BMB Weekly #41: October 13, 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.

 

 

Brian Kelch from the University of Massachusetts will be presenting "Peering under the hood of nature's macromolecular machines: Motors, rings, springs, and things"

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 Daniel Jacobson from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The seminar will be held at 4:00 p.m. in MPS room 1200.

Daniel’s talk is titled “Mechanisms, Networks and AI, Oh My! Adventures in Plant Systems Biology”. We would like to invite graduate students and postdocs to join the speaker for a lunch and discussion. Lunch will be provided at 12:00 p.m. in PLB 168. This is a great opportunity to meet our outside speaker in an informal environment. If you would like to participate in the luncheon, please RSVP to Keri Morris (morrisk@msu.edu) with any dietary restrictions by Friday, October 13, 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.

For researchers and scientists at MSU designing figures for publication, this thirty-minute webinar will demonstrate the details that bring cohesiveness to your figures and illustrations using BioRender. BioRender is the easy-to-use science illustration tool that’s quickly becoming a staple in academic institutions and labs around the world. Learn more and register here.

This webinar is designed for Plan A Master’s students and all Doctoral students who intend to graduate this semester. During this workshop students will receive information regarding the following:

• How to format their thesis or dissertation correctly
• How to successfully submit their thesis or dissertation via ProQuest
• How to successfully submit required paperwork, complete their Graduate School degree requirements, and receive their diploma

Students are encouraged to review the Graduate School's Electronic Thesis and Dissertation website where current information about formatting and requirements are listed prior to attending the workshop. Learn more and register here.

Are you unsure of what you would like to do after graduate school? Are you finding yourself more interested in a field outside your current field of study? Are you worried that the degree you're pursuing doesn't align with the position you're dreaming of? Join Graduate Assistant Josh Knepp for an hour-long workshop designed to kickstart or reignite your career discovery journey. Josh will discuss both the viability of changing career paths as well as strategies to know where you want to go. Learn more and register here.

In addition to its intellectual merits, each proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) is reviewed according to the merits of its broader impacts (BI) plan, or the benefits of the proposed research to society. Come to this workshop to learn more about NSF’s BI criterion and major BI goals, the six core components of a successful BI plan, and key resources to help you develop a winning proposal. An MSU researcher will share how he incorporated these components into his BI plan. Learn more and register here.

The Women*s Initiative for Leadership Development (or WILD) is a student leadership conference facilitated by a committee of engaged students in collaboration with the Office of Women*s Student Services and Women*s Council at Michigan State University. All Spartans (students, faculty, staff) who are interested in gender equity, empowerment, and leadership development are encouraged to attend! Learn more and register 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.

 

The MSU Science Festival is seeking presenters to share what excites you about your field with communities across Michigan! Learn more and submit a proposal here.

It's National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and MSU IT is putting Spartans' cybersecurity knowledge to the test to #SecureState! Join MSU IT each week in October as they launch a new episode of MSU IT Street Trivia. Learn more 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.

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).

 

Broeker, C. D., Ortiz, M. M. O., Murillo, M. S., & Andrechek, E. R. (2023). Integrative multi-omic sequencing reveals the MMTV-Myc mouse
         model mimics human breast cancer heterogeneity. Breast cancer research : BCR, 25(1), 120. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-023-01723-3

Case, D. A., Aktulga, H. M., Belfon, K., Cerutti, D. S., Cisneros, G. A., Cruzeiro, V. W. D., Forouzesh, N., Giese, T. J., Götz, A. W., Gohlke, H.,
         Izadi, S., Kasavajhala, K., Kaymak, M. C., King, E., Kurtzman, T., Lee, T. S., Li, P., Liu, J., Luchko, T., Luo, R., … Merz, K. M., Jr (2023). AmberTools.                     Journal of chemical information and modeling, 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01153. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01153

Chen, T., Pu, M., Subramanian, S., Kearns, D., & Rowe-Magnus, D. (2023). PlzD modifies Vibrio vulnificus foraging behavior and virulence in
         response to elevated c-di-GMP. mBio, e0153623. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01536-23

Chou, M. Y., Andersen, T. B., Mechan Llontop, M. E., Beculheimer, N., Sow, A., Moreno, N., Shade, A., Hamberger, B., & Bonito, G. (2023).
         Terpenes modulate bacterial and fungal growth and sorghum rhizobiome communities. Microbiology spectrum, e0133223. Advance online publication.                   https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01332-23

Diedrich, J. D., Gonzalez-Pons, R., Medeiros, H. C. D., Ensink, E., Liby, K. T., Wellberg, E. A., Lunt, S. Y., & Bernard, J. J. (2023). Adipocyte-derived
         kynurenine stimulates malignant transformation of mammary epithelial cells through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Biochemical pharmacology, 216,                     115763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2023.115763

Ellison, E. L., Zhou, P., Hermanson, P., Chu, Y. H., Read, A., Hirsch, C. N., Grotewold, E., & Springer, N. M. (2023). Mutator transposon insertions
         within maize genes often provide a novel outward reading promoter. Genetics, iyad171. Advance online publication.                                                                         https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyad171

Jurgelewicz, A., Nault, R., Harkema, J., Zacharewski, T. R., & LaPres, J. J. (2023). Characterizing the impact of simvastatin co-treatment of cell
         specific TCDD-induced gene expression and systemic toxicity. Scientific reports, 13(1), 16598. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42972-8

Sahu, A., Mostofa, M. G., Weraduwage, S. M., & Sharkey, T. D. (2023). Hydroxymethylbutenyl diphosphate accumulation reveals MEP pathway
         regulation for high CO₂-induced suppression of isoprene emission. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,                   120(41), e2309536120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309536120

Zelows, M. M., Cady, C., Dharanipragada, N., Mead, A. E., Kipp, Z. A., Bates, E. A., Varadharajan, V., Banerjee, R., Park, S. H., Shelman, N. R.,
         Clarke, H. A., Hawkinson, T. R., Medina, T., Sun, R. C., Lydic, T. A., Hinds, T. D., Jr, Brown, J. M., Softic, S., Graf, G. A., & Helsley, R. N. (2023). Loss of                 carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a reduces docosahexaenoic acid-containing phospholipids and drives sexually dimorphic liver disease in mice. Molecular              metabolism, 101815. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101815

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 56, No.41