Announcements
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS/ACHIEVEMENTS/AWARDS
July 2009
Dr. Jaekwon Lee, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, and his group
have just published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Science USA, "Cadmium-mediated rescue for ER-associated degradation
induces expression of its exporter."
Adle DJ, Wei W, Smith N, Bies JJ, Lee J.
Department of Biochemistry, The Redox Biology Center, University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
Congratulations to all involved!
Drs. Gautam Sarath (PI, Adjunct Professor ) and Madhavan Soundararajan
(CoPI, Professor of Practice) have received a grant from the
Department of Energy for "The Hunt for Green Every April: Factors
Affecting Fitness in Switchgrass" in the amount of $1,181,866
Congratulations to this research team!
May 2009
CONGRATULATIONS to the May 2009 Graduates
CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Don Becker who has been named to the Editorial
Board of the The Journal of Biological Chemistry for a five year term
beginning July 1, 2009. He joins Dr. Concetta DiRusso who begins her
third year as a member of the Editorial Board.
April 2009
CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Edgar Cahoon a Co-PI for a new DOE grant entitled "Center for Advanced Biofuels Systems.” This five-year $15M grant with 8 PIs (including Dr. Cahoon) was awarded from the DOE program called Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC); Dr. Dick Sayre at the Danforth Center is the lead PI.
This EFRC is one of 46 announced on April 27, 2009 by the White House in conjunction with a speech delivered by President Barack Obama at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences. The EFRCs, which will pursue advanced scientific research on energy, are being established by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the nation.
CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Gilles Basset for his paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Widhalm JR, van Oostende C, Furt F, Basset GJ. 2009. A dedicated thioesterase of the Hotdog-fold family is required for the biosynthesis of the naphthoquinone ring of vitamin K1. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. 2009 Mar 25. [Epub ahead of print]
Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588.
Phylloquinone (vitamin K(1)) is a bipartite molecule that consists of a naphthoquinone ring attached to a phytyl side chain. The coupling of these 2 moieties depends on the hydrolysis of the CoA thioester of 1,4- dihydroxy-2-naphthoate (DHNA), which forms the naphthalenoid backbone. It is not known whether such a hydrolysis is enzymatic or chemical. In this study, comparative genomic analyses identified orthologous genes of unknown function that in most species of cyanobacteria cluster with predicted phylloquinone biosynthetic genes. The encoded approximately 16-kDa proteins display homology with some Hotdog domain-containing CoA thioesterases that are involved in the catabolism of 4- hydroxybenzoyl-CoA and gentisyl-CoA (2,5-dihydroxybenzoyl-CoA) in certain soil-dwelling bacteria. The Synechocystis ortholog, encoded by gene slr0204, was expressed as a recombinant protein and was found to form DHNA as reaction product. Unlike its homologs in the Hotdog domain family, Slr0204 showed strict substrate specificity. The Synechocystis slr0204 knockout was devoid of DHNA-CoA thioesterease activity and accumulated DHNA-CoA. As a result, knockout cells contained 13-fold less phylloquinone than their wild-type counterparts and displayed the typical photosensitivity to high light associated to phylloquinone deficiency in cyanobacteria.
Great Work at a Great University!
