By Abby Werner As they reach the end of the Roots in Drought grant, the principal investigators have begun to reflect on the unique opportunity of collaboration that the grant presented them with. “This project has truly involved an integrated and interdisciplinary team,” said Dr.......
By Shelby Matthews Some people just have science in their blood. That’s how it was for Dr. Wendy Kuhn Silk, growing up at least. Her father, Lester Kuhn, who was the head of the ballistics research lab in Aberdeen, Maryland, developed propellants and pioneered the......
By Abby Werner A special aspect of the 11th Symposium of the International Society of Root Research is the graduate student and postdoc Ambassador Program. The program is in its third conference cycle, and like the symposium, is fully virtual – but still with an......
By Brandon Eigenman This year, the International Society of Root Research’s 11th symposium (ISRR11) was virtually hosted by the Interdisciplinary Plant Group at the University of Missouri in conjunction with the 9th International Symposium on Root Development (Rooting2021), which was hosted by the University of......
It has been a little over two years since the Root in Drought team members traveled to China for a workshop and visit to a research site. During this trip, the students and postdocs learned many lessons spanning disciplines and cultures. Taking into account all......
Taking the time to make sure the multitude of supplies are ready to go before harvest begins is one of the ways researchers Shannon King and Cheyenne Becker ensure field season success for the Roots in Drought team. It can take up to one month......
How can scientists be sure that their dirt is just as dry as a colleague’s dirt when testing drought effects on roots? Some of our scientists have been looking into that. ...
Shannon King, a PhD student on working on the Roots in Drought grant, won a graduate student competition at a scientific symposium on crop research. Researchers and the students that work in their labs from across the country presented findings online via Zoom for the......
In August 2018, members of the Roots in Drought team attended a workshop in China. During their travels, they were able to partake in many different cuisines from all across the regions of China. One of the flavors that stuck out the most was the......
How Sidharth Sen is programming the future of data visualization By Marlee Baldridge * Imagine if every time you played a video game, you were unable to save. You might spend hours playing up to a certain point, before a dumb mistake or impossible “boss”......
As the world tentatively begins to reopen from a three-month long COVID-19 quarantine, some people are hopeful life can jump back to normal. However, in the agriculture research realm, the setbacks of COVID-19 will have consequences long surpassing quarantine. Tim Reinbott, a superintendent at MU’s......
Traveling east of the University of Missouri, you will come across a curvy road called East Campus Drive. After you pass the MU Veterinary Health Center, student dormitories, and parking lots you’ll come to the end of the road and discover a 41,000 square feet,......
And what the heck is a metabolome? By Michelle Lumpkins & Marlee Baldridge **** Biochemical processes are extremely complex. The Roots in Drought plant scientists are unraveling this complexity using a new method called multi-omics to analyze patterns in plant genes, proteins, and metabolomics (base chemicals).......
In March 2016, an interdisciplinary group from across the Mizzou campus received exciting news. After three attempts, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded these researchers a $4.2 million grant to study how drought impacts the growth of nodal roots in corn. “We just kept grinding......
Before Columbia issued a stay-at-home order, researchers at the East Campus Growth Facility tried to quickly prepare for the worst. Tyler McCubbin, a PhD candidate at the University of Missouri and researcher on the Roots in Drought grant, was one of them. “The Sunday before......
Cover crops are what farmers plant during their growing off-season to help prepare and protect the soil for their cash crop. Cover crops can offer many benefits for a farmer’s soil such as: obstructing erosion, supporting the physical and biological properties of soil, providing nutrients,......
I’m writing this from an empty bedroom in my house, which I’ve converted into my new Pandemic Office Space. My webcam is set up so that I am always perfectly lit for online classes and Zoom meetings. I have a desk I’ve hauled out from......
Article originally posted by Lauren Polanski, The Columbia Missourian COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — In July 2002, a drought settled over Missouri that lasted 99 weeks and finally ended in May 2004. Eight years later during late August, Missouri suffered the most intense drought in......
Global warming isn’t just changing the intensity of storms, it’s changing the way they move. *** In research due for publication, Mingfang Ting, PhD, of Columbia University presented new research about how global warming is affecting U.S. agriculture at the December American Geophysical Union meeting. ......
The Roots in Drought Team is going to be presenting their work at the InterDrought 2020 meeting on March 9-13th in Mexico City, Mexico. Photo by Justine Camacho on Unsplash...
As a research scientist, I have access to many tools, each intelligently designed and created for specific tasks. However, despite the numerous tools available, there is one specific under-rated tool I have to credit with undying gratitude: The 5 Gallon Bucket. So to express my......
Video and Story Courtesy of KOMU COLUMBIA – The new MU Plant Growth Research Facility is set to open Friday. The building cost just more than $28 million, and it has been on the campus master plan since a 2006 review of plant research space.......
