Research
Aug. 5, 2021
Two SARS-CoV-2 strains cause independent infections only 19 days apart
Increasing detection of reinfections and rediscovering brand new infections within days raises concerns for herd immunity and the durability of vaccine efficacy. Cynthia Tang working to figure out how COVID-19 reinfections can bring us answers on how the virus is developing at Bond LSC. | photo by Davis Suppes, Bond LSC By Davis Suppes | Bond LSC Like many viruses, SARS-CoV-2 continues to develop and evolve with time. As the virus evolves it can become more infectious, produce worse symptoms, and have a higher fatality rate. While people receive more treatment for…
July 23, 2021
Bringing Protection Back in Line
Research refines platform to address immune disorders Dr. Esma Yolcu and Dr. Haval Shirwan, Co-pioneers of ProtEx technology By Davis Suppes | Bond LSC The things that protect you can also cause the most harm. That’s especially true when it comes to your immune system, which protects you against infections, but is also responsible for a host of diseases, including autoimmune disorders, such as type 1 diabetes. More than 1.4 million Americans suffer from the self-harming condition of diabetes without an effective cure, but researchers Haval Shirwan and Esma Yolcu may have the…
June 24, 2021
#IAmScience Lyndon Coghill
Lyndon Coghill is the new Director of Informatics Research Core, and he is already making big moves at Mizzou. Lyndon Coghill, Director of Informatics Research Core, stands near his office on June 22 at Bond LSC. | photo by Davis Suppes, Bond LSC By Davis Suppes | Bond LSC Lyndon Coghill’s official title may be Director of Informatics for the Informatics Research Core, but his job branches out much wider than just a single label. Even as an undergrad, Coghill wore many different hats. “I was incredibly excited about the way that the MU Office of…
June 22, 2021
A feral past may help chart the future for Brassica vegetables
Although Brassica cretica doesn’t look much like cabbage, broccoli or kohlrabi, the wild relative is the closest relation to our modern vegetables and its endurance might show us how to make our vegetable crops more resilient in the future. | Illustration courtesy of Andi Kur By Roger Meissen | Bond LSC You might not envision plant scientists as the modern-day Indiana Jones of biology, but University of Missouri researchers have been hot on the hunt for an evolutionary history, looking for clues to the ancestors of our gardens and grocery shelves. To find the closest wild…
May 25, 2021
New observation from Stacey lab could help advance plant engineering
Large amounts of the Arabidopsis plant are grown at Bond Life Sciences Center for multiple labs to experiment with and use. | photo by Mariah Cox, Bond LSC By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC Think about how a home alarm system alerts a person to a potential burglary with sensors detecting whether an intruder picked a lock, came through a window or came through a garage. Plants are much like this, surviving with the help of their thousands of sensors that can send danger signals to the whole plant so it can react effectively. “Plants have to…
May 12, 2021
Beyond counting: computer science partnership helps speed up plant science experiments
Janlo Robil, graduate student in the Paula McSteen lab, came up with the GrasVIQ project after he finished a project that required him to count hundreds of plant leaf veins. | photo by Lauren Hines, Bond LSC By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC It’s not surprising that researchers feel discouraged when pursuing projects that involve plant leaf vein density analysis. Manually counting individual leaf veins and measuring their density to understand how nutrients are transported in plants can take weeks of tedious work. That’s how Janlo Robil was feeling when he was working on a maize…
April 21, 2021
Diller Costello Awarded Highly Competitive NIH Fellowship
By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC Alexandra Diller Costello, a biology graduate student in the D Cornelison lab in Bond Life Sciences Center, recently received a three-year NIH fellowship from the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute. It provides Diller Costello with funding to pursue her work on muscle and blood vessel regeneration for three years. The fellowship comes as a result of her proposal titled, “Signaling in the Microvasculature During Skeletal Muscle Regeneration.” Diller Costello’s research focuses on the coordination between muscles and blood vessels during muscle regeneration in adult mice. Diller Costello…
April 7, 2021
Defense or growth: a complicated balance
The figure shows the wild type of the plant to the left. The mutant type to the far right shows when the negative regulator SRFR1 and the TOPLESS gene TPR2 are absent in a plant, the immune system intensifies and the plant stops growing. | Photo contributed by Walter Gassmann, Bond LSC. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC The plant immune system isn’t active all the time. Plants must decide to either defend against disease or grow, but not simultaneously. The reason behind this process is not fully understood, and the Walter Gassmann lab at…
March 2, 2021
Genetic link in primate points to source of adaption and longevity in capuchins
As part of an international collaboration, principal investigator Wes Warren helped study capuchins in Costa Rica. | Photo contributed by Amanda D Melin, Bond LSC. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC Through monkey poop and three years of work researchers from all over the world sequenced the Panamanian white-faced capuchin genome for the first time and devised novel methods to sequence many more wild capuchin genomes. These monkeys have large brains for their small size and can live past 50. Wes Warren — Bond Life Sciences Center principal investigator — helped sequence the genome to find…
Feb. 16, 2021
From Sample to Source
Metabolite screening looks to better understand cancer Research scientist Rajarshi Ghosh in the Lloyd W. Sumner lab loads samples into the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MNR) spectrometer for analysis. | Photo by Lauren Hines, Bond LSC. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC Doctors take blood or urine samples to see what’s going on in the body of a patient, and that’s not all that different from what metabolomics scientists do when looking at metabolites. “[The doctor] may profile 20 or 30 compounds to try to understand what’s going on with your physical health and well-being,” said Lloyd…
Jan. 26, 2021
Bond LSC Researchers Named Most Highly Cited for 2020
Bond Life Sciences Center principal investigators Bing Yang (left) and Ron Mittler (right) are pictured above. | photos by Erica Overfelt, Bond LSC. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC Building onto previous knowledge is a pillar of the scientific process, and citations in research do just that. This makes recognition of Bond Life Sciences Center principal investigators Ron Mittler and Bing Yang, as well as Mizzou biochemistry professor Shuqun Zhang in the Highly Cited Researchers list for 2020, an important acknowledgment. “I’m glad to have this, and this is the second year…
Jan. 4, 2021
The Group Approach
Cell sheet development promises better treatment for destroyed tissue After 30 minutes on ice, a cell sheet begins to materialize in the fluid. | photo by Lauren Hines, Bond LSC. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC Imagine a sticker a few centimeters wide and as thin as a strand of human hair except made of cells. For medicine, this sticker — called a cell sheet — can regenerate tissue damaged by chemotherapy radiation wherever it’s placed. Kihoon Nam uses cell sheet technology to help head and neck cancer patients who have lost the ability to produce…