Vol. 20 / No. 34 / MarchApril 2021 2021

SCIENCE& ART ASBMB Journals are now open access.

Journal of Biological Chemistry Molecular & Cellular Proteomics Journal of Lipid Research

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s three journals are open access beginning in January. asbmb.org/journals-news/open-access CONTENTS

SCIENCE& ART NEWS 26 Seeing is believing PERSPECTIVES 33 Unravelling the mind’s eye — science through a novel lens 36 Eternal memories and an overdue 2 tribute — storing digital data in DNA 52 EDITOR’S NOTE LESSONS FROM PLANTS: 40 A molecular biologist by day and a Hidden talents A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT science artist by night 3 43 ‘Become the protein’ 54 MEMBER UPDATE 46 Advocacy for Black women’s well-being EARLY-CAREER SCIENTISTS NEED blends science and art PANDEMIC RELIEF FUNDS 48 Picture this: The 2nd annual JBC 6 Methods Madness tournament IN MEMORIAM 58 ESSAY On the cover: Erica Tandori created this clay How can we recognize and 7 sculpture of a human dendritic cell. RETROSPECTIVE reward innovation in teaching? Robert L. Post (1920 – 2021) 60 FIVE QUESTIONS 9 Rebecca Krisher: “Grad school is just the RETROSPECTIVE foundation” Charles C.‘Chuck’ Hancock (1935–2021) 15 LIPID NEWS 15 The International Lipidomics Society 16 JOURNAL NEWS 33 16 Protein that can be toxic in heart 52 and nerves may help prevent Alzheimer’s 18 Common blood protein isoforms show promise for Alzheimer’s testing 19 Messy data, robust conclusions 20 From the journals 26 58

19 46 60

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 1 EDITOR’S NOTE

Vol. 20 / No. 4 / April 2021

THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY Hidden talents FOR BIOCHEMISTRYOFFICERS ANDCOUNCIL MOLECULAR MEMBERS BIOLOGY Suzanne Barbour Toni M. Antalis President Joan Broderick OFFICERS CharlesCOUNCIL Craik MEMBERS By Comfort Dorn Gerald Hart Gerald Hart MattSquire Gentry J. Booker Past President President SusannaVictoria Greer J. DeRose t gives me great pleasure to learn strand of DNA to represent gene Wei Yang Blake Hill Jennifer DuBois Audrey Lamb about the unexpected talents of synthesis. Secretary Audrey Lamb Secretary JamesJames M. M. Ntambi Ntambi Imy co-workers. Vic De Luz has worked in the Joan Conaway Takita Felder Sumter Toni M. Antalis Celia A. Shiffer Treasurer Years ago, I worked with an edi- American Society for Biochemistry Treasurer KellyTakita Ten–Hagen Felder Sumter Kelly Ten-Hagen tor, a nondescript, slightly goofy, and Molecular Biology’s JoAnn Trejo EX-OFFICIOEX-OFFICIO MEMBERS MEMBERS ASBMB TODAY EDITORIAL by-the-numbers kind of guy. I didn’t publications department for more ADVISORY BOARD RobertRobert S. HaltiwangerS. Haltiwanger think much about his life outside than two years, most recently as RajiniASBMB Rao TODAY EDITORIAL CarlaCarla Koehler Koehler ChairADVISORY BOARD the office until I learned that he was executive assistant. Back when Co-chairs,Co-chairs, 2020/2021 2020 Annual Annual AnaRajini Maria Rao Barral MeetingMeeting Program Program Committee Committee Chair Cheryl Bailey Natasha Brooks Cheryl Bailey Chair, Education and Professional KellyFloyd Chacón “Ski” Chilton Chair, Education and Henrik Dohlman Development Committee Beronda Montgomery Professional Development Peter J. Kennelly DanielCommittee Raben BillBeronda Sullivan Montgomery Chair, Meetings Committee Daniel Raben MelissaA. Maureen Vaught Rouhi Chair, MeetingsSonia Committee Flores BinksMelissa Wattenberg Vaught Chair, Minority Affairs Sonia Flores Binks W. Wattenberg Committee Chair, Minority Affairs ASBMB TODAY Nicole Woitowich Committee AngelaASBMB Hopp TODAY Chair, Science Outreach and ExecutiveAngela Editor Hopp CommunicationSusannna Committee Greer Chair, Public Outreach [email protected] Editor Terri Goss Kinzy [email protected] Committee Comfort Dorn Chair, Public Affairs Comfort Dorn a serious square dancer. we were in the office, Matthew S. Gentry Managing Editor Advisory Committee Managing Editor Chair, Public Affairs [email protected] Every weekend, he and his I knew Vic mostly as a [email protected] AdvisoryEd Eisenstein Committee Chair, Membership Committee LaurelJohn Oldach Arnst wife dressed in matching nice person to chat with Sandra Weller Science Writter Susan Baserga Science Writer outfits (brightly colored vest while waiting for coffee to Chair, Publications [email protected]@asbmb.org Chair, Women in BiochemistryCommittee for him, lots of petticoats for her) brew. Our work didn’t intersect very and Molecular Biology Ed LaurelMarklin Oldach Lila CommitteeM. Gierasch WebScience Editor Writter and drove to an Elks lodge or similar often, so I was completely taken Editor-in-chief, JBC [email protected]@asbmb.org Sandra Weller Ed Marklin venue to do-si-do and promenade aback when I saw this artwork for A. L. Burlingame Chair, Publications AllisonWeb EditorFrick with a bunch of similarly inclined the Journal of Biological Chemistry’s CommitteeEditor, MCP Multimedia [email protected] and Social Media NicholasLila M. O. Gierasch Davidson ContentAllison Manager Frick couples. It completely changed my Methods Madness campaign. It’s [email protected] Editor-in-chief,Editor-in-chief, JBC JLR Media Specialist image of him. witty and fun, and it brings our first- [email protected] A. L.Kerry-Anne Burlingame Rye Stephen F. MIller Now that we’re mostly working ever science and art issue of ASBMB Editor-in-chief,Editor, MCP JLR ExecutiveBarbara Director Gordon [email protected] Director from home, we don’t have as many Today right back to the heart of the Nicholas O. Davidson [email protected] Editor-in-chief, JLR of those social gabfest moments society. Kerry-Anne Rye when we can learn which of our Turn to page 48 to see more of Editor-in-chief, JLR esteemed associates are gourmet Vic’s Method Madness drawings. ForFor information information on on advertising, advertising, contact contact Pharmaceutical Pharmaceutical cooks, equestrians, mountaineers, They are a terrific bonus in an issue Media Inc. at 212-904-0374 or [email protected]@pminy.com.. novelists or chess masters. And that’s that’s been a joy to edit. a real shame. It’s such fun to imagine the person who, in my experience, mainly stares at a computer screen, Comfort Dorn (cdorn@ www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday out feeding the poultry in a back- asbmb.org) is the managing www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday editor of ASBMB Today. Follow PRINT ISSN 2372-0409 PRINT ISSN 2372-0409 yard chicken coop or teaching a her on Twitter @cdorn56. Zumba class. ArticlesArticles published published in ASBMB in ASBMB Today Today reflect reflect solely solely the authors’the authors’ views viewsand not theand official not the official positions positionsofthe American of the SocietyAmerican for BiochemistrySociety for Biochemistry and Molecular and That’s why I was so delighted to BiologyMolecular or Biologythe institutions or the institutions with which with the authorswhich the are authors affiliated. are affiliated. Mentions of productsMentions or of services products are or not services endorsements. are not endorsements. see this drawing of hands knitting a

