F-actin (green) and nuclear (blue) staining reveals the morphology of the wound edge.
Dye that labels reactive oxygen species (ROS) highlights the new tissues of the blastema in green/red.
Synapsin labeling (green) of the planarian anterior nervous system and brain.
F-actin (green) and nuclear (blue) staining reveals the morphology of the wound edge.
Q-Bite Program
Quantum Biology Interdisciplinary Trainee Exchange
Program
WMU's QBite program is the first of its kind trainee exchange program aimed at increasing networking and practical experience among students and postdoctoral fellows interested in the field of Quantum Biology. The program was started in 2021 by Dr. Beane with funding provided by WMU's Presidential Innovation Professorship award and supplemented by an NSF Research Coordination Network grant (#2105474).
The QBite program acts as a clearinghouse to connect interested TRAINEES with available QUANTUM BIOLOGY LABS and place them as visiting guest scientists. Funding for visits may or may not be available, depending on our present funding status. If you are a lab willing to host a trainee for networking and/or a specific assay or technique, please contact us! Currently, we facilitate three different types of experiences:
MagShield Box Setup Short Visits
The Beane Lab is currently working on a formal protocol for any lab wishing to start weak magnetic field exposure experiments in their own lab. We are available (schedule depending) to come to other labs to help setup a new MagShield enclosure and train lab members on its basic use. The MagShield Box setup can currently be seen in Supplementary Figure 1 of our 2019 Science Advances paper. While this is mainly aimed at other biology labs wishing to expand into quantum biology research, we may be able to work with labs in other disciplines as well. Visits typically range 2-3 days. Options for your setup will be discussed and purchasing lists provided prior to the visit.
For more information: contact us here.
Cross-disciplinary 1 Week Visits
Cross-disciplinary visits place graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in QB labs OUTSIDE their own discipline. For example: a bioinformatics student might seek to network with a physics lab, a chemistry student might wish to visit an engineering lab, or a biology student might connect with any of the previous types of labs. These visits do NOT require previous collaboration between labs (although they can), and they are NOT aimed at producing data (although they can). Instead, these visits are meant to function like medical rotations or shadowing, enabling trainees to gain experience with how a different QB field operates: what research they do, what tools they use to perform it, and what types of questions the field asks. It is expected that during their visit, the trainee will give a public presentation on their research and an informal roundtable discussion with other trainees. These are intended to allow the host lab to also gain experience with a different field. The main objectives with this experience are to increase one-on-one networking across the various QB disciplines and provide trainees with a much needed better understanding of related fields.
For more information: contact us here.
Current available host labs: Beane Lab, Biology, Western Michigan University, MI
Assay Focused 1-2 Week Visits
Assay focused visits also place graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in QB labs OUTSIDE their own discipline, but with the express purpose of learning a new assay or technique. These visits do NOT require previous collaboration between labs (although they can). The QBite program can help match trainees seeking to learn specific assays/ techniques with available labs. The length of the visit will depend on the individual assay(s) involved.
For more information: contact us here.
