Check out this wonderful 90 second video highlighting our group's research and teaching in the Penn State Eberly College of Science - a big thank you to Michelle Bixby and the ECOS communications office! #PlantCellWalls 🪴 🔬 🤓 www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Dd...
Mushrooms - they're not just tasty and nutritious, but can also make woody biomass more digestible! Thrilled that this work, spearheaded by undergrad Hannah Klatte and brought to publication by Niroshan Siva, in collab with Swathi Kothattil and John Pecchia, is out! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus) wishes you a Happy New Year - here's to being courageous, colorful, and kind in 2026!
Today I am contemplating cacti: resilient, prickly, and alluring. Here's a lovely example from the Phipps Conservatory, a gem in the heart of Pittsburgh.
Are you interested in pursuing groundbreaking research and gaining world-class training in plant biology in a supportive community amidst the beauty of Happy Valley? Consider applying to the the Plant Biology PhD Program! Applications due December 1: www.huck.psu.edu/graduate-pro...
Really nice story by Amber Dance about the dynamic nature of the plant cell wall! www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Penn State Biology is hiring! We have an opening for a tenure-line faculty position in neurobiology - if you'd like to pursue awesome science in a supportive and interdisciplinary community of biologists, consider applying! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...
It took me a while to track down a photo, but I'm very proud of Leila Jaafar for defending her PhD thesis on stomatal biomechanics and cell walls! Leila is off to make amazing bean plants in her postdoc, with one of my former postdocs (aka I am old!) 😆
Want to learn about how to translate your awesome plant science into everyday impacts? Come to our workshop at Plant Biology 2025, From Seed to Tree: How Policy Can Help Plant Science Discoveries Grow into Companies in the Emerging Bioeconomy, 11:15-12:45 on Tuesday July 29 in 203AB!
Seeds that are spread by drones in reforestation projects often die - we're exploring new strategies to help them survive and thrive! Kudos to Anuleka Dutta in my group for writing this blog piece, and to Kevin Sliman at @ieepennstate.bsky.social for editing.
iee.psu.edu/news/blog/wh...
Proud to be attending Penn State's Climate Solutions Symposium, featuring keynote speaker Nemonte Nenquimo (on right), who has helped protect the Amazon rainforest from destruction; acting together with courage and kindness, we can build a better future for everyone.
Congratulations to Alec Paradiso on graduating with a combined undergraduate and masters degree in Biotechnology! Alec co-authored multiple papers in my lab, always with a smile. Best of luck to Alec as he embarks on the next stage of his scientific career at Moderna!
Very proud of Quentin Hays on the successful defense of his PhD thesis - solving some of the mysteries of Rhamnogalacturonan-II, a beautifully complex pectic polysaccharide! Here he is between his co-advisor, Arnaud Lehner, and me at GlycoMEV at the University of Rouen.
Thrilled to share that as of July 1 I'll be chairing Penn State's Plant Biology graduate program - I'm grateful to Teh-hui Kao for guiding the program over the last 26 (!) years, and look forward to supporting learning and discovery for our future leaders in plant biology!
I'm standing up for science today! #standupforscience
📣 Scientists and supporters of science: here's an opportunity to make our collective voice heard! #standupforscience rallies on March 7: standupforscience2025.org
My brother Dan (also a cell biologist) and I co-wrote a piece about the importance of funding scientific research - check it out! medium.com/@danieljames...
First grant proposal of 2025 submitted today, second one going in tomorrow (both with amazing collaborators) - excited by the prospect of launching some new projects to explore the dynamics of plant cell walls! 🤞🌱🔬😀
As 2024 draws to a close, I'm incredibly grateful to the members of the Anderson Lab for expanding the boundaries of knowledge and tacking big, challenging, beneficial science together. Go team! 🤜🤛
Look what I made, just in time for the holiday season! 🦋 With help from Scholar Goggler scholargoggler.com
Are you a PhD interested in applying computer vision and ML to biology? Apply by Feb 29 for a funded postdoc position in our collaborative NSF project studying the development and dynamics of stomata! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...
Brachypodium distachyon plants
Lovely news article by Sam Sholtis highlighting our new collaborative project to study how grass stomata work, funded by the NSF! science.psu.edu/news/145m-ns...
Hello Bluesky! Excited to share a new story in which we collaborated with Joe Turner's group to use 3D nanoindentation of stomatal guard cells to determine their anisotropic cell wall mechanics and turgor pressure simultaneously: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar.... Check it out!