Nguyen Lab participates in Biotech University.

Biotech University is a program that gives journalism students an opportunity to learn about the importance of biotechnology in today's society and to teach them how to report biotechnology to the public. This year, Theresa Musket, Dr. Jason Gillman, and Dr. Zhanguan Zhang gave tours and demonstrations of biotechnology instrumentation that is used in the laboratory. Students then create their own news story and enter them into a competition.

Biotech University is sponsored and funded by the United Soybean Board and co-sponsored by the Missouri School of Journalism and the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology.

Southern Soybean Breeder's Tour held in Arkansas.

The annual Southern Soybean Breeder's Tour was held September 7-9th in Arkansas. This year the tour included visits to Monsanto, Stein, and Syngenta research and field plots, a tour of the University of Arkansas Northeast Research and Extension Center, and the Arkansas State University Biotech Research Center.

50th Annual Delta Center Field Day.

The 50th Annual Delta Center Field Day was held on September 2, 2011, at the University of Missouri Delta Research Center in Portageville, Missouri. Farmers, Researchers, and Politicians from across the state of Missouri attended to hear about current research on soybeans, rice, and cotton. Several members of the Nguyen Lab along with others from the University of Missouri, Columbia campus attended.

The event also celebrated the retirement of Delta Center Superintendent, Jake Fisher. In Jake's honor, the Delta Center was renamed as the "T.E. "Jake" Fisher Delta Research Center".

Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG) at the University of Missouri Celebrates 30 years of Research.

Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG) at the University of Missouri Celebrated 30 years of Research. The IPG was started in 1981 to encourage cooperation between scientists with different research backgrounds. The Celebration included tours of the Bradford Research and Extention Center, dinner, and a program highlighting the history of the IPG. Dr. Robert Sharp, the new director of the IPG hosted the program.

Summer Intern, Cindy La, presents poster.

Cindy La participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum on July 28th where she presented a poster titled "Rockin’ Metal in the Laboratory: Aluminum Tolerance in Glycine max and Arabidopsis thaliana ". Cindy was part of the Life Science Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (LS UROP) that occurs every summer at the University of Missouri. Cindy has returned to Truman State University where she is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biology.

NCSB Hosts 7th Annual Symposium.

Nguyen Lab members participated in the 7th Annual Soybean Biotechnology Symposium held on April 6, 2011, in the Bond Life Sciences Center. The Symposium, sponsored by the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology, included guest speakers, a poster session, and a reception.

This year's guest speakers were: Dr. Walt Fehr from Iowa State University, Dr. Anne Dorrance from Ohio State University, and Dr. Greg May from the National Center for Genome Resources (NCGR).

National Agriculture Statistics Service releases 2011 crop estimates.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) has released estimates of prospective planting in the United States for this upcoming growning season. Their estimates for soybean are included here.

Soybean planted acres in Missouri are expected to total 5.30 million acres, 3 percent above last year’s 5.15 million acres but down 1 percent from 2009 when 5.35 million acres were planted.

United States Intended Plantings: Soybean planted area for 2011 is estimated at 76.6 million acres, down 1 percent from last year. If realized, the United States planted area will be the third largest on record. Compared with last year, planted acreage declines of 100,000 acres or more are expected in Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Ohio.

Missouri Grain Stocks: Soybean stocks in all positions in Missouri on March 1 totaled 47.8 million bushels, down 27 percent from a year earlier. Stocks on farms accounted for 26.0 million bushels, 37 percent below last year, while soybeans in commercial facilities in the State totaled 21.8 million bushels, and 11 percent below March 1, 2010. This is the lowest soybean stocks level since 2004.

United States Crop Stocks: Soybeans stored in all positions on March 1, 2011 totaled 1.25 billion bushels, down 2 percent from March 1, 2010. Soybean stocks stored on farms are estimated at 505 million bushels, down 17 percent from a year ago. Off-farm stocks, at 744 million bushels, are up 13 percent from last March. Indicated disappearance for the December 2010 - February 2011 quarter totaled 1.03 billion bushels, down 4 percent from the same period a year earlier.

For information on other crops and the complete press release, go to: National Agriculture Statistics Service.

Biodiesel Returns U.S. Soybean Farmers’ Investment by the Billions.

As reported in the Corn & Soybean Digest, an updated, independent study funded by the United Soybean Board (USB) and soybean checkoff shows production of biodiesel continues to positively impact U.S. soybean farmers’ on-farm profitability as well as the bottom lines of poultry and livestock farmers. The story titled "Biodiesel Returns U.S. Soybean Farmers’ Investment by the Billions" describes how the increased demand for soybean oil has resulted in the availability of more U.S. soybean meal thus driving the prices down for the animal feed industry.

The annual Soybean Breeder's Workshop meeting was held February 21st and 22nd in St. Louis, Missouri. This year's focus was on Agronomy and Plant Physiology and started off with a presentation by Mr. Kip Cullers of Purdy, Missouri, the current world record soybean producer. The United Soybean Board's annual SCN and Oil Composition reviews were also held in conjunction with the Workshop. Several members of the Nguyen lab attended the meeting including Henry Nguyen, Babu Valliyodan, Xiangyang Xu, Tri Vuong, Yan Liu, Jill Coombs, and Theresa Musket.

As part of the blizzard that swept across the United States, the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, received 18" of snow. This caused the University of Missouri to issue an unprecedented 3 day "Full Closure" of the Columbia campus from February 1st thru the 3rd. Missouri Govenor, Jay Nixon, declared a state of emergency in Missouri and activated the Missouri National Guard to assist people throughout the state.

In January, 2011, Truyen Quach passed his pH.D. Defense. His thesis, titled "Functional Analysis of Drought Responsive Soybean GmNAC003 and GmNAC004 Transcription Factors in Lateral Root Development in Arabidopsis", was presented and accepted by his committee. Dr. Henry Nguyen is his major adviser.