BMB Weekly #7: February 13, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

The MSU Innovation Center is Michigan State University’s integrated commercialization and corporate engagement hub, uniting MSU Technologies, MSU Business Connect, and Spartan Innovations to move research from lab to market. MSU Technologies manages intellectual property protection, licensing, and industry partnerships; MSU Business Connect serves as the front door for corporate collaboration and sponsored research; and Spartan Innovations, the venture creation arm of the MSU Research Foundation, supports startup formation, capital access, and early-stage growth. Together, the Innovation Center provides a coordinated pathway for translating MSU discoveries into funded partnerships, scalable companies, and real-world impact across Michigan and beyond.

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.

 

 

As artificial intelligence rapidly expands across higher education, it’s more critical than ever to understand its benefits and vulnerabilities. Join the Graduate School as we explore these themes in our AI in Higher Ed Lecture Series, featuring Wes Fondren, Ph.D., associate provost for artificial intelligence, academic technology, and professional development and an associate professor of communication at Coastal Carolina University. Dr. Fondren sees technologies such as artificial intelligence as powerful tools to empower both faculty and students in the learning process and to prepare graduates for successful careers. During these sessions, Dr. Fondren will provide his insight into topics like ethical AI use, evolving capabilities, and more. Learn more and register here.

Remember when you were a kid, when you would lie on the grass on a clear night and just look up at the stars? There is something about staring up at the night sky that is peaceful and relaxing, allowing us to forget about any stress that we may be experiencing. Join University Health & Wellbeing and Abrams Planetarium for "Relaxing Under the Stars" to re-capture that feeling of relaxation and wonderment. Learn more here.

This tutorial aims to illustrate the impact of large-language-model-based applications on various contemporary biostatistical tasks. We will explore both the risks and opportunities presented by this new era of artificial intelligence. Our ultimate conclusion emphasizes that advanced applications should only be used in combination with sufficient background knowledge. This seminar is available for RECR Credit. Learn more and register here.

In this webinar, Graduate School staff will go through the different components of GradPlan and how they are to be utilized, what they track, and what constitutes a complete GradPlan. RECR (Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research) requirements for different degree types will be explained along with how completed training is tracked, and how students should complete their requirements. All master’s and doctoral students are encouraged to attend. The PowerPoint presentation will be emailed to all registrants after the webinar. Q&A will be open during the webinar. Learn more and register here.

This interactive writing workshop is designed to help students develop an individualized plan for understanding graduate school more generally and graduate writing more specifically. This workshop is designed for students in both the early and later years of their master’s degree. This 3-hour workshop will concentrate on understanding the transition to graduate school, navigating master’s degree coursework and graduation options (thesis, exams, portfolios, etc.), locating and using professional and personal support resources, and writing for both the degree and future job. Participants will create academic timelines for their master’s work (coursework, conference presentations, internships, etc.) at MSU and discuss technologies and habits that can help them stay on task. Learn more and register here.

This interactive workshop is designed for graduate students who identify as or aspire to be interdisciplinary scholars, educators, and/or collaborators. Participants will spend time identifying their own interdisciplinary skillset, discussing interdisciplinary career trajectories with MSU faculty, and developing a personal plan for framing and articulating their own interdisciplinary goals and activities. Learn more and register here.

Get ready for an epic night of Detroit pride and Spartan spirit at the Detroit Spartans Gala 2026—join us for an unforgettable evening! This signature event will be held at The Whiskey Factory - Detroit City Distillery, located on Maple Street in the heart of Detroit. Proceeds will support the 313 Endowed Scholarship, a campaign to help students from Wayne County attend MSU. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect with old friends, make new ones, and show your Spartan pride. Mark your calendars and get ready for an amazing night! Learn more here.

 

The KCP-FFF program aims to increase the pool of academically or economically disadvantaged candidates pursuing faculty teaching careers in postsecondary education. The program is implemented in partnership with the State of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO).

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Terah Chambers, Ph.D., Associate Dean and MSU’s KCP-FFF Program Director or Deanne Hubbell, MSU’s KCP-FFF Program Assistant. Learn more and apply here.

The Graduate School Mentoring Awards help to recognize graduate programs, faculty mentors and doctoral students whose practice exemplifies the Foundational Values for Graduate Student and Faculty Mentoring Relationships and who make exceptional efforts to sustain the rights and fulfill the responsibilities outlined in the MSU Guidelines for Graduate Student Mentoring and Advising.

There are 3 separate award categories:

• Outstanding Graduate Program Community Award
• Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award
• Outstanding Doctoral Student Mentor Award

Learn more and make a nomination here.

Each spring semester the Plant Research Lab hosts a special seminar in honor of the lab’s founding director, Anton Lang. In conjunction with the seminar, awards are made to a graduate student and a postdoctoral research associate who exemplify the research excellence, ideals, dedication and vision of Anton Lang. Each recipient will receive a cash award and a gift. The names of the speaker and the two award winners are engraved on the plaque that hangs outside the Anton Lang Conference Room.