2 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 MEMBER UPDATE

Maquat and Steitz win valuable information to help physi- of ACS Bio & Med Chem Au, an cians implement ‘personalized’ or open-access journal of the Ameri- Wolf Prize in medicine ‘precision’ medicine by treating the can Chemical Society. Joan Steitz at Yale University disease mutation that is specific to The journal is one of nine, and Lynne Maquat at the Uni- each individual patient.” collectively known as ACS Au, versity of Rochester have won the In 2018, Maquat won the recently launched by the ACS to 2021 Wolf Prize in medicine for Federation of American Societies be compliant with open-access re- their work on RNA biology. for Experimental Biology Excel- quirements. Each focuses on a dif- Steitz, a Howard Hughes Medi- lence in Science Award and gave ferent field and is led by a deputy cal Institute her award lecture at the ASBMB editor from that field, according to investigator, has annual meeting. an ACS press release. ACS Bio & studied RNA Steitz and Maquat will share Med Chem Au publishes “experi- for decades and the $100,000 purse that comes mental and theoretical studies on has made many with the Wolf Prize with Adrian the chemical, physical, mecha- fundamental Krainer at Cold Spring Harbor nistic, and/or structural basis of contributions to Laboratory, who specializes in biological or cell function in all the field. RNA splicing and whose work domains of life.” STEITZ She found led to the development of the first Booker holds the Eberly family that ribosomes FDA-approved drug for spinal distinguished use complementary base pairing muscular atrophy, a deadly genetic chair in science to begin translation of messenger neurodegenerative disease. at Penn State RNA. She uncovered the pivotal Of the trio’s collective work, and is a Howard role that small noncoding RNAs the foundation said, “They have Hughes Medi- have in the splicing of precur- made ground-breaking discoveries cal Institute sors to messenger RNAs and the in RNA regulatory mechanisms investigator. His biogenesis of ribosomal RNA. She demonstrating that RNA is not a lab studies novel also revealed the mechanisms regu- passive template between DNA BOOKER mechanisms and lating RNA stability in eukaryotes. and protein, but rather plays a pathways for the The American Society for dominant role in regulating and biosynthesis of natural products Biochemistry and Molecular Biol- diversifying gene expression.” and cellular metabolites, with a ogy recognized Steitz’s pioneering Many ASBMB members have particular focus on enzymes that gene-expression won the medicine prize over the use S-adenosylmethionine and work with its years. In 2020, Jennifer Doudna iron–sulfur clusters to catalyze 2015 Herbert and Emmanuelle Charpentier, reactions via radical mechanisms. Tabor Research whose work led to the discovery Booker is a member of the Award. of the gene-editing tool CRISPR– American Society for Biochemistry Maquat was Cas9, won. Lewis Cantley and C. and Molecular Biology Finance recognized for Ronald Kahn won in 2016. Jeffrey Committee, former member of her studies of Ravetch won in 2015. Nahum the society’s Council and former MAQUAT the quality- Sonenberg won in 2014. chair of the Minority Affairs Com- control mecha- mittee. He organized the 2016 nism that targets flawed messenger Booker named deputy ASBMB annual meeting, helped RNAs, which, if left unchecked, editor of new ACS journal to inaugurate the society’s Ruth can lead to abnormal protein Kirschstein Diversity in Sci- production in, for example, cancer Squire Booker, Evan Pugh ence Award, and established and and cystic fibrosis. professor of chemistry and of bio- organized the ASBMB Interactive In an announcement, the foun- chemistry and molecular biology at Mentoring Activities for Grants- dation said her work on nonsense- the Pennsylvania State University, manship Enhancement grant-writ- mediated mRNA decay “provides has been named deputy editor ing workshop, known as IMAGE.

