Research
May 13, 2020
The Little Robot That Can
The imaging system helps collect data on the growth of plants. | photo contributed by Samuel McInturf. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC In a corner of the David Mendoza lab, a small machine runs back and forth across a track, taking pictures continuously of plants grown in clear square plates. This machine not only saves time during data collection but also helps the lab track the growth of plants in real time. After almost five years of development, the Mendoza lab has reached the final stretch in their robotic endeavors. Now, they’re putting finishing…
April 30, 2020
Treating COVID-19: Bond LSC lab explores effectiveness of remdesivir and other potential drugs
By Jerry Duggan | Bond LSC As countries hang their hopes on the drug remdesivir for battling COVID-19, recent modeling and computer-aided drug evaluation at the University of Missouri caution to keep an open mind to other drug treatments. Kamlendra Singh at MU’s Bond Life Sciences Center assessed remdesivir and several other drugs for long-term success in treating coronavirus causing the pandemic across the world. His results were published April 26 in the journal Pathogens. “Remdesivir is working against COVID-19, but these other drugs are in no way inferior to it,”…
April 29, 2020
The Lab in Time of COVID-19
The main halls of Bond LSC are empty due to researchers being told to work from home. | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC On an average day, you can find post doctorate Norman Best surrounded by corn in the greenhouse or at his bench in the McSteen lab doing molecular work. However, since Columbia and state leaders issued a stay-at-home order on March 25 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this means Bond LSC is mostly empty and researchers like Best are at home writing. “It’s definitely…
April 29, 2020
Influenza & COVID-19 Research: A Campus-wide Effort
Henry Wan | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Becca Wolf | Bond LSC With shelter in place orders being extended throughout the country and events being canceled, COVID-19 is a pressing issue, and influenza researchers at MU have been pivoting recently to begin studying the virus. Henry Wan, an influenza researcher and Bond LSC principal investigator, is planning on expanding his work to start looking at COVID-19 along with a team of epidemiologists, anthropologists, engineers, and more at MU. While influenza and COVID-19 are not the same virus, both are infectious respiratory…
April 27, 2020
Making sense of junk
Mary Butler, an undergraduate from Truman State University, gains experience working on experiments in the lab of Bond LSC’s Cheryl Rosenfeld. | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox How did an undergraduate student from Truman State University spend last summer working on a research project with a Bond Life Sciences Center primary investigator and become on track to be published as first author several months thereafter? A nationwide National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored program has allowed Mary Butler to jump-start her research career early on. Butler, a sophomore biochemistry…
April 22, 2020
Boron: Exposed
Figure B is a colorized radiographic image that shows the path of boron in a five-day-old maize seedling. | photo contributed by Alexandra Housh, Michaela Matthes, Amber Gerheart, Stacy Wilder, Kun-Eek Kil, Michael Schueller, James Guthrie, Paula McSteen, and Richard Ferrieri. By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC The element Boron, while extremely low in levels, leaves a trail of green and blue radioactive decay as it travels through the veins of plants. Due to radiotracer technology, this picture of the element’s movement provides this unique insight to what’s going on inside the leaves, stems and roots of…
April 20, 2020
New Genome Sequencing Instrument Pays Dividends at DNA Core
Nathan Bivens and Wes Warren. | Photos by Mariah Cox & Erica Overfelt, Bond LSC By Jerry Duggan | Bond LSC Behind any breakthrough in science lies a research process full of precise methods and instrumentation essential to moving from hypothesis to discovery. Some of those genetic breakthroughs just became more possible on UM System campuses, thanks to a new, more efficient genome sequencing instrument at MU’s DNA Core. The NovaSeq instrument was first put to use in December, purchased with funds from an UM System tier 1 grant meant to benefit…
April 16, 2020
Dong Xu receives national honor
Dong Xu, Bond LSC principal investigator and Shumaker Endowed Professor in the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering. | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC A Bond Life Sciences Center researcher has been inducted into an elite organization comprised of two percent of all medical and biological engineers. The American Institution for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) this week announced the induction of Dong Xu, a Bond LSC principal investigator and Shumaker Endowed Professor in the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering. “Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to…
Feb. 12, 2020
Another Piece of the Pi: Tech gives research automation edge
This Raspberry Pi device developed by former MU undergrad Brandin Grindstaff allowed members of the Chris Pires lab to remotely monitor their plants. | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC What does an iconic American dessert have in common with a credit-card-sized single-board computer? Well, only its name. Small but mighty, the Raspberry Pi can be programmed for use in multiple settings and has been increasingly used for tasks in research labs. But it took a scientific conference in Europe for one Bond LSC lab to…
Jan. 27, 2020
The taming of the brain
Russian silver foxes that have been tamed show changes in their brains. | photo provided by Anna Kukekova Bond LSC scientist delves into how domestication alters the fox brain By Roger Meissen | Bond Life Sciences Center You might be familiar with the idiom “don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” but when it comes to a certain lineage of tame Russian silver foxes it’s quite literal. After more than 50 generations of breeding, these tame foxes likely offer insight into how selective breeding leads to domestication, and scientists dove deeper to look at what…
Nov. 15, 2019
#IAmScience Clayton Kranawetter
By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Taking things apart to figure out how they function was a huge part of Clayton Kranawetter’s childhood. From dismantling his parents’ old computer to disassembling a baseball pitching machine, he’s always been curious about the way things work. Kranawetter always looked for old machines or items that weren’t being used anymore to take apart and analyze. The comical part is that he never put them back together. Throughout his life, Kranawetter has carried a sense of curiosity about him that has led him to learn new hobbies or languages…
Oct. 16, 2019
Homegrown researcher
Years at MU lands student turned faculty tenure-track position Maggie Lange-Osborn is a newly appointed assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. | Photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Where can passion, hard work and more than a decade worth of experience get you? They landed Maggie Lange-Osborn her own research lab on the University of Missouri campus. Lange is starting down that path in Bond Life Sciences Center but will move to a permanent space in either the Medical Science Building or Schweitzer Hall eventually. She’s excited to…