BMB Weekly #39: October 4, 2024

 

"Dr. Lee Kroos who recently retired is fulfilling one of his dreams. Here, he has a big smile after landing a monster salmon on a famous river in northern Michigan. He caught the fish with a fly that he tied using materials and equipment purchased with the generous retirement gift card from the department. Dr. Jon Kaguni and his son Perry were excellent fishing guides."

 

 

Venkat Gopalan from Ohio State University will be presenting "Structural plasticity of RNase P, a tRNA processing ribozyme, and its substrates: Implications for biology and disease".

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

The Fall BMB Seminar Series will run through December 5, 2024. 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.

 

Join us for MPS speaker Bruno Takahashi from Michigan State University. The seminar will be held at 4:10PM in room BCH 101.

Bruno’s talk is titled “The imperative for inclusive science communication”. We would like to invite graduate students and postdocs to join the speaker for a lunch and discussion on Monday, October 7. Lunch will be provided at 12:00PM in PBL 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 at morrisk@msu.edu with any dietary restrictions by Friday October 4, 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.

Join us for coffee, treats and a peek at the exhibits of the MSU Museum at its temporary home inside the MSUFCU Building on Abbot. Take the elevator to the 6^th floor exhibit area. Learn more here.

Do you have questions regarding formatting your thesis or dissertation? Stop in during one of our help sessions to talk to Graduate School staff about any specific formatting questions you may have. These are walk-in sessions. No registration is required.

Dr. Solomon Hailu from Element Biosciences and Dr. Kevin Childs, Director MSU Genomics Core, will present an introduction to the AVITI short-read sequencing instrument on October 9th at 12 P.M. in room 1404 of the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building. Registration is requested as lunch will be provided. Learn more and register here.

This virtual event is a unique chance for MS/PhD students and postdocs to connect with academic and research institutions hiring for tenure-track, non-tenure-track, research, teaching, and adjunct faculty, as well as staff research, lecturer, and postdoc positions. It’s a fantastic platform for those looking to continue their careers within academia. This is a free event for all MS/PhD/Postdocs within the BIG10 and all 18 Big Ten Institutions are added! Learn more and register here.

The Genomics Core will host an Open House on October 17th from 1 PM to 4 PM.  The Genomics Core is located in room S18 in the Plant Biology Laboratories Building.  Come meet Genomics Core staff, visit the lab and see our collection of sequencing instruments. Learn more here.

The BIG10 GSPIRE focuses on bridging the gap between graduate students and postdocs and leading companies in industry and government sectors. This event will bring together diverse, high-caliber talent from 18 Big Ten Institutions, providing students with opportunities across a multitude of disciplines. This is a free event for all MS/PhD/Postdocs within the BIG10. Learn more and register here.

 

Please consider nominating your best Biochemistry student for the 2024 BMB Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award. This award is presented to a Biochemistry senior who has demonstrated the highest excellence in scholarship and research activities. Students are not required to be working in a Biochemistry lab to qualify for this award. The nomination form is available here and more information can be found at the BMB Awards website. For any questions, please contact Mary Villarreal (Awards.BMB@msu.edu) or Bob Hausinger (hausinge@msu.edu).

This fellowship is intended to support graduate students in the natural sciences and mathematics in recognition of academic achievements, research goals, contributions to a diverse educational community, and a record of overcoming obstacles whose progress in their chosen scientific discipline enhances educational diversity at MSU. Applicants must be MSU PhD students in the natural sciences and mathematics who contribute to the university’s diverse educational community and demonstrate a record of overcoming obstacles (see above description of award). Learn more and apply here.

This program offers postdoctoral research fellowships and faculty mentoring to outstanding scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service will contribute to the diversity and equal opportunity at the University of Maryland. The program is seeking applicants with the potential to bring to their academic and research careers the critical perspective that comes from their non-traditional educational background or understanding of the experiences of members of groups historically underrepresented in higher education in the United States. Learn more and apply here.

Rutgers University sponsors an annual cohort of Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows. This two-year fellowship appointment will welcome its fourth cohort on September 1, 2025 (rolling start dates are possible), with the possibility of subsequent appointment to a tenure-track faculty position at one of the four Rutgers University campuses. Applicants may request affiliation with a specific campus within the Rutgers corridor. However, all placements will be made in consultation with the departmental and campus leadership. If the fellowship period is productive, fellows will be considered for a tenure-track faculty position. The faculty appointment will ultimately be in the host department where the postdoctoral appointment was held. Learn more and apply here.