Alumni Seminar Speaker - Dr. Cristina Furdui Reception to follow the seminar - Beadle Center Atrium |
 |
Cristina M. Furdui, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine - Molecular Medicine Email: cfurdui@wfubmc.edu Education: B.S. 1996, Department of Chemistry, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania |
|
Current Research: Mass Spectrometry: Development of Novel Proteomics Methodologies; Dynamic Analysis of Cell Signaling, Targeted Drug Design through the Identification of Transient Kinetic Intermediates Our laboratory focuses on translational research in cancer, cardiovascular and aging-related diseases. A brief description of our ongoing projects is presented below. More detailed information about the experimental approach and instrumentation can be found on our laboratory webpage. (I) Dynamic analysis of signaling events at molecular and cellular level using quantitative, mass spectrometry based proteomics experiments. Posttranslational modifications like phosphorylation and oxidation are at the core of cell signaling and their role in the modulation of protein activity has been widely studied. However, less is known about the timing and coordination of these events in the cellular environment. In this context, we are taking a kinetics approach to proteomics to determine the impact of oxidation and oncogenic mutations on signaling pathways. (II) Instrumentation development for systems biology studies - in vitro and in vivo kinetics by interfacing time-resolved mass spectrometry with microfluidics technology. We are continuing to develop mass spectrometry as a new tool to determine the nature of transient species in the catalytic mechanism of enzymes and to apply the recent developments in mass spectrometry/microfluidics based metabolomics and proteomics to improve our understanding of enzyme kinetics and signaling networks in the cellular context. (III) Rapid enzyme kinetics to further our understanding of potential drug targets at molecular level; apply novel time-resolved mass spectrometry to study the kinetics of several enzymes for which current kinetic techniques/methods are limiting. |
|
March 2009
We are pleased to announce that Chancellor Harvey Perlman has endorsed the promotions of
Dr. Jaekwon Lee to Associate Professor with Tenure, and Dr. Donald Becker to Full Professor.
Dr. Cheryl Bailey received an allocation of $10,000 in Layman Funds in support of her research proposal entitled “Role of SUMOylation in Flagellar and Cilia Regeneration."
Dr. Dmitri Fomenko received an allocation of $10,000 in Layman Funds in support of his research proposal entitled “Redox Processes in the Endoplasmic Reticulum."
Dr. Jaekwon Lee was awarded an NIH grant for $1.4M over the next five years.
CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Donald P. Weeks, Maxcy Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the Department of Biochemistry, for receiving a 2009 University-wide Innovation, Development and Engagement Award (IDEA).
Up to two Innovation, Development, and Engagement Awards shall be presented each year to honor faculty members who have extended their academic expertise beyond the boundaries of the University in ways that have enriched the broader community. These faculty members have worked with citizens, businesses, government and non-profit organizations, other educational institutions, communities, or regions to develop new ideas, projects, technologies, events, or businesses that resulted in new development that strengthened the region or community economically, culturally, environmentally, or governmentally.
Please join us in a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Cheryl Bailey who was selected as a recipient for the 2009 Holling Family Junior Faculty Teaching Award.
The Holling Family Award Program for Teaching Excellence in Agriculture and Natural Resources was established to celebrate imaginative educational programming and innovations (presentation and delivery) in IANR or NCTA educational programs. Teaching includes college campus, extended campus, or community. This award program recognizes the full continuum of educational programming from college campus to youth, adult and community programming.
The Holling Family Award Program for Teaching Excellence was made possible by a gift from the Holling family to honor their pioneer parents. John Holling was a 1912 electrical engineering graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his brother, Gustave Holling, attended the College of Agriculture before farming the family's land in the Wood River Area.
January 2009
The UNL Teaching Council and the UNL Parents Association honored faculty and staff from both city and east campus on Friday, January 30, 2009 at a ceremony and reception held at the city campus union. The following individuals from the Department of Biochemistry received "Certificates of Recognition for Contributions to Students".
Concetta DiRusso, Joan Krush, Paul Black, Cheryl Bailey
This was the twenty-first year for these certificates. In November of 2008, the UNL Parents Association asked parents of UNL students to consult with their sons and daughters, and to nominate a faculty or staff member who "has made a significant contribution to their lives while at UNL." From these nominations, the above named faculty and staff were recognized. The UNL Teaching Council and Parents Association extended their thanks for the efforts of these individuals to make UNL a special place for their sons and daughters to develop into well-educated young people.
Anton Turanov was awarded a "2009 Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant Award".
Anton earned his doctorate degree in biochemistry after working as a research assistant
under the direction of Dr. Vadim Gladyshev.
