CAFNR Office of Research Newsletter // Oct. 2, 2025 // 7(19)

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A message from the Office of Research

What an incredible day we had yesterday celebrating the research enterprise in our College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources! I enjoyed visiting with so many of you at our 5th Annual CAFNR Research Symposium, seeing your poster presentations and hearing from our panelists and lightning talk participants. I appreciated Glenn Davis Stone joining us for a thought-provoking keynote presentation. He really set the tone for the engaging discussions that followed throughout our panels.

Seeing the innovative, collaborative research across our college inspires me. We truly are working to create a healthy world, through healthy people, plants, animals, environments and communities. Thank you to everyone who participated, attended and planned this incredible event!

I am excited to share the winners of the poster competition from this year’s event:

Undergraduate
- First Place: Carissa Bersche, Biochemistry, “Uncovering the roles of vesicular trafficking components in immune protein accumulation and immune responses”
- Second Place: Raquel Franco de Oliveira, Animal Sciences, “Associations of calf physical characteristics with its vigor at birth in grazing beef systems”
- Third Place: Bella McFarland, Animal Sciences, “Examining the Variability in Nutrient Profiles of Sow Colostrum”
Graduate
- First Place: Lois Bansah, Biochemistry, “Structural and Biochemical Characterization of p97/BAG1 Complex”
- Second Place: Maria Castellon, Biochemistry, “Biosynthetic Pathway of Cardiac Toxins from Pink Oleander”; and Cale Williams, Food, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences, “Acute effects of inspiratory muscle training on cerebral blood flow and cognitive function in healthy adults”
- Third Place: Victoria Koomson, Biochemistry, “Characterization of chaperone dependent proteasomal degradation of tau”
Postdoc
- First Place: Tasrin Sultana, Animal Sciences, “Investigating the Genetics of Stump Tail Defect in Livestock”
- Second Place: Ranjit Barbole, Biochemistry, “Biosynthesis of the anticancer compound Uttroside B from Black Nightshade plant”
- Third Place: Varun Dwivedi, Biochemistry, “A Metabolic Complex Involved in Tomato Specialized Metabolism”

Enjoy photos from all of the activities on CAFNR’s Flickr page.

Warm regards,
Shibu Jose
Associate Dean of Research

Feature Stories

CAFNR Showcase at South Farm to be held Oct. 4 »

Fall family festival promotes fun and education via activities around CAFNR degree programs.

Research Highlights

Blockchain technology could help build trust in restaurants »

University of Missouri researchers explore how consumer concerns drive uncertainty and how restaurants might use innovative new technology to increase transparency.

CAFNR Research Council Webinar Series

Fueling University Research & Inventions through Alternative Funding Pathways
Syed Barizuddin, Vice President and COO, Missouri Innovation Center, presents the next CAFNR Research Council webinar at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15.

At the Missouri Innovation Center, Barizuddin advances university research and startup commercialization. With a background in research, innovation and entrepreneurship, he has secured SBIR/STTR and federal grants from NSF, USDA, NIH, DoD, and EPA. He now focuses on harnessing non-research funding opportunities for faculty, researchers and university entrepreneurs.

Traditional research grants remain vital for advancing university discoveries, but they are often limited in scope and highly competitive. This session explores alternative funding pathways, ranging from innovation grants, commercialization programs, angel capital, industry partnerships and philanthropic support that can help faculty, researchers and university entrepreneurs bridge resource gaps, accelerate technology development and bring inventions to market. By diversifying funding strategies, colleges can fuel research impact, foster entrepreneurship and strengthen connections between academia, industry and society.

Join the webinar at umsystem.zoom.us/j/92290943804.

Research Roars

CAFNR faculty members have received the following recent grants (listed by Principal Investigator):

Jonathan Green, Swine Somatic Cell Genome Editing Center 24-29 Cycle Yr3, NIH Office of the Director, 9/1/25-8/31/26, $1,328,915

Amy Petry, Evaluating fiber degradation of soybean meal with xyloglucanase and cellulase supplementation, Kerry, Inc., 7/1/25-3/31/26, $43,624

Hannah Hemmelgarn, Developing technical training best practices and other agroforestry resources for technical assistance providers, Forest Service, 9/15/25-9/15/28, $140,000

Kiho Lee, National Swine Resource and Research Center – Yr 23, NIH Office of the Director, 8/1/25-7/31/26, $1,503,805

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