BMB Weekly #36: September 12, 2025

 

Zachary Burton Publishes The God Molecule   Professor Emeritus Zachary Burton's new book, The God Molecule: Evolution of tRNA and the Genetic Code, is out now. BMB community members are eligible for a discount using the code: AUTHOR40.

 

 

Sujith Puthiyaveetil from Purdue University will be presenting "Tuning photosynthesis by redox signals".

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

The Fall BMB Seminar Series will run through December 4, 2025. 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.

 

Plant Cell Atlas (PCA) is a center grant affiliated with the Michigan State University Plant Resilience Institute (PRI). This panel discussion is the final installment of the Plant Cell Identity Webinar Series. This series of talks brings together experts around the world to discuss the wonders of plant cell identity. From working out how cells develop their identity to uncovering how cell states change through development and from stress, these webinars will cover how plant cell types and states are defined quantitatively and qualitatively using single-cell and spatial omics approaches. Learn more and register here.

Are you having a hard time getting things off your to do list? Would you benefit from a dedicated space and being around others to find motivation and productivity? If so, please join us in a structured community space for supporting goal achievement. We will start at 2pm with a brief time of connecting and sharing goals. We will then have two sessions of about 50-60 minutes where everyone will work on their individual goals with a 10-minute break in between. You can come for one or both sessions or just stop in at any point. We will offer a hybrid option upon request. Lean more here.

During this session you will have an opportunity to learn about strategies, resources, and tools (including those suggested by students and some created by instructors) that GTAs can easily, and with minimal time, integrate into their teaching practices. Learn more and register here.

The MSU AGEP Learning Community is an informal environment where students from varying disciplines can gather, share their research in a 10-minute presentation, or discover that their graduate toils are not unusual. Those in attendance are privy to information regarding fellowships, career opportunities, even summer internships, pertaining to the group. Learn more and register here.

Are you exploring career opportunities outside academia? Do you engage with the public about your science? Is the impact of your research for broader use important to you? You might be a science communicator! Join MSU SciComm on September 25th at 4:00PM in the MSU Horticulture Gardens Greenhouse to connect with science communication professionals, fellow graduate students, and community members to learn more about career opportunities and build shared experiences in science communication. Learn more and register here.

COGS invites you to come on out and explore with your graduate and professional student peers as we tour one of MSU’s points of pride! Join us for a fun and informative look at Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). Event is free. Learn more and register here.

The Office of Graduate Career Development announces three virtual career fairs this October hosted by the Big Ten consortium of 18+ institutions. Fairs are free to attend and designed specifically for MS, PhD, and postdoctoral scholars like you. Wherever you are in your academic training or postdoctoral work, now is the perfect time to begin shaping your next professional step. Registration is handled via Handshake, MSU's Career platform!

• BIG10 Academia Postdoc Hiring Fair 
  Tuesday, October 21 | 12:00 – 3:00 PM ET
  Registration Deadline: September 29, 2025
  Open to: PhD students and Postdocs only
   
• BIG10 Academia Faculty Hiring Fair
  Wednesday, October 22 | 12:00 – 4:00 PM ET
  Registration Deadline: September 29, 2025
  Open to: PhD students and Postdocs only
   
• BIG10 Graduate Student & Postdoc Industry Recruitment Event (GSPIRE)
  Thursday, October 23 | 12:00 – 4:00 PM ET
  Registration Deadline: October 13, 2025
  Open to: MS, PhD, and Postdoc students from all disciplines

Check out more great resources on the Graduate Career Development website.

 

The Plant Cell is now accepting applications for Assistant Features Editors (AFEs) to begin in 2026 and 2027 (more details here)! This is a great opportunity for early career researchers passionate about plant biology and science communication.

What AFEs Do:

• Write In Brief articles highlighting recent publications in The Plant Cell
• Participate in editorial board discussions and training
• Receive mentorship in peer review and editorial decision-making
• Attend Plant Cell editorial board meetings (travel covered for the in-person meeting)

Program Details:

• Two cohorts will be selected from this application cycle (starting in 2026 and 2027)
• Appointments are for 1 year, renewable for a second
• AFEs receive a small honorarium and financial support to attend in-person editorial meetings (typically held with the ASPB Plant Biology meeting)
• Recruitment alternates with Plant Physiology (which will recruit AFEs in 2026 for 2027–2028)

Learn more and apply here.

Nominations for the College of Natural Science Alumni Awards are open for 2026! Submit your nominations for Outstanding Alumni, Recent Alumni, Alumni Service, and more by Friday, September 26. Learn more and make a nomination here.

The MSU Plant Resilience Institute (PRI) is seeking trainee-led proposals for collaborative projects exploring novel ideas in plant resilience research, broadly defined. The proposed research must not already be funded by an existing grant or part of a current research program. We encourage proposals to be synergistic across MSU laboratories and focus on projects that are both high-risk and high-reward.

Any MSU graduate student or postdoctoral researcher is eligible to submit a proposal, and proposals with graduate student lead PIs will be evaluated separately than those with postdoctoral lead PIs. However, at least one Co-PI must be a member of a PRI lab. Faculty members are not permitted to serve as PIs or Co-PIs, and individuals may participate as PI or Co-PI on only one proposal.

For more information, including proposal preparation and submission instructions, visit this link. Learn more and apply here.

 

The arts are a great way to expand your MSU experience! The Department of Theatre has announced their new season, Secrets & Spotlights: featuring performances designed to foster empathy by immersing audiences in stories that highlight diverse characters and perspectives. View schedule of 25-26 shows and ticket information here. Grab a friend and check out a show soon!

