BMB Weekly #41: November 4, 2022

 

MSU Trustees Name Teresa K. Woodruff Interim President "During a special meeting of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees Monday, Teresa K. Woodruff, Ph.D., was unanimously named interim president. Her appointment will be effective upon the departure of President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D." Read more here.    New Observed Days Off for University Support Staff, Faculty and Academic Staff Beginning this December, MSU will observe an annual winter break. "This year’s winter break will run without interruption from Dec. 23 through Jan. 2. The winter break days that are new this year are Dec. 27, 28 and 29. Additionally, beginning in 2023, the university annually will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a full university holiday. That means faculty, academic staff and support staff also will enjoy a paid day off on Jan. 16 next year as we reflect on the work and legacy of Dr. King." Read more here.

 

Yi-Fang Tsay from Academia Sinica, Taiwan will be presenting "Nitrate transport and sensing: From basic research to application."

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

The Fall BMB Seminar Series will run through December 8, 2022. 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.

 

COGS is excited to sponsor the Women*s Initiative for Leadership Development (WILD) Conference, which will be held at the MSU Union on Sunday, November 6th, 2022. The conference is for the MSU community to celebrate and learn about feminist leadership, and is free for MSU students. WILD 2022's theme is Amplify: Community, Culture, and Collaboration. Dolores Huerta is the 2022 WILD Keynote Speaker! Learn more about the conference & registration links here.
Or register here with a special COGS link.

The Exchange is the weekly Tuesday morning event for graduate students. Please join us for the following:
Journal Club — Dr. Yi-Fang Tsay, Academia Sinica, Taiwan (Rob Last)
Plant nitrate transport and signaling
Volunteers: Emily Lanier, Bailey Kleven, Louisa Ellis

Visit an upcoming town hall to help build and shape the future of MSU’s physical environment. Your feedback will help to build a road map for where MSU is going for the next generation. The success of this process relies on input from the MSU community, so we want to hear your vision for the future of the institution!
The University Facilities and Land Use Plan team is holding a series of Town Hall events in early November open to faculty, staff, students and community members. Each session will focus on four thematic stations: student experience, academic research and excellence, open space and environment, and mobility. 

In this session we will introduce characteristics and principles of student-centered teaching and share methods and activities that have worked for us to engage students in their own learning, using collaborative techniques, reflective practices, and effective note-taking strategies. After this session participants will be able to use effective learning-centered strategies, describe considerations for inclusivity, and share best practices for engaging students. Learn more and register here. 

The International Employee Resource Group (International ERG) is a place for Spartans to connect on issues related to our international community. The goal of the ERG is to connect, build community and share best practices. It is an opportunity to discuss everyday issues, relationships with friends and family, campus and community connections, and social activities that will help to build community. The International Employee Resource Group will meet every 3rd Thursday of the month, unless otherwise noted on our calendar due to holidays or other conflicts. Learn more and register here. 

Try your hand at trivia while hanging out with other graduate & professional students! Appetizer buffet included. Compete in teams of four for a prize. Whether you come with a group or come solo, we'll have a great time!  Space is limited, so register soon. Please register at this link. 

This interactive, hybrid writing workshop is designed to help you develop an individualized plan for graduate writing, especially comprehensive exams, dissertation proposals, and dissertations. 

Emily Sorroche (she/her), Associate Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, will be presenting, "Beyond Land Acknowledgements." Please join us for this exciting Zoom webinar! Learn more at this link, and register here. 

When it’s crunch time, we can push ourselves to the point of burnout, and once we’re truly burned out it may take a long time to recover. If we catch it early, we can stop ourselves from getting so overwhelmed that we shut down. We’ll talk about how to know when you’re getting close to burnout, and ways you can prevent it. Register here. 

Meet up for some coffee, treats and conversation 9-10am at MSU STEM Bldg Lobby!

Save the Dates for:  
Friday, December 9th: 9-10am at Constellation Cat Cafe  

The annual Thanksgiving Day Unity Dinner organized by the Office of Cultural & Academic Transitions (OCAT) is being held on Thursday, Nov. 24 from noon-2 p.m. Location: Brody Hall Classrooms (1st Floor). This event provides a free Thanksgiving meal to all MSU students who remain on campus during the holiday. Student registration and volunteer sign-up can be found here. 

