BMB Weekly #4: January 26, 2024

 

MSU’s Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Core completes $2.2 million renovation The Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Core located in the College of Natural Science’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, completed nearly $2.2 million in renovations. The renovations represent a full overhaul of 3,400 square feet of laboratory, with an emphasis on improving day-to-day operations and building upon the facility’s already storied presence in MSU’s research and education. The completion of renovations also coincides with the arrival of new instruments, better-equipping researchers across campus to probe questions in chemistry and life sciences. Read the full story here.

 

 

Pilar Cossio from the Flatiron Institute will be presenting "Combining cryo-electron microscopy and molecular dynamics".

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.

 

 

No experience required – just come out and have fun! Exclusively for MSU graduate/professional students and their accompanied guests. FREE – Skate rental included. Learn more here.

Join us for MPS speaker Carl Bernacchi from USDA-ARS. The seminar will be held at 4:00 p.m. in BCH room 101.

Carl’s talk is titled “Extreme event impacts on crop growth, physiology and yield.” 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, January 26, 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.

In this 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. Learn more and register here.

The Council of Graduate Students is pleased to announce that the 16th Annual Graduate Academic Conference will take place on March 9, 2024, at the MSU Union. We are now accepting abstracts for poster and oral presentations and applications to present in the famous Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition! The presenters will have the opportunity to participate in workshops, network with peers and alums, get free professional photographs, get free CV/resume reviews, enjoy our keynote luncheon, and more! More information will be provided on additional features of the GAC in future emails and updated on the website! Learn more and here.

This 6-week group provides doctoral students with a supportive, structured environment that helps mitigate the sense of isolation and frustration that often accompany the dissertation process. It also creates opportunities for peer accountability to help each other stay on track. A weekly discussion topic allows participants to share experiences and resources that help address some of the most common barriers to progress (e.g., low motivation, time management, stress/burnout). This group is open only to PhD students who are actively working on their dissertation. Learn more and register here.

 

This fellowship will be awarded to students at graduate levels. Applicants will have graduated from a US public high school and demonstrated academic excellence in their undergraduate studies.

Applicants may be pursuing a degree in the following disciplines:

• Education: preference to be given to those who currently teach S.T.E.M subjects (i.e. classroom teachers returning for a Masters or PhD)
• Healthcare: this includes students in healthcare related fields, i.e., medical, nursing, pharmacy, veterinary medicine and public health.
• Engineering: students who are pursuing an advanced degree in bioengineering.

Learn more and apply here.

The L’Oréal USA For Women in Science program awards five women postdoctoral scientists annually with grants of $60,000 each for their contributions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields and commitment to serving as role models for younger generations. Candidates must have completed their PhD and have started in their postdoctoral research position by the application deadline. Learn more and apply here.

 

Through self-reflection and group activities, participants in these workshops will explore issues of power, oppression, and privilege. Participants will raise their self-awareness about social identities, identify systems of inequity and oppression, and learn a framework for cultural competency development. These concepts will be applied toward personal and organizational change, with a focus on our work at MSU. Learn more here.

COGS has 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.

 

We are looking for a technician to assist with SNP‐based genotyping of maize plants within a highly collaborative research team. This industry‐funded project seeks to identify genetic markers of plant N status of maize. Responsibilities of the incumbent will include genomic DNA extractions, primer design, PCRs and restriction digests, in addition to other possible molecular biology techniques. 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.

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.

 

Chen, J., Kuhn, L. A., & Raschka, S. (2024). Techniques for Developing Reliable Machine Learning Classifiers Applied to Understanding
         and Predicting Protein:Protein Interaction Hot Spots. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2714, 235–268.
         https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3441-7_14

Ford, K. C., & TerAvest, M. A. (2023). The electron transport chain of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 can operate bidirectionally to enable
        microbial electrosynthesis. Applied and environmental microbiology, e0138723. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01387-23

Heo, L., & Feig, M. (2024). One bead per residue can describe all-atom protein structures. Structure (London, England : 1993), 32(1), 97–111.e6.
         https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2023.10.013

Hoh, D., Froehlich, J. E., & Kramer, D. M. (2023). Redox regulation in chloroplast thylakoid lumen: The pmf changes everything, again. Plant,
         cell & environment, 10.1111/pce.14789. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14789

Hossain, M. M., Sultana, F., Khan, S., Nayeema, J., Mostafa, M., Ferdus, H., Tran, L. P., & Mostofa, M. G. (2024). Carrageenans as biostimulants
         and bio-elicitors: plant growth and defense responses. Stress biology, 4(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44154-023-00143-9

Kulke, M., Kurtz, E., Boren, D. M., Olson, D. M., Koenig, A. M., Hoffmann-Benning, S., & Vermaas, J. V. (2024). PLAT domain protein 1 (PLAT1/PLAFP)
         binds to the Arabidopsis thaliana plasma membrane and inserts a lipid. Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology, 338, 111900.              https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2023.111900

Li, L., Lai, F., Hu, X., Liu, B., Lu, X., Lin, Z., Liu, L., Xiang, Y., Frum, T., Halbisen, M. A., Chen, F., Fan, Q., Ralston, A., & Xie, W. (2023). Multifaceted
         SOX2-chromatin interaction underpins pluripotency progression in early embryos. Science (New York, N.Y.), 382(6676), eadi5516
         https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi5516

Mancuso, C. A., Johnson, K. A., Liu, R., & Krishnan, A. (2024). Joint representation of molecular networks from multiple species improves gene
         classification. PLoS computational biology, 20(1), e1011773. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011773

Marathe, S., Grotewold, E., & Otegui, M. S. (2024). Should I stay or should I go? Trafficking of plant extra-nuclear transcription factors. The
         Plant cell, koad277. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad277

Martin, C., Guzior, D. V., Gonzalez, C. T., Okros, M., Mielke, J., Padillo, L., Querido, G., Gil, M., Thomas, R., McClelland, M., Conrad, D., Widder,
         S., & Quinn, R. A. (2023). Longitudinal microbial and molecular dynamics in the cystic fibrosis lung after Elexacaftor-Tezacaftor-Ivacaftor therapy.
         Respiratory research, 24(1), 317. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-023-02630-z

Wang, K., Diaz, S., Li, L., Lohman, J. R., & Liu, X. (2024). CAND1 inhibits Cullin-2-RING ubiquitin ligases for enhanced substrate specificity. Nature
         structural & molecular biology, 10.1038/s41594-023-01167-5. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-023-01167-5

 

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 57, No.4