“The Coaster Club” is a twist on our popular “Mug Club” Gatherings.  In these gatherings multiple guests join us to lead and guide the discussion of the group.  This will be our first gathering of its kind and is being combined with our much anticipated PI Q&A Day.  For those who have not participated in the past, PI Q&A Day pulls from questions submitted in advance and poses them to the PIs to answer.  This format promotes both open communication in our Friday Gathering as well as a relaxed productive relationship between PIs and those they mentor.  Submit your questions now and don’t miss out on what promises to be an exciting and informative event!

This semester we will be using our popular PI Q&A day to sit down with Sheng Yang He, Brad Day, Ashley Shade & David Lowry – all faculty in the new Plant Resilience Institute (PRI) – to learn more about this new scientific endeavor of which all our labs are a part. To better utilize our time, start thinking of your PRI-related questions now.  You can submit your questions by 1) writing them on paper and adding them to the PI Q&A box in the living room or 2) adding them in the comment box below.

“Dr. David Lowry is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Biology. His research focuses on understanding the genetic mechanisms of adaptation and how those adaptations contribute to the formation of new species. The Plant Resilience Institute provides an excellent opportunity for collaborative research to identify the genetic and physiological mechanisms of how plants tolerate abiotic and biotic stresses. David is particularly interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying genetic variation in heat tolerance in the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris. Heat is one of the most limiting factors for this important source of protein in Latin America and Africa.”

“Dr. Ashley Shade is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She is excited to be part of the Plant Resilience Institute because it will offer a collaborative opportunity to pursue multidisciplinary research that has potential applications to agriculture. Her research group is going to ask questions about phytobiome interactions and the role that these communities may have in driving or moderating plant stress responses.”

“Dr. Brad Day is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences. Research in the Day lab focuses on the molecular-genetic and biochemical processes associated with the interaction between plants and pathogens. He is primarily interested in how plants protect themselves from pathogen infection using both preformed and induced defense responses. Using a combination of cell biology and genetics, his lab is investigating how the actin cytoskeleton impacts defense signaling in the model system Arabidopsis thaliana.”

“Dr. Sheng Yang He is a University Distinguished Professor and HHMI-GBMF Investigator in the MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory. He is broadly interested in biological processes that mediate the molecular interplay between plants and microbes. In the past two decades, he led an interactive group of postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in exploring novel phenomena in bacterial pathogenesis and disease susceptibility in plants.”

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