Facilitated by the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, the goals of this two-session workshop are to explore and share inclusive teaching strategies that support student success and to revise/develop a teaching philosophy statement that integrates these ideas through a DEI lens. Please register at this link. 

In each workshop, we will practice unique scenarios to help participants develop skills to handle bias incidents, microaggressions, and discrimination that occur in STEM classrooms and workspaces. Participants are welcome to attend one or both sessions; each includes unique scenarios. Please register at this link. 

Join University Outreach & Engagement on the first Friday of each month (November 4, December 2) for 3 hours of dedicated time and space for writing about your community engagement work. We offer in-person (at Brody Cafeteria) and virtual options, for free. Register here. 

 

The SCGSR program supports awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to conduct part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory or host site in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist — with the goal of preparing graduate students for scientific and technical careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission. Learn more here. 

MSU IT Educational Technology has extended the submission deadline for the AT&T Excellence in Technology Awards to 11:59 p.m. on Monday, November 14, 2022. The AT&T awards are given to anyone who teaches a for-credit course who uses technology to support student success and enhance their teaching with impactful, accessible, and engaging practice. Anyone teaching a for-credit course at MSU is eligible to apply.
For questions about criteria and how to apply email EducationalTechnology@msu.edu.

The applications for the next class of Pauling Fellows are open. This is a prestigious fellowship that offers the candidate a great deal of freedom while working with national lab tools and expertise. For application help, please reach out to wendy.shaw@pnnl.gov. 

This fellowship is given to students who have clearly demonstrated leadership in their respective disciplines and/or professional societies at the local, state, regional, national, or international levels while a student at MSU. Learn more and apply here. 

MSU Council of Graduate Students (COGS) established this endowment in 2021 to recognize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts by graduate and professional students in or through their program, unit, or department at MSU. The recipients are selected during Spring Semester 2023 to be awarded the following Fall Semester 2023. Recipients need to be enrolled for the Fall semester. Learn more and apply here. 

This fellowship supports a graduate student who graduated from a US public high school and demonstrated academic excellence in their undergraduate studies. Applicants may be pursuing a degree in education, healthcare, or engineering. Learn more and apply here. 

Recipients should demonstrate their commitment to fighting society’s “isms” – including sexism, racism, and ageism – and their motivation to seek opportunities to further their own intellectual progress and the cause of social justice. Student must be enrolled for Spring Semester 2023. Learn more and apply here. 

JB Ashtin, a medical communications company, is seeking applicants for a fellowship program that will provide real-world experience to recent advanced-degree graduates from life sciences or healthcare profession programs who are exploring a career in medical communication. Learn more here. 

 

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Michigan State University Information Technology wants to ensure that you stay safe and secure online – which means more than just creating a strong password. You might not think your data is worth protecting, but your MSU credentials can be used as a gateway to important institutional data. The more aware you are, the more secure you will be. Visit go.msu.edu/cam221 to learn about the best ways to #SecureState.

The Graduate School has a new, streamlined process for requesting approval for recent MSU employees to remain on their graduate students' existing guidance committees. This process may be used if the employee has left or will be leaving MSU within 3 months of the day the form is submitted. Please direct questions to approvals@grd.msu.edu. Learn more here. 

Beginning on October 10^th  and through Election Day (November 8), MSU will host four rotating City of East Lansing Satellite City Clerk Offices for one-stop help on all things voter engagement.  Students, faculty and staff can take advantages of services normally provided at the City Clerk office, including:

• register to vote
• ask questions
• sign up for an absentee ballot
• pick up an absentee ballot
• vote in advance of Election Day

 Want to check out handy voting resources? Visit the MSUVote website.

The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) announced a new partnership with Michigan State University. MSU students, staff and faculty may join AWIS now free under the MSU institutional agreement. AWIS offers webinars, career resources and more. Learn more here. 

The Institute for Citizens & Scholars has opened its 2023 competition for several fellowships that support either dissertation completion or junior faculty progress toward tenure. Learn more here. 