The PRL Personnel Affairs Committee (PAC) is now soliciting nominations for the graduate student and postdoctoral research associate awards. Research excellence is the primary criterion. Other scholarly activities may also be considered. Postdoctoral and graduate student awardees will be selected on the basis of research carried out while at MSU. Learn more and make a nomination here.

The Plant Research Lab (PRL) Personnel Affairs Committee (PAC) is soliciting nominations for the 2026 Keegstra and Thomashow Travel Awards. This endowed travel award program has been made possible by generous donations from Kenneth G. and Sue E. Keegstra, and Michael F. and Suzanne H. Thomashow, to offset travel costs for PRL graduate students to attend and present their research at scientific conferences. The selection will be primarily based on research excellence for work conducted at MSU. Other scholarly activities may also be considered. Learn more and make a nomination here.

 

Organized by the Ethics Institute, the week-long series of events strives to actively involve students, faculty, staff, and the community in meaningful ethics conversations. Ethics Week includes a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid opportunities for the MSU and local communities. A wide range of topics and disciplines will be covered across 30 events, so they may be of interest to your audiences. Learn more here.

February is Heart Health Month! This month, we are making it easier to take charge of your heart health and support your wellbeing with a limited-time promotion. 

• Free heart health assessments, including blood pressure checks, with SPARTANfit 

• Early awareness can support long-term health 
• Small lifestyle changes can inspire meaningful, long-term change

Learn more and schedule here.

Hot off the press! The third 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 2025.

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.

 

This is a temporary or an on-call position. Provides professional support. Responsibilities may include general business, science, medical, agricultural or other professional support functions.

Unit Position Summary:

• Perform molecular biology and plant genetics experiments to investigate gene expression regulation in the model plant Arabidopsis 
• Order supplies, assist in general lab organization, prepare media and solutions, perform experiments following lab protocols, and document the results
• Develop research maturity and independence while actively collaborating and communicating with other members of the lab
• Participate in lab meetings and other lab activities

Learn more about this MSU Careers posting 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.

 

 

Cho, H., Choi, I., Bouain, N., Nawaz, A., Zheng, L., Shahzad, Z., Brandizzi, F., Rhee, S. Y., & Rouached, H. (2026). Phosphorus availability controls flowering time through subcellular reprogramming of bGLU25 and GRP7 in Arabidopsis. Developmental cell, 61(2), 340–355.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2025.10.005

Jiang, J., Li, D., Wang, G., & Wei, G. W. (2026). Recent advances in machine learning predictions of protein-ligand binding affinities. Current opinion in structural biology, 96, 103193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbi.2025.103193

Luo, C., Zheng, D., Elnegiry, A., Bhatara, S., Mias, G. I., Tsoi, M. F., Yu, J., & Gu, B. (2025). SOX2 is a dispensable modulator of NUT carcinoma oncogenesis in mice. Life science alliance, 9(2), e202503447. https://doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202503447

Nirmal, M. B., Pearce, M. E., Liu, C. T., Finkel, J. M., Darrow, K. S., & Vo, T. V. (2026). Deletion of Elongator Protein 1 (Elp1) relieves heterochromatin defects in a Pol II mutant of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Genetics, 232(2), iyaf258. https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf258

O'Malley, A., Borders, B. T., Wilson, J. M., Smith, S. A., & Chruszcz, M. (2026). Structural Determination of a Human IgE Epitope on Major Birch Allergen Bet v 1. Allergy, 10.1111/all.70240. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.70240

van de Ven, W., Hur, M., Fernanda Gómez-Méndez, M., Guo, J., Ke, H., Awal Mahmood, R., Kim, S., Sharkey, T. D., & Dehesh, K. (2026). Metabolite control of enzyme activity links stress to biosynthetic regulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(6), e2529243123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2529243123

Van Wyk, J., Wang, X., Mathieu, D., Mills, G. L., Childs, K. L., & Bonito, G. (2026). Life cycle transcriptomics of the homothallic cultivated morel (Morchella rufobrunnea). Fungal genetics and biology : FG & B, 182, 104056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2025.104056

Wang, Q., Wang, Q., Melani, R. D., Liu, Q., Nurmi, P., & Sun, L. (2026). Extensive Backbone Cleavage Coverage of Intact Proteoforms in a Mass Range of 10-70 kDa by Integrating Electron, Collision, and Photon-Based Fragmentation Techniques during an Electrophoretic Time Scale. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 37(2), 505–513. https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.5c00384

Yang, F., Dee, E. C., Singh, A., Wu, Y., Suggitt, J. O., Treechairusame, T., Silverio Polanco, E., Honawar, A., Zhang, Z., Mah, D., Sine, K., Shim, A., Lin, H., Kang, J. J., Tsai, C. J., McBride, S. M., Riaz, N., Gelblum, D. Y., Zakeri, K., Chen, L., … Lee, N. Y. (2026). Osteoradionecrosis After Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy or Proton Therapy in Oropharyngeal Carcinoma. JAMA otolaryngology-- head & neck surgery, 152(2), 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoto.2025.4179

 

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