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 3 MEMBER UPDATE UC DAVIS Bumpus featured in virtual Black history museum Namandje Bumpus, chair of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine pharmacology department, is featured in The Legacy Project, a virtual museum created by Microsoft that aims to “shine a bright light on the amazing accomplishments that Afri- can Americans have not only made in the past, but are continuing to make right now.” Eric Conn served on the UC Davis faculty for 43 years and was world-renowned for his Bumpus, whose contributions to the understanding of plant metabolism. research focuses on drug metabolism by the cytochromes Biochemistry games memorialize Conn P450 family of BUMPUS A competition between students at the University of enzymes, made his- California, Davis, and at University College Dublin, Ireland, has tory in 2020 when been launched in memory of plant biochemist Eric Conn, a UC she was named chair of her depart- Davis professor of molecular and cellular biology and a member ment; she is the first African American of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology woman to lead a department at the from 1952 until his death in 2017. Hopkins school of medicine. Sixty UC Davis undergraduates participated in the Bumpus is the only living scien- preliminary round, called the Eric Conn Biochemistry Quizzes, tist and higher-education academic held on Zoom. Between 10 and 15 of them will be selected to included in the virtual gallery; she compete in the finals, depending on responses from UC Dublin. appears alongside scientists from The first-round Conn Quizzes included questions about history such as physicist Carolyn Bea- fundamental biochemistry, and the final games will focus on trice Parker and people with notable protein structures, including two proteins related to the SARS- achievements in other fields, such as CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, according to organizer astronaut Victor Glover Jr. and writer Walter Leal, a UC Davis distinguished professor. Roxane Gay. Eric Conn served on the UC Davis faculty for 43 years and was world-renowned for his contributions to the understanding Wente will be Wake Forest’s of plant metabolism. He organized the university’s introductory next president course in biochemistry in 1959 and taught it until he retired in Susan Wente 1993. , a high-level admin- A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Conn istrator and cell biologist at Vanderbilt received the UC Davis Academic Senate’s highest honor, the University, will become president Faculty Research Lecturer Award, in 1977 and was the third of Wake Forest recipient of the UC Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly University in July. Achievement. “He strongly believed that a university professor Her appointment should excel in both research and teaching,” Leal told the Davis was announced in Enterprise. late January by the UC Davis and UC Dublin are both global research university’s board universities, with 39,000 and 33,000 students, respectively. of trustees. Wente joined Vanderbilt in 2002 WENTE

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as chair of the cell and developmental She has received many honors bacteria both produce and detect the biology department, where her lab throughout her career. She is an elect- concentration of a small-molecule sig- studies nucleocytoplasmic trafficking. ed fellow of the American Association nal. In a 2015 autobiographical essay, In the years since, she has ascended for the Advancement of Science. She Bassler wrote that as a grad student, through the ranks. She was made was named a fellow of the American after hearing Silverman talk about this associate vice chancellor for research Society for Cell Biology in 2019 and work in a seminar, “I rushed to the at the medical center and the senior won the organization’s Women in podium immediately afterward and associate dean for biomedical sciences Cell Biology Senior Career Award in begged to become his postdoc.” in 2009. She became the first woman 2011. In 2008, she won the John H. During her postdoc, Bassler discov- provost in 2014. Exton Award for Research Leading to ered new, unrelated small-molecule She served as interim chancel- Innovative Biological Concepts. (That production and sensing systems in lor of Vanderbilt from mid-2019 to award is named after a former associ- other bacteria, demonstrating that the mid-2020, during which time she was ate editor for the Journal of Biological phenomenon — which would come responsible for leading the univer- Chemistry, an ASBMB publication.) to be known as quorum sensing — is sity’s COVID-19 response and plan widespread. After four years in Silver- for returning to campus as safely as Bassler shares Ehrlich– man’s lab, she became an assistant possible. (All students were welcomed professor at Princeton University in back in the fall.) Darmstaedter prize 1994, where she continued to explore Jeff Balser, dean of the School of The German Federal Ministry novel quorum-sensing molecules and Medicine and Vanderbilt University of Health and a coalition of other signaling pathways. Quorum sensing, Medical Center’s president and chief funders announced in January that her lab and others have shown, is cru- executive officer, said in a statement, the 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Lud- cial for the control of bacterial viru- “Susan’s wisdom and unerring judg- wig Darmstaedter Prize would be lence and biofilm formation. Some ment are at the center of the deep shared by Bonnie quorum-sensing molecules can be and innovative partnership that exists Bassler and her used for communication across bacte- between the university and medical former postdoctoral rial species, using what she describes center, a partnership that is unique in mentor, Michael as a universal communication signal. academic medicine and has positioned Silverman. The She has shown there are also opportu- Vanderbilt to lead and thrive. She has prize recognizes nities for eavesdropping, including by been a trusted colleague and friend their discoveries viruses and eukaryotes, demonstrating over many years, and I sincerely con- concerning bacteri- that quorum-sensing–mediated com- gratulate Wake Forest on her historic BASSLER al quorum sensing, munication spans domains. appointment.” collective behavior Bassler is now a full professor Wente will be Wake Forest’s first that causes microbes to change their and chair of the molecular biology woman president. The private research phenotypes depending on how many department at Princeton. She became university is located in Winston–Sa- neighboring bacteria are around. a Howard Hughes Medical Institute lem, North Carolina, with more Bassler, a microbiologist, was investigator in 2005. Among her hon- than 8,000 students. Wake Forest a postdoc in Silverman’s lab at ors are a 2002 MacArthur Foundation has a medical school, with plans to the Agouron Institute in La Jolla, fellowship, colloquially known as a open a second in the coming years in California, in the early 1990s. Prior to genius award; election to the Ameri- Charlotte. her time there, Silverman had discov- can Association for the Advancement Wente earned her bachelor’s degree ered the components underlying the of Science, the National Academy of in biochemistry from the University first known system of communication Sciences, the American Academy of of Iowa and Ph.D. in biochemistry between bacterial cells, and that work Arts and Sciences, and the Royal So- from the University of California, explained how the bioluminescent ciety; and numerous research prizes. Berkeley. She completed a postdoc- bacterium Vibrio fischeri, found as She is active in science outreach, de- toral fellowship at the Rockefeller a symbiont in eukaryotic hosts, can scribing bacterial communication in University before accepting her first activate expression of genes required lively lectures, TED talks and videos. faculty position in 1993 at Washing- to produce light only when many The annual Ehrlich–Darmstaedter ton University’s School of Medicine. conspecific bacteria are present: The prize has been awarded by the Paul