The Sci-Files is always looking for MSU graduate & professional students to speak about their research on the MSU student radio station, Impact 89FM - https://impact89fm.org/. The Sci-Files is an award-winning show with over 150 episodes highlighting the research of MSU students. Students from any discipline are welcome to email scifiles89fm@gmail.com if you are interested in being interviewed.  Check out the Sci-Files Podcasts here: https://impact89fm.org/the-sci-files/.

There is a new webpage that has been created on the grad.msu.edu website (https://grad.msu.edu/etd) that provides information related to Electronic Theses and Dissertation submissions. You can access deadline dates, formatting guides, and more at this link.

To help field questions, Global Safety has developed a guide with recommended steps and resources. This is available as a PDF and on the Global Safety website at www.globalsafety.msu.edu/positive-COVID-19. The first step is to call ISOS for guidance.

 

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) at Michigan State University is seeking an innovative and engaging educator for a 12-month, fixed-term (non-tenure track) Instructor position to manage day-to-day operations and participate in instruction of intermediate and senior level undergraduate biochemistry laboratory courses. The initial appointment is for one year with reappointment expected based on satisfactory performance and continued funding. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

A research scientist position is available immediately in the laboratory of Cecilia Giulivi (https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/cecilia-giulivi) in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and MIND Institute at the University of California Davis. The laboratory focuses on understanding mitochondrial dysfunction in autism and in neurodegeneration. To accomplish this, the team uses a combination of genetic, genomic, biochemical, and pharmacological approaches in patient’s tissues, mammalian cell lines, and mouse models. The successful candidate will investigate how exosomes, genetic background, and sex differences (among others) influence the mitochondrial (dys)function in the neurodegenerative disorder FXTAS. The position will be available for at least two years with yearly extensions (up to a total maximum of five years) pending satisfactory progress and/or funding availability. Learn more about the job posting and apply at this link. 

Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan is recruiting a Director for the Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Core. We seek applicants for this tenure-stream Associate Professor position in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology who possess expertise in the isolation, analysis, and annotation of small molecules within complex biological matrices and/or extracts using mass spectrometry and/or complementary approaches such as NMR, x-ray crystallography, cryo-electron diffraction and/or other structural techniques including synthesis. The position will involve managerial leadership and consulting with facility users regarding best analysis practices. The ideal candidate will have core leadership experience and an established record of achievements in the novel use and/or development of mass spectrometry, with a strong publication record supported by external, competitively obtained funds. Evidence of collaboration in the annotation of novel metabolites extracted from diverse biological matrices is highly desirable. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan seeks applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the area of Mass Spectrometry and/or Metabolomics. Academic interests of candidates can be broad but are expected to possess expertise in the isolation, analysis, and annotation of small molecules within complex biological matrices and/or extracts using mass spectrometry and/or complementary approaches such as NMR, x-ray crystallography, cryo-electron diffraction and/or other structural techniques including chemical synthesis. Competitive applicants will have a record of achievement in the novel use and/or development of mass spectrometry. Commitments to collaboration, teaching, and the promotion of diversity and inclusion are expected. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The DNA Unit at the Michigan State Police Department is currently looking for a full-time Forensic Scientist. At the trainee level, the incumbent, under the direction of a journeyman or unit supervisor, receives, examines, and analyzes evidence for the presence of biological material and subsequent DNA tests in connection with criminal cases in the Biology discipline.  The incumbent progresses through the series, gaining knowledge and skills, to work independently and become an expert able to testify in court. Learn more about this job posting and apply at this link. 

A Postdoctoral Fellow position is available in the Moon lab within the resource-rich Center for RNA Biomedicine and Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan. We are seeking an enthusiastic, team-oriented, and conscientious individual with a growth mindset who will lead a project on the molecular mechanisms of aging and genetic neurodegenerative diseases. The postdoctoral fellow will learn how to create human cell culture systems to detect and analyze RNA behavior using state-of-the-art fluorescence microscopy and RNA biology approaches. The postdoctoral fellow will be immersed within an international group of scientists in the CZI Neurodegeneration Challenge Network where they will have access to specialized career development and scientific training opportunities. This appointment is fully funded and is for an initial one year with potential to renew. The Moon Lab has been built to remove resource bottlenecks and facilitate scientific discovery for all team members. View the full job posting here. 

