“Please join me in congratulating Gary Stacey, LSC Investigator and Curator’s Distinguished Professor of Plant Sciences, for the 2019 UM System’s President’s Award for Sustained Career Excellence! Gary is well-known internationally for his work on bacterial nitrogen fixation, plant-microbe interactions, and soybean genomics. More recently, he has been the first to identify plant ATP receptors, which increased the visibility of his program even more. This is also a success for the LSC, since it was the proximity of Gary Weisman’s expertise on mammalian ATP receptors that accelerated Gary Stacey’s research.”

Walter Gassmann, Interim Director Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri

President’s Award for Sustained Career Excellence

Gary Stacey, Curator’s Distinguished Professor of Plant Sciences, MU Bond Life Sciences Center

Professor Stacey is a truly outstanding faculty member whose impact is felt throughout the UM System, as well as on national and international stages. He has authored and co-authored 260 peer-reviewed research articles, 79 book chapters, and is currently supported by over $8 million in grants from external funding bodies, including the NSF and NIH. Recently, he was elected a Fellow to the National Academy of Inventors and holds several patents based on his research. He is considered a pioneer in his field, which concerns the mutually beneficial interaction between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and soybeans. His leadership in the research community, including the American Society of Plant Biologists, has immeasurably increased the visibility of plant research in Missouri. His proven track record makes him a highly sought after graduate and post-doctoral mentor. Across the world, he is recognized as a leader and consensus-builder, including his critical work in a collaboration between plant biologists at MU and Gyeongsang National University in Jinju, South Korea. Dr. Stacey’s achievements have brought distinction and visibility to the UM System and the state of Missouri.

You can find more about this award here:

Winners of 2019 UM system presidents awards announced

Stacey named National Academy of Inventors Fellow

By Roger Meissen, Bond LSC

Science and invention are both about discovering the possibilities in something.

Those possibilities can create something new that improves the lives of people and advances our understanding of the world.

It’s no surprise that Gary Stacey, a Bond Life Sciences Center primary investigator, is being recognized this year as one of 148 academic fellows by the National Academy of Inventors.

“I am very proud to welcome another class of outstanding NAI Fellows, whose collective achievements have helped shape the future and who each day work to improve our world,” said Paul R. Sanberg, President of the NAI. “Each of these new NAI Fellows embodies the Academy’s mission through their dedication, creativity, and inventive spirit. I look forward to working collaboratively with the new NAI Fellows in growing a global culture of innovation.”

Stacey has spent years focused on the basic science behind biological phenomena including the relationship between bacteria and the roots of nitrogen-fixing plants. His work has explored the specifics of how plants can benefit from interacting with particular bacterium like Bradyrhizobium japonicum.

“This bacterium infects the roots of soybean and established a beneficial, nitrogen-fixing symbiosis,” said Stacey, a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Plant Science in MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “The two patents that describe these discoveries formed the basis for the Optimize product, which is now sold by Novozymes.”

When seeds of soybeans or other legumes are treated with Optimize, it encourages what’s natural by giving the future plant the opportunity to build a beneficial relationship with the bacterium. The bacterium infects the roots and creates nodules that “fix” atmospheric nitrogen, providing food for the plant that replaces some need for fertilizer. This improves plant growth and yield in an environmentally-friendly way and leaves us in a better position to feed the world in a sustainable fashion.

While his research has a significant potential economic plus side, Stacey points out that understanding the basic mechanisms underpinning how these plants and bacteria interact.

“Our goals are not to develop intellectual property or products, however, we remain cognizant of any possible applications of our research,” he said. “Beyond the exhilaration of making a basic discovery, it is also gratifying when you see the result of your labors being put to practical use as things move from discovery, through translation to ultimate application. I have been lucky in my career to be able to traverse this full spectrum of research.”

A natural curiosity connects the diverse scientists behind discoveries. That trait started young for Stacey.

