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Bond Life Sciences principal investigator, Laxman Gangwani. | Photo by Josie Heimsoth, Bond LSC By Josie Heimsoth | Bond LSC Laxman Gangwani had a choice to make in January of last year. His old friend, Chris Lorson had an opportunity at MU that was difficult to pass up. Gangwani and Lorson, principal investigator at Bond…
By Sarah Kiefer Whether it’s on the tennis court or in the lab, Kristyn Conrad keeps a firm grip on her plans for the future. One way she maintains her goal-oriented mindset is in the lab doing cancer research. “This type of work makes me feel amazing. I don’t know how else to describe it,…
By Sarah Kiefer | Bond LSC With a few clicks and taps on a cellphone, the timeline of a seedling of corn is preserved forever. Dario Alavez Mercado is responsible for this simple yet effective method of recording the growth of corn from seedling to maturity. “I know that only by understanding the things that…
By Sarah Kiefer | Bond LSC It may have taken almost three years, but Shin-Ichiro Agake made it back to the Prof. Gary Stacey lab. The Japanese native had his study abroad cut short in 2020, sending him packing, and a lot happened in that time. He got married, has a five-month-old baby, earned…
By Josie Heimsoth and Cara Penquite | Bond LSC David Mendoza unflinchingly faces the “black box” of plant science everyday, asking the question, ‘how do plants know if they don’t have enough nutrients?’ Mendoza’s study of micronutrients — elements vital to plant health and energy but only present in small quantities — led him to…
By Sarah Kiefer | Bond LSC When cold and dry air collide in a battle of wind and debris, a tornado begins to form. This process got Leah Whitley into the field of science, intrigued with how things materialize in the world. “I’ve always had a fascination with how things build up, and how everything…
Bond Life Sciences principal investigators Bing Yang (left) and Ron Mittler (right) are recognized for making the Highly Cited Research List by Clarivate. | Photos by Erica Overfelt, Bond LSC. By Josie Heimsoth | Bond LSC Science builds on the work of all those experiments that come before, so it’s no surprise that being frequently…
By Sarah Kiefer | Bond LSC With each fresh streak of transformed E. coli cells growing in a Petri dish, Adam Shoemaker finds a bigger purpose in the lab work he is doing every day. “I’ve always had the philosophy that I want to have the world be a better place when I’m gone because…
By Sarah Kiefer | Bond LSC Roberto Nascimento believes a personal touch led him to where he is today. Nascimento found it essential to reach out via email to the programs where he might land, which is something many of his peers questioned. But, Nascimento saw it very clearly. “If you don’t try, you already…
By Sarah Kiefer | Bond LSC Barbara Sumner grew up in Houston, Texas, and discovered her enthusiasm for chemistry in high school, captivated by how chemical processes can explain how things work in our everyday lives. “It was a subject that I just really loved,” Sumner stated. Sumner originally pursued chemical engineering in college, which…
