News - Boyce Thompson Institute

Aug 2019 9

BTI Researchers Discover Compound that Speeds Sexual Development and Decline

Every day, people are exposed to myriad chemicals, both natural and synthetic. Some of these compounds may affect human physical development, but testing them directly on people would be grossly unethical. To get around this dilemma, researchers from Boyce Thompson...

The cover of the August 2019 issue of Nature Chemical Biology, showing adult male (aqua colored) and hermaphrodite (magenta colored) Caenorhabditis elegans. Image: Erin Z. Aprison. Cover Design: Erin Dewalt.

Jul 2019 23

Worm Pheromones Protect Major Crops

Protecting crops from pests and pathogens without using toxic pesticides has been a longtime goal of farmers. Researchers at Boyce Thompson Institute have found that compounds from an unlikely source – microscopic soil roundworms – could achieve this aim. As...

The cover of the May 2019 issue of Journal of Phytopathology shows that soybean plants treated with Ascribe’s lead product (right) were healthier and had higher survival rates compared with untreated seeds (left) when infected with Phytophthora sojae. Photo credit: Aardra Kachroo, University of Kentucky

Jul 2019 10

Cluster Hire Yields Three New Faculty Members

Boyce Thompson Institute is pleased to announce the hiring of three faculty members as part of its new and innovative “cluster hire” approach. Out of 113 applicants, the three people who will join BTI over the next year are: Magdalena (Magda) Julkowska, a...

BTI's most recent faculty hires are, left to right, Magdalena (Magda) Julkowska, Aleksandra (Ola) Skirycz and Andrew Nelson.

Jun 2019 18

BTI Welcomes Summer Student Interns

On June 3, Boyce Thompson Institute welcomed 35 of the country’s brightest undergraduate students from universities around the country to experience the life of a researcher for 10 weeks. Eight more interns from area high schools will join the Institute for seven...

Jun 2019 11

BTI Researchers Discover Interactions Between Plant and Insect-Infecting Viruses

Aphids and the plant viruses they transmit cause billions of dollars in crop damage around the world every year. Researchers in Michelle Heck’s lab at the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Boyce Thompson Institute are examining the relationship at the...

Jun 2019 3

Congratulations to BTI’s PhD Graduates!

We are pleased to announce that seven Boyce Thompson Institute researchers received their PhD degrees during the Cornell University commencement ceremony on May 26. Congratulations to our newest alumni: Mariko Alexander, Heck lab, "Searching for the missing links:...

Pooja, Penelope, and Maro wearing their capes and gowns celebrating their accomplishment by taking a selfie.

May 2019 16

BTI’s Olivia Gomez Places 4th in APS Councilors’ Challenge

The Boyce Thompson Institute is pleased to announce that Olivia Gomez, a third-year undergraduate researcher in Michelle Heck’s lab, has placed fourth in the American Phytopathological Society’s Councilors’ Challenge. "Thank you to my mentor Michelle and to the BTI...

Olivia Gomez, a third-year undergraduate researcher in Michelle Heck’s lab, has placed fourth in the American Phytopathological Society’s Councilors’ Challenge.

May 2019 13

BTI Scientists Create New Genomic Resource for Improving Tomatoes

Tomato breeders have traditionally emphasized traits that improve production, like larger fruits and more fruits per plant. As a result, some traits that improved other important qualities, such as flavor and disease resistance, were lost. Researchers from Boyce...

Zhangjun Fei and James Giovannoni with some tomatoes in a BTI greenhouse.

Apr 2019 30

BTI’s Maria Harrison Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Maria Harrison, William H. Crocker Professor at Boyce Thompson Institute and Adjunct Professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS) at Cornell University, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Harrison is one of 100 new members...

BTI faculty member Maria Harrison, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences on April 30, 2019.

Apr 2019 29

BTI Alumni Share Advice with PhD Students, Post Docs

Graduate students and post docs would be wise to join groups that teach leadership and networking skills, which could help them compete for jobs outside of academia. So say three alumni who recently visited Boyce Thompson Institute for an all-day event organized by...

Name:
Email:
Confirm that you are not a bot. ×

Contact: