BMB Weekly #39: September 29, 2023

 

Kuo Lab Receives NINDS Award! The Kuo lab just received an NIH R01 award 1R01NS135693-01, “Treating neurotoxicity and cognitive deficits due to hyperphosphorylated tau” by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). This five-year multiple PI (MPI) project is a collaboration between the Kuo lab and Dr. Cha-Yi (Alex) Kuan’s group at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. The primary goal of this project is to use a new mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease to test the hypotheses that oligomers of hyperphosphorylated tau protein cause neurotoxicity that underlies neurodegeneration of patients, and that such deleterious effects can be mitigated by small-molecule compounds apomorphine and raloxifene, two prescription drugs found by the Kuo lab to be potent inhibitors of the toxicity of hyperphosphorylated tau. The total award of this MPI project is $3.04 million, and as subaward, MSU will receive $1.12 million for the next five years.

 

 

Igor Mochalkin from Vividion Therapeutics will be presenting "A computational platform for discovery of reversible and covalent kinase inhibitors"

To join us on Zoom, click this link. Password: bmbseminar

The Fall BMB Seminar Series will run through December 7, 2023. The complete schedule is available on the BMB Fall Seminar Series website. If you are interested in meeting with any of these speakers please email Leslie Williams, glady@msu.edu. Many speakers are planning to visit in-person. A zoom option will continue to be offered for all seminars.

 

Join us for MPS speaker Benjamin Lichman from University of York. The seminar will be held via Zoom at 4:00 p.m. in MPS room 1200.

Benjamin’s talk is titled “Monoterpenoid enzymology and evolution in the mint family”. We would like to invite graduate students and postdocs for a lunch and discussion. Lunch will be provided at 12:00 p.m. in PLB 168. If you would like to participate in the luncheon, please RSVP to Keri Morris (morrisk@msu.edu) with any dietary restrictions by Friday September 29, 2023 at noon. All students and post docs who are interested in this week’s seminar topic are welcome to attend. You do not need to be in the MPS program or affiliated with an MPS faculty member. Please bring your laptops as the room does not have computer setup for doing a Zoom meeting.

The MSU AGEP Program is conducting a workshop series that will present NSF GRFP program information and provide structured practice to create competitive GRFP application. Students will participate in a 5-part series that will include an overview of the GRFP and application process, first-hand advice from GRFP reviewers and recent awardees, and two interactive sessions to review and revise their application documents. Learn more and register here.

In honor of Hispanic/Latin Heritage Month, CLA (Comunidad Latinoamericana) and WaMPS (Women and Minorities in Physical Sciences) are hosting the LatinXcellence event to celebrate Latin/Hispanic individuals pursuing higher education at MSU! There will be free food (pizza and more) and a social and academic space open for all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. We are also looking for Hispanic/Latin students interested in participating in a brief presentation to talk about their research/academic interests. Learn more here.

Scientists and engineers across many fields and disciplines are united by their work at the nanoscale. Their diverse efforts have helped produce everything from faster microchips to powerful mRNA vaccines. Celebrating such a broad impact and envisioning the future can be quite challenging, but this event will bring together voices from across the emerging technology landscape. There will be experts who can speak on the importance of nanotechnology in quantum engineering, optics, EHS, plastics, DEIA, microelectronics, medicine, education, manufacturing, and more. Learn more and register here.

This session will be dedicated to understanding the definitions and disagreements about what constitutes an author, how conflicts are resolved, how to avoid such conflicts, and where/to whom to go for help about authorship issues.

Plagiarism - stealing the work of another - is an increasing problem in the scholarly community. At MSU, this ranks as the #1 allegation of research misconduct. This session will also aim to help you understand what plagiarism is, how to test for it within your own work, how to discuss plagiarism, and where to go for advice on plagiarism. Learn more and register here.

Please mark your calendars for the Integrative Pharmacological Sciences Training program (IPSTP) Annual Retreat that will take place this year on Thursday, October 12^th. It will be held in room 1404 of the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building (ISTB) in East Lansing. This year we will hear from our keynote speaker, Dr. Erin Calipari, who will be discussing her research in neuropharmacology. We will also have podium presentations from current IPSTP students, hold discussions on responsible conduct of research and pharmacology-related career pathways, and receive an update on the state of the IPSTP. Learn more and register here.

Accessible teaching practices can lower barriers while strengthening learning for all. So how can instructors improve their practice to make it more accessible? This fall we're running three workshops exploring different facets of accessibility in STEM teaching: a two-part workshop on supporting neurodiverse students, a two-part workshop and technical training on developing accessible documents with LaTeX, and a two-part workshop on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework for accessible classroom practices. Learn more here.

 

This fellowship is awarded in honor of Dr. Karen Klomparens, Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate Education at MSU from 1997 until 2014, in honor of her unwavering commitment to graduate education. Applicants should be enrolled in masters or doctoral programs at MSU in any discipline including professional degree programs. Learn more and apply here.

University Outreach and Engagement recognizes and shines a light on exemplary high-quality community-engaged scholarship and outreach activities through its awards programs. There are four separate awards that are accepting nominations:

• Community Engagement Scholarship Award
• Graduate Student Award for Community Engagement Scholarship
• Graduate Student Award for Science Communication and Outreach
• Institutional Champion Award for Community Engagement Scholarship

Learn more and make a nomination here.

 

Eligible to undergraduates, graduates, and professional students enrolled in Fall/Spring semester and without a dining plan. Fruits, soups, pasta, rice, protein, cereal, bread, and fresh produce available year-round! To learn more about visiting the MSU Foodbank, or to donate, visit here.

