Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · 9d

This is a really unfortunate time to have the keys falling off of my keyboard 😂 I guess that's how you know it's time to graduate.

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · 12d

I chose a rotational program bc it allowed me to find the right fit for research/mentorship. Students, like me, who applied to programs that allowed them to explore their options during the first semester(s) will no longer be able to prepare their application after a full rotation experience.

Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · 12d

The NSF-GRFP Solicitation (finally) went live today!

Unfortunately, second-year PhD students are unable to apply. This decision will have direct impacts on graduate students who choose rotational PhD programs. 🧪🌱
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Reposted by Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl

Gitta Coaker @gittacoaker.bsky.social · 16d

Gram-positive bacterial MAMP sensed by a plant cysteine rich receptor kinase. I've been waiting for this preprint to drop. Nice story!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases mediate Wall Teichoic Acid perception in Arabidopsis

Plants and animals detect microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) to initiate defense responses. Both lineages employ pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), yet plant mechanisms for sensing Gram-...

www.biorxiv.org

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · 21d

Friends and Family - If you're interested in attending my dissertation seminar via Zoom (Oct 8th), please comment below and I will send you the information!

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · 24d

New profile pic, thanks to the Boilermaker Station photo booth at #Purdue!

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · 28d

Thanks so much!

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · 29d

Not a lot of time to bead lately, but look at these customs I made for a Purdue fan!

shawishmarket.com/Collegiate-E...
#beadwork #choctaw ##brickstitich #IndigenousArt

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Sep 5

Thank you!! Glad you were able to be a part of it!

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Reposted by Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · Sep 5

Applications for the 2026 Pivot to Plants Fellows Program at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center are now open.

Location: St. Louis, MO
Application Deadline: October 15, 2025
Dates: Jan. 5, 2026 – Dec. 23, 2026
Estimated Stipend: $37,275

Learn more: www.danforthcenter.org/our-work/edu...

Pivot to Plants: Training Program for Plant and Data Science | Danforth Plant Science Center

The Pivot2Plants Fellows Program is a 1-year training program for people interested in pivoting to a career in plant science or data science but have limited research experience.

www.danforthcenter.org

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Sep 5

This work explores how PTI responses like ROS amplitude/attenuation & MAPK phosphorylation are PRR-specific in tomato roots! We also show that root PTI is primarily located in the developing tissues of tomato, providing experimental insights for below-ground PTI assays, including ROS, MAPK, & DEGs.

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Sep 5

🚨 New publication alert 🚨
Tomato Roots Exhibit Development-Specific Responses to Bacterial-Derived Peptides
🔗: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Authors: R Leuschen-Kohl, R Roberts, @danimstevens.bsky.social, N Zhang, S Buchanan, B Pilkey, @gittacoaker.bsky.social , and A Iyer-Pascuzzi.

Tomato Roots Exhibit Development‐Specific Responses to Bacterial‐Derived Peptides

Pattern-triggered immune responses in roots are concentrated in the early differentiating regions in wild and domesticated tomatoes (Solanum pimpinellifolium and S. lycopersicum). Signalling compon...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Sep 5

Updated link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Tomato Roots Exhibit Development‐Specific Responses to Bacterial‐Derived Peptides

Pattern-triggered immune responses in roots are concentrated in the early differentiating regions in wild and domesticated tomatoes (Solanum pimpinellifolium and S. lycopersicum). Signalling compon...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Sep 5

This work explores how PTI responses like ROS amplitude/attenuation & MAPK phosphorylation are PRR-specific in tomato roots! We also show that root PTI is primarily located in the developing tissues of tomato, providing experimental insights for below-ground PTI assays, including ROS, MAPK, & DEGs.

Reposted by Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl

Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Jul 8

It's that time of year again!

If you or someone you know is thinking about applying to MS/PhD programs, I recommend checking out this website, structured from our fall-semester-only class AGR 490: Gateways to Graduate School!

#GradSchool #PhD #GradSchoolAdmissions #GatewaystoGradSchool

Gateways to Graduate School

sites.google.com

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Aug 12

Excited (and a little bit nervous!) to be speaking tomorrow for the #ASPB #PlantBiologyGlobal Fostering Inclusion in Plant Biology session! I'll be speaking on my experience as an Indigenous student at Purdue and the support systems (@Purdue, in the community, among peers) I've had during my PhD.

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Reposted by Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl

Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · Aug 10

My team has updated our free database of POSTDOC fellowships.

This database contains 286 entries. For each entry, we provide a link, short description, deadline, amount, and eligibility criteria.

Download this updated and expanded database here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Aug 11

Decolonize scientific institutions, don’t just diversify them

Indigenous scholars set out eight steps to stop marginalization in academia and to enable a shared Indigenous agenda in science.

www.nature.com

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Aug 8

Mentoring undergraduates is one of my favorite parts of the job 😍 I'm always so excited when I get to brag on their work. Congrats, Morgan!

Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Aug 8

Excited to share the latest microPublication from my mentee Morgan Murff (incoming PhD@UGA!) looking at root responses to bacterial MAMPs in pepper roots. Contrary to previous findings, Morgan showed that roots of some pepper varieties do respond to csp22(Rsol). 🌱
#plantpath #plantdisease #plantbio

Below-ground tissues of Capsicum annuum respond to conserved bacterial peptides with pattern-triggered immunity | microPublication

www.micropublication.org

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Jul 29

Congrats to all! Such cool findings - and so very relevant to the future of crop engineering!

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Jul 17

And just like that, my time at #2025ISMPMI is over. I had such a great time catching up with fellow friends and researchers from across the globe! Here's to the next two years of scientific discovery before we meet again. Tschüss und bis bald!

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Reposted by Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl

Julien Capin @ju-cap.bsky.social · Jul 17

You designed binders for your favourite protein and wish there was a way to experimentally screen them within 24h w/ only a set of pipettes and a plate reader?

Check out our Cell-Free 2-Hybrid approach (CF2H)

Full post: tinyurl.com/48cz5nb6

Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

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Reposted by Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl

Morgan Carter @morgancarterphd.bsky.social · Jul 17

Songyuan Zhang - what can we learn from natural variation that can inform receptor engineering?

Combined observed sequence variation with AlphaFold3 prediction to model and engineer the pattern recognition receptor FLS2, and then the pathogen peptide agonist flg22.
#2025ISMPMI

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Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl @bleuschenkohl.bsky.social · Jul 16

Fantastic work from @danimstevens.bsky.social!

Dani Stevens, Ph.D. @danimstevens.bsky.social · Jul 15

#2025ISMPMI 📣 In silico screening of PRR-epitope interactions is now possible!

Here, we developed mamp-ml to predict their immunogenic outcomes without structural context. Let's accelerate engineering plant receptors for robust resistance! 🚀🌱 Small 🧵

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

mamp-ml: A deep learning approach to epitope immunogenicity in plants

Eukaryotes detect biomolecules through surface-localized receptors, key signaling components. A subset of receptors survey for pathogens, induce immunity, and restrict pathogen growth. Comparative gen...

www.biorxiv.org

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