“You could see signs of this when I was a small boy constantly turning over rocks just to see what was underneath. In a way, with my research, I continue to ‘turn over rocks’ for the sole purpose of just knowing what is hidden below,” Stacey said. “Although I must on many occasions justify my research in the context of impact or application, the truth is I do science for the sole purpose of satisfying my curiosity, and studies have confirmed that curiosity-driven research is the most effective at making major discoveries and exhibits a much higher return on investment.”

With 13 patents to his name, Stacey’s curiosity has allowed his science to thrive at MU.

“A research lab at a major university is really equivalent to a small business — with 20 employees my lab would qualify in the upper 50 percent of all small businesses in Missouri — and I encounter many of the same issues that any small business would have,” Stacey said. “I relish the challenge of being a scientist in which you are tested in so many ways…as an innovator, organizer, manager, communicator, and entrepreneur.”

Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. There are now over 1,000 NAI Fellows, representing more than 250 research universities and government and non-profit research institutes. The 2018 Fellows are named inventors on nearly 4,000 issued U.S. patents.

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About the National Academy of Inventors
The National Academy of Inventors is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. It was founded in 2010 at the University of South Florida to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The NAI publishes the multidisciplinary journal, Technology & Innovation. www.academyofinventors.org

The 2018 NAI Fellows will be highlighted with a full page announcement in the Jan. 25, 2019 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education and in upcoming issues of Technology & Innovation. 

The complete list of NAI Fellows is available on the NAI website.

Prof. Stacey given an Appreciation Award by the Department of Energy, Office of Science.

Dr. Stephen Brinkley (on the right), Deputy Director for Science Programs, DOE, Office of Science, presents Dr. Gary Stacey (on the left) the Appreciation Award.

October 19, 2018. Dr. Stephen Binkley, Deputy Director for Science Programs, DOE, Office of Science presented an Appreciation Award to Dr. Stacey. The text of the award read as follows:  “Appreciation award presented to Gary Stacey in grateful recognition of your contributions over ten years on the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC), including serving as chairman for nine years. Your dedication has led to programmatic reviews and advisory reports that inform long-term strategies for federal investments in research and scientific user facilities. Your distinguished service to the Department of Energy’s Office of Science has embodied the interests of the Biological and Environmental Research community in serving the Department’s mission and the scientific enterprise.”

Unexpected Complexity: A Three-dimensional Look into Plant Root Relationships with Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria

Original source: https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/emslweb/news/unexpected-complexity-three-dimensional-look-plant-root-relationships-nitrogen-fixing-bacteria.

Scientists develop a three-dimensional molecular map of the distribution of bacterial metabolites in root nodules to aid sustainable agriculture.

The Science

By fixing atmospheric nitrogen, some bacteria are able to help plants like beans, peas, and clovers thrive. How? A recent study shows that the traditional view of this symbiotic relationship does not capture the entire picture. Scientists have resolved a three-dimensional map of the metabolic products of bacteria found in plant root nodules. This spatial perspective could help unravel the overall complexity of these highly interdependent organisms.

The Impact

As nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soil interact with legumes like soybeans, nodules grow on the roots of the plant. In these nodules, bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into molecules the plants need to grow. Understanding the metabolic processes occurring within these nodules is essential to develop more sustainable agricultural practices for food crops used all over the world.

Summary

Previous studies led scientists to believe the distribution of bacterially-derived metabolic by-products within the nodules was uniform. Scientists from EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility, joined with colleagues at the University of Missouri and the George Washington University to dig deep into the metabolic structure of soybean root nodules. They used one of EMSL’s high-field Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometers to visualize the array of metabolites within the nodules. Of the approximately 140 regulating substances identified, some were located together in distinct anatomical compartments. A few, however, were more unevenly distributed throughout the middle of the nodule, where the bacteria reside. This discovery points to a previously unrecognized biochemical complexity in the nodules that are key for symbiotic plant-microbe interactions. Armed with this understanding, scientists can suggest ways to optimize crop production and sustainability.

