BMB Weekly #52: December 29, 2023

 

MSU Closed for Winter Break As a reminder, the university will be closed from Monday, December 25, 2023 through Tuesday, January 2, 2024 to observe MSU’s Winter Break and holidays. The BMB administrative offices will reopen and BMB support staff will return on Wednesday, January 3.    Enjoy a safe and happy holiday season!

 

 

Elizabeth Villa from UCSD will be presenting "Opening windows into the cell: bringing structure into cell biology using cryo-electron tomography".

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

The Spring BMB Seminar Series will run through April 18, 2024. The complete schedule is available on the BMB Spring 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.

 

 

Drop by Strange Matter Coffee in the Union for our next Coffee & Connection. Enjoy a hot beverage, & treats (on us!) and network with your peers. Full semester schedule is on our website! Can't wait to see you! Learn more here.

As part of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. commemorative celebration, you are invited to attend the 2024 MLK Scholarship and Community Unity Dinner! Event takes place at Kellogg Center and is free but fills up, so don't miss the chance to share in this exciting annual event. Families welcome! Learn more and RSVP here.

Hosted by the WorkLife Office, this session delves into the Surgeon General’s report on the pervasive issues of loneliness and isolation. We will discuss the impact of these challenges on mental and physical health, emphasizing their relevance in academic and workplace settings. Participants will learn about effective strategies and best practices to address these concerns, enhancing community and connectedness within their environments. This session aims to equip attendees from diverse roles with the knowledge and tools to effectively confront and mitigate the epidemic of loneliness and isolation in their communities. Learn more and register here.

In this two-day NIH-focused webinar designed for faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and administrative staff who have some exposure to writing grant applications, Write Winning Grants comprehensively covers practical and conceptual aspects essential to the proposal-writing process. The Graduate School and COGS will pay for 50 doctoral students to attend. Preference will be given to those students who have not previously attended. Learn more and register here.

 

Nominations are being accepted for the 2024 MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award competition. This Teaching Award is very competitive, so we are looking for exceptional PhD and Master’s students with great demonstration of teaching competence and knowledge of pedagogy, innovative teaching/instructional design, and effective mentoring skills and commitment to teaching professional development. If you intend to nominate a Graduate Student who meets the criteria above, please contact Dr. Stefanie Baier at stbaier@msu.edu by December 30, 2023. Learn more and make a nomination here.

This award is given to graduate and professional students who have clearly demonstrated leadership in their respective disciplines and/or professional societies at the local, state, regional, national, or international levels while a student at MSU. Nominators/recommendations should come from a faculty member (at MSU or in the disciplinary society) with knowledge of the student’s leadership activities and who is familiar with the impacts of their leadership activities. Learn more and make a nomination here.

This award is given to graduate and professional students who:

1. Embody and clearly demonstrate DEI work through addressing, challenging, or dismantling forms of discrimination, sexism, racism, and prejudice in or through their program, unit, or department at MSU; or by creating a more equitable environment in or through their program, unit, or department at MSU.
2. Clearly demonstrate what work they did and the extent of that work, demonstrate the outcomes of that work, and display their commitment to furthering DEI in or through their program, unit, or department at MSU.

Learn more and make a nomination here.

 

We've partnered with MSU Group Fitness to host twice-weekly fitness classes this Spring semester! No experience needed. Drop-ins welcome. For January, we'll have Cycling class at IM-West on Tuesdays and Pilates on Wednesdays, all from 2-3PM. Learn more here.

The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety has released an online Active Violence Incident Awareness Training program that is available for students, faculty, and staff. This training includes a presentation explaining how to respond during an active violence situation. Throughout the training, knowledge checkpoint questions will appear on screen to evaluate participants’ understanding of the content. In addition, a video is in development, which will be included in the training at a later time. 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.

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.

