BMB Weekly #17: April 26, 2024

 

Bjoern Hamberger receives MSU Innovation Center's 2024 Innovation of the Year Award Watch the video here. Read the full article here. "Uncovering a ‘parallel universe’ in tomato genetics" Featuring Robert Last, Rachel Kerwin, and Jaynee Hart. Read the full article here.

 

 

 

We are excited to host Dr. Chuanyou Li as the speaker for a special MPS Seminar next week on Wednesday May 1st. The title of his talk is "Peptide REF1 is a primary local wound signal promoting plant regeneration". The seminar will be in person in Rm 168 PLB. The Zoom option is also provided. Prof. Chuanyou Li is from the Institue of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He also serves as the Dean of the College of Life Sciences, Shangdong Agricultural University. Chuanyou is one of the outstanding alumni of the PRL, who did his postdoc training in the Howe lab from 1999 to 2003. His lab focuses on understanding systemin/jasmonate-mediated systemic defense responses and the regenerative responses of plants to wounding.

Join us in PLB 168 or by Zoom with this link. Passcode: 862930

The Handbook of your Program covers many set expectations that will guide you to success in your graduate education at Michigan State University. However, there are many important expectations that need to be made explicit and are often jointly set that require proactive and effective communication between you and your faculty advisors and mentors. This 1.5 hour workshop provides an opportunity to explore strategies for aligning expectations early in your trajectory in graduate school and will inform you about other activities and resources to help you in that task. This workshop can be used to fulfill part of your RECR requirements. Learn more and register here.

Please join us on the first Friday of each month for three hours of dedicated time to advance your scholarship. Past participants have written journal articles, grant proposals, book chapters, theses or dissertations, curricula, pieces for public audiences, and community engagement portfolios. Participants should plan to write for the full three hours. We start the write-in by sharing writing goals for the day and wrap up with accomplishments and next steps. Learn more and register here.

The Global Talent Accelerator is a FREE program designed to help international students gain the skills they need to secure employment.

In the MSU GTA you will:

• Learn skills from the experts on how to promote yourself with employers in the U.S. job market.
• Get coaching from professionals in your field.
• Attend events and workshops especially tailored to improve your chances of employment.
• Receive ongoing coaching, support and connections with employers post-graduation by the Global Detroit Staff.
• Earn a $500 Financial Award for completing the full program.

Learn more and register here.

Graduate Women in Science is starting its annual election process. If you are interested in taking on a leadership role with a great group of people, consider a role in GWIS! If you are interested in running for a position or know someone that does, fill out this form by Friday, May 3rd. Check out our website to learn about the different leadership positions available, and reach out to us if you have any questions about what these roles entail. 

Join MSU Postdocs and supporters for a spring celebration in the MSU Union Ballroom. Lunch is provided. Learn more and RSVP here.

Registration is now open for the tenth annual symposium of the Plant Biotechnology for Health and Sustainability (PBHS) NIH graduate training program. This is a PBHS trainee organized and run symposium that seeks to address recent research as well as introduce community members to a broad range of career opportunities related to biotechnology. Check out our great lineup of speakers from academic institutions and the industry here.

 

Application Deadline:

• 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.

The Helen Hay Whitney Foundation supports early postdoctoral research training in all basic biomedical sciences. The goals of the foundation is to increase the number of imaginative, well-trained and dedicated medical scientists. The Foundation grants financial support of sufficient duration to help further the careers of young individuals engaged in biological or medical research. Please note- this opportunity will only accept one application per laboratory during each award cycle. They will accept applications from different laboratories/supervisors at the same institution. Learn more and apply here.

 

Whether students are feeling overwhelmed due to academic, social, or personal pressures or just need to connect, Togetherall is available 24/7 to remind them they are not alone. This free, anonymous, waitlist free, peer-to-peer mental health support community is monitored and moderated 24/7 by licensed clinicians and empowers students to give and receive support for a full range of concerns. Many students do not seek out campus in-person/virtual mental health treatment. Togetherall provides an alternative option for students seeking mental health support, offering an additional resource for students who are looking for an outlet to share and process their emotions. 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.

 

Dr. Xiaosa (Jack) Xu Lab in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California, Davis is seeking a highly motivated and independent individual who is interested in pursuing an academic career in plant developmental genetics and single-cell genomics research. The postdoctoral scholar who secures this position will use cutting-edge single-cell genomics, spatial transcriptomics, and genome editing approaches to identify and characterize key genes in plant development and evolution, and inform crop improvement. The successful applicant will be responsible for conducting single-cell genomics and spatial transcriptomics experiments and data analysis, followed by genome editing validation. The applicant will work closely with a team in the Xu lab, as well as with collaborators at UC Davis and other institutions. They will have the opportunity to mentor graduate and undergraduate students, participate in the preparation and writing of manuscripts and grants. The candidate will also have opportunities to attend workshops/courses as required by ongoing and future research projects, such as the Frontiers and Techniques in Plant Science course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Contact Dr. Xiaosa Xu for further information. Learn more about this listing by following this link.

The College of Osteopathic Medicine is seeking a highly motivated and productive chemical biologist/biochemist to conduct daily research on exciting recently funded projects to 1) investigate how lipid metabolites affect neurodegeneration and 2) discover novel molecules to treat diseases with no effective intervention. 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. 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.

 

Hoffmann-Benning, S., & Simon-Plas, F. (2024). Editorial: Lipid signaling in plant physiology. Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology, 344, 112088. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2024.112088

Kerwin, R. E., Hart, J. E., Fiesel, P. D., Lou, Y. R., Fan, P., Jones, A. D., & Last, R. L. (2024). Tomato root specialized metabolites evolved through gene duplication and regulatory divergence within a biosynthetic gene cluster. Science advances, 10(17), eadn3991. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn3991

Su, Z., Tong, Y., & Wei, G. W. (2024). Hodge Decomposition of Single-Cell RNA Velocity. Journal of chemical information and modeling, 64(8), 3558–3568. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00132

Williams, J., Pettorelli, N., Hartmann, A. C., Quinn, R. A., Plaisance, L., O'Mahoney, M., Meyer, C. P., Fabricius, K. E., Knowlton, N., & Ransome, E. (2024). Decline of a distinct coral reef holobiont community under ocean acidification. Microbiome, 12(1), 75. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-023-01683-y

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 57, No.17