DOCSLIB.ORG

Pioneers in Agriculture Mariangela Hungria and Li Jiayang Share the Prestigious TWAS-Lenovo Science Award

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Pioneers in Agriculture Mariangela Hungria and Li Jiayang Share the Prestigious TWAS-Lenovo Science Award Year 2020 - Vol. 32 - No.4 NEWSLETTER A PUBLICATION OF THE WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Pioneers in agriculture Mariangela Hungria and Li Jiayang share the prestigious TWAS-Lenovo Science Award PUBLISHED WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE KUWAIT FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCES TWAS Visiting Scientists Share your expertise Advance science in the developing world Build partnerships that last a lifetime www.twas.org/opportunities/visiting-scientist CONTENTS 12 2 Editorial: The power of recognition The awards TWAS announced in 2020 celebrated a year of firsts 3 In the news COVID-19 affects organ donations SPECIAL SECTION: LENOVO AWARD CO-WINNERS 4 Science to improve farmers’ lives 16 Lenovo Science Award winner Mariangela Hungria helped introduce environment-friendly agricultural practices in Brazil Top: TWAS-Mohammad A. Hamdan Award winner Abdon 8 Bigger yields, better grains Atangana speaking at Jaipur Chinese scientist Li Jiayang won the Lenovo Science Award for his research Engineering College and Research Centre University on the genetics of rice plants in Jaipur, India, in 2018. Above: TWAS-Samira Omar Award winner Badabate Diwediga 12 Abdon Atangana wins new Hamdan Award (left) conducting on-site The Cameroonian’s work in applied mathematics found use by scientists awareness raising meetings across many fields on land management practices in Togo. (Photos provided) 14 Ajith Parameswaran wins new CAS Award Cover picture: The two The Indian astrophysicist has made important contributions to the understanding co-winners of the 2020 of gravitational waves TWAS-Lenovo Science Award, Mariangela Hungria (left) and Li Jiayang. 16 Badabate Diwediga wins Omar Award The Togolese scientist teaches farmers methods for sustainable land conservation Kenyan immunologist Faith 18 Raoelina Andriambololona wins Rao Award Osier (second from right) teaching The Malagasy physicist urges students to use self-motivation to build resilience students as part of the South- in hardships South Malaria Antigen Research Partnership (SMART). (Credit: James Tuju/Kennedy Mwai) 20 Basant Giri wins Atta-ur-Rahman Award The Nepali scientist is developing easy-to-use tests for screening pesticides, 22 poor-quality drugs, and other chemical hazards 22 Faith Osier wins Abdool Karim Award The Kenyan immunologist has spent her career making strides towards a malaria vaccine 24 People, places & events TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 32 No. 4, 2020 1 EDITORIAL THE POWER OF RECOGNITION wards play an important part in how TWAS This was also the first year of the TWAS-CAS Arecognizes excellence in science. Both the Young Scientist Award for Frontier Science. Academy and the awardees benefit from such Offered in partnership with the Chinese Academy recognition: on the one side, an institution that of Sciences and the Lenovo company, the award motivates scientists attracts the best talents; recognizes achievements in physical sciences on the other, prizes play an important role in by scientists no older than 45 who live and work the development of the awardees’ careers. An in a developing country. The 2020 award went award is almost like a badge recognizing the to Ajith Parameswaran, an astrophysicist from achievement(s) of a scientist both within her/his Bengaluru, India. community and worldwide. The 2020 TWAS-Samira Omar Innovation For the first time in 2020, the TWAS-Lenovo for Sustainability Award—named after TWAS Science Award went to two winners, which only Fellow Samira Omar Asem—went to Togolese shows the very high level of candidates: Brazilian environmental scientist Badabate Diwediga. soil microbiologist Mariangela Hungria and The other prizes administered by TWAS in Raffaella De Lia, Chinese agricultural researcher Li Jiayang. Now 2020 were: the C.N.R. Rao Award, designed TWAS Editor & Public in its seventh edition, the award is arguably the to honour TWAS Fellows from least developed Information Officer most prestigious honour given to scientists from countries; the Atta-ur-Rahman Award in the developing world in various fields of science. chemistry; the Abdool Karim Award in The 2020 edition recognized achievements in biological sciences, given to female scientists agricultual sciences. in low-income African countries; and the Siwei In 2020 also, the first edition of the TWAS- Cheng Award, bestowed to economic scientists Mohammad A. Hamdan Award