Plant Biological Sciences Graduate Program
Itasca Orientation
In the week before fall semester begins, first-year students in the PBS program
participate in a workshop at the Itasca Biological Research Station located on
beautiful Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Students receive
orientation to the program, participate in wet-lab and field-work modules, and
get to know other students and faculty in the program. Students find that the
Itasca experience provides the knowledge and relationships needed to succeed
in the graduate program.
Plant Biological Sciences Graduate Program
Annual Retreat
This one-day retreat is an annual event held at the Como Conservatory at Como Park. PBS faculty, PBS students, post docs, lab technicians are invited. Typical activities include first-year student introductions, research talks from graduate students and post-docs, presentations by faculty and administraters in the department, a poster session, and a fun activity for everyone to enjoy.
2009 Itasca Orientation
Created with flickr slideshow.
Dave Biesboer talks with graduate students before begininng the land bog tour.
Jane Glazebrook, Steven Eichten, Zhou Fang, and Jessica Biever enjoy the floating bog tour.
The new graduate students participate in a laboratory module led by Plant Biology Faculty.
Alicia Knudson and You Lv work on identifying specimens during a lab module.
The new graduate students listened to research talks from Plant Biology faculty and students.
Graduate students Heather Whittington, Jessica Biever, Mike Wilson, Amanda Martin, Carrie Eberle, Kerrie Sendall and Brendan Epstein socialize at the end-of-the-week picnic.
2008 Itasca Orientation
Row 1- Jing Chen, Ye Sun, Jessica Biever, Kai-Ting Fan, Toko Mori
Row 2- Brendan Epstein, Suma Sreekanta, Roseanne Healy, Mike Nelson
Row 3- Mike Wilson, Jo Heuschele
August 13th-18th, 2008
We would like to thank the following faculty and students for making the 2007
orientation a great success!!!
David Biesboer(Director of the Itasca Research Station), Jerry Cohen
(Director of Graduate Studies,
Bill Gray (faculty), Georgiana May (faculty), Min Ni (faculty), Neil Olszewski
(faculty), Nevin Young (faculty), and Gail Kalli (coordinator).
TA's: Jessica Biever, Kai-Ting Fan, Xing Liu, Ye Sun
2008-2009 Incoming Students
Toko Mori and Jessica Biever out for a canoe ride in the
famous Minnesota wild rice.
Everybody is taking the afternoon off to canoe around
Lake Itasca. Fun was had by all!
Dave Biesboer gave a pontoon tour of Lake Itasca and provided
historical information about the discovery of the headwaters of the Mississippi.
Georgiana May ran a lab module on Fungi of Northern Minnesota.
Students and faculty were out looking for fungi specimens.
Students working on Bill Gray's lab module, entitled
“Protein-protein interactions: Detecting auxin-induced binding of SCF-TIR1
substrates with pull-down assays.â€
Identifying fungi during Georgiana May's lab module, "Fungi
of northern Minnesotaâ€
Students and faculty enjoying an evening
picnic.
Dusk at Lake Itasca.
Plant Biological Sciences Graduate
Program Orientation Events
Lab Modules and Research Talks:
Dr. David Biesboer - "Nitrogen Cycling in Iron
Springs Bog"
Dr. Jerry Cohen - "The biochemistry
of auxin conjugation"
Dr. Bill Gray - "Protein-protein interactions:
Detecting auxin-induced binding of SCF-TIR1 substrates with pull-down assays"
Dr. Neil Olszewski - "Protein glycosylation affects hormone signaling and plant development"
Dr. Georgiana May - "Fungi of northern Minnesota"
Dr. Nevin Young - "Bioinformatics"
Dr. Min Ni - “Photomorphorenesis,
flowering, and seed development"
Activities:
Pontoon tour
Barbecue
Floating Bog Tour
2008 PBS Retreat - May 15, 2008
2007 Itasca Orientation
Left to right: Incoming students Jessica Biever, John Compton,
Kai-Ting Fan, Jennifer Irving, Moana McClellen, Ye Sun, Christopher Pinahs,
and
TA-He Huang.
August 15th-20th, 2007
We would like to thank the following faculty and students for making the 2007
orientation a great success!!!
Jon Ross (Assistant Director of the Itasca Research Station), Jerry Cohen (Director
of Graduate Studies, Jane Glazebrook
(Associate Director of Graduate Studies), Bill Gray (faculty), Fumiaki Katagiri
(faculty), Georgiana May (faculty), Rebecca Montgomery (faculty), Nathan Springer
(Itasca Coordinator), George Weiblen, Sue Wick (faculty), Keunsub Lee (student
TA) and He Huang (student TA).
Jon Ross gave a pontoon tour of Lake Itasca which is the headwaters of the
Mississippi River. It was a beautiful and very informational tour.
Georgiana May with her TA and a first-year student locating diferent species
of mushrooms. Her lab was "A fungus among us" - fungi living with plants.
The students enjoyed this lab module immensely.
Students working in the lab with plant identifcation.
A picturesque view of the sun setting at Lake Itasca.
Who could pass up this experience.
Lots of other critters live there.
Rebecca Montgomery and George Weiblen had a lab titled “Interactive Identification
of the Itasca Flora”. The students were amazed at all of the plants they
were able identify.
Sue Wick ran a field trip by canoe to the bogs.
This was a great experience for the first-year students as well as the faculty.