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 5 MEMBER UPDATE

Ehrlich Foundation since 1952. It sity of Oxford, quality measurements in biomedical recognizes international researchers where he also sciences) and mathematical biol- who have made important contribu- completed a ogy (the development of mathemati- tions to immunology, microbiology, Wellcome Trust cal models of complex physiological hematology, chemotherapy or cancer senior research systems). His work substantially has research. fellowship. He altered the view of measuring and joined the modeling enzyme-catalyzed reactions Michigan faculty within cells, where the environment Schnell named department SCHNELL in 2008 and was is heterogeneous and characterized chair promoted to professor in 2015. He by high macromolecular content. Mathematical physiologist is also a professor of computational Schnell is a fellow of the Royal Santiago Schnell has been named medicine and bioinformatics and a Society of Chemistry, American chair of the University of Michigan William K. Brehm investigator at Association for the Advancement Medical School Department of the Brehm Center for Diabetes Re- of Science, Society of Mathematical Molecular and Integrative Physiology search. In 2017, he was named the Biology and Latin American Acad- effective March 1 after serving as John A. Jacquez collegiate professor emy of Sciences. He was recognized the department’s interim chair since of physiology. in 2019 as an emerging leader in August 2017. Research in the Schnell lab fo- health and medicine by the National Schnell holds an undergraduate cuses on two broad areas: bio- Academy of Medicine. He is editor- degree from Universidad Simon Bo- metrology (the development of in-chief of the journal Mathematical livar and a D.Phil. from the Univer- standard methods to obtain high- Biosciences. IN MEMORIAM

Kurt Ebner UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER

Kurt Ebner, who chaired the biochemistry and molecular bi- Institutes of Health Career Develop- ology department at the University of Kansas Medical Center for ment Award in 1963 and the Borden two decades, died Jan. 29 in Overland Park, Kansas. He was 89. Award from the American Chemical Born March 30, 1931, Ebner grew up in Canada and Society in 1969. He was a diplomat of received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University the National Board of Medical Exam- of British Columbia. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of iners and represented biochemistry Illinois in 1960, working in Bruce Linder Larson’s lab. He studied chairs on the American Association of at the National Institute for Research in Dairying in England with Medical Colleges Council of Academic Herbert Gutfreund on a National Research Council postdoctoral Societies. In 2011, former students and colleagues formed the fellowship and was then a postdoc at the University of Minnesota Kurt E. Ebner Discovery Lectureship at the University of Kansas with Paul Boyer, who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Medical Center in his honor. Ebner joined the Oklahoma State University faculty in In his youth, Ebner played amateur baseball and captained 1962 as an assistant professor, becoming a professor in 1969 a volleyball team that won the British Columbia high school and regent professor in 1971. He then joined the faculty of the championship. After retirement, he played golf in senior leagues. University of Kansas Medical Center, where from 1974 to 1994 He and his wife traveled extensively and enjoyed camping in the he chaired the biochemistry and molecular biology department. mountains. He was deemed the official photographer of functions He retired and was named professor emeritus in 1998. sponsored by the Friends of Music and the Arts at his church. Ebner’s research focused on enzymology and the structure He is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Dorothy, as and function of the hormone prolactin. He received the National well as four children and nine grandchildren.

