André Velasquez Receives Prestigious McClintock Award
This award honors the late Barbara McClintock, who won the Nobel Prize for work that she began as a postdoctoral plant geneticist at Cornell in the 1920s.
African Sweet Potato Devastation: BTI Research to Expand Understanding of Viruses
An international team of scientists lead by Dr. Fei at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research received a $700,000 grant for research that will expand our understanding of viruses that cause devastating losses of sweet potato crops in Africa.
AIPI Announces First Round of Collaborative Grant Awards
In 2010, the four largest nonprofit plant science research institutions in the United States came together to form the Association of Independent Plant Research Institutes (AIPI).
Comparative Metabolomics Reveals Biogenesis of Ascarosides
Frank Schroeder’s group recently published manuscript describes the use of an MS/MS-based screen to investigate a class of signaling molecules recently identified in the model organism C. elegans.
Georg Jander Receives Award to Reduce Pesticide Pollution
Up to 30 percent of agricultural productivity is lost to insects and disease.
Georg Jander Featured in The Plant Cell
Dr. Jander’s work identifies the nonprotein amino acid N?-acetylornithine and an acetyltransferase that synthesizes it in Arabidopsis thaliana, thus revealing a new methyl jasmonate-inducible defense response.
Sorina Popescu Featured in The Plant Cell
Dr. Popescu’s study finds that two reticulon proteins modulate the transport of an immune receptor to the cell membrane.
Plants under Attack: Discoveries That May Lead to Plants Better Able to Withstand Pathog
Receptors in the plasma membrane of plant cells are critical for recognizing pathogens, but how they get there is poorly understood. Dr.Sorina Popescu’s research could help.
Dr. Lisa Meihls Awarded USDA/NIFA Grant
Dr. Lisa Meihls of Georg Jander’s lab was awarded a $130,000 USDA/NIFA grant to study molecular mechanisms of resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Bb1 toxin in Diabrotica virgifera (western corn root worm).
Dr. Jim Giovannoni Receives Agricultural Research Service Award
Jim Giovannoni was one of four ASPB members to be honored by awards from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
Maria Harrison Named William H. Crocker Scientist
At its May meeting, the BTI Board of Directors named Maria Harrison as the William H. Crocker Scientist.
BTI Participates in Cornell’s Bring a Child to Work Day
On April 28, 2011, thirteen children ages 8 – 12 visited BTI along with their parents as part of Cornell’s Bring a Child to Work Day.
Invasion of the Plant Pathogens
Imagine your home being invaded by an enemy and you are unable to run away. Plants find themselves in that situation repeatedly. As they adapt to fight off pathogens, pathogens evolve to find new ways of infecting plants.
Dan Klessig: APS 2011 Noel T. Keen Awardee for Excellence in Research
Dan Klessig is the recipient of the 2011 Noel T. Keen Award for Research Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology from the American Phytopathological Society.
BTI Scientist Dan Klessig Speaks at a Biotechnology Conference in Tunisia
At an October program sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to Tunisia, Daniel Klessig, Phd., a BTI scientist, visited Tunisian research centers and spoke at a conference highlighting biotechnology’s potential to mitigate climate change.
Fearless Aphids Ignore Warnings, Get Eaten by Ladybugs
If your building has 10 false fire alarms one morning, it is human nature to ignore it when it goes off for the 11th time.
Dr. Gregory Martin to Receive Award for Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology
Gregory Martin, Ph.D., has been named the recipient of the Noel T. Keen Award for Research Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology by The American Phytopathological Society (APS).
Boyce Thompson Institute President David Stern, PhD, Awarded Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists
Ithaca, N.Y., Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) President David Stern, PhD has been awarded the Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and will be formally recognized at the annual ASPB awards ceremony in Montreal, July 31.
Mobile MicroRNAs Direct Tissue Patterning
Scientists have been working for more than a decade to understand how tiny molecules called microRNA regulate genes within cells. Now researchers have discovered that microRNA actually moves between cells to help them communicate.
VIGS in Nicotiana benthamiana and Tomato
Graduate student André Velásquez from Greg Martin’s lab shows how to do Virus-induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) in Nicotiana benthamiana and Tomato in a JOVE publication.
VIGS in Nicotiana benthamiana and Tomato
Graduate student André Velásquez from Greg Martin’s lab shows how to do Virus-induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) in Nicotiana benthamiana and Tomato in a JOVE publication.
Frank Schroeder Published in Nature: Sex and Life Span Linked in Worms: A Family of Sugar
A group of scientists who set out to study sex pheromones in a tiny worm found that the same family of pheromones also controls a stage in the worms’ life cycle, the long-lived dauer larva.
Human Urine May Cure Blood Pressure
A study has identified a hormone from human urine, a xanthurenic-acid derivative, which might help safely flush sodium out of the body and could be harnessed to develop more effective and safer treatments for high blood pressure, or hypertension.
High-Resolution Root Spatiotemporal Map Reveals Dominant Expression Patterns
BTI scientists present microarray expression profiles of a high-resolution set of developmental time points within a single Arabidopsis root and a comprehensive map of nearly all root cell types.
The Chlamydomonas Genome Reveals the Evolution of Key Animal and Plant Functions
BTI scientists sequenced the nuclear genome of Chlamydomonas and performed comparative phylogenomic analyses, identifying genes encoding proteins that are likely associated with the function and biogenesis of chloroplasts or eukaryotic flagella.
Scientists to Sick Plants: Take Two Doses of an Aspirin-Like Hormone and Call Me in the
Discovery could lead to development of crops with enhanced yield, heightened immunity and reduced need for pesticides.
Methyl Salicylate Is a Critical Mobile Signal for Plant Systemic Acquired Resistance
In plants, the mobile signal for systemic acquired resistance (SAR), an organism-wide state of enhanced defense to subsequent infections, has been elusive. BTI scientists find that MeSA is a SAR signal in tobacco.
Tracy Rosebrock Interviewed by Nature Magazine
Tracy Rosebrock, a former BTI graduate student in the laboratory of Greg Martin, discusses how some bacteria suppress plant immunity.
In Relations between Plants and Fungi, Phosphorous Plays a Key Role
Recent research in Maria Harrison’s lab has exposed the vital importance of phosphorous transfer is in some relationships between plants and fungi.
Stern Featured on MicrobeWorld Radio Program
A long time ago, in a land of primordial goo, two bacteria lent new meaning to the word “teamwork.”
Lin and Bollenbach Win Bogorad Award
The Lawrence Bogorad Molecular Plant Biology Award was established to honor and celebrate scientist and longtime BTI Board member Lawrence Bogorad. The award is given annually to an outstanding BTI postdoctoral fellow.
MicrobeWorld Program Features Dan Klessig’s Research
The podcast MicrobeWorld program features BTI scientist Dan Klessig’s research.