Cornell will receive close to $9.4 million over five years to establish the Cornell Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Collaborative Research Center, which will span Cornell’s Ithaca campus, Weill Cornell Medicine, Ithaca College, the Boyce Thompson Institute [Schroeder Lab], the Workwell Foundation, EVMED Research, the SOLVE ME/CFS Initiative and private ME/CFS medical practices.
This week, researchers from Boyce Thompson Institute and Texas A&M University report in Plant Direct exciting new technology that may revolutionize the search for the perfect algal strain: Algal droplet bioreactors on a chip.
BTI’s Mueller and Heck Labs, in collaboration with 21 partner institutions, recently published a draft assembly and annotation of the D. citri genome.
This month, the cover of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions features a publication by Simon Schwizer from the Martin Lab at BTI that furthers our understanding of how tomatoes are able to resist infection by Pseudomonas syringae, the causal agent of bacterial speck, a common disease in upstate NY.
With open-source software, GOBII plans to provide organizations in the developing world with the computational infrastructure needed for efficient breeding.
New research out of Boyce Thompson Institute reveals surprising insights into the genetic exchange along the Silk Road that brought us the modern apple.
Follow Science In Real Life (IRL) as they head to the Van Eck Lab and demystify GMOs by showing how they’re made in the lab.
The research project, titled Viruses and Insects as Plant Enhancement Resources (VIPER), is supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Insect Allies program.
Michael Miller spent his first two weeks as a PGRP intern at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Arid Land Research Center.
During June and July at BTI, visiting scholars from crop breeding programs in Nigeria, Nairobi, and Uganda have been working closely with researchers in Lukas Mueller’s group to discuss ways to improve the development of online resources related to two of Africa’s most important staple crops: cassava and banana.
The GOBII project’s annual hackathon united 25 software developers, bioinformaticians, computational biologists, and application specialists on a week-long mission.
BTI’s Georg Jander is leading one of eight research groups selected to receive awards through the Enabling Discovery through Genomic Tools (EDGE) program, overseen by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Biological Science Directorate.
Today in Nature Communications, researchers from BTI and the Shanghai Normal University report a new draft genome of Spinacia oleracea, better known as spinach. Additionally, the authors have sequenced the transcriptomes (all the RNA) of 120 cultivated and wild spinach plants, which has allowed them to identify which genetic changes have occurred due to domestication.
Researchers from the Harrison lab at BTI have identified a transcriptional program that drives arbuscule degeneration during AM symbiosis. This regulation of arbuscule lifespan has likely contributed to the 400MY stability of the symbiosis by preventing the persistence of fungal cheaters.
Researchers from the labs of Dr. Maria Harrison at the Boyce Thompson Institute and Dr. Peter Dörmann at the University of Bonn have produced the first experimental evidence to suggest that AM fungi also get lipids from the plant. AM-induced FatM and RAM2 may play specific roles in the biosynthesis of 16:0 βMAG, which cannot be produced by the fungus, providing a clue to understanding the obligate nature of AM fungi.
New research finds that the Asian citrus psyllid responds to the citrus greening bacterium by producing an oxygen-transporting protein called hemocyanin. The protein not only turns them blue, but suggests that they are trying to fight off the infection.
Cassava geneticist Ismail Yusuf Rabbi from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria visited BTI and Cornell University last week to discuss his ongoing collaboration with NextGen Cassava.
The offices of data scientists at BTI emptied out earlier this month as a contingent of researchers flew to San Diego for the 25th annual Plant and Animal Genome Conference.
Michelle Cilia has been selected to receive a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which recognizes outstanding, government-funded scientists who show great potential for becoming leaders in their field and for expanding the frontiers of scientific knowledge.
The genome will serve as a resource for jujube breeders working on improved cultivars, as well as for researchers working on other fruit trees, such as apples.
Researchers in the Fei lab have sequenced the genome of the whitefly, an invasive insect responsible for spreading plant viruses worldwide, causing billions of dollars in crop losses each year.