6 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 RETROSPECTIVE

Robert L. Post (1920 – 2021)

By Jack H. Kaplan, Paul J. DeWeer & Joseph F. Hoffman

obert Lickely Post (Robin to all who knew him) COURTESY OF JOSEPH F. HOFFMAN passed away on Jan. 26 following a long illness. RThe fields of physiology and membrane biology lost a pioneer who laid much of the groundwork for our understanding of the way cells maintain their ionic com- position through the action of a family of proteins called ion pumps. Robin Post was born Nov. 4, 1920, in Philadelphia. Following his undergraduate education at Harvard Col- lege, he earned an M.D. in 1945 from Harvard Medical School, and after an internship in Hartford, Connecticut, he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania as an instructor in physiology. In 1948, he joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University Medical School in the depart- ment of physiology, where he rose through the academic ranks and became a professor of physiology in 1966. He remained at Vanderbilt until his retirement in 1991. At that point he returned, with his wife Elizabeth (who was also a professor at Vanderbilt and predeceased him in 2015), to Philadelphia. They lived in the Quadrangle re- tirement community in suburban Philadelphia and were active members of the Haverford Friends Meeting. Post was also a visiting professor in the physiology department at Penn. Post first reported on the movements of sodium and Robert “Robin” Lickely Post died Jan. 26 after a long illness. In a tribute, potassium ions across the plasma membrane of human colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania wrote, “He was a patient and red blood cells in 1955 at a meeting of the American logical thinker, a thoughtful adviser, and a kind and gentle colleague.” Physiological Society. He spent the remainder of his career investigating how the protein responsible for main- E. Walker and Paul D. Boyer, who were honored for taining the cellular composition of these ions in almost elucidating ATP synthesis). The research community all animal cells, called the Na/K-ATPase, carries out this already knew that the ionic gradients across the mem- active transport. To this day, one rarely encounters a pub- branes of muscle and nerve (where they underlie electri- lication on the Na/K-ATPase that does not mention one cal activity) and of red blood cells — low Na and high of his many groundbreaking studies. K inside, high Na and low K outside — are regenerated In 1957, Jens Christian Skou published his observation continually, yet the mechanism remained unknown. that when adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is exposed to Post (with Philip Jolly) established in 1957 that Na crab nerve tissue, it is cleaved rapidly only when sodium and K ion movement across the membranes of human and potassium, or Na and K, ions are simultaneously red blood cells is stimulated by the addition of adenos- present. For this “first discovery of an ion-transporting ine — that is, it is metabolism-dependent — and that enzyme, Na+,K+-ATPase,” Skou was awarded the 1997 the ratio of Na exit to K entry is 3-to-2. These observa- Nobel Prize in chemistry. (He shared the prize with John tions implied that during this process a net positive