PI Contact

Christopher Anderton
EMSL
Christopher.Anderton@pnnl.gov

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science (Office of Biological and Environmental Research), including support of the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a DOE Office of Science User Facility; the U.S. Department of Energy’s Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship; and the National Science Foundation Plant Genome Program.

Publication

D. Veličković, B.J. Agtuca, S.A. Stopka, A. Vertes, D.W. Koppenaal, L. Paša-Tolić, G. Stacey, and C.R. Anderton. “Observed metabolic asymmetry within soybean root nodules reflects unexpected complexity in rhizobacteria-legume metabolite exchange.” The ISME Journal (2018). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0188-8

Ten lessons to remember when hosting a conference

Gary Stacey

Lesson 1. Maximize interactions among people. For example, it is great if you can manage to have everyone eat together. This way people can find each other and talk. Make sure that there is space in the poster sessions and hallways for people to interact. Have social gatherings were people can interact. A meeting is an excuse for people to interact. Organizers sometimes concentrate so hard on the formal program that they forget the real reason that we have meetings.

Lesson 2. No matter how great the meeting everyone will remember and talk about the one or two things that went wrong. Unfortunately, this is human nature. Therefore, as an organizer, you need to try to make sure that the bad things are minor. The meeting rooms need to be people friendly…. easy to hear and see the screen, not too hot or too cold, etc. The food needs to be great. The poster room needs to be spacious, etc, etc. If your only problem is that a bus was late or a projector jammed then people will talk about this but it is clearly minor.

Lesson 3. Don’t economize on the things that matter. For example, it is better to cut your reimbursement to speakers than to rent inferior poster boards or purchase cheap, poor quality food. A few speakers may complain if you don’t pay all of their expenses but everyone will see the poor poster boards and the lousy food.

Lesson 4. People do not like to walk between buildings to get to different sessions, poster rooms, etc. If you can manage it, choose a venue where everything can be housed under one roof or, at least, very close to one another.

Lesson 5. Don’t choose politics over substance when designing your scientific program. You see this all the time when the program is made up of all the old names with very few young people. Moreover, the old names, although politically powerful, really don’t have anything new to say. Meetings are expensive to organize and are expensive to attend. No one wants to spend a great deal of money to go and hear a stale scientific program. Clearly, politics need to be served but one can do this in other ways. For instance, put the political heavies in as session chairpersons or
have them give a plenary talk. Try to fill your program with the people that are doing the most exciting work. (Having said this, however, I think it is right and proper to highlight at least a few local folks. After all one reason to host a meeting is to introduce local research to a broader audience. These scientists are often overlooked in International meetings and they deserve their moment in the spotlight).

Lesson 6. Don’t be afraid to put your personal stamp on the meeting. For example, at the ISMPMI meeting that I organized, I put in a session on emerging research areas. This is something that I was personally interested in and I wanted to try to expand the meeting beyond its traditional boundaries. I don’t know how people felt about this but I certainly enjoyed it. You are doing the work, so do something that means something to you and that you will enjoy.

Lesson 7. Make the meeting Local! Out of town visitors, especially foreign, are coming not only for the meeting but to sample your locale (country). Don’t be embarrassed or bashful about introducing some of your local cultures into the meeting. 

Lesson 8. Use the meeting to your personal benefit and that of your colleagues. For example, we often organize meetings here to get the attention of our administrators and to highlight the scientific strengths that we have. Again, you are doing the work so get some benefit from it.

Lesson 9. Don’t do everything yourself. The sign of a good leader is the ability to delegate authority. Enlist the help of others. For example, get help in raising money. I know people that had a nervous breakdown after organizing a meeting. Clearly, an example of someone who did not delegate responsibility. The meetings I have organized were with the help of professional conference staff and an active local organizing committee. Quite frankly, they haven’t been that much of an ordeal. Maybe that is why I have organized so many meetings.

Lesson 10. The budget is the most important! If you can pay all the bills at the end then the meeting was a success!

