BMB Weekly #8: February 21, 2025

 

Rob Quinn Receives College of Human Medicine Award Associate Professor Rob Quinn was selected as a recipient of the College of Human Medicine Early Career Research Excellence Award. This award is presented each year to a faculty member who has demonstrated early success in research.

 

 

Atanu Acharya from Syracuse University will be presenting "Building realistic models and tools for electron transfer in Biochemistry".

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.

 

Thanks to funds from the Office of the Provost, free tickets for the MSU Theatre Department's Spring musical, 9 to 5, are available for ALL MSU students! Tickets are first-come, first-served. Just show your MSU ID to the Fairchild Theatre box office the night of the show, or pick up your ticket early at the Wharton Center ticket office window. MSU students can receive 1 free ticket for each remaining Dept. of Theatre production for the rest of the season.

Want to bring your family/friends? Just stop off at Chittenden Hall and pick up a special COGS Coupon for $2 tickets to the show (use for up to 5 tickets) - just bring to the Wharton Center Box Office to redeem. (While they last). Available in the COGS office and throughout Chittenden Hall. Learn more here.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to view amazing student presentations & the famous 3-Minute-Thesis competition! Network with peers and MSU alums, attend the AI workshop and visit resource tables. Register today! Learn more here.

Join us for MPS speaker Maricelis Acevedo from the Cornell University. The seminar will be held at 4:00 p.m. in room PLB 247.

Maricelis's talk is titled “From Innovation to Cultivation: The BT Eggplant Journey, Insights from the Past and Partnerships for a Sustainable Future”. We would like to invite graduate students and postdocs to join the speaker for a lunch and discussion on Monday, February 21. Lunch will be provided at 12:00PM in PBL 247. 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, February 21, 2025 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.

Attend this seminar on Zoom. Passcode: 028299

Discussions will be framed around a main presentation given by Dr. Greg Swain, or by other individuals from key units across campus. The purpose for these workshops is to help students better understand the importance of responsible behavior, learn about proper research and creative activity practices, and connect to important regulatory and information offices across the MSU campus. Each topic is paralleled by a CITI lesson such that a student could pair an online module with a discussion session. Learn more and register here.

Learn about vital campus resources through informal, expert discussions, providing insights, Q&A opportunities, and practical guidance for student success and well-being. This session will feature Taylor Unrath, lead HR from MSU Human Resources for student and graduate assistant health insurance plans. Click here to register.

Join via Zoom (log in with your MSU Net ID).

This new initiative brings alumni back to campus to share their career journeys, discuss skills critical to success, and provide insights for graduate students exploring diverse career paths. Sign-up to have lunch with our first speaker, Dr. Michelle Brooks, on February 27th by emailing Dr. Laurisa Ankley at ankleyla@msu.edu.

Dr. Michelle Brooks (she/they) serves as the Assistant Director of Higher Education in the Education Division at the American Chemical Society, where her portfolio includes program accreditation for undergraduate chemistry departments, recognition programs for global chemistry departments, and the development of professional development opportunities for faculty and two-year and four-year institutions.

This presentation covers the Overview of the SEER Database, Documentation for Data, SEER-Linked Databases (e.g., SEER-Medicare Data), Key Areas of Investigation Using SEER Data, How to Access to SEER Research Data, and Guidelines for Conducting SEER Data Analyses. Learn more and register here.

 

PRISM is designed for graduate students from all fields who want to explore world-class postdoctoral training at Stanford University. Twice a year, PRISM offers travel funds for an exclusive chance for you to experience Stanford's cutting-edge research environment, connect with faculty and lab groups, and immerse yourself in its vibrant postdoctoral community. Learn more and apply here.

This endowed award program seeks to advance the work of an MSU graduate student whose research has the potential to contribute to economic and scientific improvements in society, with a promise of practical applications that benefit U.S. economic interests. Learn more and apply here.

The Walker Hill International Award is an award that can be used for pre-dissertation visits to a doctoral research site in a country outside the United States. International students who undertake research in the country of their origin are not eligible. Learn more and apply here.