took place. It was who have been living and working in a developing established to honour esteemed mathematician country for at least 10 years. Mohammad Ahmad Hamdan of Jordan, who was Awards live on with the receivers as a reminder TWAS Vice-President for the Arab region at the of their achievements long after the monetary time of his passing, in February. A few months gifts are spent. TWAS awards, in particular, before, Hamdan had permanently linked his honour and recognize achievements that might name to the Academy’s, endowing a large sum otherwise go overlooked. Recognition aside, to establish an award in his name and “clearly however, the very fact of being nominated reflect[ing] his true commitment to the cause for an award may bring career benefits. The and mission of TWAS in sustaining scientific process of substantiating an award nomination capacity building in the developing world,” prompts to reflect on one’s skills and progress, as TWAS Executive Director Romain Murenzi may encourage to fill gaps in one’s resumé, and pointed out. seek out advice. In the end, all are winners: the The biennial award is a recognition of awardees, the nominees and the institutions outstanding work in pure and applied offering the awards. The ultimate winner, mathematics, probability or statistics, carried however, is science, particularly when science out by a scientist working and living in Africa succeeds to emerge and triumph in the context or the Arab region. It went to Abdon Atangana, of developing countries. a Cameroonian applied mathematician at the Institute for Groundwater Studies in Raffaella De Lia Bloemfontein, South Africa. Editor & Public Information Officer 2 TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 32 No. 4, 2020 WORLD NEWS TWAS NEWSLETTER Published quarterly by The World Academy Prior to the pandemic, less than 10 per cent of Sciences for the of the global need for organ donations was advancement of science IN THE NEWS in developing countries met every year, a World Health Organization with the support of spokesperson said. the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement SciDev.Net: of Sciences (KFAS). www.bit.do/COVIDTrafficking ICTP Campus Mixed messages Strada Costiera 11 on ‘pay-to-publish’ system 34151 Trieste, Italy tel: +39 040 2240327 A recent survey revealed that the majority of Space station makes e-mail: [email protected] nearly 1,000 academic researchers in South for unique stem cell lab website: www.twas.org Africa are in favour of keeping a government A team of researchers sent 250 test tubes TWAS COUNCIL scheme that offers cash rewards for publishing of carefully prepared human stem cells to the President research papers in accredited journals, even International Space Station (ISS). It wanted Mohamed H.A. Hassan though they agree that this practice can to study how the near-weightless environment Immediate Past President Bai Chunli promote unethical practices. of the ISS affects these building-block cells. Vice-Presidents The publication-incentive programme—which Scientists hope that studying the properties Moctar Toure awards payments when researchers publish in low Earth orbit might help answer some Dorairajan Balasubramanian Khatijah M. Yusoff journal articles, conference proceedings and sensitive questions. This will, in turn, guide Manuel Limonta-Vidal book chapters—is the country’s largest single researchers that are developing better stem Secretary-General pool of research funding. cell therapies. Luiz Davidovich Nature News: Washington Post: Treasurer Yang Wei www.bit.do/PayToPublish www.bit.do/StemCellISS Council Members Roseanne Diab Abdel Nasser Tawfik Mohammad Shamsher Ali China lands its Moon rocks Bishal Nath Upreti in Inner Mongolia Mahabir Prashad Gupta China’s Chang’e-5 mission made a triumphant Ex-officio Council Member Atish Dabholkar return last 16 December, landing on the dark frozen plains of Inner Mongolia, Chinese state Executive Director Romain Murenzi media reported. The capsule’s return marks Editor & Public Information the first time China has collected rocks from Officer the Moon. Raffaella De Lia The three-week-long mission was the most Public Information Office Francesca Pettoello complicated in the history of China’s robotic Cristina Serra space exploration programme, involving a lunar Dust may have been the cause Sean Treacy landing, scooping and drilling, and then an of big star’s dimming Design & Art Direction Rado Jagodic, Studio Link, ascent and rendezvous with an orbiter, which In late 2019, the bright star Betelgeuse Trieste, Italy carried the samples back to Earth. suddenly dimmed for no apparent reason. Printing Science Magazine: Some scientists speculated that Betelgeuse Grafica