The NextGen Cassava project, a global partnership led by Cornell University that includes BTI Associate Professor Lukas Meuller, will now include cassava breeders from Tanzania.
Cultivating a disregard for day length enabled humans to introduce tomatoes to the Mediterranean region.
The collaboration works with breeding centers around the world to develop tools to make the process of adding a trait into an existing, high-yield crop variety more efficient.
The Fei lab releases VirusDetect, an automated bioinformatics pipeline that efficiently detects viruses and viroids from large-scale, small RNA datasets.
Citrus growers are uniting to save their groves from citrus greening disease and to fund research into solutions, but growers in California face different challenges than those in Florida, report BTI and USDA researchers.
“Food security is a mixture of all the different aspects of agriculture. It’s not just growing the food,” said Proctor. “It’s not just planting something in the ground – there is a lot more to it.”
The recent Symposium explored plant science topics including molecular biology, atmospheric sciences, plant breeding and soil and crop sciences.
A new paper from the Cilia lab reports that the Asian citrus psyllid mounts an immune response against the bacterium that causes citrus greening disease – a discovery that may be useful for developing a treatment against the devastating epidemic.
Professor Greg Martin and colleagues received an NSF grant to pursue research into resistance against bacterial speck disease in tomatoes.
Researchers at BTI and Virginia Tech find a new bacterial detector in tomatoes that could help other crop plants to be more disease resistant.
An improved protocol cuts the time it takes to modify a tomato’s genome from 17 weeks to 11, accelerating research into ways to breed more productive crops.
BTI’s Gary Blissard and Michael Kanost of Kansas State University led a team of 114 researchers from 50 institutions and 11 countries to sequence the genome of this important insect model.
An international group of computer programmers gathered at BTI to create a single interface that will connect databases from breeding programs worldwide
In a new paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Stephen Campbell and David Stern show that chloroplast extracts from C. reinhardtii can cut an interrupting insertion from a protein, but only in the light.
By supporting STEM education efforts at BTI and other local institutions, Galvin aims to get young children excited about science and engineering.
When C. elegans larvae face starvation, they clump together in a mass of worms, which increases their lifespan. BTI researchers will explore this fascinating social behavior.
Despite its reputation for wreaking havoc in cells, singlet oxygen is also vital for triggering the repair of a key protein complex for photosynthesis.
A group of students and experts work together through video conferencing to identify the genes in the genome of the newly sequenced Asian citrus psyllid, the insect that spreads the bacterium that causes citrus greening disease.
An international consortium of researchers has sequenced the two wild parent species of the domesticated petunia
Watermelons have changed from a small, bitter fruit that grows wild in Africa to the most popular fruit in the world. What’s next for watermelons?
Mimicking the effects of a Guatemalan tuber moth infestation in agricultural fields could increase potato yield and reduce pest damage.
Jim Giovannoni, BTI professor, USDA-ARS research molecular biologist and Cornell University adjunct professor, is recognized by the National Academy of Sciences for his significant contributions to plant science.
A partnership with Tompkins Cortland Community College allows BTI to offer an evening biology class and gives grad students and postdocs an opportunity to teach their own class.
In a JOVE publication, postdoctoral researcher Thomas Jacobs uses tomato hairy roots to demonstrate how multiple CRISPR vectors can be constructed in parallel in a single cloning reaction.
Research from the Klessig lab shows that HMGB3 signals to the plant immune system when tissues are damaged and makes plants more resistant to certain infections.
Woodland agrimony is so rare in New York that there weren’t enough plants to study why it is in decline. The Van Eck lab used tissue culture techniques to multiply the plant.
Park honors his father’s legacy through his BTI board service and the Triad Foundation’s Plants and Human Health grant program.
Jander lab members investigate the chemical defenses that young corn plants use to fight off simultaneous attacks from hungry insects.
