Mary Williams

I studied Biochemistry at Berkeley (BA), Plant Molecular Biology at Rockefeller (PhD), did a postdoc at Berkeley with Ian Sussex, and then spent 14 years as a Biology professor at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. In 2009 I started working at the American Society of Plant Biologists as Features Editor of the journal Plant Cell and the developer of Teaching Tools in Plant Biology. My passion lies in making it a little bit easier for students of all ages to understand plants and plant science research. I live in Glasgow, Scotland, with my family and our much adored dog.

Recognizing pathogens, and recognizing errors

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This week’s Research in Focus article has two take-home messages. The first is about how an important plant pathogen is recognized by its host: specifically, the role of a newly-identified tyrosine-sulfated bacterial protein. The second is about the process of science and the foundation of trust on which it rests: specifically, how to proceed when … Read more

How to Be an Ally to Professional Communicators: Working with Journalists

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By Dana D’Amico In my last post, I introduced a few ways that the plant science community might look to storytelling and literature for outreach. Here, I’ll present some practical tips for working with science writers, as corroborated by working journalists at the Plant Biology 2015 “Standing Up For Science” workshop in Minneapolis (and for … Read more

New feature, “Plants in the News”

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We’re starting a new weekly feature, “Plants in the News”. This feature is inspired by the This Week in Chemistry series published by Compound Interest (Andy Brunning). The goal is to support teaching and outreach by highlighting a few current news stories that feature plants and plant science. If you have a timely suggestion for … Read more

Identification of inositol pyrophosphates and their functions in plants

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Inositol phosphates are a family of small molecules in which one to eight phosphates are attached to an inositol ring. The number and positions of phosphates determine the molecules’ properties, which range from phosphate storage to vesicle trafficking, energy signaling and metabolism. Inositol hexakisphosphate (InsP6, also known as phytate) has a phosphate group attached to … Read more

Telling Science Through Story

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By Dana D’Amico I’ll begin my first post by introducing what it is that I do. Like most of you, I’m a trained plant biologist and an ASPB follower. But I’m also a writer. Throughout my career I have studied technical and journalistic writing, both as ways of increasing public interest in and awareness of … Read more