Plant Biological Sciences Graduate
Program Orientation Events
Lab Modules and Research Talks:
Georgiana May - "A fungus among us"
Nathan Springer - “Why don't we understand the molecular
basis of hybrid vigor, or heterosis, after 100 years of studies”
Bill Gray- “Protein-protein interactions:
Detecting auxin-induced binding of SCF-TIR1 substrates with pull-down assays”
Jerry Cohen - "Pathway redundancy and novel reactions: The biosynthesis
and regulation of auxins by plants"
George Weiblen - “Interactive
Identification of the Itasca Flora”
Fumiaki Katagiri - “Bioinformatics”
Jane Glazebrook - “Mutants, Microarrays, and Models:
Stories of Plant Disease Resistance”
Activities:
Joint Research Talks with MCDGB program
Field Trip
Barbecue
2007 PBS Retreat - May 17, 2007
Awards were given to the winners of the lab olympics.
The poster session was a great way for current students
to present their research.
The lab olympics was enjoyed by everyone.
2006 Itasca Orientation
August 16th-21st, 2006
We would like to thank the following
faculty and students for making the 2006 orientation a great success!!!
David Biesboer, Jane Glazebrook (Coordinator), Florence Gleason, Fumiaki Katagiri,
Peter Lefebvre, Min Ni, Neil Olszewski, Carolyn Silfow (Director of Graduate
Studiens), George Weiblen, Sue Wick, Xiaodong Sun, Xioaqing Sun, Ed Gilding,
Brian Piasecki, David Schladt, Ali Sivitiz, Wenjing Zhang and Yun Zhou.
2006-2007
incoming PBS graduate students. (left to right) Amy Mueller, Heather Whittington,
Carrie Eberle, Kerrie Sendall, Qiuxia Wu, Tim Whitfeld, He Huang, (top) Nelson
Garcia and Xing Liu
Dr. Carolyn Silflow's lab on Chlamydomonas centriole positioning.
Professor David Biesboer, Director of the Itasca Biological Station took
the students on a pontoon tour of Lake Itasca.
To welcome everyone Professor Jane Glazebrook headed the get-to-know you
session. Everyone's name was put on the world map identifying their
home.
Professors George Weiblen and David Biesboer lead a fieldtip to the bogs
"Interactive Identification of the Itasca Flora", as well as a computer
lab for plant identification.
Dr. George Weiblen during the introductions. Also pictured are Dr. Min
Ni (right). Dr. Ni also led a lab "Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization
of Three Light Signaling Mutants". Dr. Fumiaki Katagiri (left)
also held a computer lab on "Bioinformatics".
There was also time for fun. The current students hosted a barbecue for
all of the faculty and incoming students. Pictured here are current student,
Xiaodong Sun (TA for Ni lab), Drs. Jane Glazebrook and
David Biesboer. It was a fun time for everyone.
Beautiful picture of Lake Itasca. Taken by Dr. Florence Gleason who gave
a research talk "Eurasian watermilfoil attracts native weevils".
Other research talks were given by:
Dr. Jane Glazebrook - "Plant defense against pathogens: Modeling signaling
network topology using microarrays".
Dr. Neil Olszewski - "What do a SECRET AGENT and a SPY tell us about the
role of O-GlcNAc modification of plant proteins".
There was also a canoe trip and lab module run by Dr. Sue Wick on the
topic of plant stomates.
Here is a picture of all the incoming students, as well as two teaching
assistants, at the Headwaters of the Mississippi River. (Left to right)
Xiaoqing Sun (second-year student-TA), Qiuxia Wu, He Huang, Xing Liu,
Heather Whittington, Nelson Garcia, Tim Whitfeld, Carrie Eberle, Kerrie
Sendall, Amy Mueller, and Xiaodong Sun (second-year student-TA).
PBS Annual Retreat - May 18, 2006
Brian Piasecki,
4th year PBS student, talking about his research "The UN12 gene
and centrioles in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii"
Gail Celio,
post doc in McLaughlin lab, talking about her research "Subcellular characters
and the Fungal Tree of Life"
Rachel Mills,
first year PBS student, getting a few rays and enjoying the beautiful surroundings.
The afternoon
poster session was a great success. Here are two PBS students Xiaodong Sun,
first year student, and Yiping Qi, fourth year student enjoying the posters.
Dr. Ris
Charvat talking with Jenny Dechaine, PBS student, about her research.
Having a
great time are Maj Padamsee, Bryn Dentinger (PBS graduate students) and Gail
Celio (Plant Biology post doc).
2005 Itasca Orientation
and PBS Annual Retreat
2005-2006 incoming PBS graduate students. (left to right) Sumitha Nallu, Lingtian
Kong, Xiaodong Sun, Ryoko Oono, Rachel Mills, Brian Piasecki (3rd year student),
Yun Zhou (3rd year students), and Xiaoqing Sun.
Dr. Carolyn Silflow's lab: Chlamydomonas motility mutants: microscopy,
PAGE, and immunoblots.
Dr. Min Ni's Lab: Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of Light Signaling
Mutants.
Students and staff getting ready to go collect alga samples in Lake Itasca.
On their way to collect
samples.
Drs. Florence Gleason and Sue Wick's lab: Identifying alga samples collected
and discussing where they are found.
Lake Itasca - August 2005.
Lake Itasca sunset.
|
Return
to: CBS: CFANS: U
of M Home
