BMB Weekly #41: October 17, 2025

 

BMB Shares Science at Annual Symposium

This year's BMB symposium at the MSU Union was a great success, offering a day filled with talks, posters, and colleague connections. Thank you to all who attended, and those who made the gathering possible with your organizing!

 

 

 

Andrew Patterson from Pennsylvania State University will be presenting the Wells Lecture titled "Bile Acids at the Intersection of Liver, Gut, and Microbiome".

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.

 

Come on over for a fun game night with fellow graduate and professional students. We will be in the downstairs lounge of Chittenden. Feel free to bring along your favorite game if you like! We’ll have some cards, games, snacks and soft drinks to share. Location: Chittenden Hall, 466 W. Circle Drive (on Campus) – parking available in the Grand River Ramp (ramp 6), or after 6pm, free in back of Chittenden (lot 7). Learn more here.

Join us for MPS speaker Patrick Shih from the University of California Berkeley. The seminar will be held at 4:00 p.m.

Patrick’s talk is titled “Redesigning plants with synthetic biology”. We would like to invite graduate students and postdocs to join the speaker for a lunch and discussion on Monday, October 27th. Lunch will be provided at 12:00 p.m. 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 24, 2025 at 1 p.m. 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 via Zoom. Passcode: 028299

Well-being is a vital part of your success at MSU, influencing not just your academic performance, but your overall quality of life. It includes your physical health, mental focus, emotional fulfillment, social support, and sense of meaning. Although college can be demanding, prioritizing your well-being can help you manage stress, stay focused, and feel more balanced and connected. This workshop provides a supportive space where students can openly explore shared wellness challenges. Learn more and register here.

The MSU Museum CoLab Studio is excited to present the fifth edition of Ignite Talks MSU, featuring the fast-paced stories of ten MSU student research rockstars. 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. Learn more and register here.

The Prevention, Outreach, and Education (POE) Department is excited to host an upcoming Lunch and Learn focused on Bystander Intervention. This event is designed specifically for graduate and professional students, offering them a chance to explore how they can play an active role in creating a safer, more supportive campus community. Attendees will learn practical strategies for stepping in and supporting others in situations where something may be harmful or concerning — all while enjoying a free lunch in a relaxed, welcoming environment. Learn more and register 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.

MSU Swing Dance Society will hold their Fall Fling live band event on Saturday November 1st starting at 8PM in Dem Hall. The event is free of charge. Come with or without a partner - no experience necessary! It's a fun way to destress from your work! Learn more here.

 

The Global Talent Accelerator (GTA) Program is a highly selective professional development experience designed to equip international students and recent graduates with the essential skills, knowledge, and network needed to successfully launch and thrive in their U.S. careers. This intensive, three-day cohort offers exclusive insights and direct access to experts in immigration, technology, career development, and networking. Learn more and apply here.

Students enrolled in a graduate program at MSU studying any discipline, in good academic standing, are eligible to apply for the fellowship. Consideration will be given to graduate students who have clearly demonstrated leadership in their respective disciplines and/or professional societies through but not limited to, an award, presentation or participation in a panel discussion, or have been elected to serve in a leadership role on a professional society committee, or have been elected to serve in a leadership role on a professional society committee or nationally recognized graduate student organization. Awards may also be used to benefit or further research and/or cover expenses- travel, registration, and housing fees- for leadership development opportunities outside of MSU. Learn more and apply here.

Dr. Karen Klomparens Fellowship recipient(s) will receive a one-time fellowship award in the spring semester and will attend an event in honor of Dr. Klomparens' legacy. The Graduate School will contact your major advisor and ask for a letter of support. Applicants are asked to submit their application with enough time to allow the major professor/advisor to submit their letter of support. Applications without a letter of support will not be reviewed. Learn more and apply here.

MSU IT’s Educational Technology Department is excited to announce that applications are now open for the AT&T Excellence in Teaching with Technology Awards. These annual awards highlight successful uses of instructional technology to support student success in any courses at MSU and celebrate the educators responsible for implementing them. Learn more and apply here.

 

The MSU Gender and Sexuality Campus Center is the hub of LGBTQIA2S+ life at Michigan State University. Check out GSCC here.

Student Legal Services provides free professional legal assistance to enrolled MSU graduate & professional students (& undergraduates too). Learn more and schedule an appointment 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.

 

The Kim Lab in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Michigan State University is seeking a highly motivated research technician to support projects in bacterial protein biochemistry. The successful candidate will perform experiments focused on protein expression and purification from E. coli and H. pylori. Responsibilities include molecular cloning, largescale protein expression, purification, and sample preparation for cryo-EM, in support of several ongoing research projects in the lab. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting 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.

 

 

Devadasu, E., Schilmiller, A. L., Mahey, M., Gonzalez, N., Susanto, F., & Lundquist, P. K. (2025). Dynamic changes to the plastoglobule lipidome and proteome in maize over a dehydration-rehydration cycle. Journal of experimental botany, eraf453. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraf453

Devadasu, E., Susanto, F. A., Schilmiller, A. L., Mahey, M., Johnny, C., & Lundquist, P. K. (2025). Dynamic changes to the plastoglobule lipidome and proteome in maize during heat stress and recovery. Journal of experimental botany, eraf452. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraf452

Fathi Niazi, F., Yoon, S., Mbacke, K., & Dickson, A. (2025). Undirected Exploration of Binding Pockets with Flexible Topology. Journal of chemical theory and computation, 10.1021/acs.jctc.5c00825. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.5c00825

Liu, X., Huang, X., & Wei, G. W. (2025). Topological Learning Prediction of Virus-like Particle Stoichiometry and Stability. Biophysical journal, S0006-3495(25)00664-2. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2025.10.013

Mandal, S., Soriano, A., Erpelding, C., Ruffner, J., Smith, E., Orlando, B. J., & Kroos, L. (2025). Inhibitory proteins of Bacillus subtilis interact within the membrane to block intramembrane protease activity. Journal of bacteriology, e0018625. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00186-25

Prado, K., Holland, B. L., McSpadden Gardener, B., Lundquist, P. K., Santiago, J. P., VanBuren, R., & Rhee, S. Y. (2025). Building climate-resilient crops: genetic, environmental, and technological strategies for heat and drought stress tolerance. Journal of experimental botany, 76(16), 4395–4413. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraf111

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