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Check out BMB's recent publications
Undergraduates:
BMB Majors: Registration for Spring 2010 begins for seniors on November 12th; check your Spire account for your own registration appointment. Please remember to check your UMail for messages frequently. You can forward your UMail to another e-mail account, but check that the messages are going through. Some of the forwards are generating error messages, and there is much valuable information going to you by e-mail from the department. You should also be looking for an e-mail from your Class Advisor as to how to schedule an advising meeting. Almost all of these messages have gone out.
Again, if you have any holds on your records besides the Registration Approval hold, (or the Dean’s hold for Freshmen who have not yet attended the mandatory meeting) you must attend to it in order to register.
Any questions, e-mail Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes at mollyfh@biochem.umass.edu; or see Carol Ryan in 913G.
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BMB Accomplishments:
Danny Schnell, Professor and Head of BMB, was selected to present the 2009 Nathan Edward Tolbert Endowed Lectureship in Plant Biochemistry on Thursday, November 19, in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department at Michigan State University. The topic of his seminar is: "Protein trafficking to chloroplasts: Mechanism and role in plastid development."
Professor Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes' new textbook, DNA and Biotechnology, (co-author Frieda Reichsman) has been published by Elsevier Press. It was written for non-science majors taking general education science courses in college. The authors describe advances in DNA science throughout history by highlighting the important events and activities involving key people who helped to drive the DNA revolution.
Three BMB Faculty were recently awarded funding via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the NIH :
Distinguished Professor Lila Gierasch received a supplement, to her NIH R01 grant for the period 9/30/09 – 8/31/11 that is focused on the mechanisms of a major class of molecular chaperones, the Hsp70s. These helper proteins facilitate protein folding and trafficking in the cell. The supplement is for a new approach, collaborative with Evan Powers of Scripps, using a computational model to explore how proteins utilize the Hsp70 molecular chaperone network to achieve their proper folded state. The award totals $360,447.
Professor Daniel N. Hebert was awarded a renewal of an existing NIH RO1 grant, Cellular Protein Maturation and Degradation, for years 11 and 12. (Total Award: $577,657) The goal of these studies is to understand how proteins fold and mature in mammalian cells, and how the cell evaluates and discards proteins that have matured improperly. This work will help us understand the basis of a number of disease states that are caused by defects in the protein maturation pathway.
Susan Roberts (Chemical Engineering), Elsbeth Walker (Biology) and Associate Professor Jennifer Normanly (BMB) have established a Taxol™ consortium that applies molecular biology approaches to characterizing and manipulating Taxus metabolism for production of the important anti-cancer agent paclitaxel (Taxol™). Identifying novel genes and regulators of paclitaxel accumulation, and secondary metabolism in general, will significantly advance commercial plant cell culture technology processes for supply of paclitaxel and other important plant-derived pharmaceuticals used to treat a variety of human ailments such as cancer and AIDS. The award is $452,630 for the period 9/15/09 – 8/31/10.
Undergraduate Dave Paquette and Distinguished Professor Lila Gierasch completed the 106 mile COVAC Century bike ride together on September 13.
David Paquette, a senior Biochem major in the Gierasch lab, presented a talk at the Protein Society meeting held in Boston June 25-29.
Professor Alejandro Heuck has been selected to be the 2009 Diseases of Infants and Children Scholar by the American Lung Association.
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