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Lab News Spring 2016

• PhD student Ethan Andersen is elected Vice President of the Biology &Microbiology

Graduate Student Association (BMGSA). Similarly PhD student Surendra Neupane is

elected to serve as an executive member of the SDSU Nepalese Student Association (NeSA).

Congratulations to both, and thanks for your interest in acquiring some leadership skills and

experiences. The leadership skills and experiences acquired will prepare you better for your

future career. Both attended professional development workshop “Individual Development

Plan” and also served as judges for the Eastern South Dakota Science and Engineering Fair.

• Congratulations to Ethan Andersen on his recent paper published in the Journal of

Evolutionary Bioinformatics (available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27168720). This represents

Ethan's second paper, out of his PhD project.

• Ethan Andersen and undergraduate researcher Mathew Hummel received Honor Society of

Agriculture Poster awards. The awards were presented at the 2016 Annual Banquet of the

Honor Society on April 4th, 2016. Congratulations to both of these gifted reserachers!!

Mathew Hummel (right) and his research mentor Madhav Nepal (left)

• Dr. Nepal was awarded this year’s SDSU Edward Patrick Hogan Award for Teaching

Excellence (https://www.sdstate.edu/academic/faculty/facultyawards/ephaward/). Nepal

lab in collaboration with three other SDSU labs was awarded with two 2016 Soybean

Research and Promotion Council grants. PhD student Surendra Neupane and one

undergraduate student will get heavily involved in studying disease resistance in soybean;

particularly studying interactions between soybean, soybean-aphids and soybean-cyst-

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nematodes. Dr. Nepal was also elected the Chair of University International Committee

effective fall 2016.

Ethan Andersen (right) and his research mentor Madhav Nepal (left)

• Congratulations to Surendra Neupane on his Graduate Teaching Certificate of Excellence

(through SDSU Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning). This semester

Surendra also received membership scholarship to the Honor Society of Agriculture.

PhD student Surendra Neupane responding to a surprise visit by our university

photographer.

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Undergraduate student Matthew Hummel presented his undergraduate research paper at the Academy of Science meeting and presented a poster at the Bio-Micro Department Scholars’ Day event on April 25th.

Ph.D. student Ethan Andersen (left) leading a Round-table Collaborative session

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(Second Annual Celebration of Achievement and Award Banquet, SD Chapter of the Honor Society of Agriculture). Good job on the facilitator's role. This collaborative session was also joined by our distinguished alumni and Interim Secretary of Department of Agriculture Dr. Oedekoven (middle).

• Following abstracts have been accepted for presentations at the National Conference later

this year. Congratulations to all contributing authors.

• http://botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=634

• http://botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=551

• http://botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=560

• http://botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=530

• http://botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=539

Fall 2015

• Two papers: one on Morus breeding system and other on Aegilops R-genes were

accepted for publication

• Madhav Nepal named National Academies Education Fellow in Life Sciences for

2015-2016

• Surendra Neupane, a new PhD student from Nepal joined Nepal Lab

• Madhav Nepal was elected Teaching Section Chair of the Botanical Society of

America for the term 2015-2018

04/12/2015: Samantha Shaw, Ethan Anderson and M. Nepal attended the 100th Annual meeting

of the South Dakota Academy of Science at Cedar Shore Resort and Bridges

Conference Center Oacoma, SD. Nepal lab members presented the current research

outcomes at the meeting.

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(Samantha Shaw [right] with Dr. Jackie Ott from the US Forest Service)

(Dr. Paul Johnson is asking Samantha whether some of the identified genes are

insect-resistant!)

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04/07/2015: Our recent paper published in the journal of “Evolutionary Bioinformatics” is now

available online at http://www.la-press.com/cnl-disease-resistance-genes-in-

soybean-and-their-evolutionary-diverge-article-a4752 .

04/02/2015: Ethan Andersen and Samantha Shaw presented their research projects at the 1st

Annual GSD Poster contest at SDSU. The poster contest was organized by the SD

Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta.

