BMB Weekly #46: November 17, 2023

 

Congratulations to BMB NatSci College Awards Recipients! NatSci Outstanding Faculty Award: Erich Grotewold NatSci Teacher-Scholar Award: Kelly Kim Ronald W. Wilson Endowed Teaching Award: Billy Yang Shannon Walsh NatSci Mid-Career Research Award: Kristin Parent  Karina Orlowska Selected for InSphero Award Dr. Karina Orlowska, working with the Zacharewski (BMB) and Nault (Pharmacology and Toxicology) labs, has been selected for the InSphero and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine HUMAIN (Human Advanced In Vitro Model Initiative) Award. The award includes $20,000 towards InSphero technology, training, and funding for promotion of research findings.

 

 

David Olson from the University of Wisconsin -Platteville Baraboo Sauk Co. will be presenting "The Community College career path"

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.

 

Many jobs, especially academic positions, ask students to submit a “diversity statement” with their application materials. Many job seekers, unfortunately, treat such a document as an afterthought, when in fact it is a powerful opportunity to think about and articulate our goals, values, and the kind of faculty member or academic leader we aspire to be. In this workshop, we will walk you through the process of recognizing your identities and positionality, and the role of DEI in your teaching, research, service, and community efforts. At the end of this session, you will have a working draft to tailor according to your respective needs and to continue your efforts toward DEI. Learn more and register here.

Submission Deadline: Thursday, November 30 at 5 p.m.
The document submitted to ProQuest is expected to be a final version, meaning it has been successfully defended, corrections the committee wants have been made, and there are no more content changes.

Final Deadline: Thursday, December 14 at 5 p.m.
Documents have been accepted and delivered for publishing, all required paperwork has been turned in, all milestones have been completed, and all degree audits have been completed. Your document must be accepted and delivered to the publisher, ProQuest, by 5 p.m. ET on the final deadline date.

Please visit our website (https://grad.msu.edu/etd) for our formatting guide, sample pages, and additional resources to help you format your document and submit it via ProQuest.

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 Gender and Sexuality Campus Center hosts a monthly event called Cafe so Gay, which is meant for graduate students to have a time specifically for them to relax, grab free treats/coffee, and build community right here in the center, which is on the third floor of the Student Services Building.

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 student researchers who are interested in sharing their work on the radio can reach out to WDBM to be featured on The Sci-Files. The goal of this segment is to increase scientific literacy and showcase research interests from MSU graduate students to Impact 89 FM’s global audience. If you are interested in being interviewed or have any questions, please email thescifileswdbm@gmail.com.

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.

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.46