#MizzouResearch
March 1, 2018
Sarah Gebkin #IAmScience
Sarah Gebken, a junior biological engineering major, works in the Pires Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I bring a unique perspective to the world of research.” They say only an engineer could figure out their way around the engineering building at Mizzou. Now in her junior year, Sarah Gebken boasts the ability to do just that. Her unique perspective as a biological engineering major translates to her work in Chris Pires’ lab in Bond LSC, too. As both an engineer and…
March 1, 2018
Piecing together plant immunity
Scott Peck studies Arabidopsis and how bacteria perceive it before initiating an infection. Roger Meissen/ Bond LSC By Madelyne Maag | Bond Life Sciences Center Bacteria and disease show no mercy to any organism they can effectively attack, including plants. Yet, plants can also develop an immune response against these threats from their complex genetic makeup. Scott Peck’s research delves into how plants do this and how bacteria evade those defenses. Over the course of the last decade, the Bond Life Sciences Center investigator and professor of biochemistry has specifically looked into how plants are able to…
Feb. 23, 2018
Duolin Wang #IAmScience
Duolin Wang, a researcher in the Dong Xu lab in Bond LSC, works in bioinformatics. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I want to explore the beauty of biological sequences through computational methods.” Bioinformatics is a melting pot in the world of science. As a study of analyzing complex data, it’s not a field for everyone, but its applications are vast. Duolin Wang, a researcher in the Dong Xu Lab at Bond LSC, isn’t intimidated by the complexities her field presents. She came to America…
Feb. 16, 2018
Eric Fedosejevs #IAmScience
Eric Fedosejevs, a postdoc, stands in front of his lab station in the Thelen Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I want to discover how plants decide what to store in their seeds.” The family garden doesn’t typically turn into a life-long journey of studying plants. But when Eric Fedosejevs went to college, the native Canadian found that plants naturally made sense when deciding what to do with his life. “Growing up, we always had a big garden with a lot of vegetables,” Fedosejevs said. “And with the…
Feb. 9, 2018
Patrick Nittler #IAmScience
Patrick Nittler, a Ph.D candidate in molecular plant biology at MU, stands near his lab station in the Liscum Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I push through failures knowing that eventually something will work out.” Breaking things apart and putting them back together has been engrained in Patrick Nittler’s life for as long as he can remember. Growing up, Nittler served as his dad’s sidekick as he salvaged parts of a broken computer to boost performance in their new one. Moments like those were bonding experiences that…
Feb. 2, 2018
Rohit Rao #IAmScience
Rohit Rao, a junior biology and psychology double major, works in the Sarafianos Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I get to apply knowledge from the classroom to my research.” There are a number of ways to get involved in research, but tennis probably doesn’t come to mind. Rohit Rao was practicing his serve alongside Kamal Singh in 2015 when the two began talking about science. The junior biology and psychology double major expressed his interest in working in research, and Singh offered for him to join…
Jan. 26, 2018
Ashten Kimble #IAmScience
Ashten Kimble works in Walter Gassmann’s lab in Bond LSC studying plant pathogens. | Photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I am constantly learning and questioning. We try to understand life in order to improve it, but every answer brings on new questions and new areas to advance.” If you walked into Ashten Kimble’s apartment, you’d notice immediately that it’s filled with plants. While some plant biologists refrain from caring for plants on their days off, the graduate student embraces being surrounded by life. As a part of Walter Gassmann’s Lab in Bond…
Jan. 12, 2018
Carson Broeker #IAmScience
Carson Broeker, a biochemistry junior at MU, works in the Angelovici lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because learning and chasing my innate curiosity about the living world with them makes me excited to work in lab each day.” Science can be about serendipity that leads to better discoveries and opportunities that researchers don’t expect. Carson Broeker knows this all too well. “I wasn’t always interested in research,” said Broeker, a junior biochemistry major. “I took the three science classes my high…
Jan. 5, 2018
Suman Gurung #IAmScience
Suman Gurung, a Developmental Neurology Ph.D candidate, stands in front of the zebra fish he studies. Gurung works in the Chandrasekhar lab at Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center #IAmScience “because it allows me to get involved in our quest to understand how the brain develops.” The smallest discoveries often yield the greatest rewards when it comes to science. Suman Gurung, a Ph.D. candidate in the Division of Biological Sciences, is well aware of that. Gurung works to uncover those small discoveries through the movement of…
Dec. 29, 2017
Madison Ortega #IAmScience
Madison Ortega, a junior biology major, works in the Rosenfeld lab at Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because research gives me an avenue to explore my curiosity and possibly discover something groundbreaking.” Research is all about discovering the answers to the unknown, pushing boundaries and exploring the depths of the field. As a junior biology major, Madison Ortega is already getting a taste of that. Her freshman year, Ortega got a brochure for the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity program (IMSD). This program encourages…
Dec. 15, 2017
Janlo Robil #IAmScience
Janlo Robil, a Ph.D. candidate in Plant Developmental Genetics, admires one of his plants. Robil works in the McSteen lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because adding a small puzzle piece to the bigger picture is my source of joy.” Janlo Robil found himself with a difficult decision when he entered a master’s program at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. His passion for insects made him want to pursue entomology, but the lack of coursework in the area made him consider…
Dec. 8, 2017
Madeline McFarland #IAmScience
Madeline McFarland, a senior biochemistry major, works in the Burke Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC Science isn’t limited to the lab. It’s more of a mindset than a discipline, and Madeline McFarland knows this all too well. As a senior biochemistry major working in Donald Burke’s lab in Bond LSC, McFarland experiments with ribonucleic acid (RNA) to study the origin of life before DNA and protein served as genetic material and catalyst, respectively. “I’m interested in the RNA World Hypothesis and how RNA may have played a role in getting…