Biological, physical and mathematical sciences at Michigan State University
In the current issue of Science, MSU evolutionary biologists demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. The research showed for the first time how the virus called “Lambda” evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that [...]
The same principle that causes a figure skater to spin faster and faster as they draw their arms into their bodies has now been used by researchers at Michigan State University to understand how molecules move energy around following the absorption of light. Conservation of angular momentum is a fundamental property of nature. Astronomers use [...]
Research led by assistant zoology professor Alexander Shingleton has shed new light on why some body parts are more sensitive to environmental change than others, work that could someday lead to better ways of treating a variety of diseases, including Type 2 diabetes. Shingleton is studying the genetics of fruit flies and zeroing in on why [...]
Elena Litchman, associate professor of zoology, will lead a team of researchers through a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s new Dimensions of Biodiversity program to study how microorganisms in Siberia’s Lake Baikal adapt to a changing environment. Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is acknowledged as the world’s largest (by volume) and [...]
The discovery of a new gene is helping scientists envision more-efficient molecular factories of the future. A team of researchers, led by Katherine Osteryoung, MSU plant biologist, announced the discovery of Clumped Chloroplasts – a new class of proteins – in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. CLMP1 plays a [...]
Associate Professor Elena Litchman was among 94 researchers honored by President Obama today as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Ten Federal departments and agencies join [...]
Researchers studied adaptations in sexual determination of 50 generations of female/hermaphrodite nematodes (right) and male nematodes (left), and their findings show the worms evolved rapidly to compensate for the effects of harmful mutations. Photos by Chris Chandler. There are many old wives’ tales about what determines a baby’s sex, yet it is the tight controls [...]
Brian Hampton, assistant professor of geology, was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to examine the origin and tectonic history of the Farewell terrane in Alaska. For the next three weeks, Hampton and two MSU undergraduate geology majors are conducting field work in the remote backcountry of the western Alaska Range – [...]
Spending the summer criss-crossing Michigan and traveling remote backroads may not sound like science, but for two MSU graduate students, it is a key role in the establishment of a massive imaging array to better predict natural disasters. Benjamin Johnson and Jamie Ryan are identifying locations across the lower peninsula that will host 25 seismic [...]
Plant Biology Professor Robin Buell and Biochemistry Professor Dean Della Penna are part of an international research team that is mapping the genome of the potato. In the current issue of Nature, the team revealed that it accomplished its goal, thus quickly closing the gap on improving the food source’s elusive genome. “This is the [...]
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