BMB Weekly #1: January 2, 2026

 

How viruses know what’s theirs

Learning from nature's packaging experts could lead to anti-virals, gene therapy, and the next generation of RNA-based therapeutics. Prof. Kristin Parent teamed up with researchers at SDSU for a new study, which leveraged MSU's cryo-EM new instruments.
Read the full article here.

 

 

 

Bil Clemons from Caltech will be presenting the Sweeley lecture titled "Targeting of tail-anchored membrane proteins by various Get3 Homologs: Mechanisms and druggability".

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

The Spring BMB Seminar Series will run through April 23, 2026. 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.

 

 

In this session, Dr. Shannon Lynn Burton (University Ombudsperson) will offer practical strategies tailored to graduate teaching assistants and postdocs who are building their instructional identity while upholding academic integrity in the classroom. Participants will learn how to communicate expectations with confidence, prevent common forms of misconduct, and manage difficult conversations that may arise when concerns occur. The session will also outline key university policies and procedures for responding to suspected misconduct, with opportunities to discuss real scenarios that help early-career instructors strengthen their judgment, clarity, and sense of authority in fostering a culture of integrity. Learn more and register here.

Effective grading is a result of understanding how to assess students in a manner that is both helpful to their development and an efficient use of your own time. In this session, we will discuss the preparation you should go through to be able to assess students effectively based on Learning Outcomes. You will learn how to write learning outcomes and use Backward Design to align learning outcomes with assessments and learning activities. Learn more and register here.

GTAs can join us for this session in which two experts from MSU Instructional Technology role will get you started on D2L features such as the Gradebook, Accessibility Checkers, Intelligent Agents, and share best practices to effectively use D2L for effective communication and student success. Come prepared to ask questions to get the most out of this session. Learn more and register here.

Would scheduling regular, specific times to write about your outreach or engagement work be helpful? If so, please join us on the first Friday of each month for three hours of dedicated time to advance your scholarship. Past participants have written journal articles, grant proposals, book chapters, theses or dissertations, curricula, pieces for public audiences, and community engagement portfolios. Participants should plan to write for the full three hours. We start the write-in by sharing writing goals for the day and wrap up with accomplishments and next steps. Learn more and register here.

The Council of Graduate Students is currently taking abstracts for the 18^th Annual Graduate Academic Conference (GAC). COGS is accepting abstracts for poster and oral presentations, and applications to present in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition! As you make your spring plans, don't forget to sign up for this annual conference. It's a great way to practice communication around your research and get feedback! Learn more and submit an abstract here.

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the Spartan Wellbeing Summit, taking place on February 26, 2026 at the Kellogg Conference Center. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to join the celebration of our collective journey toward becoming a health promoting university, inspired by the Okanagan Charter. We’ll plant new ideas, strengthen our shared foundation of wellbeing, and branch out in collaboration to cultivate a lasting culture of care for all Spartans. The Summit will feature keynote speaker Kiyaana Cox Jones, whose inspiring message on sparking community transformation will energize and empower us to continue this work. Check out the full agenda and reserve your seat – space is limited! Learn more and register here.

 

The Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD) is excited to announce that their scholarship application is now open through January 30, 2026. Ten scholarships honor MSU students with disabilities who demonstrate leadership, academic excellence, and resilience. Recipients will be honored at the RCPD Awards Reception on April 17. We encourage you to share this opportunity with eligible students you advise. Learn more and apply here.

In addition, all Spartans are invited to nominate students, faculty and staff, and alumni for three awards that recognize meaningful efforts to advance belonging and inclusion. Recipients will also be honored at the RCPD Awards Reception. Learn more and make a nomination here.

 

Connect with Spartans and friends in a vibrant online community united by a love of reading. Join engaging discussions on a variety of topics — from the comfort of your own space. It’s easy to participate; simply borrow the book from your library or purchase a copy.

With a new book selection every two months and the flexibility to join or skip sessions as you like, this offers a fun, low-pressure way to stay connected with and inspired by fellow Spartans. 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.

 

Looking for Your Next Step? Check Out the Postdoc Opportunities Board

This free online resource connects you with postdoc positions at 18 world-leading institutions across 11 states. Explore openings and access advice to help you find the right postdoc position to thrive and succeed. Start your search today and take the next step in your career! 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.

 

 

Ghafouri, H., Janson, G., Tosatto, S. C. E., & Monzon, A. M. (2026). IDPEnsembleTools: An open-source library for analysis of conformational ensembles of disordered proteins. Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society, 35(1), e70427. https://doi.org/10.1002/pro.70427

Herrera-Tequia, A., Shivaiah, K. K., & Lundquist, P. K. (2025). Arabidopsis thalianaFibrillin 3a binds saturated fatty acids of chloroplast membranes. Plant signaling & behavior, 20(1), 2594894. https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2025.2594894

Jacobs, J., Newton, L., Gardener, B. M., Webster, B., Thompson, A., Grotewold, E., & Lundquist, P. K. (2025). CAPS-Based SNP Genotyping for Nitrogen-Response Phenotypes in Maize Hybrids. Bio-protocol, 15(24), e5551. https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.5551

O'Malley, A., Offermann, L. R., Khatri, K., Linn, C., Pote, S., McBride, J. K., Perdue, M. L., Hurlburt, B. K., Maleki, S. J., Mias, G. I., & Chruszcz, M. (2025). Structural analysis of 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS) binding to the PR-10 allergen Ara h 8. Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 793, 153013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2025.153013

Subramanian, S., Dover, J. A., & Parent, K. N. (2025). The Shigella siphophage Sf11 tail structure and host attachment mechanism. Journal of virology, 99(12), e0136725. https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.01367-25

Wu, H. L., Kaufman, I. D., & Hsu, P. Y. (2026). Identifying and Visualizing Novel Small Open Reading Frames (sORFs) Via Ribo-Seq, Transcriptome Assembly, and ggRibo. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2992, 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-5013-4_7

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