Uncategorized
Sep. 20, 2019
#IAmScience Kimberly Jasmer
By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC #IAmScience because I get to spend the rest of my career being curious and creative, answering challenging questions, and making my small contribution to our collective body of knowledge. What does competitive swimming and cancer research have in common? For Kimberly Jasmer, the intense world of competitive swimming has guided her towards obtaining her Ph.D. and studying cancer at the University of Missouri. Learning to swim was imperative for a girl growing up on the coast in North Bend, Oregon, and she fell in love with the water. That…
Sep. 19, 2019
Strong Jaws and Sharp Teeth: Piranha research suggests evolutionary adaptations
Red-bellied Piranha. | Photo by Thomas Hawk By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Hollywood cinema stereotypes leave us with a false vision of voracious piranhas that swim in packs and readily attack beachgoers with their sharp teeth and strong jaws. This simply isn’t true, but their feeding habits are of particular interest to researchers because they can endure long periods of prey shortages and starvation, and scientists are starting to look at the genes behind that advantage. Bond Life Science Center primary investigator Wes Warren brought…
Sep. 12, 2019
#IAmScience Liz Countee
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC #IAmScience because science allows people to find their own creativity through the art of research. Every Friday afternoon, the Pires lab can be found in the greenhouse washing pots and cleaning up, and while this could easily be seen as a mundane part of the week, Liz Countee sees it as an opportunity to joke around and enjoy the company of her awesome team. “I love being surrounded by so many other people that are extremely intelligent and passionate,” she said. “It’s such a great group of people and it’s…
Sep. 5, 2019
Post-doc receives prestigious Spanish plant science award
Sara Zandalinas is a post-doc researcher in Ron Mittler’s lab | Photo by Mariah Cox, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC International flights usually require months of planning to score the best deals and to ensure minimal layovers, so Sara Izquierdo Zandalinas, a post-doc in the Ron Mittler lab, was faced with a challenge as she flew to Spain twice within a month’s span this summer. But the reason for those flights was a pleasant surprise. Zandalinas recently received the 2019 Sabater award given every two years at the Meeting of the Spanish Society of…
Sep. 4, 2019
University grant brings faster, cheaper genome sequencing
Nathan Bivens, Director of the DNA Core, and Wesley Warren, Bond LSC primary investigator. | Photos by Mariah Cox & Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC The discoveries from research capture the public’s and other scientist’s attention, but what about the tools, instruments and data management systems that provide more efficient means of getting there? A new genome sequencing instrument is on its way to the Bond Life Sciences Center thanks to a Tier 1 grant from the UM system’s mission to enhance the ‘well-being for Missouri, the nation and the…
Aug. 29, 2019
#IAmScience Carolyn Robinson
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC When Carolyn Robinson was a kid, she was fascinated by the world around her. She remembers putting scabs under magnifying glasses and squishing bugs to try and understand the oddities of the world. “Science continuously blows my mind,” Robinson said. “There’s always something where you almost don’t believe it at first, and there is so much we still don’t know, even about something as simple as a virus.” As a now 3rd-year graduate student working on her Ph.D. in molecular pathogenesis and therapeutics…
Aug. 22, 2019
#IAmScience Henry Wan
Henry Wan | Photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Every year we all tend to pay a visit to the doctor to get ahead of cold and flu season. Nothing could be worse than being in the midst of a hectic time at work or school and being out of commission. Many don’t think twice about the annual flu shot, it just becomes a part of their autumnal routine. But for Henry Wan, a new primary investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, a significant portion of his life revolves around understanding…
May 16, 2019
A program that pushes science forward
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC It’s the little things we take for granted, and for science experiments, one of those are enzymes. French chemist Anselme Payen discovered the first enzyme, diastase, in 1833, but it wasn’t until 1877 that the word enzyme was used. While it’s a compact name, it’s really a category of proteins produced by living organisms that speed up chemical reactions regardless of whether it’s in the body or the test tube. The way these proteins are folded make their chemical interaction very specific, but when they bind with the right molecules,…
May 16, 2019
Three years in a lab
As Rosenfeld’s students graduate, awards and future plans celebrate excellence Brittney Marshall, a graduating Biological Sciences major, and mentor Cheryl Rosenfeld. Marshall has done undergraduate research in Rosenfeld’s lab for three years. | photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox | Bond LSC Brittney Marshall, a soon-to-be-graduating senior from MU’s College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in biological sciences, received one of 15 University of Missouri Awards for Academic Distinction as well as the 2019 Outstanding Senior in Biological Sciences Award. Marshall started research three years ago in Bond Life Science Center as a…
April 27, 2019
#IAmScience Chris Pires
By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC Through Chris Pires’ eyes, science isn’t an unconnected ideology in which scientists hold the proper way of understanding the world, it is an answer-seeking process in which humans strive to understand existence and the things around and within it. “I don’t think science is a thing, it’s a way of thinking” Pires said. “I like to think I live the life of the mind.” As a kid in a rural northern California town, he dreamt of exploring the universe and alien landscapes, but enthusiastically settled for the unobserved below the…
April 25, 2019
DNA Day
A time to celebrate the thing that makes us who we are By Danielle Pycior | Bond LSC In 1865, after a decade long search into patterns of inheritance, Gregor Mendel discovered how individuals receive traits from their parents. Through working with pea plants, he found that genes come in pairs and are inherited as distinct units. He tracked those genes through dominant and recessive traits. Like many vital scientists throughout history, Mendel wasn’t appreciated in his own time due to his unpopular ideas. Now seen as the “father of genetics,” Mendel is recognized as the scientist…
April 24, 2019
Let’s Talk About Fake News
The Science, Health and Environmental Journalism club at MU hosted a fake news panel on April 3. | photo by Mariah Cox, Bond LSC By Mariah Cox What do CBD, climate change, flat earthers, and anti-vaxxers have in common? All are prevalent in the propagation of ‘fake news’ in science. Truthful and accurate reporting is crucial in the field of journalism to create a well-informed society. You may have heard the term ‘fake news’ a time or two, but what does fake news really mean, what does it look like and how does it arise? “It’s…