Goriziana, www.bit.do/ChinaMoonRocks Gorizia, Italy was about to explode in a brilliant supernova that would outshine the full moon. Unless otherwise indicated, That is why, when the star started acting the text is written by the editors and may be COVID-19 affects organ donations strangely, some Betelgeuse researchers aimed reproduced freely with due Far fewer organ transplants were performed their telescope at the dimming giant. Over credit to the source. in late 2020 globally as hospitals closed or the following months, the star returned to its Printed on Fedrigoni diverted resources to treating COVID-19, usual brightness, and the excitement over an Fedrigoni Arena Extra White creating a significant backlog of patients on imminent supernova faded. It turned out a dust Smooth, a paper made with environment-friendly waiting lists. cloud may have been to blame. ECF pure cellulose. Plummeting supplies have only added to an Science News: already increasing global demand for organs. www.bit.do/BigStarDim TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 32 No. 4, 2020 3 LENOVO AWARD CO-WINNER SCIENCE TO IMPROVE FARMERS’ LIVES 4 TWAS Newsletter, Vol.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 2014 (Pdf 3.87
    C A A S ANNUAL REPORT 2 14 Message from the President 2014 was a fruitful year for the Chinese Academy nearly 2,000 research- of Agricultural Sciences, with marked improvements ers from 12 CAAS insti- in innovation, team building and its management tutes and 210 of its part- system. The academy made great strides in the im- ners involved. Through plementation of its Agricultural Science and Tech- the new production nology Innovation Program and achieved major mode they are explor- breakthroughs in genomics research and innovative ing, six kinds of crops technology integration. With a growing number of all saw a more than research papers published in top international aca- 10 percent growth in demic journals, new plant and animal varieties ap- yearly yield — with the proved, invention patents granted and national tech- highest up 44.7 percent — and generated more 500 nology awards presented, CAAS sharpened its edge yuan ($81) per mu (0.07 hectares) than before. CAAS in technology services and the industrialization of its signed 34 key agreements on strategic partnerships research findings — this has enabled it to provide in- with top international research institutes, hosted or creasingly strong technological support for the coun- organized 49 international academic conferences, try’s food security and rural economic development. built five new international joint labs and secured 245 Last year witnessed an increase in grain yield in various projects for international cooperation. China for the 11th consecutive year. The progress in All in all, 2014 was a year in which CAAS made agricultural technology contributed substantially to significant progress toward its goal of being a top the growth, up to 56 percent and CAAS, as China’s world-class agricultural institution.
    [Show full text]
  • Caas Annual Report
    CAAS ANNUAL REPORT CAAS ANNUAL REPORT 2 0 1 5 Message from the President The year 2015 is a crucial year for deepening reform in China. It has witnessed the successful conclusion of China’s 12th Five-Year Plan and is the scoping year for the upcoming 13th Five-Year Plan. In this important conjunction, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) faithfully adhered to its “顶天立地”（“顶天立地” is a Chinese idiom which means to reach the heavens while keeping the feet on the ground）development strategy, and made significant progress in all-round way. Remarkable gains have been achieved in talent pool, international cooperation and infrastructure construction. Capacity in science and technology innovation, tech- nology transfer, and research infrastructure has kept on improving. Building on the achievements in the past five years, CAAS has come up with its new targets and goals, and envisions greater excellence in the years to come. In 2015, to fulfill the mission of national team for agricultural research, CAAS has rolled out the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIP) in a full-fledged way. It is delightful for us to harvest 228 research achievements, 6 of which were awarded by the State Council. The number of papers published in the top internation- al journals such as Nature and Science was doubled over last year. CAAS has played a leading role in the construction of the National Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Alliance and launched 3 collaborative innovation initiatives, namely the heavy metal pollution control in southern China, black soil protection in northeast China, water saving and grain production ensuring in north China.