 

Looking for a meaningful way to give back during the holidays- or anytime? The MSU Student Food Bank supports over 300 individuals and families every week who are facing food insecurity. Contact us at foodbank@msu.edu for more information or to get started on your own drive! Let's make a difference together!

As flu season approaches, it’s time to prioritize your health by getting your annual flu shot. Even if you're in good health, getting the flu vaccine can lessen the severity of symptoms and help you stay on track with your classes. Flu shots are available for students at:

• Olin Health Center Monday through Friday
• Brody Outpost Clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Call 517-353-4660 to schedule today!

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.

The MSU Student Food Bank is a resource available to students and scholars who may be experiencing food insecurity. The Food Bank provides free food and other essential items to those in need within our MSU community. Learn more here.

 

The Department of Biology at Duke University in Durham, NC is planning to hire three Assistant Professors in ecology, evolution, and/or organismal biology. We will consider all candidates in these disciplines, but we are especially interested in candidates with a focus on plant and/or fungal biology. Successful candidates will articulate how their scholarship will enrich, and be enriched by, the breadth of expertise among existing faculty in our department, and how their teaching and mentoring efforts will support our undergraduate and graduate students. Learn more and apply here.

Postdoctoral researcher (Research Associate) positions funded by NSF and NIH are available in Dr. Polly Hsu’s laboratory at Michigan State University (Hsu lab, https://sites.google.com/view/polly-hsu-lab) to investigate translational regulation in Arabidopsis and crops. Candidates interested in RNA biology and translational regulation are encouraged to apply.

Description of duties:

• 90% Research -- design, perform, and document experiments, ex. generate/characterize Arabidopsis mutants and transgenic plants, large-scale DNA/RNA/protein-extraction, PCR, qRT-PCR, western blot, RNA-seq/Ribo-seq library constructions, and prepare manuscripts for publication.
• 10% Assist in lab organization and training new lab members (e.g., safety officer duties, assisting in training future Lab members on basic procedures).

Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

 

Cortines, J. R., Bridges, C. M., Subramanian, S., Schrad, J. R., Araújo, G. R. S., Nunes, G. H. P., Oliveira, J.dS., Essus, V. A., Abrahão, J. S., White, S., Parent, K. N., & Teschke, C. (2024). Transition metals and oxidation reactions trigger stargate opening during the initial stages of the replicative cycle of the giant Tupanvirus. mBio, e0219224. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02192-24

Fang, F., Xu, T., Chien Hagar, H. T., Hovde, S., Kuo, M. H., & Sun, L. (2024). Pilot Study for Deciphering Post-Translational Modifications and Proteoforms of Tau Protein by Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry. Journal of proteome research, 10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00587. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00587

Fiesel, P. D., Kerwin, R. E., Jones, A. D., & Last, R. L. (2024). Trading acyls and swapping sugars: metabolic innovations in Solanum trichomes. Plant physiology, 196(2), 1231–1253. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae279

Lee, Y. S., Braun, E. L., & Grotewold, E. (2024). Evolutionary trajectory of transcription factors and selection of targets for metabolic engineering. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 379(1914), 20230367. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0367

Raicu, A. M., Castanheira, P., & Arnosti, D. N. (2024). Retinoblastoma protein activity revealed by CRISPRi study of divergent Rbf1 and Rbf2 paralogs. G3 (Bethesda, Md.), jkae238. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkae238

Retnadhas, S., Ducat, D. C., & Hegg, E. L. (2024). Nature-Inspired Strategies for Sustainable Degradation of Synthetic Plastics. JACS Au, 4(9), 3323–3339. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.4c00388

Splichal, R. C., Chen, K., Walton, S. P., & Chan, C. (2024). The Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress on Reducing Recombinant Protein Production in Mammalian Cells. Biochemical engineering journal, 210, 109434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2024.109434

 

 

To provide feedback or submit content, please email bmb.web@msu.edu. Don't forget to follow us on social media!

College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 57, No.39