BoT is a monthly community outreach event during which two scientists give 15–20-minute non-technical talks on topics in biology to the public at a local pub. In addition to engaging in the presentations, the audience can participate in trivia related to the talks for a chance to win prizes! 2023-2024 BoT will be held at Michigan Wildlife Conservancy's Wildlife Pub on the first Thursday of each month at 7 PM, starting in October. That said, we are currently looking for speakers! Talks can be about any topic in biology that interests you and we will work to pair speakers together under a common theme. Scientists at any stage in their career are encouraged to speak. Learn more and register here.

BioRender is a cutting-edge, scientific graphic software designed to revolutionize the way the scholars communicate their research findings. Many faculty and students across the MSU research community are already using this exciting tool and have found great value in it. The Office of Research and Innovation is excited to offer BioRender at the subsidized rate of $100 per year, providing faculty and students with an affordable solution to create stunning, publication-quality graphics that effectively convey complex scientific concepts. Learn more here.

To help field questions, Global Safety has developed a guide with recommended steps and resources. This is available as a PDF and on the Global Safety website at www.globalsafety.msu.edu/positive-COVID-19. The first step is to call ISOS for guidance.

 

The Kuo lab (401 Biochemistry) has openings for graduate students and postdocs to conduct Alzheimer’s disease research that is supported by multi-year NIH grants. We are using in vitro (biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, cell biology) and in vivo (mouse intracranial injection, behavioral assessments, drug treatment) methods to understand the disease mechanism and to develop therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia known as tauopathies. Four graduate students, two trainees, and one undergraduate student make up a welcoming, vibrant, and collaborative research team. Because of the wide spectrum of our research methodology, we welcome applicants with different background and interests. Send inquiry to Dr. Min-Hao Kuo (kuom@msu.edu).

A Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available in the laboratory of Melanie Balbach in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The Research Associate will focus on the metabolic changes and underlying regulatory pathways in the male germ cell during activation and during zygote development. Opportunities for professional development include participation in grant proposal writing, attending and presenting at scientific research symposiums and conferences, networking with other scientists within and outside MSU as well as mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The Rhee lab is hiring undergraduate researchers to investigate plant adaptive strategies to extreme environmental conditions such as drought and heat stress. We focus on metabolic traits at multiple scales including individual genes, pathways, and networks. Current work would assist in growing, genotyping, and transforming plants; developing phenotypic assays for plant growth and seed germination; live cell imaging and microscopy; data collection and analysis; and media preparation. This position has the potential for multi-year, part-time employment in the Rhee lab as well as the possibility to develop your own research projects. If interested, please send a description of how your interests align with our lab, your resume, and your availability to Sterling Field (fieldst4@msu.edu).

 

Arnosti D. N. (2023). Soft repression and chromatin modification by conserved transcriptional corepressors. The Enzymes, 53, 69–96.
         https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.enz.2023.08.001

Carey, S. M., Kearns, S. P., Millington, M. E., Buechner, G. S., Alvarez, B. E., Jr, Daneshian, L., Abiskaroon, B., Chruszcz, M., & D'Antonio, E. L. (2023).
         At the outer part of the active site in Trypanosoma cruzi glucokinase: The role of phenylalanine 337. Biochimie, S0300-9084(23)00241-9. Advance online              publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biochi.2023.09.014

Cottrell, S., Wang, R., & Wei, G. W. (2023). PLPCA: Persistent Laplacian-Enhanced PCA for Microarray Data Analysis. Journal of chemical information
         and modeling, 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01023. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01023

Feng, H., Wang, R., Zhan, C. G., & Wei, G. W. (2023). Multiobjective Molecular Optimization for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Using Generative
         Network Complex. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 66(17), 12479–12498. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01053

Nigam, S., Mohapatra, J., Makela, A. V., Hayat, H., Rodriguez, J. M., Sun, A., Kenyon, E., Redman, N. A., Spence, D., Jabin, G., Gu, B., Ashry, M.,
         Sempere, L. F., Mitra, A., Li, J., Chen, J., Wei, G. W., Bolin, S., Etchebarne, B., Liu, J. P., … Wang, P. (2023). Shape Anisotropy-Governed High                              Performance Nanomagnetosol for In Vivo Magnetic Particle Imaging of Lungs. Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany), e2305300. Advance online          publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202305300

Qiu, Y., & Wei, G. W. (2023). Artificial intelligence-aided protein engineering: from topological data analysis to deep protein language models.
         Briefings in bioinformatics, 24(5), bbad289. https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbad289

Roach, T. N. F., Matsuda, S. B., Martin, C., Huckeba, G., Huckeba, J., Kahkejian, V., Santoro, E. P., van der Geer, A., Drury, C., & Quinn, R. A.
         (2023). Single-polyp metabolomics reveals biochemical structuring of the coral holobiont at multiple scales. Communications biology, 6(1), 984.                              https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05342-8

Schmiege, S. C., Sharkey, T. D., Walker, B., Hammer, J., & Way, D. A. (2023). Laisk measurements in the nonsteady state: Tests in plants exposed
         to warming and variable CO2 concentrations. Plant physiology, 193(2), 1045–1057. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiad305

Xu, Y., Koroma, A. A., Weise, S. E., Fu, X., Sharkey, T. D., & Shachar-Hill, Y. (2023). Daylength variation affects growth, photosynthesis, leaf metabolism,                       partitioning, and metabolic fluxes. Plant physiology, kiad507. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiad507

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 56, No.39