Before we get to the story, here’s who’s in this picture: U.S. Senator Kit Bond explains the importance of the new Soybean Genome Mapping Facility, along with Dale R. Ludwig, MSA executive director/CEO; U.S. Congressman Kenny Hulshof; U.S. Senator Jim Talent; MU Chancellor Brady Deaton; Tom Payne, MU Vice Chancellor and Dean of College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; MU President Elson Floyd; and Henry Nguyen, Endowed Professor for Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council. Courtesy of Missouri Soybean Association. I resized the picture. It was bigger but you could see a couple of sets of closed eyes (not mentioning who). Kit, I wonder if you were going a little long.

Today the Missouri Soybean Association applauded the opening of the Soybean Genome Mapping Facility, an expansion of the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. NCSB scientists play a national leadership role in developing improved soybean varieties to keep U.S. producers competitive in the marketplace.

The NCSB is a collaborative program among scientists at MU, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service Plant Genetics Unit in Columbia and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo. There are currently more than 25 researchers working together from diverse fields including agronomy, microbiology and plant pathology, biochemistry, animal science, food science, molecular biology and agricultural economics.

Thanks Haley for the picture. See, they really do help get you posted!