BMB Weekly #45: November 10, 2023

 

MSU's Seun Ogunwobi Elected Fellow of Two Prestigious Academies Renowned Michigan State University cancer researcher Olorunseun “Seun” Ogunwobi has been selected to serve as a Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. He’s also been elected as a fellow of the Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria. In these roles, he will provide academic and professional leadership that influences and informs policy and enhances human health and welfare. Read the full article here.

 

 

Mary Blair-Loy from the University of California, San Diego will be presenting "Misconceiving merit in academic STEM"

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.

 

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.

Attention MSU Grad Students: Need RCR hours? All of these sessions will count for one hour of refresher training or one hour of discussion-based training. All discussions will take place in the Plant Biology Building, room 168.

The Dean of the Graduate School, Pero Dagbovie, invites graduate students to join him and his graduate school colleagues for lunch and conversation in Chittenden Hall. This unique opportunity allows Graduate Students the chance to connect with The Graduate School leadership and staff in a relaxed and informal lunch setting. Learn more and register here.

Justin Booth and Chip Shank of MSU IT Cyberinfrastructure will be presenting about the key areas of data confidentiality, including:

• Data ownership
• Data collection
• Data access
• Data storage
• Data transmission
• Data sharing
• Data retention and destruction

This seminar is available for RCR credit. Learn more here.

In this 3-hour workshop, plans for time management and working with others will be the main focus. Participants will create academic timelines for their PhD work at MSU and discuss technologies and habits that can help them stay on task. Participants will also discuss how to manage the stress that often pervades the life of PhD students and share strategies for overcoming writer’s block and procrastination. Learn more and register here.

Every PhD program at MSU requires comprehensive exams, dissertation proposals, and dissertations. In the workshop, participants will explore and share their current writing practices and be given practical writing and revision strategies. During the latter half of the workshop, participants will develop a plan for developing and completing their dissertations. Learn more and register here.

The goal of this conference is to create more integrated Research, Extension, and Education (REE) teams for collaborative proposals that improve urban agriculture and food systems broadly, as well as work at the intersection of urban agriculture and food systems that operate in, near, or within urban settings. This conference takes part in three phases in late 2023 and early 2024. Learn more and register here.

 

The King-Chavez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship (KCP-FFF) application for the 2024-25 Academic Year is open until February 16, 2024. The KCP-FFF program aims to increase the pool of academically or economically disadvantaged candidates pursuing faculty teaching careers in postsecondary education. Learn more and apply here.

 

MSU IT is offering several virtual instructional technology and development recordings and workshops for educators in November. Take a deep dive into tools like D2L and learn how to leverage accessibility considerations and other technology- informed teaching strategies for a smooth final exams season. Learn more and register 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.

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.

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.

 

Applications are invited for a Research Associate (Postdoc) position in the Hegg lab. The project will focus on our patented Cu-AHP process for fractionating woody biomass into clean sugar and lignin streams suitable for biofuels and bioproducts. The global pulp and paper market is valued at over $165 B, and the US is one of the largest producers of pulp and paper products. Our Cu-AHP pretreatment technology effectively and economically fractionates woody biomass to generate clean lignin and sugars streams. The goal of this project is to: (a) optimize the process for treating wood chips to generate pulp and lignin-rich streams, (b) evaluate the prepared pulp for specific applications, (c) conduct technoeconomic analyses to identify key factors contributing to the production cost, and (d) collaborate with various companies for potential scale-up and commercialization of the technology. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The selected candidate will work with members in the Kuo lab to perform drug discovery and disease mechanism studies of Alzheimer’s disease. Responsibilities include preparing recombinant proteins for in vitro and animal (mouse) studies. Experiments include, but not limited to, protein aggregation assays, cell viability quantification, mouse primary neuron isolation, mouse intracerebral injection and behavioral analysis, and immunohistological examination of mouse brain sections. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

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.

 

Arriaza, R. H., Abiskaroon, B., Patel, M., Daneshian, L., Kluza, A., Snoeck, S., Watkins, M. B., Hopkins, J., Van Leeuwen, T., Grbic, M., Grbic, V.,
         Borowski, T., & Chruszcz, M. (2023). Structural and functional studies reveal the molecular basis of substrate promiscuity of a glycosyltransferase                          originating from a major agricultural pest. The Journal of biological chemistry, 105421. Advance online publication.                                                                           https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105421

Bose, S., Lotz, S. D., Deb, I., Shuck, M., Lee, K. S. S., & Dickson, A. (2023). How Robust Is the Ligand Binding Transition State?. Journal of the
         American Chemical Society, 10.1021/jacs.3c08940. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c08940

Chatterjee, S., Nevarez, J. L., Rankin, J. A., Hu, J., & Hausinger, R. P. (2023). Structure of the LarB-Substrate Complex and Identification of a Reaction
         Intermediate during Nickel-Pincer Nucleotide Cofactor Biosynthesis. Biochemistry, 62(21), 3096–3104. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.3c00242

Enright, A. L., Banta, A. B., Ward, R. D., Rivera Vazquez, J., Felczak, M. M., Wolfe, M. B., TerAvest, M. A., Amador-Noguez, D., & Peters, J. M. (2023).
         The genetics of aerotolerant growth in an alphaproteobacterium with a naturally reduced genome. mBio, e0148723. Advance online publication.                            https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01487-23

Felczak, M. M., Bernard, M. P., & TerAvest, M. A. (2023). Respiration is essential for aerobic growth of Zymomonas mobilis ZM4. mBio, e0204323. Advance
         online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02043-23

Liu, X., Rao, S., Chen, W., Felix, K., Ni, J., Sahasrabudhe, A., Lin, S., Wang, Q., Liu, Y., He, Z., Xu, J., Huang, S., Hong, E., Yau, T., Anikeeva, P., & Zhao,
         X. (2023). Fatigue-resistant hydrogel optical fibers enable peripheral nerve optogenetics during locomotion. Nature methods, 20(11), 1802–1809.                          https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-02020-9

Santos-Merino, M., Sakkos, J. K., Singh, A. K., & Ducat, D. C. (2023). Coordination of carbon partitioning and photosynthesis by a two-component
         signaling network in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. Metabolic engineering, S1096-7176(23)00149-0. Advance online publication.                                         https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2023.11.001

Smith, K., Strand, D. D., Kramer, D. M., & Walker, B. J. (2023). The role of photorespiration in preventing feedback regulation via ATP synthase in
         Nicotiana tabacum. Plant, cell & environment, 10.1111/pce.14759. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14759

Song, Z., Wang, K. W., Hagar, H. C., Chen, H. R., Kuan, C. Y., Zhang, K., & Kuo, M. H. (2023). Hyperphosphorylated Tau Inflicts Intracellular Stress
         Responses that Are Mitigated by Apomorphine. Molecular neurobiology, 10.1007/s12035-023-03689-x. Advance online publication.                                                https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-023-03689-x

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 56, No.45