BMB Weekly #42: November 11, 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.

 

 

Maria Cristina Gambetta from Uni Lausanne, Switzerland will be presenting "Wiring regulatory elements to target genes in 3D."

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.

 

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. 

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. This is a walk-in session. No registration is required.

This in-person interactive workshop will help you build new skills and put that thinking hat to get the best win-win outcome whenever you are in a negotiation space again. Open for all graduate and professional students at MSU. Limited seats on first come first serve basis. Food/snacks will be provided. Learn more and register here. 

The Exchange is the weekly Tuesday morning event for graduate students. Please join us for the following:
Journal Club — Dr. Maria Gambetta, U. Lausanne (David Arnosti)
Chromatin structure and gene regulation
Volunteers: Jamie Lord, Matt Faber, Joydeep Rakshit

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. 

 

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. 

Nominations are being accepted for the 2023 MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award competition. This Teaching Award is very competitive, so we are looking for exceptional PhD and Master’s students with great demonstration of teaching competence and knowledge of pedagogy, innovative teaching/instructional design, and effective mentoring skills and commitment to teaching professional development. Students must be nominated by faculty/deans. Learn more here. 

 

Deadlines for Electronic Theses and Dissertations are coming up:

• Submission Deadline – December 1 at 5 p.m. ET
  • Each semester has a deadline for the initial submission of theses and dissertations to ProQuest.
  • The document submitted to ProQuest is expected to be a final version, meaning it has been successfully defended, corrections the committee wants have been made, and there are no more content changes.
• Final Deadline – December 15 at 5 p.m. ET
  • Documents have been accepted and delivered for publishing, all required paperwork has been turned in, all milestones have been completed and all degree audits have been completed.

For more ETD information and resources please visit this link. 

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. 

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.

 

Applications are now being accepted for a Postdoctoral Research Associate associated with Brandon Ruotolo’s laboratory in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Specifically, A post-doctoral scholar is sought to pursue objectives associated with work in collaboration with Agilent Technologies, focusing on developing next-generation ion mobility-mass spectrometry equipment and methods for the analysis of biotherapeutics. Learn more about the job posting and apply at this link. 

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.

 

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. 42