Dear EMBRIO Members, As we enter the month of August, with Fall semesters being planned: All-Hands Lab Biweekly Meeting beginning August 25th 3-4pm EDT (Zoom Link for the semester<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-edu.zoom.us%2Fj%2F92061591849%3Fpwd%3DwclgpzLpzWKsZ9M2XYwM7Kbumaabr3.1%26from%3Daddon&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7C8e3064b7d1c44093995808ddd3770622%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638899230364899127%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=S1k4IOvXYPza6%2FxoD3xRpxC7SPSxyCDdug%2B7CXRm%2BOg%3D&reserved=0>) A calendar invite with zoom link was emailed last Friday to all active members establishing our biweekly All-Hands Lab Meeting beginning August 25th 3-4pm EDT. Why the name change? The idea (this may evolve) is to reframe our seminar sessions to: * Include a primer for the topic that explains key foundational concept(s) supporting the research presentation (10 min, by the PI), * Keep topic presentation to a single most exciting finding or result, method, or idea that also invites input and exchange with the community (20 min max, by trainee or staff), and * Allow/encourage a higher level of engagement with open forums and/or breakout rooms to foster deeper discussions (25 min following presentation). Think of this biweekly all-hands as a regular lab meeting where brief updates, questions and input from all lab members, with exchanges generating ideas, solutions, and support for short-term goals and progress toward the milestones and overall mission. The schedule of presenting labs and speakers is forthcoming! New Publications: EMBRIO collaborations have been very active in translating impactful research findings into peer-reviewed publications (36 - w/ nearly half having multiple EMBRIO lab authors), as well as preprints (24) and conference papers and posters shared with the wider scientific community: EMBRIO Institute Google Scholar Page<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fcitations%3Fview_op%3Dlist_works%26hl%3Den%26authuser%3D1%26hl%3Den%26user%3D-gQWba8AAAAJ%26sortby%3Dpubdate%26authuser%3D1&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7C8e3064b7d1c44093995808ddd3770622%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638899230364922598%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=80uFukiMvLw87cj0WLgG3xIXTj2Nt5enfEQbDNXNk9g%3D&reserved=0>. A new paper published Friday in Cytoskeleton by an interdisciplinary team from the labs of Kim, Staiger, and Iyer-Pascuzzi: Kim, J.H., W. Zhang, A.S. Iyer-Pascuzzi, C.J. Staiger, and T. Kim. (2025). Agent-based modeling of the homeostatic cortical array in plant epidermal cells recapitulates the stochastic dynamic behavior of actin filaments. Cytoskeleton, 2025, 0:1-20. https://doi.org/10.1002/cm.70014<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1002%2Fcm.70014&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7C8e3064b7d1c44093995808ddd3770622%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638899230364937827%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=YlSq61wLahhY0Avb0cdZCYkFfUfryqHZ4QwgYATDaV8%3D&reserved=0> Congrats to the team on developing an agent-based computational model that successfully simulates the stochastic dynamics of actin filaments in plant epidermal cells. This work bridges experimental observations with computational modeling, offering new insights into the mechanisms of cytoskeletal homeostasis and remodeling. Read the full paper here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cm.70014<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fonlinelibrary.wiley.com%2Fdoi%2F10.1002%2Fcm.70014&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7C8e3064b7d1c44093995808ddd3770622%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638899230364952551%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fK0dvkUAgrooqu3g%2ByBf0%2BYTQZzsmW3Rm7KbEGy6Yi8%3D&reserved=0> ==== Weiwei Zhang and Chris Staiger are also co-authors on a recent EMBRIO supported publication in the New Phytologist with findings that propose MILDEW RESISTANCE LOCUS-O (MLO) proteins act downstream of FERONIA (FER) to mediate Ca++ influx and promote Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production to regulate root hair tip growth: Ogawa, S.T., W. Zhang, C.J. Staiger, and S.A. Kessler. 2025. MLO-mediated Ca2+ influx regulates root hair tipgrowth in Arabidopsis. New Phytol, July 13, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70378<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1111%2Fnph.70378&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7C8e3064b7d1c44093995808ddd3770622%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638899230364967328%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=RCZs8y92Jq6quzEhrefy0q%2BzKIwyj4W7H7xLZv%2B0iy8%3D&reserved=0> ==== A recent paper in PLOS Computational Biology by our affiliate Baloni lab at Purdue in the School of Health Sciences (read a feature about Priyanka Baloni in Cell Reports Medicine<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cell.com%2Fcell-reports-medicine%2Ffulltext%2FS2666-3791(25)00122-3&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7C8e3064b7d1c44093995808ddd3770622%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638899230364983211%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=g68LmOaD4SyEmXWjh7I%2Bb2R%2F7Q2IT8VmWfwWGajZKQY%3D&reserved=0>) developed the first cell-type-specific genome-scale metabolic model of human colonocytes, providing a novel computational resource for systems-level analysis of intestinal metabolism that offers a platform to explore disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets in inflammatory bowel disease and other digestive disorders. Jiang, B., Quinn-Bohmann, N., Diener, C., Nathan, V.B., Han-Hallett, Y., Reddivari, L., Gibbons, S.M. and Baloni, P., 2024. Understanding disease-associated metabolic changes in human colon epithelial cells using iColonEpithelium metabolic reconstruction. PLOS Computational Biology 21.7 (2025): e1013253. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013253<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1013253&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7C8e3064b7d1c44093995808ddd3770622%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638899230365003364%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=s47b1Krta5rI91dx3F9%2FtUmURo%2BtzeVbN41oJw9GcmE%3D&reserved=0> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brent T. Ladd, Senior Research Program Manager, EMBRIO Institute<https://www.purdue.edu/research/embrio/> Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University Office: Hall for Discovery Learning and Research, Ste. 203 207 S. Martin Jischke Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907 laddb@purdue.edu