However, in the laboratory of Deborah Spector , researchers are working with a mouse version of the virus that greatly resembles the activity of its human counterpart. Animal studies already have been completed with one version of an intradermal vaccine that showed a limited response. Other vaccines are being developed with the goal of conferring a greater level of protection to a larger part of the population. Creating Faster Crop Yields To a plant, the importance of flowering cannot be overstated. Simply put, plants produce flowers to preserve the species.
Flowers produce fruit which, in turn, contains seeds that are passed on to the next generation.
If a plant normally takes about ten weeks to flower, the genetically altered plant would take about three weeks. Results of this research are offering plant breeders a new tool for genetically modifying economically important crops. On July 28, Maarten Chrispeels was awarded the Stephen Hales Prize by the American Society of Plant Physiologists . This prestigious award comes on the heels of his being inaugurated into the National Academy of Sciences last spring.