Location: USDA-ARS, Ithaca Current job/title: Postdoctoral fellow One word that describes how you work: Hard Favorite thing you do at work: Western Blot Analysis Favorite plant: Hairy nightshade One interesting project you have been working on: Here in the Cilia lab we use a mass spec compatible cross-linker to fine-map the binding interfaces between plant viral proteins and the proteins … Read more
Many scientists are exploring the use of videos and video blogs (vlogs) for science communication. I asked Claire Hopkins, creator of the Brilliant Botany videos and website, how she got started making science videos and if she has any advice for getting started in science communication. Here are her replies. (I also invite you to … Read more
Maria Sorkin is a 2015 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship recipient with ASPB. As part of the program all SURFers must communicate their research with non-experts (preferably peers) in an engaging manner. So Maria created the Imgur post: My ASPB SURF Plant Biology Research Project In her post, Maria explains, Last summer, I used my funds … Read more
Harry Klee, Ph.D, University of Florida, has organized an important Major Symposia for the Plant Biology 2016 conference on developing healthier foods. Joining Dr. Klee for the sessions will be: Andy Allan, Ph.D, Plant and Food in New Zealand Linda Bartoshuk, Ph.D, University of Florida Cathie Martin, Ph.D, John Innes Center Here are just a … Read more
Here’s a peek at the outreach activities ASPB hosted at the 2016 AAAS Family Science Days event in Washington, DC (Feb 13 & 14). [tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”11″] Photo credits: Rachel Binder
Bio: I am an Associate Professor of Biology at Washington University in Saint Louis. I grew up in eastern Washington State, did a BS in Biochemistry at University of Washington with Luca Comai and Ted Young. I receive a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California San Francisco, working on yeast chromatin remodeling in … Read more
Now available: Fascination of Plants Day Success Stories 2015 Thanks to the voluntary contributions and hard work of many people in the plant science community around the world the Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD) 2015 was a huge success. This publication celebrates how so much diversity – in terms of individual demographics, activity content and … Read more
Location: University of Oklahoma Current job/title: Undergraduate Academic Assistant One word that describes how you work: Sophomoric Favorite thing you do at work: Floral Dip Transformations Favorite plant: Colocasia esculenta (ed.– Wikipedia page on this plant). One interesting project you have been working on: It’s completely tangential to my lab’s main focus but right now … Read more
Because of publication deadlines, I started to write this newsletter the day before the Iowa caucuses. International members of the Society may be unfamiliar with the somewhat bizarre procedure whereby the people of the state of Iowa select their preferred choices for presidential nominee for both major parties, and I would bet that many in … Read more
Are you too Early-Career to win something in Stockholm this December? Maybe not… This Prize was created to recognize that global economic health is dependent upon a vibrant research community and we need to encourage our best and brightest to continue in their chosen fields of research. Deadline: August 1, 2016 About the Prize Science/AAAS … Read more
Dr. Chris Martine (Bucknell University) discovered a species of Australian bush tomato and named it after Mark Watney, the main character of Hollywood blockbuster, The Martian (based on Andy Weir’s novel of the same name). As a scientist dedicated to eliminating society’s tendency toward ‘plant blindness,‘ Chris took this opportunity to trumpet how very non-optional … Read more
ASPB and the Botanical Society of America (BSA) are recruiting 20 PlantingScience Fellows to participate in the Digging Deeper Project. Application Deadline – March 15, 2016 Apply Here Digging Deeper: Developing a Model for Collaborative Teacher/Scientist Professional Development The Digging Deeper project will develop, implement, and test a professional development (PD) model whereby teachers and … Read more
ASPB joins Friends of the Agricultural Research Service Coalition (FARS) in support of ratification of an international plant germplasm treaty. The Friends of the Agricultural Research Service Coalition (FARS) writes in support of increased funding for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). We urge the Committee to provide no less than $1,161,340,000. Investments in sound … Read more
In a study reminiscent of Jurassic Park, scientists have resurrected an extinct enzyme and watched it respond to today’s world. Rubisco is much older than dinosaurs; it is an ancient enzyme, billions of years old, and predates the origin of eukaryotes. Rubisco is found in all photosynthetic organisms, be they bacteria, algae or plant, as … Read more
ASPB partners with PlantingScience to support authentic plant science research in middle and high school classrooms across the United States and Canada. The spring session kicked off Monday, February 15. Already, almost 120 student teams from 11 schools are online and introducing themselves to their scientist mentors. Many other schools will be coming online soon. … Read more
We had many excellent proposals submitted for the third round of the “Teaching Tools in Plant Biology” competition, from which we selected three for further development. We’ve added another opportunity for you to submit your ideas for consideration as a Teaching Tools, deadline October 1, 2016 (see this for more information). Feel free to contact … Read more
President Obama released the last budget request of his Administration on February 9th. The budget proposal nominally adheres to the top defense and non-defense discretionary spending levels agreed to by Congress in the fall of last year. However, the White House is relying on mandatory spending, which requires Congress to pass legislation to make these … Read more
The American Society of Plant Biologists (@ASPB) and Global Plant Council (@GlobalPlantGPC) have recently launched Plantae. It is designed to be the central hub of plant science…your plant science. Plantae may seem like just another social network, but it is designed to be a much more complex community. I’ve noticed some fatigue lately with Twitter … Read more
Rebecca Davis, CEO of Ovington, is a marketing professional with a particular focus on the area of public engagement with science. Rebecca spoke at the February 3, 2016, session of the Public Engagement with Science at Societies (PES@S) working group. With Rebecca’s marketing overview and then discussion guidance, the working group focused on these guiding … Read more
Insight from a 2015 SURF Fellow The ASPB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) is a spectacular opportunity to embark on an independent project over the summer, earn money, present your research, and expand your resume. Applying to nationally competitive fellowships is a daunting task. Only 15 students are awarded the SURF (10 from doctoral granting … Read more