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charge is ejected. These findings, along with those of and in 1972 that, following release of the phosphate, the Skou, suggested that the mechanism responsible, being K ions are occluded (or trapped) within the protein as a present in two such diverse preparations, was likely to be transport intermediate. The multiple modes of transport of widespread importance. carried out by these proteins are rationalized in the con- In 1960, Post and his colleagues provided more evi- text of the Albers–Post mechanism. dence that the ATPase activity in red blood cell mem- It is worth recalling what Skou wrote in his 2017 branes participates in the ion movements and identified memoir: “Though I had opened up a new field of research, seven characteristics shared by ion translocation and I did not subsequently make any decisive contribution ATP hydrolytic activity. Among the most striking was to the further understanding of that field, and therefore the completely specific inhibition of both processes by doubted that I deserved the (Nobel) prize even when ouabain, which Hans J. Schatzmann in 1953 had reported awarded it.” to inhibit ion movements in red blood cells. Knowledge Skou then singled out Ian Glynn (whose rigorous dis- of the mechanistic basis of this drug’s action provides a section of the many modes of ion transport mediated by rationale for the widespread use of cardiotonic steroids to the Na pump provided a basis for coupling transport to treat cardiac insufficiency. enzyme activity) and Robin Post (whose cleverly designed Post then shifted his investigations to the enzymatic experiments and beautiful logic placed the central roles of ATPase activity present in many cell membranes and over phosphorylated intermediates and occluded cations at the the next 15 years provided much of what we now know center of our pictures of pump action) for their contribu- about how the process of active ion transport is coupled to tions, having provided the most important information the hydrolysis of ATP. In 1965 Post, with Amar Sen and for the understanding of the pump mechanism. “I would Alan Rosenthal, established that the terminal phosphate have liked to have shared the Nobel Prize with them,” of ATP becomes covalently attached to the protein as an Skou wrote. intermediate state during the process. Soon after this, Post In his youth, Robin Post was an assiduous jogger and (with Shoji Kume, Thomas Tobin, Betty Orcutt and Sen) avid sailor. During his career, he was a widely appreciated and, in separate studies, R. Wayne Albers and colleagues inspiration to those familiar with the man and his work. established that there are two interconverting forms of He was a patient and logical thinker, a thoughtful adviser, the phosphoenzyme, and this E1P–E2P model became and a kind and gentle colleague, particularly to young the central characteristic of what now is referred to as the investigators. His scientific contributions live on, and Albers–Post model for the molecular mechanism of this his passing is a great loss to all of us who knew him and class of enzymes, the P-type ATPases. valued his presence. These membrane proteins are responsible for the active

transport and homeostasis of Na, K, calcium and many Jack H. Kaplan ([email protected]), professor emeritus of biochemistry and other metal ions in almost all cells. Their action underlies molecular genetics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, various physiological processes, including muscle contrac- is a leading authority on the structure and function, biosynthesis, assembly and trafficking of P-type ATPase ion pumps and on copper transport and tion, digestion, gastric acid secretion, kidney function and homeostasis in human cells. neurotransmitter biosynthesis. Their disruption causes an Paul J. DeWeer ([email protected]), emeritus professor of array of human diseases. These proteins couple the trans- physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Penn- location of ions across cell membranes using the energy sylvania, is a leading authority on the kinetics and thermodynamics of the Na/K-ATPase sodium–potassium pump. derived from ATP hydrolysis to drive the ion transport. Post’s major contributions also include the realization Joseph F. Hoffman ([email protected]), professor emeritus of cel- lular and molecular physiology at the Yale School of Medicine, is a leading in 1973 that a specific aspartate amino acid residue on authority on the physiology of red blood cells, particularly the mechanisms of the protein accepts the phosphate group in E1P and E2P, plasma membrane movements of salt and water.

RETROSPECTIVES We invite you to honor a recently deceased ASBMB member with a personal retrospective article in ASBMB Today. For details, email [email protected].

8 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 RETROSPECTIVE

Charles C.‘Chuck’ Hancock (1935–2021)