Amelia Griffith is the newest member of the MU Drought Team. She was brought on to help advance prior research conducted by Dr. Robert Sharp’s lab focused on how the nodal roots in corn are able to waterproof themselves and keep growing, even under drought......
September and October bring chilly temperatures, changing leaves, and a happy fall harvest season — if everything goes according to plan. This year, the southeastern United States is welcoming fall with scorching temperatures in the 90s and a widespread flash drought. Unlike a traditional drought......
The MU Drought Team gave students from China Agricultural University a tour of Missouri’s corn science, from research to everyday farming operations. Featured Photo by Nathalia Segato on Unsplash...
Like all good science, the Roots in Drought experiment needs to be replicable. This is the second harvest in this project, and Shannon King hopes to use the data collected to reaffirm the candidate selection from last year’s harvest season. Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash...
I never thought I’d be asked “So, what industry uses maple syrup?” but there I was, explaining the concept of starting your morning with some fresh pancakes with homemade maple syrup to a graduate student visiting from China. I think I can safely mark that......
In 2018, the Roots in Drought team here at Mizzou, with CAFNR Dean Christopher R. Daubert, went to China to share their knowledge of corn. In return, they learned about one of the most ancient cultures of the world, and see some of its wonders, including......
Although this is not universal, I have noticed a trend. Plant scientists laugh with me and my friends laugh at me (lovingly, of course) about taking pictures of plants every time I am in a new place, and sometimes in the old places, too. Since......
Tyler McCubbin has been named an Ambassador for the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). The ASPB is the largest professional society for plant biologists. The Ambassador Program was developed to involve students, post-docs, and industry professionals in science communication, as well as provide networking......
On April 22, 2019, Dr. Trupti Joshi’s lab hosted the Bioinformatics Big Data Workshop in Cornell Hall at the University of Missouri. Although most of the 38 individuals attended in person, accommodations were made for those who were off-site with an online interactive video link.......
The drone that Brandon Davis uses in his work with the Fritschi Lab isn’t the kind you can pick up at Walmart. It doesn’t take pretty pictures or annoy the neighbor’s dog. It’s bigger. It’s smarter. It costs $78,000. In fact, the only thing it......
China’s agricultural industry is growing rapidly to meet the needs of its increasing population, but adequate farmland is in short supply. Growing crops in China’s arid regions is possible, but it requires massive amounts of irrigation. Over time, prolonged irrigation can have serious consequences for......
This is round two of planting for the University of Missouri plant scientists. In 2018, they replanted and retested the corn to see if they would get the same results as those they planted in 2017. But how did they replicate the exact conditions of......
As the demands on the global food supply increase, many commercial farms have switched from natural fertilizers like livestock manure to a synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, ammonium nitrate. Last year, American farmers sprayed more than 6.6 million tons of it. The problem with ammonium nitrate is......
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a promising new method of increasing agricultural output, yet they are incredibly misunderstood. There is misinformation spread about GMOs designed to create fear and outrage about your food. Here, we debunk some of the myths associated with GMOs. What is......
Drought team member Laura Greeley gives us a tour of the growth chambers! What, exactly, are they growing in there?...
Tyler McCubbin, Shannon King, and Rachel Owen discuss their experiences as science journalists in China, as well as some of the challenges they faced adapting to communicating as journalists instead of scientists....
This simple introductory video provides easy tips and tricks to help professionals in the sciences produce creative, journalistic content....
In August 2018, members of the MU Drought Team as well as others from the University of Missouri traveled to Beijing, China, to attend the a workshop on Responses and Adaptations of Plants and Ecosystems to Changing Environments at China Agricultural University (CAU). During the......
In this video, the students used their new journalism skills to conduct an interview with a local farmer about his experience collaborating with the research station to increase his farm’s production. The farmer’s son is currently pursuing an MBA to come back and help the......
There is a saying in Missouri that if you don’t like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will change. Well, unfortunately, for plant scientists that aspect of Missouri weather makes it tricky to learn how plants grow in the field during drought. To combat......
Courtesy of CAFNR News Written by Logan Jackson University of Missouri graduate students Shannon King and Rachel Owen spent the first Sunday of November in Baltimore speaking to a room full of Global Plant Council members and guests about the importance of science communication –......
Nick Baert joined the MU Drought Team in January 2018, specializing in plant stress biology with a focus on studying root systems at the genetic level. This year, he’s spent most of his time identifying specific gene mutations among different strains of corn and analyzing......
This summer I had the honor of being selected to attend the 1st Annual North American Mass Spectrometry Summer School (NAMSSS). This summer school was designed to introduce and/or advance knowledge of mass spectrometry for scientists from graduate students to junior faculty anywhere in North......
In this edition of the Inside Mizzou Podcast, researchers Dr. Bob Sharp, professor in professor in the Division of Plant Sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group, and Shannon King, a doctoral student specializing in field biochemistry, sit down with Chancellor Cartwright to discuss......