The Plant Resilience Institute (PRI) is excited to announce the launch of its 2025 PRI Seed Grant Program, a funding opportunity designed to support innovative research projects that advance plant resilience. This program is open to all graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at Michigan State University, providing up to $10,000 in funding for projects spanning 18 months.

Building on the success of prior initiatives, the PRI Seed Grant Program aims to foster high-risk, high-reward research that promotes collaboration across laboratories. Key Information for Applicants:

• Deadline: Proposals must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. ET on March 1, 2025.
• Funding Amount: Applicants can request up to $10,000.
• Review Process and Notifications: Applications will be evaluated by the Seed Grant Committee. Decisions will be communicated by the end of March 2025.

A list of previously funded projects here, and full details about the program and application process are available here. For questions about the application process, please contact Gaëlle Cassin-Ross (cassin@msu.edu).

 

Graduate Student Support Group: This is a supportive space where graduate students can gather and empower one another through shared experiences. Themes in this group include exploring stressors related to graduate studies, purpose, sense of belonging, “creative differences” with your advisor, juggling multiple roles and responsibilities, time management, challenges with completing dissertation or thesis and impacts related to diet, sleep, and emotional well-being. Whatever your concerns, we can listen, offer support, or help you develop strategies to make the most of your time in graduate school.

A Pre-Group Meeting is required to join. Please schedule a phone consultation by February 17, 2025 here and state your interest in this group during the appointment.

Apply now to be a member of a student hearing board. Graduate & Professional students needed! Hearing board members play a critical and valuable role in ensuring that those involved in allegations that a student violated experience a fair process, while also being both supported and held accountable (if found responsible). Learn more and apply here.

A variety of exciting and educational opportunities will be offered to the MSU community in celebration of the legacy of Dr. King and historical events that took place in our nation and on our campus. MLK questions can be directed to Leah Ball. Contacts for individual events are also listed in the calendar. 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.

 

A Postdoctoral Research Fellow position is available in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) at Michigan State University. The fellow will work at the interface of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and advanced molecular simulations. The principal project of interest will be the study of small molecule activators of metallopeptidase enzymes. Structural analysis will be used to guide further rational design of newly identified allosteric modulators. This position is funded by an internal fellowship that provides a collaborative and synergistic mentoring environment with two primary PIs. The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will be co-mentored by Dr. Ben Orlando (cryo-EM) and Dr. Alex Dickson (molecular simulation) labs. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting here.

We are looking to hire a postdoctoral scholar to study the effects of climate change on coral bleaching through a project funded by the National Science Foundation of the USA. This project involves study of the metabolome and microbiome of corals during their response to thermal stress. The scholar will work on both live coral in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, including assisting with field experiments and site visits, and controlled biochemical and microbiological studies of their symbiotic algae at Michigan State University. The project involves complex analysis of metabolomics data coupled with molecular biology and genetic manipulation of culturable marine algae. The goals of the project are to understand how lipid dynamics in symbiotic algae allow corals to resist bleaching under thermal stress. Skills required for the position are broad and include mass spectrometry, microbiology, molecular biology and genetic techniques, as well as marine biology and field sampling experience. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting here.

We are looking to hire a postdoctoral scholar to study the role of microbial bile acid metabolism in host/microbiome crosstalk related to gut inflammation and GI health. This position is funded by an NIH R01 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases focused on identifying and characterizing microbial molecules. This project will focus on novel bile acids recently discovered called Microbially Conjugated Bile Acids (MCBAs). These diverse microbial molecules are produced by the human gut microbiome, but little is known about their effects on human health. Experiments will focus on understanding how MCBAs interact with human cells through cellular receptors with effects on epithelial barrier integrity and inflammatory signaling. The experiments will use both microbial and human cell culture and mouse models to identify MCBAs with the strongest bioactivity. This project provides unique opportunities to interact with other laboratories funded by the same NIH initiative to better understand how the human gut microbiome interacts with small molecules. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting here.

