Russek Student Achievement Day 2016
The Biochemistry Russek Student Achievement Day submission submission is now closed. For more info on Russek Day
Spotlight on Research—G proteins and disease
Congratulations to the Garcia-Marcos lab for their recent publication investigating the molecular basis for disease-linked mutations in G proteins. Heterotrimeric G proteins are molecular switches that control signal transduction. Many mutations in G proteins have been shown to cause human diseases. But not all these mutations are made equal. They found that two identical mutations can cause different diseases even if present in highly similar G proteins. By dissecting the biochemical properties of the different mutants, they elucidated the basis of how an identical mutation can make one G protein hyperactive in cancer and the second G protein inactive in rare inherited disease.
Congratulations to Cheng Fang in the Harris Lab
Congratulations to Dr. Cheng Fang in the Harris laboratory for winning first prize at the "Prion 2015" meeting in Colorado for her poster presentation "PrPSc-containing brain samples induce PrPC-dependent retraction of dendritic spines in primary neurons".
Congratulations Biochemistry Russek Award Winners
Congratulations to the The Department of Biochemistry's winners of the Henry I. Russek Student Achievement Day 2015.
The first prize goes to Samantha (Sami) Hiemer, who is a student in Dr. Varelas's lab, the second prize was awarded to Madelane Teran, who is a student in Dr. Nugent's lab and an honorable mention goes to Chendi Li. Our congratulations go out to the winners as well as their advisors!
See you all on Friday, May 1st in Hiebert Lounge for Henry I. Russek Student Achievement Day 2015.
New Research Discoveries—Beige Adipocyte Differentiation
New Research Discoveries…Beige Adipocyte Differentiation
Congratulations to the Farmer, Layne, and Smith laboratories for their recent publication in Cell investigating the mechanisms of beige adipocyte differentiation. Meghan McDonald and Chendi Li from the Farmer lab are co-first authors. This study found that BMPs induce brown adipogenesis from mesenchymal stem cells by inhibiting ROCK activity. Furthermore this study found that loss of the SRF cofactor MRTFA promoted browning and resistance to diet induced obesity.
Congratulations to Larry Pessolano
Congratulations to Larry Pessolano in the Schreiber lab for his abstract presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2014 (Nov. 15-19, Chicago, IL). Larry was invited to present this abstract entitled "Serum Amyloid A and Toll-Like Receptor 2 Activation Promote Dedifferentiation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells" to honor his selection as one of the top scoring abstracts at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2014 Scientific Sessions last May.
Congratulations to Yanyan Lu!
Congratulations to Yanyan Lu in the Costello Laboratory for successfully defending her PhD Thesis: "Mass Spectrometry Studies of Immunoglobulins"
Congratulations to Teresa Colvin
Congratulations to Teresa Colvin in the Sherman lab who successfully defended her PhD Thesis: “The Heat Shock Protein Hsp70 Affects Cancer Signaling Via its Interaction with Co-chaperone Bag3".
Congratulations to Yu Huang
Congratulations to Yu Huang in the Zaia lab for successfully defending his PhD Thesis: “Extracellular Remodeling Enzyme Processed Heparan Sulfate Oligosaccharides: Method Development and Characterization using Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry”
Congratulations to Kathleen Tumelty
Congratulations to Kathleen Tumelty in the Layne laboratory who successfully defended her PhD Thesis: "Mechanisms of Aortic Carboxypeptidase-like Protein Regulation of the Fibroblast to Myofibroblast Transition".