2024 News Briefs
PublicationsAwards and
Honors Speaking
Invitations Book
Chapters
General News
- Rutgers Is Developing a Sweeter, Firmer Blueberry for New Jersey Growers
- Biotechnology Graduate Jason Song (SEBS'21) Gives Back to the Program that Launched his Career
- Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science Hosts 33rd Annual Turfgrass Symposium
- Rutgers University Scientists in Micronesia to Advance Food Security Initiatives
Publications
- Soil Profile 2024 Newsletter: Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease (PDF), Joseph Heckman, 2024. Volume 29.
The newsletter discusses how to make good use of the book titled "Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease" published by the American Phytopathological Society ($147), to protect plants from disease. This would be a good reference book to have in an Extension office library. - PIF transcription factors-versatile plant epigenome landscapers. Moonia Ammari, Kashif Maseh, Mark Zander. Frontiers in Epigenetics and Epigenomics. 16 May 2024. doi: 10.3389/freae.2024.1404958
- Phylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms. Alexandre R. Zuntini, Tom Carruthers, Olivier Maurin, … Lena Struwe, … William J. Baker. Nature. 23 May 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07324-0
- Structure-Function Analysis of the A1 Subunit of Shiga Toxin 2 with Peptides That Target the P-Stalk Binding Site and Inhibit Activity.
Li XP, Rudolph MJ, Chen Y, Tumer NE. Biochemistry. 2024 Mar 11. doi: 10.1021/acs.biochem.3c00733. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38467020 -
Structure-based design and optimization of a new class of small molecule inhibitors targeting the P-stalk binding pocket of ricin.
Rudolph MJ, Dutta A, Tsymbal AM, McLaughlin JE, Chen Y, Davis SA, Theodorous SA, Pierce M, Algava B, Zhang X, Szekely Z, Roberge JY, Li XP, Tumer NE. Bioorg Med Chem. 2024 Feb 15;100:117614. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2024.117614. Epub 2024 Feb 5. PMID: 38340640
Awards and Honors
- Nilgun Tumer was awarded a new NIH R01 grant for $3,494,012.
Title: Small molecule inhibitors targeting the ribosome binding site of ricin and Shiga toxin
Project Number: 1R01AI178870-01A1
Contact PI/Project Leader: TUMER, NILGUN E
Awardee Organization: RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIV OF N.J.
Duration : March 1, 2024–Jan 31, 2029.
- Dr. Xenia Morin served as an expert judge for the New Jersey Youth Institute for the World Food Prize. This program, hosted by the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and held at Rutgers Busch Campus on March 8, 2024, bought 135 high school students to campus. Judges provided feedback to students who presented their research on food security in different countries around the world.
For more information see:
New Jersey Youth Institute World Food Prize
and
New Jersey Youth Institute - Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ) Annual Meeting, January 27, 2024. Xenia Morin, on behalf of the team, showed Fields of Devotion, the short science-in-action documentary followed by a moderated question-and-answer session. Rob Mattera III, Alex Barrett and Trevor Styles participated in the Q&A.
- Holly Club of Sea Girt, Sea Girt NJ, March 7, 2024. Xenia Morin, on behalf of the team, showed Fields of Devotion, the short science-in-action documentary. Dr Morin fielded a wide range of questions during the 30 minute question-and-answer session following the screening.
- Garden State Film Festival, March 24, 2024. Screening of Life on the Edge: Exploring New Jersey's Coastal Ecosystems followed by filmmaker Q&A. Xenia Morin took two of the three students from the Spring 2023 Agriculture and Food Systems Independent Study Course to the event. Shown below are SEBS students Micah Seidel (Biological Sciences major) and Angie Catt (Agriculture and Food Systems Major); missing Natalie Radu (SEBS Plant Science Minor). Oscar Schofield was the producer of the film. Daphne Monroe's research is featured in this film. Xenia Morin was the agriculture and food systems faculty advisor and Dena Seidel was the Science Storytelling Advisor.
The film won best "Home Grown Student Short Documentary" in the college category.
- Nrupali Patel, assistant teaching professor and Undergraduate Program Director in Plant Science, and Chitra Ponnusamy, assistant teaching professor and Undergraduate Program Director of Food Science, are co-PIs of a $15,000 Rutgers Global Faculty Innovation in Global Learning grant to develop a winter study abroad course, "Applying immersive learning to rural agro-food issues: Study Abroad in Southern India."
Speaking Invitations and Conferences
- Dr. Xenia Morin partnered with Dr. Serpil Guran to educate the community on Sustainable Diets and Food Waste Reduction at the East Brunswick Library on May 21, 2024.
- Dr. Xenia Morin delivered a "Mentoring Up" Workshop to 40 underrepresented college students during the Research Intensive Summer Experience (RISE) Summer Program held at Weeks Hall, Rutgers School of Engineering on June 12, 2024. This workshop is part of a Rutgers School of Graduate Studies initiative to diversify the STEM workforce led by Evelyn Erenrich.
- Dr. Xenia Morin delivered a "Mentoring Up" Workshop to 28 underrepresented high school students and in-service teachers during the Rutgers Youth Enjoy Science (REYUS) Summer Program Orientation at the Rutgers Cancer Institute on June 27, 2024. This workshop is part of an NIH R25 Diversity Supplement Grant (PI: Sunita Chaundary).
- Dr. Xenia Morin, on behalf of the science storytelling team, hosted a science-in-action storytelling screening at the Floriculture Greenhouse during Rutgers Day on Saturday, April 27, 2024. These science stories feature research in the Department of Plant Biology and Department of Marine and Coastal Science, unveiling of ongoing student video storytelling projects centered on Rutgers research on amaranth, catnip, and coastal and ocean sciences. The award-winning documentary "Fields of Devotion," showcasing Rutgers basil plant breeding science was shown along with other new and compelling student works like "Biting Back" (catnip), "Life on the Edge: Exploring New Jersey's Coastal Ecosystems," and "Stories from the Marsh." Additionally, people learned about the impact this experiential learning model had on student learning and how high school and college students could get involved in on-going projects.