04/02/2015: Ethan Andersen is now a new member of Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honor Society

of Agriculture. Outstanding graduate student with high GPA are eligible to apply

for the GSD membership. Congratulations Ethan!

04/01/2015: Dr. Madhav Nepal is now tenured and promoted to Associate Professor.

03/30/2015: The STREAM project by Drs. Browning, Miller and Nepal is awarded for funding

by SDBOR/DOE.

03/24/2015: Inspiring the next generation !

Samyok Nepal (6th grader at the Mickelson Middle school) standing by his research

poster presented at the 2015 Eastern South Dakota Science and Engineering Fair.

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02/22/2015: Welcome to Samantha Shaw to our Lab. She has joined our group for her

Undergraduate Research Experience course.

12/31/2014: Our paper on “Soybean Disease Resistance Genes and their Evolutionary

Divergence” is accepted for publication in Evolutionary Bioinformatics. This is

second paper from Ben Benson’s MS thesis project. Ben Benson has recently joined

Sanford Research, Sioux Falls SD. Congratulations to Ben Benson.

11/13/2014: One of our lab alumni (REU; summer 2014) Spencer Weinstein’s work on

Cordgrass MAPK genes has been accepted for presentation at 2015 Emerging

Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM to be held in February at

Washington, DC. She has also received travel award from the organizers (NSF and

AAAS) for attending the meeting. Congratulations Spencer! This will be a great

experience.

10/30/2014: Congratulations to Ben Benson who successfully defended his MS thesis. You

answered all the questions very well! Well done!!

10/20/2014: Good luck to Ben Benson for his thesis defense scheduled for Thursday

10/30/2014!

9/01/2014: In less than a year of publication, Neupane et al (2013) has become the journal’s

one of the most viewed articles as of today (>1,300 views and >1000 PDF

downloads).

8/10/2014: Undergraduate research project by Lukas Davison is accepted for publication. Ben

Benson undertook most of its writing. Congratulations to Ben, Lukas and other

authors on this paper.

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8/08/2014: Congratulations to our REU mentees Spencer Weinst (University of Massachusetts)

and Mary Foley (University of Kentucky) who received the best research poster

award yesterday. After completing their REU projects, both of them are returning to

their respective universities. Thanks for the draft manuscript and the “thank you”

note☺!

7/30/2014: Graduate student Ben Benson presented his MS research outcomes at 2014 Annual

Meetings of the Botanical Society of America (BSA). Nepal Lab members

presented six different papers/posters at this meeting. Congratulations to Ben

Benson and Ethan Andersen on their first-time attending/presenting at the national

meeting!

Over 64 attendees attended each paper presented at the BSA teaching section, and

over 500 people visited the teaching section poster area. Both sessions were

presided by M. Nepal.

07/29/2014: National Science Foundation -REMAST (Rural Enhancement of Math and Science

Teachers) -Phase II Proposal by Vestal, Nepal, Browning, Miller and Bertolini was

awarded. Total award amount is $ 794,577.

6/23/2014: Graduate student Ben Benson’s article on Understanding Plant’s Disease

Surveillance is just published on iGrow site. This article is available at

http://igrow.org/agronomy/wheat/understanding-plants-disease-surveillance/.

Congratulations Ben!

6/06/2014: Undergraduate research proposal involving Pukar Duwadi was awarded.

Congratulations Pukar on being selected for the competitive Agricultural and

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Engagement award.

05/21/2014: Welcome to two NSF-REU students (Spencer Weinst from the University of

Massachusetts and Mary Foley from the University of Kentucky) to Nepal Lab.

Spencer and Mary will be working on a genomic research project for the next 10

weeks.

05/01/2014: Congratulations to undergraduate researcher Ethan Andersen who is now joining

Nepal Lab as a graduate student. Three bright undergraduate students Wyatt

Chicoine, Pukar Duwadi and Abby Bulock will be joining our lab in August, 2014.

04/23/2014: Madhav Nepal received another teaching award, 2014 Gamma Sigma Delta award

for Excellence in Teaching. Gamma Sigma Delta is the Honor Society of

Agriculture.

