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News

Welcome to the NatSci news page! Check back often to learn about the latest innovations, discoveries and accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students and alumni.

MSU Research Foundation Professor Guowei Wei was among 140 colleagues who make up the AIMBE College of Fellows class of 2023. Wei was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows “for outstanding contributions in mathematical molecular biosciences and drug discovery, and for predicting variants, infectivity, and vaccine breakthrough of SARS-CoV-2.”
March 28, 2023
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) announced the induction of Guowei Wei, Michigan State University Foundation Research Professor, to its prestigious College of Fellows. Wei was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows “for outstanding contributions in mathematical molecular biosciences and drug discovery, and for predicting variants, infectivity, and vaccine breakthrough of SARS-CoV-2.”
Drawing of a full moon with waves of light moving out into a star filled sky.
March 27, 2023
The moon holds answers, and Michigan State University plant biologist Federica Brandizzi and her team are bringing those answers within reach. Patience, creativity and a cheerful fearlessness are turning insights buried in plant seeds into pathways to the very survival of the human race. 
Asteroid 2023 DZ2 is an approximately 200-ft.-wide asteroid passing near Earth this week. While not a threat, objects like it may be in the future, so NASA's DART mission monitors and tests how to redirect asteroids.
March 24, 2023
NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies detected an asteroid that will pass Earth by 108,758 miles this weekend, which is closer than the moon’s distance from Earth 238,855 miles away. Seth Jacobson, a planetary scientist in Michigan State University’s College of Natural Science, is a member of NASA and MSU’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission which is the world’s first planetary defense space mission and tested how to redirect asteroids that could hit Earth.
This snapshot of a simulated galaxy gives a preview of the studies MSU researchers and their colleagues will launch on Frontier, the world’s fastest supercomputer. These new studies will be performed at higher resolution and include more of the physics at work in galaxy formation and evolution.
March 16, 2023
Michigan State University is leading pioneering research on the world’s fastest supercomputer, thanks to a new grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The DOE has awarded an MSU-led team 1.3 million node hours of computation time on the Frontier supercomputer (Frontier is made up of 9,400 computing nodes, and one hour of computing on a single node is equal to one “node hour”). Lead researcher Brian O’Shea and the multi-institution team will harness the power of Frontier to better understand galaxies.
Michigan State University researcher Acer VanWallendael, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Plant Biology, is helping highlight the very real and diverse ways microscopic fungi affect crops. His team’s recent paper in the journal PLOS Biology explores the complex relationships fungi have with switchgrass, a promising biofuel crop.
March 15, 2023
In a world where switchgrass could cut our fossil fuel dependency, can communities of fungi help grow more potent plants? Michigan State University researcher Acer VanWallendael, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Plant Biology, is helping highlight the very real and diverse ways microscopic fungi affect crops. His team’s recent paper in the journal PLOS Biology explores the complex relationships fungi have with switchgrass, a promising biofuel crop.
MSU researchers analyzed data from more than 300,000 biological science manuscripts to see if the authors’ demographics mattered when it came to deciding if research was worthy of publication.
March 13, 2023
Scientists’ careers are defined by their contributions to peer reviewed literature. Yet, a recent Michigan State University study reveals that peer review disadvantages some scientists more than others, but solutions to rectify this disparity remain elusive. MSU researchers analyzed data from more than 300,000 biological science manuscripts to see if the authors’ demographics mattered when it came to deciding if research was worthy of publication. The findings were published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
New research from Michigan State University has shown how proteins known as ZIPs transport metal into living cells. ZIPs are found across the tree of life, playing important roles in health and disease.
March 9, 2023
Michigan State University biochemist Jian Hu has taken another important step in learning as much as possible about tiny protein machines that help shuttle metals into living cells. This latest step, published in the journal Nature Communications, provides detailed new insights into how these machines work. Hu and his team are working to use this knowledge to develop new cancer therapies and enable people to live healthier lives. 
New research led by Michigan State University is showing how vulnerable the threatened meltwater stonefly is to climate change.
March 2, 2023
New research led by Michigan State University integrative biologist Alisha Shah is showing how vulnerable the threatened meltwater stonefly is to climate change. Shah is part of a research team that’s examining the biology of these stoneflies against the backdrop of climate change. Their findings were recently published in the journal Functional Ecology.
: MSU’s annual Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awards recognize individuals, teams and units for their exceptional and innovative contributions in six thematic  categories: excellence in diversity, equity and inclusion; advancing knowledge and scholarly  engagement; fostering engagement, collaboration(s) and partnership(s); advocating justice and  equity; promoting learning and educating for inclusivity; and creating transformative  organizational change.
March 1, 2023
High-energy particle physicist Huey-Wen Lin and the W.K. Biological Station’s Culture and Inclusion Committee (CIC) received 2022-23 Michigan State University Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awards at a ceremony held Feb. 13 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. This university wide award recognizes individuals, teams and units for their exceptional and innovative contributions to advancing DEI in teaching, research, programming, service, community outreach and organizational change.

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