PhD student Natalie is visiting the Umea Plant Sciences Centre in Sweden today as part of their Symposium for Early Career Plant Scientists, where she will present a talk about her research on the relationship between the plant cell wall and the endomembrane system.
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Heather visiting MPI for Plant Physiology
Heather returns to the scene of her postdoc today as she visits the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology outside of Potsdam. She will present a seminar about how changes to cell wall synthesis can also result in changes to Golgi structure and function.
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Science Rendezvous at UofT
Today is Science Rendezvous! Everyone is welcome at the UofT St. George campus in downtown Toronto to see demonstrations, participate in hands-on activities, and learn about the scientific research going on at UofT. There will be activities for all ages, from primary school children to adults. The Department of Cell & Systems Biology will have a table with lots of hands-on activities, including sticker printing, microscope demos, and activities that Heather contributed about plant cell walls.
Update: the day was a huge success with loads of visitors to campus! Thanks to all of the volunteers and visitors who participated!
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Heather visiting RUB in Germany
Heather is off to Germany to visit our collaborator Prof. Berit Ebert, at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. Heather’s trip is generously sponsored by a RUB Visiting International Professor award from the RUB Research School. On May 15, she will present a research seminar to the Department for Biology and Biotechnology and on May 22, she will give a seminar specifically for students.
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Welcome new students!
The McFarLab welcomes seven summer-term undergraduate students to the lab this week:
Evan Berthelot will continue his previous work as a CSB499 student.
Francesca Medina joins the lab as a new work-study student.
Eskandar Mohammad will continue his CSB498 work as a UTEA scholarship winner.
Gaeun Shin joins the lab as a CSB498 student.
Demitra Tsoukalas joins the lab as a new work-study student.
Tony Xie joins the group as a BCB330 student.
Shengjie Xu joins the lab as a CSB498 student.
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Yu passes his PhD proposal exam
Yu completed an important degree milestone today as he defended his PhD proposal. Congratulations, Yu!
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Eskandar wins summer research awards
Eskandar has been awarded a prestigious University of Toronto Excellence Award and a Department of Cell & Systems Biology Undergraduate Research Award to continue his research over the summer term. He has accepted the UTEA so that he can work full-time on his project. Congratulations, Eskandar!
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CSB Undergraduate Research Day
This afternoon is the CSB Undergraduate Research Day! Everyone is welcome and you can see poster presentations from our CSB498 students: Evan, Eskandar, Rylan, and Vicky.
Update: CSB498 student Evan Berthelot won an F. Michael Barrett prize for his poster. Congratulations, Evan!
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New paper in Journal of Experimental Botany
New advancements are constantly refining what we know, and what remains unknown, about plant cell wall synthesis. Heather’s new article in the Journal of Experimental Botany “Open questions in plant cell wall synthesis” highlights recent findings and the questions that remain unanswered about cell wall synthesis. This article is part of the Centenary Review Collection, a collection of Darwin Reviews that have been commissioned as part of the celebrations surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Society of Experimental Biology.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad110
Free access is temporarily provided by the journal here.
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Heather visiting Queen’s U
Heather is returning to her hometown as the seminar speaker at Queen’s University’s Department of Biology seminar speaker for this week. She will present about some of the lab’s ongoing work on how changes to cell wall synthesis can also result in changes to Golgi structure and function.