Katalin Toth, # I am science

A chance encounter brought Katalin Toth to Mizzou.

The postdoctoral fellow, first heard about MU when Gary Stacey visited the University of Munich. Toth heard of a position opening up in his lab. She has now been in the Stacey Lab for six years.

“I knew his work was important and well known,” Toth said. “You can almost directly apply what you find on soybeans to agriculture.”

Science has led Toth from the mountains of Slovakia where she did her masters to Hungary for her Ph.D. and Germany for research. Missouri ended up being the next step in her journey.

Being a foreign postdoc in the lab gives Toth a unique perspective. She has seen two different research environments — one in Europe and the other here —that highlight cultural and experimental differences.

“Here you have a facility core and you have to pay for it,” Toth said. “You have to really consider what you are doing and how you design your experiment. It is actually good because you really have to think about how you use your time in your experiment.”

Toth has always been given opportunities in the labs she has worked at, but as a postdoc, she now has a chance to express her love for science to others.

“As a postdoc here, I get the opportunity to be involved in tasks not related to the everyday life of a researcher,” Toth said. “From organizing outreach activities to promoting plant science, it is important to me that people understand the importance of science.”

Toth’s love for science sprouts from the exploration of soybean research and how it will affect our world and other cultures. Currently, she is studying soybean association with beneficial soil bacteria that help soybeans to better access nutrients such as nitrogen, vital for a crop’s growth.

“There are different bacteria in the soil and I am looking at how the plant’s immune system is responding to the beneficial bacteria.”

Toth’s travels have also opened up her perspective on different culture’s needs.

“I care about the environment and doing something that is useful like this for agriculture, hopefully, will help the environment,” Toth said. “After I saw how local people take care of Amazon while traveling in Peru, for example, I want my research to help improve crops and make an impact on the environment in a different way.”

Toth has done research for 10 years and doesn’t want to stop anytime soon. From long hours at the lab to even weekends of research, Toth is always eager.

“Everyday there is something more exciting,” Toth said.

As busy as she is, Toth has always found time to enjoy her favorite place: outdoors. However, there is only one slight fall back from her move to Missouri.

“I just do not like the hot summers here,” Toth said.

By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC

For more information about decoding science, a science blog from the Bond Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri, please visit: https://decodingscience.missouri.edu/

Hà Dương, #I Am Science

8,124 miles. That’s how far Ph.D. student Ha Duong traveled from home to work in the Stacey Lab at Bond LSC.

Duong came from her home in Vietnam where she studied plant sciences at Hanoi University of Agriculture. A chance encounter brought her to MU.

“Back in my last year of undergrad, a professor from MU came and gave a talk,” Duong said. “I thought about MU. I then received a fellowship then chose here. I got it so it is destiny.”

With some questionable looks from her mother when she first heard of the idea, Duong went for it anyways. Despite a significant culture change from Vietnam to Missouri, Duong is embracing the change as an opportunity to get to know herself better.

“I get to compare these two countries and see the differences,” Duong said. “Which will always be good for me.”

Duong’s love of science stems from hanging out in her father’s material physics lab growing up. Duong did not realize the impact this would have on her until looking back on all the times of being in his lab.

“When you grow up, certain things you do not realize, get to you,” Duong said. “I quite liked the environment, it was quiet and you have your own creativity.”

Years later, Duong is now going into her fifth year as a Ph.D. student. She is trying to find the missing components in the extracellular ATP signaling pathway in plants. ATP is a high-energy molecule typically found inside cells where it stores and supplies the plant with fuel, so it is somewhat surprising that it also has a signaling role outside of the cell.

The Stacey Lab discovered the first extracellular ATP receptor in plants, so now the research is digging more into their discovery. Duong is happy about being around pioneers in plant science and wishes to be a pioneer as well.

“The moment I realized I am into science is thinking about how today I can discover a new thing,” Duong said. “But while it starts with the theories, later it can turn into an even bigger thing and have applications throughout life.”