 

Quinn Laboratory in collaboration with the Coral Resilience Lab (PI: Drury) at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology are looking for a postdoctoral scholar to study the microbiome and metabolome of coral reefs. This project is a fully funded position from the National Science Foundation under its Organismal Response to Climate Change program that aims to understand the biochemistry and microbiology of coral bleaching. Recent research from our group has shown that unique lipids in the coral’s dinoflagellate symbiont reflect its tolerance to thermal stress. This project will integrate multi-omics analysis in the Quinn Lab with field sampling experiments in Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi to further understand the dynamics of coral biochemical and microbiological response to temperature stress. Methods used will include mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and high-throughput nucleic acid sequencing. Experiments are designed to mimic future climate conditions and include direct restoration of reefs in Hawaii as part of the program. The position is based in East Lansing but will include field trips and experiments in Kāneʻohe Bay, Hawaiʻi. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

Seeking a student employee to assist with clerical/office tasks in the Rhee research lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.  The student will support the PI, research associates and specialists, and office staff. Visit Handshake to learn about this opportunity with Rhee Lab. Contact cassin@msu.edu for inquiries.

Two academic-year tenure-track assistant professor positions in Plant Biology are available at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. We invite applications from outstanding basic or translational scientists interested in contributing to the advancement of fundamental or applied plant biology research. Individuals who study biochemical processes in plants, particularly those who are using computational tools in their research, are encouraged to apply. Exceptional candidates working in non-plant systems but with an interest in collaborating with the broader plant community will also be considered. A successful applicant with these interests will be offered a position in the Department of Biochemistry. We also seek candidates addressing important questions in plant biology; for example, scientists with a focus on plant responses to changing environment or climate, or those who use computational tools and predictive modeling of fundamental processes, are particularly encouraged to apply. Individuals who use molecular, biochemical, genomic, and cell biological approaches in model plant and/or crop systems will be considered for this position. A successful applicant with these interests will be offered a position in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. Learn more and apply here.

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.

 

Cholico GN, Fling RR, Sink WJ, Nault R, Zacharewski T. Inhibition of the urea cycle by the environmental contaminant
         2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin increases serum ammonia levels in mice. J Biol Chem. 2023:105500. Epub 20231125. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105500.            PubMed PMID: 38013089

Palande, S., Kaste, J. A. M., Roberts, M. D., Segura Abá, K., Claucherty, C., Dacon, J., Doko, R., Jayakody, T. B., Jeffery, H. R., Kelly, N.,
         Manousidaki, A., Parks, H. M., Roggenkamp, E. M., Schumacher, A. M., Yang, J., Percival, S., Pardo, J., Husbands, A. Y., Krishnan, A., Montgomery, B. L.,            … VanBuren, R. (2023). Topological data analysis reveals a core gene expression backbone that defines form and function across flowering plants. PLoS              biology, 21(12), e3002397. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002397

Rance N. (2023). How single-cell transcriptomics provides insight on hepatic responses to TCDD. Current opinion in toxicology, 36, 100441.
         https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cotox.2023.100441

Ranepura, G. A., Mao, J., Vermaas, J. V., Wang, J., Gisriel, C. J., Wei, R. J., Ortiz-Soto, J., Uddin, M. R., Amin, M., Brudvig, G. W., & Gunner,
         M. R. (2023). Computing the Relative Affinity of Chlorophylls a and b to Light-Harvesting Complex II. The journal of physical chemistry. B,                                       10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c06273. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c06273

Shiroda, M., Doherty, J. H., Scott, E. E., & Haudek, K. C. (2023). Covariational reasoning and item context affect language in undergraduate mass
         balance written explanations. Advances in physiology education, 47(4), 762–775. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00156.2022

Sudhakaran, M., Navarrete, T. G., Mejía-Guerra, K., Mukundi, E., Eubank, T. D., Grotewold, E., Arango, D., & Doseff, A. I. (2023). Transcriptome
         reprogramming through alternative splicing triggered by apigenin drives cell death in triple-negative breast cancer. Cell death & disease, 14(12), 824.                     https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-023-06342-6

Thompson, K. D., Suber, W., Nicholas, R., & Arnosti, D. N. (2023). Long-range repression by ecdysone receptor on complex enhancers of the
         insulin receptor gene. Fly, 17(1), 2242238. https://doi.org/10.1080/19336934.2023.2242238

Weraduwage, S. M., Whitten, D., Kulke, M., Sahu, A., Vermaas, J. V., & Sharkey, T. D. (2023). The isoprene-responsive phosphoproteome provides
         new insights into the putative signalling pathways and novel roles of isoprene. Plant, cell & environment, 10.1111/pce.14776. Advance online publication.              https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14776

 

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 56, No.52