Farmer Derek Klingenberg made headlines this month by making “cow art” visible from space. A resident in Peabody, Kansas, Klingenberg had originally created aerial photography of his cow art using drones. A tech-savvy farmer, he’s got a little more than 72,000 subscribers to his YouTube......
The Dust Bowl was not only an agricultural disaster, affecting more than 100 million acres, but a humanitarian crisis. Some sources estimate that between 300,000 – 400,000 families from the Midwest were displaced and left homeless as their farms failed. The cause of the disaster......
Bioinformatics? What’s that? Well, here’s a hint: Sometimes it takes a computer geek to explain what the scientists are looking at....
I recently created a comic that explains how bioinformatics works. It’s a science comic, and while the science can get a bit murky the idea is that the comic part of the article will keep readers engaged and help them understand what’s going on. Making......
What do the soybeans of Nebraska have in common with the wheat of Texas? Both are watered by the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge underground resource that supplies the water for 27 percent of American farmland. However, replenishing what’s used is a slow-going process. Like, a......
When I was in the seventh grade, I got into a shouting match with my science teacher. He absolutely insisted a fertilized egg was an embryo. I disagreed- the textbook was very clear that a fertilized egg was called a zygote, and I deserved the......
Tyler McCubbin and Shannon King work together with STEM outreach program Science on Wheels to promote their work with corn roots in drought....
Roots are widely considered important by plant scientists, despite the difficulty that comes with studying them – they are buried underground after all! Root studies commonly focus on the water or nutrient uptake and root interaction with the plant. The MU Drought Team’s research specifically......
On August 21, a total solar eclipse will sweep across the United States. Columbia, Missouri is in the path of totality and the area of greatest duration. There are many accounts of solar eclipses that discuss how animals behave strangely. During the 1932 eclipse, scientists......
On August 10, the MU Drought Team harvested their field of corn plants at Bradford Research Station for the third time this summer. Although the process and end goal was exactly the same, round three went much faster than the first time. There were 30......
Cheyenne Becker is the newest member of the MU Drought Team. She and her husband recently moved to Columbia, Missouri, from Kansas. “My husband is originally from Columbia so we moved back here and are currently saving up for our first house,” Becker said. “Staying......
DeShawn Toliver, an undergraduate student from Fort Valley State University (FVSU), is the MU Drought Team’s new summer student. He’s majoring in plant science with a biotechnology concentration. FVSU is located in Fort Valley, Georgia with an undergraduate enrollment of just under 2,500 students. It’s......
MU’s South Farm Research Center fields are filled with corn plants. But, not all of these plants are in perfect health. One of the most effective approaches scientists have to understand biological processes is to study mutants to understand what happens to the plant when......
On June 13, 2017, the MU Drought Team had their first harvest of the summer at Bradford Research Center. A 17-person team, organized by graduate student Shannon King, helped dig up and remove hundreds of roots from the field, preserve them in liquid nitrogen, and......
On June 6, 2017, The MU Drought Team hosted the IPG Student/Postdoc Pre-Symposium Workshop in the Bond Life Sciences Center. The workshop primarily focused on roots and drought. The goal was to give the attending students and postdocs the opportunity to interact with and learn from......
Although the purpose of the field experiment is to stimulate drought, random rows of plants throughout the field were chosen as controls. Controls are necessary for any experiment and usually serve two purposes. First, controls show that the system is behaving the way the researchers expect from previous knowledge, experience, and observation. Second, if......
On May 16, the MU Drought Team planted the first round of corn for the summer. This is part of an on-going research project that aims to develop a drought-tolerant variety of corn. The corn was planted at Bradford Research Station off Rangeline Rd., and......
Originally published by CAFNR News Service By Stephen Schmidt When it came to studying the physiology and function of nodal roots of corn, Bob Sharp knew it was going to take an army. Fortunately, it did not take him very long to assemble an interdisciplinary team — six of whom are......
Too often the work of scientists goes unseen. As they toil in labs and in the field, there are amazing stories that go untold. Times are changing however, and scientists need to learn how to tell their own stories in a way that’s easy to......
Courtesy of KTVO Newsdesk During a round table discussion on Thursday with students, faculty and staff at the University of Missouri (MU), Governor Jay Nixon announced that the National Science Foundation has awarded MU a $4.2 million grant. This grant will fund a four year project......
Originally printed in the Columbia Daily Tribune By Alan Burdziak Amid controversy surrounding the University of Missouri and the General Assembly’s barrage of budget cuts to the UM System, Gov. Jay Nixon visited Columbia on Thursday as he and other officials touted a $4.2 million grant......
Story courtesy of MU News Bureau By Jeff Sossamon Developing drought tolerant corn varieties that make efficient use of available water is vital to sustain the estimated 9 billion global population by 2050. For the past several decades, University of Missouri researchers have been working......