The Ethylene Receptor of a Cyanobacterium

This Research in Focus is written by science writer Peter Minorsky (ASPB and Mercy College) who writes the monthly On the Inside column for Plant Physiology. This summary describes a paper by Lacey and Binder, to be published in the  July 2016 issue. The authors examine a putative ethylene receptor in cyanobacteria; this protein had … Read more

Teaching Tools in Plant Biology articles and resources available on Plantae

Did you know that you can now access the Teaching Tools in Plant Biology articles on Plantae? Teaching Tools in Plant Biology is a popular feature of The Plant Cell, but it’s also a little different than the usual Plant Cell content. Because of the way it is hosted on the journal website, it sometimes … Read more

May the alleles be ever in your favor

I could already sense the festivity in the air when I arrived at the Maker’s Faire in downtown Shreveport early on a Saturday morning. I scanned the rows of vendors and food trucks as I looked for my target – the booth for Sciport: Louisiana’s Discovery Center. With help from the center and my mentor, … Read more

An innate immunity pathway in moss

Arabidopsis thaliana has been an excellent model for the dissection of molecular plant-microbe interactions, including responses to pathogens. Studies in Arabidopsis have identified core components of signaling pathways involved in sensing and responding to pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which including chitin (a structural carbohydrate of fungal cell walls) and flagellin (an abundant bacterial protein). … Read more

Competition and pre-proposal solicitation – Teaching Tools in Plant Biology

Have you got a passion for plant science that you are eager to share? Do you have a favorite paper, experiment, topic, or method that you like to share with undergraduates? Have you found a clever way to engage students and stimulate their curiosity? We want to hear your ideas for new content for The … Read more

Getting the most out of RNA-seq data with expVIP (Expression Visualization and Integration Platform)

Transcriptomic data reveal how an organism or tissue expresses its genes (through transcription into mRNA) at any moment in time, and these data are extremely valuable when trying to describe plant growth, development and environmental response. For example, roots can be starved for the nutrient phosphate and the time course and pattern of gene expression … Read more

Fascination of Plants Day 2016 — Seeds grown on Earth and in space!

Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD) is celebrated around the world on May 18th.  Although this worldwide event runs every other year and the next one is planned for 2017, smaller and local events were encouraged per individual and local interest on 2016. What a better way to celebrate FoPD than learning about the awesomeness of … Read more

SURF’s Up! 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows

The ASPB SURF program funds undergraduate students to conduct 10 consecutive weeks of plant biology research with a mentor during the early part of their college career.  This year’s SURF recipients will present their research during the undergraduate and regular poster sessions at Plant Biology 2017. Congratulations to these 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows and … Read more

Traditional medicine: Velvet bean seed’s prophylactic protection from snake venom toxins

Snakebites kill more than 100,000 people annually, making snakes the second deadliest animals (after mosquitos), with many fold that many people suffering permanent disabilities from snake venom. Most of the victims are in Africa, Asia and Latin America, often in countries with poor access to medical resources. Snake venoms are complex and contain various toxins … Read more

Getting Professional Communication down to a Science

The Void in STEM Education I never thought a break from science courses would actually make me a better scientist. As a Biotechnology major and now graduate student, my college curriculum focused heavily on subjects like microbiology, statistics, and chemistry- all great courses that supported my research. Over the past years, I’ve noticed my research … Read more

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, May 2016

Recently, we’ve been profiling first authors of Plant Cell papers that are selected for In Brief summaries. Here are the first-author profiles from the May issue of The Plant Cell. Xunliang Liu, featured first author of The role of LORELEI in pollen tube reception at the interface of the synergid cell and pollen tube requires … Read more

In Brief: Xanthine Dehydrogenase in ROS Metabolism

This week’s Research in Focus is reprinted from an In Brief published by Science Editor Nancy Hofmann in The Plant Cell, which summarizes an article newly published by  Ma et al. This study explores the dual and opposing roles of the enzyme xanthine dehydrogenase in modulation of ROS metabolism during defense responses in Arabidopsis.  Xanthine … Read more

Edit Wikipedia at Plant Biology 2016

Wikipedia is often the first place people go to learn about new science… so let’s work together edit it to reflect the best in plant science! Attend the ASPB Edit-a-thon to help ensure this powerful tool for communicating science to the general public is as accurate, as balanced and as up to date as possible. Over a light … Read more

Newest Teaching Tool: Rhythms of Life: The Plant Circadian Clock, by Katharine Hubbard and Antony Dodd

The first of the Teaching Tools Competition winning entries has been published. The latest in this series, “Rhythms of Life: The Plant Circadian Clock” was written by Katharine Hubbard (Lecturer in Biological Science, University of Hull) and Antony Dodd (Royal Society University Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol). This teaching tool explores circadian … Read more

Plants Move. Plants Matter. Thousands join the Plant Movement at the 2016 USA Science & Engineering Festival

ASPB joined with the US Botanic Garden (USBG) to collaborate with the Botanical Society of America (BSA), Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Society of Economic Botany and Rutgers University in order to organize a 5-part, 600 square foot exhibit at the April 15-17, 2016 USA Science & Engineering Festival (USASEF). Over 365,000 people attended the … Read more

ASPB Members Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Several distinguished plant scientists – all of them members of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) – have been elected as members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Five ASPB members were elected to this year’s NAS class: New members: Julia … Read more

Ian Street spotlighted on Trellis Q& A

On Tuesday, April 26th, at 1 PM EST one of our members, Ian Street, will be featured in the Member Spotlight on Trellis – AAAS’s new platform for general scientific communication and collaboration.  This is an hour long series that highlights activities of members and gives them a chance to discuss their work. Ian is currently a Research … Read more

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, April 2016

Recently, we’ve been profiling first authors of Plant Cell papers that are selected for In Brief summaries. Here are the first-author profiles from the April issue of The Plant Cell. Kimberley Tilbrook, featured first author of UV-B perception and acclimation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Current Position: OCE Postdoctoral Fellow at CSIRO Agriculture, Black Mountain, ACT, Australia. … Read more

Broader Impacts: sharing science for a better world

The National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) offers a community of practice to develop sustainable and scalable institutional capacity and engagement in K-16+ broader impacts activity. NABI  supports communicating science and broadening participation in research to improve the world. NABI and NSF interface closely, including at this Summit. Click here for the 2016 Summit Twitter … Read more