To Duong, science can be applied from the lab to her home.

“Science means daily life to me,” Duong said. “Science influences the way I am thinking and how I do the simplest thing most effectively. Almost everything around us, we can criticize it using science. I am a practical person so anything you can apply to life is what I like.”

However, Duong emphasizes that science isn’t always as serious as one thinks. She has flexibility and creativity when it comes to her work and being half the equator away from home while studying what she loves makes missing home a little easier.

“I miss home, but not miss miss it,” Duong said. “I have work to do every day, and you need to do what you need to do and finish it. I do miss the food a lot, though.”

By Erica Overfelt | Bond LSC

Beverly and ASPB Conviron Scholars program 2017-2018

Open to exceptional undergraduate and graduate students studying plant biology, the ASPB Conviron Scholars program delivers an experience intended to serve as a foundation for a career in plant science. Applications welcome from any country.  Students who apply to the program must be in good academic standing (verified by their Pl or department head) and must demonstrate a commitment to plant science. For the 2017-2018 program, a total of 21 students were chosen to participate in the ASPB Conviron Scholars program. For more information, please follow the link: https://aspb.org/awards-funding/aspb-awards/aspb-conviron-scholars-program/

I was born in Queens, New York, United States of America and grew up at Holbrook, Long Island, New York. For my bachelor’s degree, I went to State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse. I am currently a 4^th year candidate pursuing a Ph.D. in Plant, Insect and Microbial Sciences with a focus of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics at the University of Missouri-Columbia, U.S.A. As a graduate research assistant in the Legume-Microbe Interactions Laboratory lead by Dr. Gary Stacey, my research interest is on the symbiotic interaction of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in legumes/non-legumes. I am working on a collaborative research project with other colleagues from George Washington University, Washington, DC and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Richland, WA U.S.A. Our project focuses on identifying unique, metabolic biomarkers associated with nitrogen fixation using Laser Ablation – Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LAESI-MS) coupled with the 21 Telsa Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (21 T FTICR). This is a very new application technology that can measure metabolites in fresh, living tissues. The ultimate goal of my project is to use this technology to sample the metabolic content of single, plant cells. This LAESI-MS and 21 T FTICR method holds tremendous potential for use in further studies of plant-microbe interactions, as well as other plant processes.

https://aspb.org/awards-funding/aspb-awards/aspb-conviron-scholars-program/awardees/#toggle-id-2

Beverly Agtuca is a Ph.D. student at the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri. Her research involves detecting the metabolic content of single plant cells associated with nitrogen fixation using Laser Ablation – Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LAESI-MS).

Her mentor was Dr. Aaron Wyman, an associate professor at the Spring Arbor University in Spring Arbor MI.

“We concluded that I would like to apply for a job at a small industry for a few years and then focus on teaching at small colleges with a high emphasis on education and low on research. I got so much support from Dr. Wyman […].”

She interviewed Dr. Cintia Riberio from Monsanto who is in the Emerging Leaders Program, discussing the different roles to work in the industry/company side. She has written an abstract and recorded her presentation on her fascinating research. For her project, she developed an inquiry-based classroom activity called “Garden in a Glove”.

“I see happiness and excitement on children’s faces of all ages when I do scientific demonstrations as a volunteer in the past. However, for this independent project, I wanted to emphasize a demonstration of ‘plant growth and development’, for the children to understand and have fun with plant biology.”

https://blog.aspb.org/aspb-conviron-scholars-program-highlights-of-the-2017-2018-program/

It is always nice to hear good news about former lab members. Recently, Ami A. Patel, a former Ph.D. student in our lab, received a great promotion to become the new supervisor of the Core Sequencing group at the State of Maryland Department of Health – Laboratories. Alumni, let us know when good things happen and we will post them here on our lab site.

We have poster winner, Congratulations Beverly!!!

We are very proud of you, Beverly, a very nice award.

Congratulations!