    [Show full text]
  • NL 62 Final.Indd
    No. 62, June, 2005 The Global Change NewsLetter is the quarterly newsletter of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). IGBP is a pro- gramme of global change research, sponsored by the International Council for Science. Compliant with Nordic www.igbp.net Ecolabelling criteria. The so-called Anthropocene is generally considered to have began in the mid-18th century with the start of the 80 year Industrial China and Revolution in Great Britain, which trans- formed a largely agricultural rural population into an urban society supported by industrial factories. This industrialisation spread across Global much of Europe and North America during the 19th century and through other nations such as Russia during the first half of the Change 20th century. This process is now transform- ing China, but on a scale far larger than 200 years ago and at a much faster rate. The scale and pace of industrialisation and urbanisation in China is of course leading to rapid economic and social change, but is also having substantial environmental effects both regionally and globally. Water shortages, desertification, greenhouse gas emissions, particulate air pollution, and elevated sedi- ment and nutrient fluxes to the coastal seas are but some of the side effects of the rapid growth. These and other changes are inter- acting with consequent climate and oceanic effects that are likely to reverberate through- out the Earth System. In this issue of the Global Change Newslet- ter we present a series of articles highlight- ing aspects of current global environmental change research in China. These articles are based on presentations made at a workshop in Beijing, February 2005, on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the SC-IGBP.
    [Show full text]
  • 56 Annual Maize Genetics Conference
    56th Annual Maize Genetics Conference Program and Abstracts March 13 – March 16, 2014 Beijing, China This conference received financial support from: National Science Foundation Monsanto DuPont Pioneer Dow AgroSciences Syngenta BASF Plant Science KWS Biogemma AgReliant Beijing BerryGenomics Co.,Ltd. State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology China Golden Marker（Beijing）Biotech Co.,ltd. We thank these contributors for their generosity! Table of Contents Cover Page ................................................................................................................... i Contributors ................................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... iii General Information ..................................................................................................... iv Hotel Information ......................................................................................................... v Maps ............................................................................................................................. vi Useful Links .................................................................................................................. xii Program / Schedule ...................................................................................................... 1 List of Posters .............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • July 12, 2011, Vol. 58 No. 1
    UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Tuesday July 12, 2011 Volume 58 Number 1 www.upenn.edu/almanac Additional $2.5 Million for Penn $7.5 Million Gift for Korean Studies Program Law’s Public Interest Programs The University of Pennsylvania announced tunities for undergradu- The University of Pennsylvania Law School two gifts totaling $7.5 million that will greatly ate as well as graduate has received a $2.5 million gift from Robert Toll, enhance its Korean Studies Program, one of the students from around the L’66, and Jane Toll, GSE’66, which will enable oldest of its kind in North America. University. the School to expand its existing public inter- Alumnus James Joo-Jin Kim (W’59, G’61, “This new gift will est programs GR’63) has given $6 million to strengthen the ensure that an under- by support- Korean Studies Program, to be renamed the standing and apprecia- ing an array James Joo-Jin Kim Program in Korean Studies. tion of Korea is woven of student The University also announced an additional, into the fabric of Penn’s pro bono anonymous $1.5 million gift from the family of academic life and expose initiatives another Penn alumnus to establish the Moon Fam- an increasingly wider au- that have ily Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Korean Studies. dience of students to Ko- James Kim doubled President Amy Gutmann announced the gifts rea,” said Dean Rebecca in the past at a gathering of Penn alumni in Seoul. “Because Bushnell of Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences. three years, the Republic of Korea is such an important glob- The Republic of Korea represents the third- guarantee- al presence, I am especially pleased to be able to largest country of origin for international stu- ing summer Jane and Robert Toll announce this gift in Seoul to our many alum- dents at Penn—comprising roughly 11 percent funding to ni,” said Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • 2021 CELA Proceedings
    CELA 2021 100 + 1 | RESILIENCE 2021 Conference Proceedings March 17-19, 2021 100 + 1 | RESILIENCE Conference Proceedings: Abstracts of Presented Papers CELA 2021 March 17 – March 19, 2021 Published by The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture https://www.thecela.org 110 Horizon Dr Suite 210 Raleigh, North Carolina 27615 Edited by Jennifer Tse, CELA Communications Coordinator Copyright © 2021 all rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Notice of Rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. Notice of Liability The information in this book is distributed as an “as is” basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author or The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by any text contained in this book. The authors are solely responsible for the content of these technical presentations. The content does not necessarily reflect the official position of The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. Citation Guidelines Author name, Initials. (2021, March 17-19). Paper Title [Conference presentation abstract]. 2021 CELA 100 + 1 | RESILENCE Conference. https://thecela.org/past-conferences/. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS STANDING COMMITTEE ON CONFERENCE AND EVENTS Ashley Steffens, Chair & Immediate Past President [email protected] Galen D. Newman, President-Elect [email protected] Taner R.
