BMB Weekly #11: March 15, 2024

 

Art Exhibit Features Historical Black Plant Scientists "The Plant Resilience Institute (PRI), in coordination with Plant Cell Atlas (PCA), is excited to announce an art exhibit featuring historically significant Black scholars in plant science on display in the Molecular Plant Science (MPS) building February 2024 to honor Black History Month." Read the full article here.

 

 

Lauren Ann Metskas from Purdue will be presenting "From structures to binding curves: developing new biophysical approaches to study carbon fixation in bacteria".

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.

 

 

Join us for MPS speaker David Savage from University of California-Berkeley. The seminar will be held at 4:00 p.m. in BCH room 101.

David’s talk is titled “Reconstitution of the bacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism”. 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, March 15, 2024 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.

This is a virtual webinar series designed to help PhDs explore and evaluate their career options. Beyond Prof will walk participants through a series of exercises to help them evaluate career options and identify next steps in building their career either as faculty or beyond the professoriate. This series is uniquely designed for doctoral students, PhDs, and postdocs from all academic disciplines who are wondering:

• Is a faculty career path right for me?
• What other career options are available to PhDs in my discipline?
• How to identify career pathways that are right for me?
• What can I do with my PhD?

This series will be available through live and recorded sessions. Learn more and register here.

Writing an effective research statement is an important first step to move you from being an "applicant" to an "interviewee". How will you prepare your "research statement", how will it be structured, and what examples will you use to demonstrate your experiences and potential? During this session, participants will discuss strategies for preparing an effective research statement that leverages your experiences and demonstrates your potential. Learn more and register here.

Discover the wonders of our very own Abrams Planetarium, located in the center of MSU's campus, with a special FREE show just for MSU Graduate & Professional students and their accompanied guests. Abrams Planetarium hosts a wide range of public programming throughout the year, for all ages. This is another chance to check it out! First-come, first-served for capacity. More details on COGS (Events) webpage. Learn more here.

The MSU AGEP Learning Community is an informal environment where students from varying disciplines can gather, share their research in a 10-minute presentation, or discover that their graduate toils are not unusual. Those in attendance are privy to information regarding fellowships, career opportunities, even summer internships, pertaining to the group. Learn more and register here.

Graduate School Write-Ins are co-sponsored by the Graduate School and The Writing Center at MSU. The write-ins are hosted and facilitated to provide writers with an opportunity to write in a shared writing space where other writers are present, and a writing center consultant/staff member is present to provide consultations for writers who would like to have a consultation appointment during the session. Learn more and register here.

The Plant Resilience Institute's first International Plant Resilience Summit will convene an international cohort of world-class plant science researchers at Michigan State University from May 16-17, 2024. A detailed schedule is available online. The event is FREE and open to all MSU community members. Please register using the online form. Registration closes on Monday, April 15, 2024, at 5 pm ET. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Gaëlle Cassin-Ross (cassin@msu.edu).

 

The primary goals of the FAST Fellowship Program are to provide opportunities for a diverse group of doctoral students to have mentored teaching experiences and gain familiarity with materials on teaching and assessment techniques. The program is for doctoral students with interests in teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education who are enrolled in programs associated with the Colleges of Natural Science, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engineering, Social Science, Nursing, Osteopathic Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine or whose college or department has an approved Certification in College Teaching Program. Learn more and apply here.

Application Deadline:

• Outstanding Doctoral Student Mentor Award: April 15, 2024
• Outstanding Graduate Program Community Award: May 15, 2024
• Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award: May 15, 2024

Nominations for this year’s Graduate School Outstanding Mentoring Awards are now open. These awards recognize graduate programs, faculty, and doctoral students who exemplify mentoring best practices. Learn more about the various awards and how to nominate a person or program by following this link.

 

MSU IT is offering several virtual instructional technology and development recordings for educators in March. Take a deep dive into accessibility considerations and effective course design tools and other technology-informed teaching strategies. Also, the MSU Ed Tech Summit is approaching! Be sure to sign up to attend or be a presenter, June 3-6, 2024. Learn more here.

This Personal Finance for PhDs workshop is provided to you for free by the Graduate School Office of Well-Being, Council of Graduate Students, and the Graduate School at Michigan State University. This workshop teaches you the federal higher education tax benefits available to you, including how to tabulate, calculate, and report your funding and education expenses. Learn more and register 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.

 

A Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available in the laboratory of Melanie Balbach. The Research Associate will focus on the metabolic changes and underlying regulatory pathways in the male germ cell during activation and during zygote development. The position requires the development and application of advanced omics tools in combination with sperm motility, capacitation and fertilization read-outs as well as high-throughput screening assays. Research findings are expected to be reported in the form of written publications as well as oral presentations within MSU and at scientific meetings. 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 Zacharewski lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department is looking for a laboratory technician to assist with ongoing research activities performed by undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers. The candidate's duties will include assisting with the management of transgenic mouse colonies including daily monitoring, genotyping, and supporting active experimental protocols such as weighing, substance administration, and tissue collections. They will also assist with general lab maintenance activities including maintaining materials and reagents stocks, regular monitoring of eye wash stations and other safety requirements as well as assist with coordinating EHS inspections and disposal of hazardous way. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral (Research Associate) position available in plant biochemistry at Michigan State University in the laboratory of Dr. Peter K. Lundquist. We study the function and formation of plastoglobule lipid droplets of chloroplasts which are highly relevant to plant stress responses and play an active role in membrane remodeling and numerous lipid metabolic pathways. Duties of the incumbent will include gene cloning and heterologous protein expression, protein purifications, in vitro assays, phosphoproteomic analyses, manuscript writing, and training of other lab personnel. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The First-year Research Immersion (FRI) program at Binghamton University invites applications for a three-year renewable, full time Research Assistant Professor (also known as the Research Educator) position, to begin August 2024. This is a unique 10-month non-tenure track faculty position that directly combines teaching and research. This position is for Biomedical Chemistry (open to individuals with appropriate background in biochemistry, molecular biology, chemistry and/or pharmacology). Candidates must have completed PhD degree before starting. Learn more and apply here.

 

Boger, B. L., Manfredi, J. M., Loucks, A. R., Salamey, M. Z., Kapeller, L. E., Fricano, A. G., Winkler, A., Yob, C., & Colbath, A. C. (2024). Intra-articular triamcinolone acetonide injection results in increases in systemic insulin and glucose concentrations in horses without insulin dysregulation. Equine veterinary journal, 56(2), 326–331. https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.14003

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. (2024). At the outer part of the active site in Trypanosoma cruzi glucokinase: The role of phenylalanine 337. Biochimie, 218, 8–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biochi.2023.09.014

Jin, H., & Merz, K. M., Jr (2024). Modeling Fe(II) Complexes Using Neural Networks. Journal of chemical theory and computation, 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00063. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00063

Zhang, Y., Kaiser, E., Dutta, S., Sharkey, T. D., Marcelis, L. F. M., & Li, T. (2024). Short-term salt stress reduces photosynthetic oscillations under triose phosphate utilization limitation in tomato. Journal of experimental botany, erae089. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erae089

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 57, No.11