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04/22/2014: Graduate student Benjamin Benson received ‘2014 Sigma Xi Second Place MS

Paper’ award. Ethan Andersen received the first place Sigma Xi Undergraduate

Research Award. The awards were announced at the Annual Banquet of the local

Chapter of Sigma Xi. Sigma Xi Graduate Research Winners for 2014 are going to

be listed at http://sigmaxi.sdstate.org/. Congratulations to all award winners!!

Graduate student Ben Benson (middle) with SDSU Vice President of Research Dr. Kevin

Kephart (right) and Graduate School Dean Dr. Kinchel Doerner (left).

04/22/2014: Spencer Schreier’s paper “Ancient Founder Effect Events Detected by Newly

Characterized Microsatellite Markers for Morus rubra” was awarded this year’s

Schultz-Werth Award ($750). The award was announced at the program of

Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Day, April 21, 2014.

Congratulations Spencer.

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South Dakota Academy of Science Best Research Poster Awardee Ethan Andersen (left)

with Ag-Bio College Dean Dr. Barry Dunn (right)

04/21/2014: Dr. Madhav Nepal completed his term as the President of the local chapter of Sigma

Xi after the annual banquet held this evening. The banquet was well attended by 62

attendees including SDSU President, Provost, Vice President of Research, Deans,

Department heads, Faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students. Vice

President of Research delivered the keynote speech.

04/11/2014: Madhav Nepal received the first “Tom Cheesbrough Teaching Award in the

Department of Biology and Microbiology” at the Departmental Scholarship banquet

held yesterday (April 10, 2014).

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2014 Tom Cheesbrough Teaching Award Recipient Dr. Madhav Nepal with Dr. Barry Dunn (right;

Dean of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences) and Dr. Volker Brozel (Head,

Department of Biology and Microbiology)

04/07/2014: SD Soybean Research and Promotion Council proposal “Efficient and Economical

Molecular Diagnostic Tools for Soybean Stresses” by Subramanian et al (Nepal Co-

PI) funded. Congratulations to the team.

03/29/2014: Nepal Lab members Benjamin Benson, Ethan Andersen and Liz Opitz attended the

99th Annual Meeting of South Dakota Academy of Science in Rapid City. Ethan

Andersen was the recipient of the “Best Poster” award. His research poster was

about Disease Resistance Genes of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.; Poaceae).

Congratulations Ethan for the award!

03/21/2014: Graduate student Ben Benson submitted his application for the Sigma Xi Graduate

Student Research Paper Contest. Two undergraduate students (Pukar Duwadi and

Jianxian Pan) have submitted Undergraduate Research proposals in order to gain

research experiences in Nepal Lab. Best wishes on your proposal/paper.

02/27/2014: Spencer Schreier was one of the four SDSU Honors College’s “Research Excellence

Award” winners who received awards at the Van D. and Barbara S. Fishback

HONORS COLLEGE CONVOCATION yesterday (February 26, 2014).

Congratulations to Spencer on the award.

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02/07/2014: Madhav Nepal and two other SDSU professors presented three papers at the Annual

Meeting of South Dakota Science Teachers Association in Huron SD. Nepal et al.

shared in a 50-min session each the following hands-on activities developed for

DOE/BOR funded SETI^2 workshops:

• Quadrat to Query Plants and Prairie

• Plant Press Make and Take

• Bioinformatics in SD Life Science Classrooms?

All three activities were aligned with Next Generation Science Standards.

Challenging concepts were discussed and teachers were engaged in hands-on

activities. The attendees left the session with an activity tool kit and skills involved.

SDSU recruitment materials were displayed at the ISEE booth.

02/07/2014: Ben Benson, Carl Fellbaum and Mark Iverson (Castlewood Elementary School)

presented a paper titled “Two Scientists and a Fungi” at the Annual Meeting of

South Dakota Science Teachers Association in Huron (SD). The room was full of

attendees, and you might want to ask for a bigger room next time. Teachers

appreciated your presentation, keep up your good work!