    [Show full text]
  • Emmanuelle Charpentier Meet the Scientist Interviews Tara
    SUMMER 2015 ISSUE 30 Tara Oceans Expedition unveils scientific results pageS 8 – 9 EMBO Members 2015 Interview Meet the scientist Emmanuelle EMBO Member interviews Charpentier pageS 4 – 5 pageS 13 News EMBO Gold Medallists meet in Feature EMBO Member Mike Jetten has News Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência Singapore for scientific symposium been searching for anaerobic bacteria to offers germ-free mice for scientific research help improve the environment and health PAGE 2 – 3 PAGE 7 PAGE 10 www.embo.org NEWS © Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine EMBO Gold Medallists meet in Left to right: Christof Niehrs, Erwin Wagner, Richard Singapore Treisman, Jiří Friml, James Briscoe, Sophie Martin, Matthew Freeman, Carl-Henrik Heldin, Dirk Görlich The EMBO Gold Medallist Symposium 2015 took place at the Biopolis in Singapore over three days from 11–13 May. More than 450 scientists and researchers converged on the Matrix Building’s Breakthrough & Discovery Theatrette to hear talks from previous winners of the EMBO Gold Medal. The event was jointly organized by LKCMedicine and decades, including a presentation from the 1990 A*STAR. Gold Medal winner Professor Erwin Wagner from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO). Wagner is currently Director of the newly founded BBVA Foundation – CNIO Cancer KCMedicine Vice-Dean for Research contributions to the life sciences and I am excited Cell Biology Programme as well as Head of the Professor Philip Ingham FRS and Maria to learn about the progress they have made in Genes, Development and Disease Group at the LLeptin, Director of EMBO, welcomed their research,” said Leptin. She also outlined CNIO.
    [Show full text]
  • Xiong Jinsong
    Xiong Jinsong -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Areas of Research Plant disease resistance Contact Information Office location: Room B4014 Life Sciences Building (Mailing Address: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University No.1 Weigang, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210095, China) Lab location ： Room B4018 Life Sciences Building Email address： [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- Research Interests Plant disease resistance Our research mainly focuses on functional genomics by the use of strawberry as model system. We are particularly interested in the following aspect of strawberry: Disease resistance Plants are sessile organisms that are constantly under the threaten of potential virulent microbes. Among these microbes, Botrytis cinerea, the cause of grey mold disease, is one of the most disastrous pathogenic fungus to strawberry. However, the defense mechanisms of strawberry to B. cinerea are largely unknown. We utilize the approaches of molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics to identification and characterization key genes that play roles in disease resistance, to dissect the molecular
    [Show full text]
  • The EMBO Pocket Directory 2018
    The EMBO Pocket Directory EMBO MEMBERS | EMBO ASSOCIATE MEMBERS | EMBO YOUNG INVESTIGATORS The EMBO Pocket Directory 2018 EMBO Members EMBO Associate Members EMBO Young Investigators This booklet is a condensed version of The EMBO Directory 2018. It lists 1,931 current EMBO Members, EMBO Associate Members, and EMBO Young Investigators by (i) their name; (ii) their association with broad scientific subject areas; (iii) an index of self-assigned keywords; and (iv) their current country and city of residence. A searchable database with specific keywords is available online at people.embo.org © 2018 by EMBO. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of EMBO. EDITORIAL DEADLINE 15 July 2018 EDITOR | TYPESETTING Volker Wiersdorff DATA COLLECTION AND CURATION Larisa Bulgatova, Volker Wiersdorff PRINT MERA Print & Design Sandhausen, Germany FULL LIST city, country |EMBOfunctionskeywords city, ALPHABETICAL LIST ALPHABETICAL COUNTRIES INDEX KEYWORD EMBO AREAS SUBJECT EMBO COUNTRIES KEYWORDS SUBJECT AREAS FULL LIST ALPHABETICAL LIST city, country | EMBO functions | keywords Abbreviations EMBO 2018 EMBO Member elected in 2018 Assoc 2018 EMBO Associate Member elected in 2018 YIP 2018 EMBO Young Investigator since 2018 CouC Course Committee EbiC E-Biosci Committee EefC East European Fellowships Committee EEsC EMBO | EMBL Symposia Committee FelC Fellowship Committee GexC Global Exchange Committee
    [Show full text]
  • Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture
    BIOTECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 2006 AND BEYOND Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture 2006 and Beyond Proceedings of the 11th IAPTC&B Congress, August 31- 18, 2006 Beijing, China Edited by Zhihong Xu Peking University, China Jiayang Li Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Yongbiao Xue Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China and Weicai Yang Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-1-4020-6634-4 (HB) ISBN 978-1-4020-6635-1 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2007 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. CONTENTS 2006 Science and Technology Exhibitors…............………………….…xix Opening Speech by Zhihong Xu, President of the IAPTC&B..………....xxi PLENARY LECTURES Plant Biotechnology and Crop Improvement in China……………………3 Zhihong Xu Facing the Future with Pharmaceuticals from Plants…………………….13 Rainer Fischer, Richard M. Twyman, Stephan Hellwig, Jürgen Drossard, and Stefan Schillberg Embryogenesis In Vitro…………………………………………………..35 Jim M. Dunwell Multigene Strategies for Engineering the Phytoremediation of Mercury and Arsenic…………………………………………………..49 Richard B.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE a Cell Wall Fragment Affects Ethylene Response in Arabidopsis a Dissertation Submitted In
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE A Cell Wall Fragment Affects Ethylene Response in Arabidopsis A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology by Ryan Caleb Schiefelbein September 2020 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Paul Larsen, Chairperson Dr. Meng Chen Dr. Gregory Alan Barding Copyright by Ryan Caleb Schiefelbein 2020 The Dissertation of Ryan Caleb Schiefelbein is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A Cell Wall Fragment Affects Ethylene Response in Arabidopsis by Ryan Caleb Schiefelbein Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of California, Riverside, September 2020 Dr. Paul Larsen, Chairperson The plant hormone ethylene is a simple alkene which regulates germination, growth, stress responses, pathogen response, tissue development, fruit ripening, and senescence in plants. In an effort to identify new factors that relate to how plants respond to ethylene, an Arabidopsis thaliana mutagenesis screen revealed a mutation that is hypersensitive to ethylene. The mutation that gave rise to this aberrant ethylene response phenotype was found to caused by a new pmr6 allele. PMR6 (POWDERY MILDEW RESISTANT 6) encodes a putative pectate lyase that was first identified for pmr6 plants being unable to support powdery mildew growth, presumably by effecting the cell wall composition. The identification of PMR6 as a factor involved in ethylene signaling suggested a novel role and the subsequent characterization of this new pmr6-6 allele utilized known ethylene mutants to characterize the aberrant ethylene response. While pmr6-6 plants do produce additional ethylene, ethylene responses are promoted iv independent of ethylene binding to the receptors in pmr6-6 plants.
    [Show full text]
  • Detlef Weigel the EMBO Meeting 2015 Making the Killer Mosquitoes Kill Themselves
    AUTUMN 2015 ISSUE 31 Emerging Biotechnologies Making the killer mosquitoes kill themselves page 7 Interview The EMBO Detlef Meeting 2015 Weigel pages 4 – 5 page 3 Exploring Quotas in Academia Exploring Quotas Focus on Women in Science News iBG-izmir: the largest public In perspective Short history of the EMBO Laboratory Management Course research investment in the history of “Arolla workshops” – a series of for Female Leaders in Science and new Turkey – with strong EMBO ties EMBO workshops held since 1972 report on gender quotas in academia PAGE 2 PAGE 6 PAGE 9 www.embo.org FOCUS ON WOMEN IN SCIENCE How to become an accomplished lab leader Third EMBO Laboratory Management Course for Female Leaders in Science Some take-home messages: ©EMBL photolab | Marietta Schupp ➔➔ Awareness is the first step toward change MBO has offered more than 100 Laboratory confident way, how to deal with superiors and Management Courses since their launch in how to reach the people in the lab,” comments ➔➔ Know your values and strengths and be E2005. The courses are designed for post- co-trainer Damjana Kastelic, who is also a scien- clear in what you want doctoral researchers and group leaders. The one tist at the German Cancer Research Center. ➔➔ Understand what you can influence (and that took place in mid-October near Heidelberg The course started with exercises on disman- what not) – either personally or at work addressed a more specific audience. Only female tling stereotypes and contrasting them with real- scientists were targeted this time. It was the ity. This module was followed by a discussion ➔➔ Be aware of hidden biases third Laboratory Management Course for Female about the existence of hidden biases, to which ➔➔ Personality often explains behaviour Leaders in Science since 2013.
    [Show full text]