of town. Each flower is labeled in bold Sharpie with the names of viruses and viral proteins that his lab studies—MLV, RSV, Gag, Pol, to name a few. One flower stands out, marked in capital letters: H-I-V. Johnson, an associate professor of molecular microbiology…

Nov. 3, 2015

Family genes

MU freshman follows in aunt’s footsteps while exploring career options Robert Schmidt poses with one of the cats that lives at Horton Animal Hospital, where he works part-time. Schmidt, a freshman studying biochemistry at the University of Missouri, is a member of the Discovery Fellows Program where he is learning about plant genetics by working with biologist Scott Peck in the Bond Life Sciences Center. Photo by Justin L. Stewart | MU Bond Life Sciences Center By Justin L. Stewart | MU Bond Life Sciences Center Sometimes it’s socks. Another time, it was a book cover.

Oct. 21, 2015

Putting down roots

Plant scientist Ruthie Angelovici joins the Bond Life Sciences Center By Jennifer Lu | MU Bond Life Sciences Center Ruthie Angelovici Ruthie Angelovici clearly remembers her big eureka moment in science thus far. It didn’t happen in a laboratory. It wasn’t even her experiment. At the time, Angelovici was in college studying marine biology. She had spent a year going on diving trips to figure out whether two visibly different corals were polymorphs of the same species, or two separate species. A simple DNA test told her the answer in one afternoon. “That’s the day I decided…

Oct. 20, 2015

Maze Runners

Female rats struggle to find their way in BPA study from MU and the NCTR/FDA Cheryl Rosenfeld is one of 12 researchers partnering with the NCTR/FDA to study BPA Despite concerns about bisphenol A (BPA), academic and regulatory scientists have yet to reach a consensus on BPA’s safety. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Toxicology Program (NTP), the Food and Drug Administration and independent university researchers are working together to change that. Five years after the Consortium Linking Academic and Regulatory Insights on BPA Toxicity, or CLARITY-BPA for short, launched, results are…

Oct. 8, 2015

Understanding spit

Scientists find how nematodes use key hormones to take over root cells Roger Meissen | MU Bond Life Sciences Center This Arabidopsis root shows how the beet cyst nematode activates cytokinin signaling in the syncytium 10 days after infection. The root fluoresces green when the TCSn gene associated with cytokinin activation is turned on because it is fused with a jellyfish protein that acts as a reporter signal. Contributed by Carola De La Torre This is a story about spit. Not just any spit, but the saliva of cyst nematodes, a parasite that literally sucks away billions in profits from…

Oct. 8, 2015

Understanding spit

Scientists find how nematodes use key hormones to take over root cells Roger Meissen | Bond Life Sciences Center This Arabidopsis root shows how the beet cyst nematode activates cytokinin signaling in the syncytium 10 days after infection. The root fluoresces green when the TCSn gene associated with cytokinin activation is turned on because it is fused with a jellyfish protein that acts as a reporter signal. (N=nematode; S=Syncytium). Contributed by Carola De La Torre This is a story about spit. Not just any spit, but the saliva of cyst nematodes, a parasite that literally sucks…

Sep. 25, 2015

Proteins limit HIV-1 infection

Cells that expressed IFITM proteins (bottom row), showed much less spread of HIV-1 compared with cells lacking the protein. | courtesy Jordan Wilkins, Liu Lab By Jennifer Lu | MU Bond Life Sciences Center For Shan-Lu Liu, thinking outside the box meant putting an antiviral protein inside HIV-infected cells, rather than into healthy ones. Liu and his team of researchers studied how interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) proteins limit the infection of HIV-1, the primary strain of virus responsible for AIDS. The journal Cell Reports published their results on September 17. IFITM proteins are biomolecules…

Sep. 24, 2015

Proteins limit HIV-1 infection

Cells that expressed IFITM proteins (bottom row), showed much less spread of HIV-1 compared with cells lacking the protein. | courtesy Jordan Wilkins, Liu Lab By Jennifer Lu | MU Bond Life Sciences Center For Shan-Lu Liu, thinking outside the box meant putting an antiviral protein inside HIV-infected cells, rather than into healthy ones. Liu and his team of researchers studied how interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) proteins limit the infection of HIV-1, the primary strain of virus responsible for AIDS. The journal Cell Reports published their results on September 17. IFITM…

Aug. 19, 2015

The CRISPR Revolution at MU

By Caleb O’Brien | MU Bond Life Sciences Center   James Amos-Landgraf, assistant professor of comparative medicine and genetics at the University of Missouri, is helping develop a pig model for colon cancer using CRISPR. //photo by CALEB O’BRIEN/Bond LSC James Amos-Landgraf needed a pig. The assistant professor of comparative medicine and genetics at the University of Missouri had joined forces with a startup company developing a tool to detect early colon cancer-causing lesions. They already tried out a rat-sized model, but still needed a full-sized prototype. Scientists in Europe had an ideal pig model for…

July 17, 2015

Bridging the gap between science and art

By Caleb O’Brien | MU Bond Life Sciences Center Tommy Langdon waits for a bee to land on a flower. // photo by CALEB O’BRIEN/BondLSC Emily Fulcher came face-to-face with science while dissecting a hackberry gall: “Ewww,” she exclaimed, “it’s peeking out a little bit!” Fulcher and 12 other high school students were observing plant galls as part of a Summers @ Mizzou camp exploring “The Arts as a Portal to Science Communication.” The camp, which ran Sunday through Thursday afternoon, was facilitated by three interdisciplinary scholars and artists adept at bringing together science and the arts:…