Olivia Drake(more…)
Alexa Jablonski '22Two Wesleyan graduate students and two faculty members presented posters at the GSA Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting held at Stanford University on Aug. 22–26. This meeting, which is held once every two years, is organized by the Genetics Society of America (GSA). The meeting brings together hundreds of scientists making groundbreaking discoveries in the field of genetics and gene regulation using the innovative power of yeast genetics. Both students received a travel grant through Wesleyan’s Melnick Fund to support travel to the conference. Lorencia Chigweshe presented a poster titled “Interactions between histone variant H2A.Z and linker histone H1…
Lewis “Lew” Lukens, professor emeritus of molecular biology and biochemistry, passed away on Sept. 8 at the age of 91. Lukens received his BA from Harvard University and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He came to Wesleyan in 1966, first in the Biology Department and then as one of the founding members of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. Lukens' research involved the regulation of gene expression by eukaryotic cells, specifically the genes for Type I and Type II collagen. He received many research grants from the National Institutes…
Lauren RubensteinSeven Wesleyan students recently were inducted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Honor Society, and many of them presented research posters at the ASBMB annual meeting in San Diego, April 21–25. The ASBMB Honor Society recognizes exceptional undergraduate juniors and seniors who are pursuing a degree in the molecular life sciences for their scholarly achievement, research accomplishments, and outreach activities. The Wesleyan students inducted were Will Barr '18, Alexa Strauss '19, Emily Kessler '18, Christine Little '18, Julie McDonald '18, Rubye Peyser '18, and Alexander Shames '18. The following students attended the annual meeting: • Kessler, whose poster was…
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Professor Manju Hingorani and graduate student Bo Song are coauthors of two studies published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry and Nucleic Acids Research in February 2018. The papers are titled "Positioning the 5'-flap junction in the active site controls the rate of flap endonuclease-1-catalyzed DNA cleavage" and "Missed cleavage opportunities by FEN1 lead to Okazaki fragment maturation via the long-flap pathway." The research is related to Song’s PhD dissertation, which he plans to defend in April 2018. Song examined the mechanism of action of human FEN1, an enzyme that cleaves extra single-stranded segments of DNA before they can…
Himeka CurielAssociate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Rich Olson and members of his lab have uncovered the structural basis for how the bacterial pathogen responsible for cholera targets carbohydrate receptors on host cells—an important finding for the future development of treatment strategies against infectious bacteria. In their paper "Structural basis of mammalian glycan targeting by Vibrio cholerae cytolysin and biofilm proteins," published in the Feb. 12 issue of PLoS Pathogens, Olson and his team—Swastik De PhD '16; graduate students Katherine Kaus and Brandon Case; and Shada Sinclair '16—looked at Vibrio cholerae, an aquatic microbe responsible for cholera, a potentially life-threatening…
Wesleyan's Molecular Biophysics Program hosted its 18th annual retreat Sept. 28 at Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown. Wesleyan affiliated speakers included: Colin Smith, assistant professor of chemistry, on "An Atomistic View of Protein Dynamics and Allostery;" Meng-Ju Renee Sher, assistant professor of physics, on "Tracking Electron Motions Using Terahertz Spectroscopy;" Kelly Knee, PhD '07, principle scientist for Pfizer's Rare Disease Research Unit, on "Protein Folding Chaperones: Molecular Machines for Tricky Problems;" and Francis Starr, professor of physics, director of the College of Integrative Sciences, on "DNA Four-Way Junction Dynamics and Thermodynamics: Lessons from Combining Simulations and Experiments." Arthur Palmer, the Robert…
Three scholars from the Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Department are co-authors of a study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry in August 2017. The paper is titled "Linchpin DNA-binding residues serve as go/no-go controls in the replication factor C-catalyzed clamp loading mechanism." The co-authors, Manju Hingorani, chair and professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, professor of integrative sciences; Juan Liu, research associate; and Zayan Zhou, PhD '13, performed the study on Replication Factor C (RFC) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), which are two essential proteins required for DNA replication and repair in all living organisms. The researchers found new…
All cells — bacterial or human — secrete up to 10 or 20 percent of the proteins that they make. Human secreted proteins, for example, include components of serum, hormones, growth factors that promote cell development during embryogenesis and tissue remodeling, and proteins that provide the basis for immune cell signaling during infection or when fighting cancer. The secretion process, however, isn't an easy feat for cells, as they need to move the proteins across a membrane through a channel. Transport requires the formation of a hairpin, formed by an initiator protein. In a recent study, Don Oliver, the Daniel Ayres Professor…
Cynthia RockwellIn March, during Wesleyan's spring break, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Michael McAlear took a trip to visit and catch up with three alumni whom he’d known when they were undergraduates, just beginning the nonprofits for which they are now known. McAlear doesn’t see them often: they live and work in Africa. All three had received Wesleyan's Christopher Brodigan Award in their senior year, for research or work in Africa. McAlear’s first stop was in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya, and home of SHOFCO, Shining Hope for Community, the nonprofit begun by Jessica ’09 and Kennedy ’12 Odede. Linking…
Five Wesleyan seniors were inducted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology honor society at the ASBMB annual meeting in Chicago, April 22-26. They are: Jennifer Cascino '17, Kaileen Fei '17, Julianne Riggs '17, Rachel Savage '17 and Stacy Uchendu '17. The ASBMB Honor Society recognizes exceptional undergraduate juniors and seniors who are pursuing a degree in the molecular life sciences for their scholarly achievement, research accomplishments, and outreach activities. The mission of the society is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support…
Andrew Logan ’18Wesleyan co-authors published a paper titled “The Stories Tryptophans Tell: Exploring Protein Dynamics of Heptosyltransferase I from Escherichia coli” in the January 2017 issue of Biochemistry. The co-authors include chemistry graduate student Joy Cote; alumni Zarek Siegel ’16 and Daniel Czyzyk, PhD '15; and faculty Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry; Ishita Mukerji, the Fisk Professor of Natural Science, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry. Their paper investigates the intrinsic properties of Tryptophan amino acids found within the protein, Heptosyltransferase I, to understand the ways this protein moves during catalysis. Understanding the movement of this protein is an important step in developing…