BMB Weekly #6: February 6, 2026

 

"This shrub thrives in Death Valley's scorching temperatures. Where do its heat-tolerant superpowers come from?"

Featuring Sue Rhee.
Read the Smithsonian Magazine article here.

 

 

 

Katie Barott from the University of Pennsylvania will be presenting the lecture titled "Physiological mechanisms of climate change resilience in reef-building corals".

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.

 

 

The Dissertation Support Group is a 6-week group for doctoral students who would like some extra support maintaining motivation and/or making effective progress in the writing of their dissertation. The group provides participants with a supportive, structured environment that helps to mitigate the sense of isolation and frustration that often accompany the dissertation writing process and to promote the accountability, risk-taking and creativity necessary to complete a terminal degree.

Support group meeting dates and times will be determined based on participant availability. You can provide your availability in the registration form using the button below. You will receive confirmation of your group’s meeting time by Wednesday, February 11th. Learn more and register here.

The Data Management and Infrastructure and Single-Cell Sequencing committees of the Plant Cell Atlas are organizing a workshop series that aims to equip participants with essential skills and knowledge to achieve the critical goal of ensuring data reproducibility in single-cell research, especially as the technology that enables this research strategy becomes more widely adopted, and the utility of the data generated grows in scale.

This three-part workshop will take place over three days and cover:

• Day 1 (February 9, 2026 - 12:00 p.m.): Version control (git) for single-cell code repositories and recording sample metadata
• Day 2 (February 10, 2026 - 12:00 p.m.): Reproducibly running single-cell preprocessing pipelines using Docker
• Day 3 (February 11, 2026 - 12:00 p.m.): Using reproducible workflows in R and/or Python for analyzing and visualizing single-cell data

Learn more and register here.

“How to Stand Out in a Competitive Job Market” is a week-long webinar series designed to help master’s students confidently navigate today’s hyper-competitive job market.

Hiring has slowed, the market is saturated with qualified candidates, and many students are turning to AI tools that, unfortunately, hinder their job search more than they help. This series will help master’s students prepare for these challenges as they launch an internship or job search. Topics to be covered include how to unlock the hidden job market, resume writing, how to find people to network with, and job  searching as an international student. Learn more and register here.

Enjoy a morning beverage and treats with COGS while networking with peers across disciplines! See you this time at the Hooked bookstore in Lansing, 3142 E. Michigan Ave. Learn more here.

Do you have questions regarding formatting your thesis or dissertation? Stop in during one of our help sessions to talk to Graduate School staff about any specific formatting questions you may have. These are walk-in sessions. No registration is required.

In this session, participants will explore several educational technology tools and strategies to engage students in learning. Attendees will take away a list of tools ready for immediate use. This presentation will be made by Anara Akhmetova, PhD Candidate in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education. Learn more and register here.

The Cancer Biology Student Alliance is thrilled to announce that Dr. Robert Weinberg will be the featured speaker for the CBSA's first invited speaker seminar. If you are a graduate or professional student interested in cancer research, we hope you will consider attending!

Dr. Weinberg co-authored the landmark paper “Hallmarks of Cancer", one of the most influential and highly cited works in cancer biology. His pioneering research in oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition has fundamentally shaped how we understand cancer development and progression. Please join us to hear about Dr. Weinberg's research journey! Please contact dusseaun@msu.edu if you have questions. 

Attend this seminar on Zoom. Passcode: 970965

 

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.

 

The Council of Graduate Students will be hosting their 18^th annual Graduate Academic Conference (GAC) at the MSU Union. The GAC is a forum for graduate students to gain experience communicating their research to a non-specialized audience. We'll have Poster, Oral and 3-Minute Thesis student presentations throughout the day!

The big day is coming up soon, and the committee is looking for awesome volunteers to help make the day run smoothly! The GAC is run by graduate & professional students, for graduate & professional students, and volunteering is a great way to support student research, meet folks across disciplines, and be part of a really fun, high-energy academic event. 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.

 

 

Dobson, G., & Balbach, M. (2026). Stable isotope labelling mass spectrometry analysis of isolated mouse sperm. Biology of reproduction, ioag022. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolre/ioag022

Tauriello, G., Lill, Y., Sgrignani, J., Zoete, V., Singer, B., Vallat, B., Webb, B. M., Garello, T., Bienert, S., Feig, M., Papaleo, E., Burley, S. K., Sali, A., Lill, M. A., Cavalli, A., Peraro, M. D., & Schwede, T. (2026). ModelCIF update: Supporting Emerging Classes of Computational Macromolecular Models. Journal of molecular biology, 169658. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2026.169658

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