BMB Weekly #41: October 18, 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."

 

 

Danielle Tullman-Ercek from Northwestern University will be presenting "Designing with nanoscale building blocks: Engineering bacterial microcompartments for applications from medicine to sustainability".

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.

 

This upcoming Monday’s seminar is the MPS Outstanding Papers Awards & Seminar. The award recipients are Abby Bryson & Leah Johnson. The title of Abby’s seminar is “Unveiling terpenoid biosynthetic gene clusters in the Lamiacaea”. The title of Leah’s seminar is “JAZ-MYC functional diversification contributes to Immune response specificity”. The seminar is being offered both in person & via Zoom. Please nominate speakers for the upcoming 2025/2026 year by using this link.

To attend this lecture on Zoom, click here. Passcode: 028299

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.

In this workshop you will learn how to document your teaching and/or teaching professional development experiences to start crafting your teaching philosophy statement with the help of a rubric. At the end of this session, you will have a working draft of your teaching statement, which will encourage you to continue your efforts toward intentional and effective teaching and instruction. Learn more and register here.

Tea & Talk is an open support group to survivors and co-survivors who identify as immigrants, international students, or second generation immigrants. Sessions take place weekly on Thursdays from October 3rd through December 5th.

Register by filling out this form. Questions? Email Sarah at ghazals1@msu.edu or Avvan at sanjanaa@msu.edu. You can find more information and programs offered by Center for Survivors here.

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 MSU Museum CoLab Studio is excited to present the 3rd edition of Ignite Talks MSU, featuring the fast-paced stories of ten MSU student research rockstars on Wednesday, October 30! We can’t wait for you to be delighted and inspired by the ideas, passion, and knowledge at Michigan State. Watch videos from previous Ignite Talks MSU on our Interactive Media page. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Pre-registration is recommended. Learn more here.

 

Consideration will be given to 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 your leadership activities and who is familiar with the impacts of your leadership activities. Learn more here.

Consideration will be given to graduate and professional students who:

1. Clearly 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. Who 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 apply here.

 

MSU IT is offering a series of upcoming workshops aimed at enhancing course accessibility, design, and engagement for educators. These sessions will focus on practical tools like D2L Brightspace, Ally, Camtasia, and Kaltura, helping instructors improve the usability of their courses and make content more accessible for all learners. Learn more and register 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!

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 Specialist-Advisor position will advise undergraduate students in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB). This position will work collaboratively with the undergraduate team to engage in proactive and holistic advising, offered through an equity lens, to support and empower students to reach their goals and to make a difference in the MSU community and the world at large.

• Assist in course selection, while maintaining and monitoring student records towards degree completion.
• Support students by providing academic success strategies; creating connections with campus resources, research, and internship opportunities; encourage growth in career development, including preparation for graduate and professional school.
• Bridge connections between students and other members of BMB (undergraduates, faculty, staff, specialists, graduate students, postdocs, and alumni) and the broader MSU community.
• Represent the BMB department; advising students during New Student Orientation programs; undergraduate commencement; recruitment at colloquium, and other associated undergraduate events.

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

The Kim Lab in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Michigan State University is seeking a highly skilled and motivated researcher to join our dynamic research team. This position offers a unique blend of hands-on research, lab management, and mentorship opportunities. The successful candidate will design and execute experiments utilizing cell culture, protein purification, and protein-protein interaction analyses. Responsibilities include conducting experiments, analyzing experimental data, and assisting in compiling findings for reports and publications. As the lab expands into new research areas, the role may involve establishing and testing novel techniques. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Michigan State University (MSU) and the MSU Center for Cancer Health Equity Research (CCHER) are recruiting a faculty colleague at any rank. CCHER is a newly formed collaborative endeavor between MSU's Colleges of Human Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, Natural Science, and the Henry Ford Health System, to broadly advance research that promotes cancer health equity. We seek to hire a faculty colleague who is motivated to develop an independently funded research program that addresses cancer health disparities, with a future focus that includes minority populations, particularly Native Americans. The ideal candidate for this open rank tenure-track position will have a substantial record of achievement in discerning the molecular basis of cancer, including etiology, diagnostics, prevention, and/or treatment. Prior engagement with minority communities, including Native American populations, in biomedical research and training is desirable. An interest in furthering health equity through research, training and community engagement is integral to this position. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

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.

 

Shen, L., Feng, H., Li, F., Lei, F., Wu, J., & Wei, G. W. (2024). Knot data analysis using multiscale Gauss link integral. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(42), e2408431121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2408431121

Martin, C., Mahan, K. S., Wiggen, T. D., Gilbertsen, A. J., Hertz, M. I., Hunter, R. C., & Quinn, R. A. (2024). Microbiome and metabolome patterns after lung transplantation reflect underlying disease and chronic lung allograft dysfunction. Microbiome, 12(1), 196. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-024-01893-y

Hoang, Y., Franklin, J., Dufour, Y. S., & Kroos, L. (2024). Short-range C-signaling restricts cheating behavior during Myxococcus xanthus development. mBio, e0244024. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02440-24

Keng, M., & Merz, K. M., Jr (2024). Eliminating the Deadwood: A Machine Learning Model for CCS Knowledge-Based Conformational Focusing for Lipids. Journal of chemical information and modeling, 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c01051. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.4c01051

 

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 57, No.41