Biology
Unlocking the chemical secrets of microbial conversations
Dr Matt Traxler of the University of California, Berkeley, is changing the way we study microbes. Gone are the days of thinking about a single species in a pure culture in the lab – Traxler and his team of graduate students and postdocs are developing a version of mass spectrometry which promises to allow single microbial cells, and their interactions […]
Florida’s Archbold Biological Station gives online access to unusual natural history collection
The Archbold Biological Station, a world-renowned ecological field station based in Florida, USA, is uploading its natural history collection onto the Internet for the first time. The diverse collection, containing 270,000 specimens of more than 10,000 species will provide researchers and students around the world, with access to this rich source of ecological data. This highly collaborative project, which involves […]
A sustainable approach to environmental management
Ten faculty members from the University of South Dakota and eleven undergraduate students from across the United States including Puerto Rico, came together through the Sustainable RIVER (Remediating InVasives to Encourage Resilience) program to study how a complex suite of historical and contemporary factors affect the current functioning and management of the Upper Missouri River. Most of society’s grand challenges […]
From beer to brains: how yeast molecular genetics prove the importance of introns
Scientific discoveries often come from the most unlikely of places, and Dr Tracy Johnson’s work is no exception. Using a yeast system typically used to make beer or bread, Dr Johnson and her team at UCLA have uncovered important genetic findings that could highlight the importance of intron retention during gene expression. Her research looks at the science of gene […]
Communicating the language of plants through inositol phosphates
Organisms require a variety of signalling pathways to communicate with and respond to their environment. Components such as signalling molecules function as the communicators of cellular language. Dr Imara Perera and her colleagues are investigating one group of signalling molecules, inositol phosphates and their derivatives, to understand its role in plant communication. All organisms interact with and respond to their […]
Development of immunity in basal metazoans
Dr Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty from Florida International University (FIU), is currently conducting research that focuses on immunological priming in corals and anemones, a process by which an animal can resist pathogens through repeated, non-lethal exposure. As corals are at risk due to climate change, this is an important project to help further our understanding of their immunology. The project also includes […]
Crossing kingdoms between plants, fungi and bacteria
Professor Teresa Pawlowska and her team from the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University have performed an in-depth study on the evolutionary genomics of the recently discovered mycoplasma-related endobacteria (MRE). They are currently in the process of investigating the complex interrelationship between these endobacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and their host – terrestrial plants. This is one of […]
Building interdisciplinary bridges to study intercellular bridges
Dr Amy Shaub Maddox from the University of North Carolina is leading a diverse team of researchers to uncover the properties of intercellular bridges within multinucleated cells. Known as syncytia, cells with interconnected nuclei can be found in model organisms such as Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans as well as more complex organisms, including humans. Dr Maddox has also placed significant […]
Peatlands’ past suggests fast-changing future
Minimising and mitigating the effects of global climate change rely on accurate predictions of future climate, vegetation changes, and feedbacks between the Earth and its atmosphere. Prof Sara Hotchkiss, of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and Prof Robert Booth, of Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, have investigated the effects of climate change on an overlooked landscape, the kettle hole ecosystems of […]
Synthetic cells have senses too
What defines a living cell? How to capture the molecular essence of life? These fundamental questions underpin the collaborative research programme led by Prof Allen Liu at the University of Michigan and Prof Vincent Noireaux at the University of Minnesota. The pair uses molecular components to construct prototypes of synthetic cells displaying the minimal characteristics of life. Their ‘cell analogs’ […]