Are you interested in a career as a faculty member or other academic professional? Have you ever wondered how universities work? Do you want to learn more about the roles, rights, and responsibilities of faculty and academic professionals?

As a result of participating fully in this course, students should be able to:

• Understand from different perspectives current trends in US and global higher education, including challenges and opportunities facing the academy
• Think strategically about the academic job market such that they will be competitive and well positioned to enter an academic profession
• Prepare for success in chosen career path, respond to new developments that require professional adaptations, and become leaders in their respective disciplines and academic professions.

Learn more and apply here.

Counseling Services offers a variety of counseling, support, and educational groups each semester. Participants benefit from the mutual support and learning that occurs from interaction with others who have similar concerns. Unless otherwise noted, all groups will require a pre-group meeting. For more information, or to schedule your pre-group consultation, please schedule an appointment and state your interest in group counseling on the form.

Groups include:

• Graduate Student Support Group
• RA Support Group
• International Student Support Space
• & More

Learn more 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!

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.

 

Michigan State University's Plant Resilience Institute (PRI) is seeking a highly motivated and skilled postdoctoral researcher to lead a project focused on discovering a new class of regulatory metabolites and their nuclear signaling mechanisms that govern plant resilience. The project integrates bioinformatics, molecular genetics, protein structural prediction, and experimental validation to investigate their roles in gene regulation and stress response. The postdoctoral researcher will lean efforts in gene characterization, reverse genetics and ligand screening using phenotyping and molecular genetic approaches. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to conceptual advances in plant stress hormone biology, while building tools and resources of broad utility to the plant science community. The successful candidate will join a highly interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Gregg Howe, with collaborators across PRI. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting here.

The Howe lab is searching for a self-motivated and well-organized undergraduate student to join our research team as a lab assistant. Responsibilities include cleaning glassware, updating, and maintaining a chemical inventory, organizing supplies, and assisting others with experiments (e.g., preparing culture media). There will be opportunities to continue during summer/winter breaks and to work on an independent research project related to sulfur metabolism. Learn more and apply here.

The Fitzsimmons lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is seeking a postdoctoral research associate for projects focused on the intersection of RNA biology and metabolism. The lab’s research directions include: 1) investigating molecular-level metabolic factors driving RNA modification changes; 2) understanding the regulation of RNA writers and erasers by metabolism; and 3) the role of tumor heterogeneity in RNA gene regulation. The lab employs multidisciplinary approaches from chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and bioinformatics to investigate the role of RNA modifications and modification enzymes both in vitro and in vivo. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting here.

 

 

Fan, Y., Noble, D. W. A., Medlyn, B. E., Monson, R. K., Sage, R. F., Smith, N. G., Ainsworth, E. A., Busch, F. A., Danila, F. R., Ermakova, M., Friesen, P., Furbank, R. T., Gan, S. H., Ghannoum, O., Griffith, D. M., Gu, L., Jacob, V., Knauer, J., Leakey, A. D. B., Li, S., … Way, D. A. (2025). Environmental factors have a greater influence on photosynthetic capacity in C4 plants than biochemical subtypes or growth forms. The New phytologist, 10.1111/nph.70525. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70525

Granados-Villanueva, D., Rossow, A., & Kim, K. H. (2025). Get4/5-Mediated Remodeling of Get3's Substrate Binding Chamber: Insights into Tail-Anchored Protein Targeting by the GET Pathway. The Journal of biological chemistry, 110667. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2025.110667

Jiang, Y., Nikolovski, M., Wang, T., MacRenaris, K., O'Halloran, T. V., & Hu, J. (2025). Targeting the selectivity filter to drastically alter the activity and substrate spectrum of a promiscuous metal transporter. Chemical science, 10.1039/d5sc03700j. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sc03700j

Khatri, K., Ball, A., Glesner, J., Linn, C., Vailes, L. D., Wünschmann, S., Gabel, S. A., Zhang, J., Peebles, R. S., Jr, Borowski, T., Mueller, G. A., Chapman, M. D., Smith, S. A., Pomés, A., & Chruszcz, M. (2025). Human IgE monoclonal antibodies define two unusual epitopes trapping dog allergen Can f 1 in different conformations. Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society, 34(9), e70269. https://doi.org/10.1002/pro.70269

Kuhnert, F., Westhoff, P., Valencia, V., Krüger, S., Vogel, K., Lundquist, P. K., Rosar, C., Goss, T., & Weber, A. P. M. (2025). RETICULATA1 is a plastid-localized basic amino acid transporter. Nature plants, 10.1038/s41477-025-02080-z. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02080-z

Moran, J. J., Ilhardt, P. D., Couvillion, S. P., Lipton, M. S., Metz, T. O., Tolic, N., Bryant, D. A., & Ward, D. M. (2025). Mid-day photomixotrophy by Roseiflexus spp. and implications for the 13C content of hot spring cyanobacterial mats. Applied and environmental microbiology, e0090925. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00909-25

Saldivar, E. V., Field, S., & Rhee, S. Y. (2025). Cellular view of metabolism: metabolic biomolecular condensates. The New phytologist, 10.1111/nph.70474. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70474

Wang, Y., Song, S., Zhang, W., Deng, Q., Feng, Y., Tao, M., Kang, M., Zhang, Q., Yang, L., Wang, X., Zhu, C., Wang, X., Zhu, W., Zhu, Y., Cao, P., Chen, J., Pan, J., Feng, S., Chen, X., Dai, H., … Pan, R. (2025). Deciphering phenylalanine-derived salicylic acid biosynthesis in plants. Nature, 645(8079), 208–217. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09280-9

 

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 58, No.36