 

Boismier, E. C., Aboulnaga, E. A., & TerAvest, M. A. (2025). Zymomonas mobilis: bringing an ancient human tool into the genomic era. Current opinion in biotechnology, 92, 103257. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2025.103257

Chu, K. Y., Crawford, A. N., Krah, B. S., Thamilselvan, V., Malik, A., Aitas, N. A., & Martinez-Hackert, E. (2025). Cripto-1 acts as a molecular bridge linking nodal to ALK4 via distinct structural domains. Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society, 34(2), e70034. https://doi.org/10.1002/pro.70034

Gatreddi, S., Chatterjee, S., Turmo, A., Hu, J., & Hausinger, R. P. (2025). A structural view of nickel-pincer nucleotide cofactor-related biochemistry. Critical reviews in biochemistry and molecular biology, 1–16. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409238.2025.2451443

Jussupow, A., Bartley, D., Lapidus, L. J., & Feig, M. (2025). COCOMO2: A Coarse-Grained Model for Interacting Folded and Disordered Proteins. Journal of chemical theory and computation, 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c01460. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.4c01460

Karina Orlowska, Rance Nault, Jesmin Ara, John J. LaPres, Jack Harkema, Elena Y. Demireva, Huirong Xie, Rachel H. Wilson, Christopher A. Bradfield, Dianne Yap, Aditya Joshi, Cornelis J. Elferink, Tim Zacharewski. Disruption of canonical AHR-mediated induction of hepatocyte PKM2 expression compromises antioxidant defenses and increases TCDD-induced hepatotoxicity. Redox Biology, Volume 77, November 2024, 103405

Laseke, A. J., Lohman, J. R., & St Maurice, M. (2025). Hydrolysis of the acetyl-CoA allosteric activator by Staphylococcus aureus pyruvate carboxylase. Archives of biochemistry and biophysics, 764, 110280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abb.2024.110280

Nevarez, J. L., Turmo, A., Gatreddi, S., Gupta, S., Hu, J., & Hausinger, R. P. (2025). Overcoming barriers for investigating nickel-pincer nucleotide cofactor-related enzymes. mBio, 16(2), e0340424. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.03404-24

Roshanzadeh, A., Medeiros, H. C. D., Herrera, C. K., Malhado, C., Tomich, A. W., Fisher, S. P., Lovera, S. O., Bates, M., Lavallo, V., Lunt, R. R., & Lunt, S. Y. (2025). Next-Generation Photosensitizers: Cyanine-Carborane Salts for Superior Photodynamic Therapy of Metastatic Cancer. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), e202419759. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202419759

Roze, L. V., Antoniak, A., Sarkar, D., Liepman, A. H., Tejera-Nieves, M., Vermaas, J. V., & Walker, B. J. (2025). Increasing thermostability of the key photorespiratory enzyme glycerate 3-kinase by structure-based recombination. Plant biotechnology journal, 23(2), 454–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.14508

Won, T. H., Arifuzzaman, M., Parkhurst, C. N., Miranda, I. C., Zhang, B., Hu, E., Kashyap, S., Letourneau, J., Jin, W. B., Fu, Y., Guzior, D. V., JRI Live Cell Bank, Quinn, R. A., Guo, C. J., David, L. A., Artis, D., & Schroeder, F. C. (2025). Host metabolism balances microbial regulation of bile acid signalling. Nature, 638(8049), 216–224. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08379-9

Zhu, S., Song, Z., Tapayan, A. S., Singh, K., Wang, K. W., Chien Hagar, H. T., Zhang, J., Kim, H., Thepsuwan, P., Kuo, M. H., Zhang, K., & Nguyen, H. M. (2025). Effects of Heparan Sulfate Trisaccharide Containing Oleanolic Acid in Attenuating Hyperphosphorylated Tau-Induced Cell Dysfunction Associated with Alzheimer's Disease. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c02563. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c02563

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 58, No.8