Blog

This summer the Moss Lab has 1 returning student (Calvin Lincoln) and 4 new team members (Han Yu, Martin Alvarez-Kuglen, Silas Miller, and Travis Craven). Check out our Personnel page to learn more about them! Han and Travis are working on the MaizeAuxRE Project. Silas, Martin, and Calvin are continuing work on new auxin biosensor designs.

Whitman College produced a video about the Synthetic Cell Biology course that I teach. Check it out to hear more about how I have structured that class and see what sort of work students are doing this semester!!

A couple times a year I help out with Science Nights at Walla Walla area elementary schools. For the past year, my students and I have been helping kids make “Germination Necklaces” as a way to get them (and their parents!) thinking about some of the properties of seeds and early plant development. The necklaces are made using plastic jewelry bags containing water beads (or cotton/paper towel), seeds (we use corn, beans, peas, and radishes), and a little water. You then seal it up and wear it close to your body (to provide a little warmth!) a few times a day over the next week and the seeds sprout 🙂

This summer I packed the necessary supplies along with me to New Jersey where I shared a demonstration of making germination necklaces with my research collaborators during our annual NSF MaizeAuxRE meeting. My creative and adventurous colleagues in the Nemhauser Lab at UW Seattle then developed a version of germination necklaces to present at the free arts festival in Seattle: festival.festival. Seattle Magazine published an interview with Prof. Nemhauser about this activity and she gave us a shout-out, read about it here!

This summer the Moss Lab has three new members: Will Doucette, Yuli Buckley, and Micah Rambo. Check out our Personnel page to learn more about them! Yuli is working on the MaizeAuxRE Project, while Will and Micah pursue new auxin biosensor designs.