Honors College Research Excellence Award winners with Provost Dr. Laurie Nichols (left)

and Honors College Dean Dr. Tim Nichols (right)

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02/04/2014: MS student Sarbottam Piya’s third paper is accepted for publication in the Journal

of Biological Invasions. Congratulations to Sarbottam and Nepal Lab team.

Biological Invasions is one of the high-ranked journals for the invasive species

research.

01/13/2014: Welcome to new lab members Ethan Anderson, Liz Opiz, Jacob Macca and Dayton

Williamson. Ethan and Liz are biology seniors, who are considering Nepal Lab for

their graduate research starting fall 2014.

12/13/2013: Our lab alumnus and undergraduate researcher Kenton MacArthur has co-authored

Neupane et al (2013) paper “Evolutionary history of mitogen-activated protein

kinase (MAPK) genes in Lotus, Medicago, and Phaseolus published in Plant

Signaling and Behavior. This paper integrates Kenton’s undergraduate research

project with graduate research project by Achal Neupane (available online at

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24317362). Congratulations to Kenton!

12/13/2013: Graduate student Achal Neupane’s second paper titled “Evolutionary history of

mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) genes in Lotus, Medicago, and

Phaseolus” is accepted for publication in the journal of Plant Signaling and

Behavior. Online version of this paper is available at

https://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/psb/article/27189/

Also available at

• PubMed Central: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24317362

• Web of Knowledge

11/01/2013: Graduate student Ben Benson was elected BMGSA (Bio-Micro Graduate Student

Association) Vice President last month. Congratulations to Ben Benson! Ben along

with three other graduate students played an important role in the establishment of

the BMGSA. M. Nepal serves as BMGSA’s current advisor.

10/05/2013: Congratulations to our lab alumnus and undergraduate researcher Douglas Wichern

whose research paper titled “Taxonomic Status of Red Mulberry (Morus rubra,

Moraceae) at Its Northwestern Boundary” is accepted for publication in the

Proceedings of South Dakota Academy of Science.

09/22/2013: Congratulations to Achal Neupane. His first paper titled “Identification,

Nomenclature, and Evolutionary Relationships of Mitogen-Activated Protein

Kinase (MAPK) Genes in Soybean” is published in the Journal of Evolutionary

Bioinformatics. Online version of this paper is available at http://www.la-

press.com/identification-nomenclature-and-evolutionary-relationships-of-mitogen--

article-a3890-metrics.

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Also available at

• PubMed Central: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785387/

• Web of Knowledge

8/02-07/2013: M. Nepal, L. Browning and M. Miller’s SETI^2 workshop on teachers training

was held in Faith High School South Dakota (a synopsis available: http://seti-2-

2013.wikispaces.com/). Altogether 19 Teachers from South Dakota participated in

the workshop. Besides many exciting hands-on activities designed by Browning and

Miller, this year’s some highlighted activities in biology were:

• Plant sampling, rangeland inventories, plant collection and herbarium preparation [make and take: plant press and PVC quadrat]), interpretation of water analysis

for livestock suitability

• Teaching bioinformatics (teachers took Nepal’s bioinformatics activities kit)

• Rainfall and soil erosion simulation (by Dave Ollila, SDSU extension).

• Paleontology in the context of SD

8/01-02/2013: M. Nepal attended SD BOR Full-Year Residency Conference in Chamberlain

(SD).

07/26-31/2013: M. Nepal attended BOTANY2013 (Botanical Society of America’s annual

meeting; Riverside Hilton, New Orleans), presented one paper and four posters, was

re-elected Vice Chair/Program manager of the Teaching Section of the BSA.

07/18/2013: Congratulations to Achal Neupane for his successful MS defense and also for the

acceptance of his first paper in the Journal of Evolutionary Bioinformatics. Achal

has accepted a position (Ph.D. in Bioinformatics) at University of Nebraska-

Lincoln.

06/17/2013: Good luck to Achal Neupane for his thesis defense scheduled for Tuesday

6/18/2013.

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05/06/2013: Congratulations to Ben Benson for completing TA of excellence.

05/04/2013: Congratulations to Sarbottam Piya and Achal Neupane on their graduation.