To apply: Please submit a cover letter including the word ‘translation’, CV, 1-2 page statement of research interests, and contact information for three references to smslmoon@umich.edu.

The lab of Charles G. Hoogstraten, BMB, is seeking to hire a postdoc available to study to study the biophysics of RNA recognition and tertiary interface formation.

Depending on interest and experience, projects will involve some combination of: 

• NMR spin relaxation and CEST analyses of functional minor conformations (“invisible states”) in RNA recognition and catalysis; 
• Biophysical (including ITC and/or SPR) and biochemical analyses of RNA structure-dynamics-function relationships; and
• Advanced molecular dynamics techniques as applied to low-probability sampling and tertiary interface formation. 

In addition to performing research, the postdoc will be expected to mentor junior lab members, help maintain laboratory equipment and protocols, participate in collaborative projects, write up results for publication, and present results at regional and national meetings. See MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of North Texas (UNT) invites applications for a tenure-track position as an (1) Assistant Professor in Cell Biology and a tenure-track position as an (2) Assistant Professor in Microbiology and Microbial Genomics. UNT is a Hispanic-serving and Minority-serving public research university with a Research 1 (R1) Carnegie classification enrolling over 47,000 students across our system and awarding nearly 12,000 degrees each year. The official job postings can be found at https://jobs.untsystem.edu/postings/64484 and https://jobs.untsystem.edu/postings/64441. Initial review of applications will begin on October 28, 2022.

Description: In this Cincinnati, Ohio-based role you will report to a Category Technical leader, and will be the technical expert for flavor ingredients discovery of biomolecule (Protein/Carbohydrates/lipids/nuclei acids to small molecules) from natural sources such as botanicals, food items, enzymatic and fermentation processed products. You will contribute expert knowledge on macromolecule characterization, purification, structure/function, interaction with small molecules from natural source or enzymatic/fermentation process to discover the essential active ingredients which meet the business needs for taste & well-being. Conduct sensory guided separation and identification of taste active components using cutting edge chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Apply the fundamental principles to develop real-world solutions.
Education: PhD in Organic/Bio-organic Chemistry or a related field. 
Click this link to learn more about the position and apply! 

 

Bird, K.A., Jacobs, M. et. al.  “Parental origins of the cultivated tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.).”  Plants People Planet. 
        (2022).

Bibik, J.D., Weraduwage, S.M., Banerjee, A., Robertson, K., Espinoza-Corral, R., Sharkey, T.D., Lundquist, P.K., Hamberger, B.R.
        “Pathway engineering, re-targeting, and synthetic scaffolding improve the production of squalene in plants.”  ACS Synthetic
        Biology Vol. 11, Iss. 6 (2022).

Orlowska, K., Fling, R. R., Nault, R., Sink, W. J., Schilmiller, A. L., & Zacharewski, T. "Dioxin-elicited decrease in cobalamin
        redirects propionyl-CoA metabolism to the β-oxidation-like pathway resulting in acrylyl-CoA conjugate buildup." The Journal of
        biological chemistry 298(9),102301 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102301   

Rossi, M., Altea-Manzano, P., Demicco, M. et. al.  “PHGDH heterogeneity potentiates cancer cell dissemination and metastasis.”
        Nature 605, 747–753 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04758-2

Sadre, R., Anthony, T.M., Grabar, J.M. et al. Metabolomics-guided discovery of cytochrome P450s involved in pseudotropine-dependent
        biosynthesis of modified tropane alkaloids. Nat Commun 13, 3832 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31653-1.  

Tinney, K.R., Dover, J.A., Doore, S.M., and Parent, K.  “Shigella viruses Sf22 and KRT47 require outer membrane protein C for
        infection.”  Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Biomembranes  Vol. 1864, Iss. 7 (2022).

See story on Sophia Lunt’s collaborative research on molecular workings of a certain form of metastatic Breast cancer in MSU Today.

Professor A. Daniel Jones recently contributed to a piece published online about treating PFAS-contaminated wastes. Check it out here!   

To provide feedback or submit content, please email bmb.web@msu.edu. Don't forget to follow us on social media!

College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 55, No. 41