The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) has released a call for nominations for the 2017 New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award. This is the second competition for this award, which aims to “support the next generation of food and agriculture scientists”. While last year the award was limited to one nominee … Read more
Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – January 23, 2017 On January 18, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Senate EPW) held a confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee for Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Partisan divisions were apparent from the outset, with Senate EPW Members clashing with … Read more
Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – January 19, 2017 On January 19, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a confirmation hearing for President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination for Secretary of Energy, former Texas Governor Rick Perry. Although the three-hour hearing concluded without a scheduled vote, it is expected that the Committee will report a favorable recommendation … Read more
Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – January 19, 2017 On January 18, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), an orthopedic surgeon by training, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee as part of his confirmation process. The HELP Committee does not vote on the HHS Secretary nomination, but … Read more
By Courtney Price, Education & Outreach Specialist, Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center & Center for Applied Plant Sciences, and Plantae Fellow With a passion for life science, conservation and education, my academic and professional experience has taken me on a convoluted path. That unique path has led me to my current role as the Education & … Read more
Two Reviews: CRISPR/Cas for genome engineering in plants, and Genome editing in cereal crops ($) The gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas, which introduces double-strand breaks that are repaired by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), is best known for the promise it holds in modifying an organism’s DNA sequence without the introduction of exogenous genes. However, as Puchta describes … Read more
IN BRIEF by Jennifer Lockhart jlockhart@aspb.org DNA is sculpted by several types of epigenetic modifications with profound effects on gene expression, development, and stress responses. Much less is known about the more than 100 chemical modifications shaping plant RNA, a topic explored in the newly emerging field of epitranscriptomics (reviewed in Burgess et al., 2016). … Read more
Editorial: Rigorous Science: a How-To Guide Casadevall and Fang set out several proposals for research training to help ensure scientific “rigor”, which they define as promoting confidence in the truth or accuracy of the findings. The authors propose and elaborate on five foundations for scientific rigor: Redundancy in experimental design, recognition of error, intellectual honesty, … Read more
Review: Transport and homeostasis of K and P ($) Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are the three macronutrients required in highest amounts for plant growth. N is abundant in the atmosphere, therefore plentiful if we overlook the energetic costs of converting N2 to usable form. By contrast, K and P are present in … Read more
As we enter 2017, plant biologists face uncertainty with the arrival of President Trump. The new administration has provided few hints about a position on science, and what comments have been made appear worrisome. A Trump administration is not what most of us were expecting based on polling data and, in fact, was not what … Read more
For the past three months, we (Mary Williams and Plantae Fellows) have been profiling selected papers of broad interest to the plant science community. You can see all of our posts here: What We’re Reading. Early in 2017 we’ll be moving this feature to the new, soon-to-be unveiled public pages on Plantae (watch this space!). … Read more
The Plant Science Today blog is only a few years old and continues to gain readers. In 2016 more than 250 posts were shared, with contributions from many guest authors as well as ASPB staff. Here are the ten most widely read posts this year. Did you catch them all? From LUCA to lily, 12 … 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 December issue of The Plant Cell. Yao-Pin Lin, featured author of Identification of Chlorophyll Dephytylase Involved in Chlorophyll Turnover in Arabidopsis Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow in Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia … Read more
Short, accessible summaries of articles of broad interest to plant scientists, with links to the papers for more in-depth reading. Enjoy! Review: Physics of pollinator attraction Flowers use a variety of strategies to attract pollinators and ensure successful pollination, including color and scent. Moyroud and Glover review some of the less familiar strategies including physical … Read more
Digging Deeper: Developing a Model for Collaborative Teacher/Scientist Professional Development Are you passionate about science education? Would you like to build connections with high school biology teachers and their students? Are you excited about an opportunity to share what’s so exciting about plants and science with the next generation? Did you receive valuable mentoring as … Read more
Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – December 19, 2016 The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a $25 million Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for its new MacroAlgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) program. MARINER seeks to support the large-scale cultivation of macroalgae as a renewable feedstock for energy … Read more
Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – December 16, 2016 On December 16, Congress passed the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA, S. 3084) which sets policy for the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, and other cross-agency research programs. The legislation represents the culmination of … Read more
As a faculty member at a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI), do you find yourself challenged to develop and nurture a research program that is both robust and richly engaging for undergraduate scientists? As a grad student or a postdoc, are you committed to (or seriously considering) pursuing a faculty position at a PUI? If so, … Read more
Previewing Pollen Biology special issue of Plant Physiology In Plant Physiology Preview you can get a head start on reading the excellent set of articles from a forthcoming special issue on Pollen Biology. Updates and research articles cover all aspects of this crucial part of reproductive biology, from the complex cell biology that underpins polar … Read more
Recently, ASPB and AAAS and 27 other leading U.S. scientific organizations and professional societies sent a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump. The letter urges Trump to “quickly appoint a science advisor with the title of Assistant to the President for Science and Technology who is a national respected leader with the appropriate engineering, scientific, management … Read more