Congratulations to our lab alumni Andy Perry and Richard Stecher who also

graduated this semester.

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Sarbottam Piya and Achal Neupane, after commencement

04/23/2013: Congratulations to Spencer Schreier and Kenton MacArthur for successfully

completing their undergraduate research projects. Good job lab members! This

month three abstracts have been submitted for presentation at the annual meeting of

the Botanical Society of America in New Orleans (July 27-31, 2013) and one

abstract has been submitted for presentation at the annual meeting of Ecological

Society of America in Minneapolis (August 4-9, 2013).

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04/23/2013: Congratulations to Spencer Schreier. Spencer received Honors College Special

recognition award for his poster presented at the Undergraduate Research,

Scholarship, and Creative Activities Day (URSCAD) 2013 contest held on Friday,

April 22, 2013.

04/22/2013: Congratulations to Sarbottam Piya for Sigma Xi Graduate Student Research award

for 2013. Sarbottam was also inducted as new member of Sigma Xi in the annual

banquet of SDSU chapter of Sigma Xi on Monday, April 22, 2013.

04/20/2013: Sarbottam Piya was the speaker yesterday (4/19/2013) for Life Science Seminar

Series at SDSU. Sarbottam’s talk was on “Population Genetics of Sickleweed

(Falcaria vulgaris, Apiaceae) in the United States”. Good job on talking to

audience of diverse background in life sciences.

MS research paper winner Sarbottam Piya with Graduate

School Dean Dr. Kinchel Doerner (right).

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04/08/2013: DOE/Tittle II proposal on “STEM Enhancement Teacher Institute: Sustained,

Effective Teacher Interaction or (SETI)2” 2013 via SDBOR is funded. (PIs:

Browning, Miller and Nepal)

04/05/2013: Congratulations to Sarbottam Piya for successfully defending his thesis. Sarbottam

will be joining University of Tennessee Knoxville from August 2013.

03/29/2013: Good luck to Sarbottam Piya for his thesis defense scheduled for Friday 4/5/2013.

03/27/2013: Good job Ben Benson and Carl Fellbaum for taking root/fungal staining lab

activities to Mark Iverson’s classroom of the 4th graders at Castlewood School

(Watertown, South Dakota). Mark’s effort on exciting 4th graders in science is

highly appreciated.

03/13/2013: Congratulations to Spencer Schreier! Spencer has received American Society of

Plant Biologists (ASPB) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship award.

03/12/2013: Madhav Nepal and Ben Benson served as judges in the 59th Eastern South Dakota

Science & Engineering Fair.

03/8/2013: Congratulations to Sarbottam Piya! His research paper on Characterization of

microsatellite markers for sickleweed is accepted for publication. This is his second

paper out of his MS research project.

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02/28/2013: Honors in Agriculture proposal “Evolutionary analysis of soybean MAPK

(GmMAPK) genes by our undergraduate researcher Kevin Murray is funded.

Congratulations to Kevin!

10/1/2012: Congratulations to Sarbottam Piya. His first research paper on his MS thesis is

accepted for publication.

09/10/2012: Nepal’s research proposal to Soybean Research and Promotional Council was

funded.

04/30/2012: Congratulations to Achal Neupane who received Sigma Xi MS paper award.

Achal’s CEDTR proposal on Soybean MAPK research was funded (USDA/NIFA)

is also funded.

04/1/2012: STEM Enhancement Teacher Institute: Sustained, Effective Teacher Interaction or

(SETI)2 2012, NCLB, Title II proposal for professional development of SD science

teachers is funded. (Browning, Miller and Nepal)

04/30/2012: Kenton MacArthur is the winner of competitive Bently and Griffith

Undergraduate Research Award. Kenton will be working on “In Silico Analysis of

Genealogical Processes in Soybean Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Kinase

(MAPKK) Genes”. Congratulations to Kenton!

04/30/2012: Spencer Schreier received Honors College Undergraduate Research Award.

Spencer’s research project is on “Study of Leading Edge Expansion in Red

Mulberry at its Northwestern Boundary.” Congratulations to Spencer!