Alpha-synuclein, while infamous in its role in Parkinson's disease, lacks a distinct biological function. Join us in exploring how this chaotic, disordered protein potentially serves as a molecular traffic cop for organelles within the neuron.
Among the most unmistakable and fascinating dinosaurs were the Thyreophorans - literally “shield bearers” - the armored dinosaurs. Covered in an array of plates, spikes, ridges, and more, these animals have long been understood as being covered with a stiff, bony armor. Our understanding of dinosaur amor fundamentally changed in 2017 with the description of Borealopelta markmitchelli.
Charlotte Chang’s research focuses on social-ecological systems to improve conservation science and practice. Research in the Chang lab examines how different stakeholders interact with the environment, ranging from digital conservation constituencies in different countries to illicit wildlife hunting to managing agroforests to better support habitat specialist taxa. Projects in the lab focus on work with local community leaders, environmental practitioners, and academic colleagues to advance conservation research and application.
Monarch butterflies are well-known for their spectacular migration from North America to Mexico, and for their reliance on milkweeds as their larval host plants. I will present on our research to show how parasitism affects monarch migration, and how monarchs may use medicinal milkweeds to fight their infections.
Dr. Christine Sprunger is an Associate Professor of Soil Health at Michigan State University and is currently serving as Interim Associate Director at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS). Dr. Sprunger is a faculty member in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences and is based at KBS. Dr. Sprunger is also a member of MSU’s Plant Resilience Institute. Her research focuses on the intersection of agriculture and the environment, where she investigates how climate change impacts crop production, nutrient cycling, soil food webs, and rhizosphere dynamics.
Dr. Noorsher (Noor) Ahmed’s research focuses on harnessing high-content optofluidic robotics and computer vision to investigate the flow of genetic information within cells at genome scale. By utilizing spatial transcriptomics and developing custom computer vision software, Noor aims to reveal insights into how the localization of RNA and protein molecules influence cellular decision making. During his PhD, Noor contributed to Bento and the scverse software ecosystem for single-cell genomics, and trained one of the fastest cell segmentation AI models in the field.