Uncategorized
April 13, 2018
Biosafety Breakdown: Understanding the safety precautions taken by labs working with viruses
Graduate student Yuleum Song prepares cells for viral infection in the BL-2 hood. | Image by Jennifer Lu, Bond LSC By Madelyne Maag | Bond Life Sciences Center Viruses can be nasty things and scientists have to take precautions. You might think of researchers in floor-length lab coats, safety goggles, and plastic gloves or even the more extreme look of bulky, yellow hazmat suits similar to what Jim Hopper wear in Stranger Things. But, depending on the type of viruses being handled, these stereotypes aren’t quite the truth. For labs like that of Marc Johnson in Bond…
April 6, 2018
Garren Powell #IAmScience
Garren Powell is a freshman involved in research through the Freshman Research in Plant Sciences (FRIPS) program. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because research helps fulfill the curiosity I have for learning about the world around me.” By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center Some people spend their whole lives trying to figure out what they want to do. Garren Powell, however, has known that science was his route for as long as he can remember. “As a kid I was always the one doing my own little science experiments at…
March 30, 2018
Maddie Willis #IAmScience
Maddie Willis, a senior biochemistry major, works in the Burke Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center Setting a routine makes everything easier. However, changes to a set routine often leads to complications. For Maddie Willis, a senior biochemistry major, that change came in the form of working in different labs and learning their unique styles and areas of emphasis. She started in Lori Eggert’s lab freshman year and switched into Frank Schmidt’s lab for the next two years before changing labs a final…
March 23, 2018
At halfway mark, Mizzou scientists look to quench thirst for understanding drought’s impact on corn roots
Shannon King, a Ph.D. candidate in Biochemistry from the Peck Lab in Bond LSC, gives instructions as faculty and students prepare to harvest root samples for later experiments. | photo by MJ Rogers, Roots in Drought Project By Madelyne Maag | Bond Life Sciences Center If you’ve ever sat down on a beach, then there is a good chance that you’ve stretched your fingers into the sand, like a plant spreading its roots underground. By sinking deeper into the sand, your fingers are bound to encounter cool, damp sand, where water is more abundant and available to…
March 21, 2018
Laura Greeley #IAmScience
Laura Greeley, a postdoc, works in the Peck Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I’ve been able to build upon my experiences and explore science in a new, exciting way.” High school is a weird time for most people because everyone’s trying to figure out where they fit. Laura Greeley was ahead of her time, though. She uncovered important truths about her passions back then, and the postdoc in Scott Peck’s lab at Bond LSC hasn’t looked back since. “In high school,…
March 16, 2018
Tyler McCubbin #IAmScience
Tyler McCubbin, a Ph.D. candidate, collaborates with the Peck Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I am passionate about solving real world problems with creative solutions.” A lot of people get signs as a guide for the direction they’re supposed to take in life. Tyler McCubbin’s sign was more literal. “There was a giant billboard alongside a county road and it said ‘Pray for Rain,’ and it’s probably still there,” McCubbin said. “Seeing that at the height of the drought was inspiring.
March 9, 2018
Chris Zachary #IAmScience
Chris Zachary, a junior chemistry major, stands near his lab station in the Mendoza Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because the lessons I learn through research will help me to one day become an astronaut.” Asking kids what they want to be when they grow up usually leads to a variety of answers: doctor, lawyer, president, astronaut. A few years down the line, though, most of those answers change. Chris Zachary, a junior chemistry major, is the exception. He never outgrew…
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
Bond Life Sciences Center adds Molecular Interactions Core as a new research hub
Tom Quinn, director of the Molecular Interactions Core, and others demonstrate equipment for its Jan. 24 open house. | Photo by Katelyn Brown, Bond LSC By Katelyn Brown, Bond LSC For researchers, the shape of molecules gives insight into how cells, viruses and other macromolecular interactions take place. Getting a clear view of that structure is the hard part, and the new Molecular Interactions Core (MIC) at the Bond Life Sciences Center will now give researchers from many different disciplines one place where state-of-the-art equipment are available for them to use to further science. Dr. Kamal…
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…