BMB Weekly #14: April 4, 2025

 

Novartis Acquires Kate Therapeutics Novartis, the Swiss drug company, recently acquired Kate Therapuetics, a San Diego-base gene therapy biotech focused on the preclinical development of the saaafe delivery of AAV transgene strategies for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) for $1.1B. Mark Fielden, Co-Founder and Vice President of Kate Therapeutics, is an alumnus of the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology graduate from the Zacharewski lab in 2002. Congratulations Mark! MSU Plant Science Community showcases 'The World of Plants' at STEAM Expo Days "The Michigan State University (MSU) Plant Science Community is set to flourish at the STEAM Expo Days on April 5-6, a part of the annual MSU Science Festival (SciFest)." Read the full article here.

 

 

David Hendrixson from UT Southwestern will be presenting "Mechanics of swimming motility by a bacterial flagellar motor".

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

The Spring BMB Seminar Series will run through April 24, 2025. 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.

 

Learn the exciting and latest science from BMB Undergraduates. Please stop by and show your support for our amazing students as they present their research posters!

The GPSAW Graduate Career Café is a chance for you to take the next steps on your professional journey!

• Professional Head Shots (so arrive dressed to impressed, at least on the top half of your body)!
• Lightening talks on career topics: resumes and cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, etc. 
• Individual consultations: Get your career documents reviewed, or talk to a career professional about developing a job search strategy

Just good vibes, cookies, and a team of people who believe in you and your career! Registration not required, but appreciated! Learn more and register here.

Join us for MPS speaker Fay-Wei Li from Boyce Thompson Institute. The seminar will be held at 4:00 p.m. in room PLB 247.

Fay-Wei’s talk is titled “Sex chromosome, symbiosis, and CO2-concentrating mechanism: the secret life of hornworts”. We would like to invite graduate students and postdocs to join the speaker for a lunch and discussion on Monday, April 7th. 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 April 4, 2025 at 12pm. 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.

Attend this seminar on Zoom. Passcode: 028299

From April 7 through 11, the Graduate School is holding various events and activities to recognize the hard work and achievements of MSU’s graduate and professional students. There will be meet & greets with MSU leadership, professional development activities, games, and more. We have also partnered with the MSU Dairy Store to feature a new ice cream flavor throughout April: Grad School Grind! Join us in celebrating our incredible graduate and professional students! Learn more here.

The seminar will explain what kinds of scientific questions equivalence tests can answer, how these tests work, and why they provide more credible evidence of equivalence than that offered by simply finding a non-significant effect with a classical method. It will offer practical advice on how and when to use equivalence tests in research studies. This workshop will focus on core concepts and simple applications of equivalence tests (e.g., comparing two groups continuous outcome measures). Learn more and register here.

Are you new to STATA or looking for a structured way to integrate it into your research? Have you tried learning STATA on your own but feel stuck? This seminar is here to help! Join us for a 60-minute interactive session designed to give you the foundational skills to confidently work with your data in STATA.

In this seminar, you will learn:

• How to load, clean, manipulate, and summarize your data in STATA
• Basic visualization techniques to explore your data effectively
• An introduction to statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, t-tests, and regression models in STATA

A curated collection of resources to support your continued learning. Learn more and register here.

MSU graduate and professional students, you are invited to the IN JOY! GALA, a free resplendent multicultural joy-filled night of celebration, appreciation and gratitude, in community and with the community. A Red-Carpet Affair with Catered Dinner, Live Music & DJ, Gifts, and More. A joy-full and jubilant event where graduate and professional students can celebrate themselves—and their contributions to the campus community as students, educators, and researchers—and are empowered with resources that promote joy (a marker of well-being) and boost morale. Learn more and register here.

 

The Weill Institute Emerging Scholars Symposium is a one-day event where exceptional senior Ph.D. students and postdocs in cell and molecular biology programs and related disciplines are invited to Cornell’s campus to share their research with the Cornell life sciences community. Awardees will additionally be invited to attend the 8th Weill Institute Symposium and interact with our distinguished invited speakers.

