CAFNR

Feb. 17, 2012
Building Better Soybeans
The National Center for Soybean Biotechnology (NCSB) at the University of Missouri has begun a project to sequence the DNA of 1,008 commercially important soybean varieties. The effort is designed to provide a multifold increase in genetic data to breeders to create improved soybeans that are more productive, more disease tolerant and have improved nutritional quality.

Feb. 10, 2012
No Men Upstairs
Today, men climb the stairs of Gentry Hall without a second thought. In the days when Corvettes had whitewalls and co-eds wore bobby socks, a man on the second floor of Gentry would have created screams.

Jan. 13, 2012
A Concrete Pedigree
With its drab façade, Mizzou’s Agriculture Building is easy to pass by. However, unknown to most, the building has an indirect connection to an unsavory part of Kansas City history. It was designed by a frequent architect of one of the most notorious political bosses of the 1930s.

Jan. 6, 2012
Listening for Cancer
Commercial production of a device that measures melanoma using photoacoustics, or laser-induced ultrasound, will soon be available to scientists and academia for cancer studies.

Dec. 19, 2011
The Chicken That Isn’t
A food company will use CAFNR research to launch a new food product that not only tastes like chicken, but chews like it, too.

Dec. 9, 2011
Plants Fighting Bacteria
Researchers at the University of Missouri have found a key process in a plant’s immune system response that may help future crops fight off dangerous diseases.

Oct. 24, 2011
Dying for a Ride
Women living in rural Missouri who must drive long distances to health care providers are more likely to be diagnosed with late stage breast cancer, research at the University of Missouri shows.

Oct. 17, 2011
Sam’s Slab Lab
It is easy to overlook the drab MU Ag Building. But it is connected to a presidential library, the US Embassy in London, one of the most beautiful buildings in America, and a notorious crime boss.

April 25, 2011
Interrupting a Disease Process
Obesity changes a person's glucose and fat metabolism, leading to insulin resistance that triggers chronic diseases like Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular illness. James Perfield, assistant professor at the University of Missouri specializing in nutrition and the physiology of metabolic diseases, has identified a plant oil that seems to interrupt the development of obesity-triggered insulin resistance.

Nov. 18, 2010
Safer Turkey Dinners
Food scientists at the University of Missouri have developed a faster and more accurate way to test poultry and eggs for live salmonella contamination. The DNA-based process provides results in as little as 2-5 hours versus up to five days for current testing techniques that culture samples in a Petri dish. The technique can allow the poultry industry to test for contamination before product is shipped, thus avoiding costly recalls.