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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The 2016 Planet Forward Summit at George Washington University features mayors, public and private sector leaders, journalists, academics, students, innovators and entrepreneurs. Together these participants spend two full days (April 21-22) discovering and discussing the stories, innovations and people who will transform our cities in the coming decades. The Summit also features the winners of … Read more
Location: Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Current job/title: Director of Plant Systems Biology One word that describes how you work: enthusiastically. I’m conscious of the fact that I’m lucky that I get to do something I’m passionate about. Favorite thing you do at work: Learn Favorite plant: Arabidopsis (boring I know, but … Read more
ASPB President Richard A. Dixon, Ph.D, University of North Texas, has organized an important Major Symposia for the Plant Biology 2016 conference on plant specialized metabolism. Joining Dr. Dixon for the sessions will be: Ian Baldwin, Ph.D, Max Planck Institute, Jena Gregg Beckham, Ph.D, National Renewable Energy Labortory Joe Noel, Ph.D, Salk Institute Anne Osbourne, … Read more
Location: Baylor University Current job/title: Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences One word that describes how you work: excited Favorite thing you do at work: collect and study fossil leaves Favorite plant: Cycads (Cycads have existed for about 300 million years, fossil cycads are really cool and were ubiquitous in the Mesozoic (~225 – 66 million years ago), and modern cycads … Read more
ASPB exhibits at major science education conferences each year. One of our newest outreach volunteers, Sterling Field, M.S. University of Tennessee, shares a few experiences with ASPB at the 2016 National Science Teachers Association annual meeting. I really enjoyed volunteering with ASPB at the NSTA conference. I got to talk with teachers about bringing plant-based … Read more
A Brief History The American Society of Plant Physiologists was founded in 1924 as an offshoot of the Botanical Society of America. The founders felt that their efforts to understand “vital (living) processes of plants” would be best served by forming their own, freestanding society. In 2001, members elected to change the name to the … Read more
How do you describe the cycle that involves carboxylation and regeneration of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate that was elucidated by the work of Melvin Calvin, Andrew Benson and James Bassham? As a student, I learned that this is the Calvin Cycle, but a quick survey of the literature reveals that it is also described as the Calvin-Benson … Read more
“Let’s Celebrate,” was the theme of the 2016 White House Easter Egg Roll on March 28. This action-packed, health-oriented day celebrated the holiday and the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative. From our spot down by the First Lady’s garden, the ASPB booth celebrated plants with the happy youngsters and families who visited during each of … Read more
Recently, I was asked it if is ethical to give a job to a woman rather than to a man of higher quality. I replied, “How do we measure “quality”? This is the longer answer that I didn’t have time to provide. The opinions expressed are my own. Achievement does not equal quality Imagining that … Read more