• Network with students, postdocs, and faculty, and learn about collaboration and career opportunities at Cornell University 
• Attend the Weill Institute Symposium on October 14 and interact with prestigious invited speakers from worldwide institutions
• Spotlight your research and academic achievements
• Visit Cornell’s beautiful Ithaca, NY campus and the surrounding area

Learn more and apply here.

Ph.D. students selected for this 12-month fellowship will collaborate with a Lyman Briggs College faculty member on a research project focused on undergraduate teaching and learning. Research topics may include developing and assessing curricular innovations such as inquiry-based labs, interdisciplinary teaching, science ethics, teaching with case studies, and strategies to improve retention and success of diverse STEM students.

Each Fellow will work closely with their faculty mentor and receive support to share project outcomes through peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and pedagogy-focused venues. Proposed projects for 2025–2026 are available on the SUTL projects webpage, and applicants may also propose additional ideas. Learn more and apply here.

This scholarship supports a Michigan resident with tuition and related expenses for Master’s level, Doctoral level, or advanced research pursuits at an accredited public or private college or university in Michigan. Students entering an accredited college or university or who are already enrolled in any of the former are encouraged to apply for this scholarship. An important part of the application process is a Statement of Purpose (SoP), demonstrating why the scholarship is needed, the academic program the candidate is pursuing, career plans for the scholarship applicant, and letters of recommendation. Learn more and apply here.

The Henry Ford Health (HFH) Cancer Epidemiology Prevention and Control research program invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow to begin a 1-2-year fellowships to start in July 2025. The successful candidate will join a team of over 100 cancer researchers conducting studies across the cancer continuum and have the opportunity to share in Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences research mission to become an NCI-designation worthy cancer center with robust clinical, basic and population science research programs that translate findings into state-of-the-art clinical care for our cancer patients. Learn more and apply here.

 

You can find the latest department news over on LinkedIn and BlueSky. Give us a follow and be sure to tag us with research updates, publications, and lab updates to help spread the word!

Hot off the press! The second University Health and Wellbeing Annual Report is now available! Explore the latest insights on how health and wellbeing was advanced on campus and delivered positive impact for the Spartan community in 2024.

The Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) is looking for student volunteers! Learn about great volunteer engagement opportunities 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 Lundquist lab group is looking for a Research Associate to assist in the study of plastoglobules and their roles in regulation of photosynthesis.

Duties will include:

• Cyanobacterial growth and handling, including genetic manipulation
• Confocal microscopic investigation of fluorescent-tagged proteins
• Photosynthetic measurements of cyanobacterial cultures and plant leaf tissue
• Mentoring and supervision of student workers
• Detailed recordkeeping
• Regular participation in lab meetings and other opportunities for scientific exchange and discussion
• Writing research articles

Learn more about this MSU Careers posting here.

 

Feng, H., Zhao, J. Y., & Wei, G. W. (2025). Multiscale Differential Geometry Learning for Protein Flexibility Analysis. Journal of computational chemistry, 46(7), e70073. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.70073

Jiang, J., Chen, L., Zhu, Y., Shi, Y., Qiu, H., Zhang, B., Zhou, T., & Wei, G. W. (2025). Proteomic Learning of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) Receptor-Mediated Anesthesia. Journal of chemical information and modeling, 10.1021/acs.jcim.5c00114. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.5c00114

Tefft, N. M., Wang, Y., Jussupow, A., Feig, M., & TerAvest, M. A. (2025). Controlled Enzyme Cargo Loading in Engineered Bacterial Microcompartment Shells. Biochemistry, 64(6), 1285–1292. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.4c00709

Tracy, M., Sosa Alfaro, V., Campeciño, J., Hird, K., Hegg, E. L., Lehnert, N., & Elliott, S. J. (2025). Electrocatalytic Nitrite Reduction by a Monomeric NrfA: Commonality in Ammonification Mechanisms. Biochemistry, 64(6), 1359–1369. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.4c00761

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 58, No.14