By Ralph A. Bradshaw COURTESY OF RALPH BRADSHAW

he histories of the American The right assets Society of Biological Chemists T(which became the American The successful candidate of this Society for Biochemistry and Molecu- search was Charles C. Hancock, lar Biology in 1987) and the Journal known to everyone as Chuck, a 21- of Biological Chemistry are deeply year veteran of the Air Force, where interwoven. Managing this relation- he had commanded a missile launch ship was a prime reason that in 1961 crew, been an advisor to the Korean the society created the position of air force, served as a satellite systems executive officer to coincide with the engineer and held several posts at the establishment of its first permanent Pentagon. At his retirement, he was home in Beaumont House, a residen- a lieutenant colonel and had been tial estate in Bethesda, Maryland, that awarded the Distinguished Service the Federation of American Societies Medal. He was a graduate of Stanford of Experimental Biology had pur- and held a master’s degree in electri- chased to house its offices and those cal engineering from Texas Tech that of its six member societies. he earned while in the service. His Heretofore, elected officials had engineering and management skills managed the affairs of the society along with his organizational and from their (usually academic) offices, Chuck Hancock had two decades of leadership administrative abilities struck just while the fiscal activities of the jour- in the Air Force when he took over as executive the right chord with the committee, nal had been handled by the editor director of the American Society for Biochemistry and they proved to be the right assets (who enjoyed the title of managing and Molecular Biology in 1979. for overseeing the affairs of the two editor to signify this financial respon- from 1975 to 1979. entities. sibility). Managing both JBC and the Hilmoe also was trained as a scien- In his application and during his ASBC became too large a task to be tist, with a doctorate in biochemistry first interview, Chuck successfully done part time, and when John Edsall and administrative experience at the obscured his military background; it became the editor of JBC in 1958, National Institutes of Health, but only came to light during his second he was quite happy to turn over the this background proved to be less meeting with the committee. When fiscal side of journal operations to an effective in managing the society a committee member asked him why executive officer. and the journal. This precipitated a he hadn’t included this information Robert Harte was hired in 1961 as debate within the society leadership in his application, he replied, “If I the first ASBC executive officer and as to whether the search for the next had told you, would you have even held the post until he retired in 1974. executive officer should emphasize interviewed me?” She admitted that Harte was a trained scientist but with scientific training or business and they probably would not have, given considerable executive experience management skills. Fred Richards, the the generally distrustful attitude of in the pharmaceutical industry and president-elect and chair of the search academics to the military, which facilely managed both entities during committee, clearly favored the latter, was exacerbated at the time by the his 13-year tenure. His replacement and the advertisements for the post Vietnam War. was Russ Hilmoe, who held the post reflected this bias. Chuck began with the ASBC in

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 9 RETROSPECTIVE

1979 and became the society’s longest the Finance Committee to introduce ic imprint of the Stanford University serving executive officer, retiring in more fiscally sound budgeting and set Libraries, and, working with Cadmus, 2003. The 1980s and 1990s, the prin- up reserve funds that protected the the society mounted a five-month cipal period of his tenure, were chal- solvency of both entities. His finan- frenzied effort to produce the first -on lenging times for the society and the cial acumen during this period was line version in May 1995, in time for journal, and Chuck proved to be the one of his most important contribu- the national meeting in San Francisco. ideal person for managing both enti- tions to the society. JBC was already a large entity at the ties. Both showed significant growth time, making the online experiment a during this period and underwent Going online real challenge; had it failed, it would changes in their financial structures. have damaged severely, even ruined, When Chuck first came on board, Chuck also was deeply involved the society. the society’s major income came from in creating the online version of JBC Chuck was convinced that digital the national meeting, but over time, through a collaboration between the journals were the way of the future attendance dropped as splinter societ- society and the Stanford University and saw that being the first major ies formed and began running meet- Libraries. Other key players in this biology journal to go online would ings of their own. Dedicated meeting development were Mike Keller, John reflect well on the society for years organizers such as Gordon Research Sack, Bob Simoni, Herb Tabor and to come. He was entirely right. The Conferences and Keystone Symposia Barbara Gordon. flood of journals that immediately offered increased competition. JBC As treasurer of the society during followed suit was testimony to that. took up the slack and by the 1990s this time, I was privileged to sit in Chuck played a central role in sub- became the society’s principal finan- on all the germane meetings. Chuck sequent related developments, such cial engine. Chuck superbly managed was pivotal in this pioneering activity. as the electronic submission system, this transition, working closely with HighWire was created as the electron- placing the entire back content (start- COURTESY OF RALPH BRADSHAW

Herb Tabor, editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry; Ralph Bradshaw, editor of Molecular & Cellular Proteomics; and Chuck Hancock, executive director of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, at Beaumont House, where the ASBMB had its offices from the early 1960s to 2011, the year this photo was taken.

10 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 RETROSPECTIVE

ing with 1905) online and devel- on October 19, 1935, and grew up Chuck made the transition to oping a pricing structure for the in Imperial, California, close to the online version. Mexican border. His parents were the Bay Area easily and became both in public education (principal an excellent student, a lifetime More journals and teacher), and he excelled in Stanford supporter and eventually and a history high school in both classwork and sports. He was very proud of his an enthusiastic alum. Chuck also played a major role roots in this agricultural communi- in extending the publishing activi- ty and spoke fondly about working ties of the society by catalyzing the for a local crop duster during the creation of Molecular & Cellular summer. At his father’s urging, he Proteomics. The concept of starting applied to Stanford, a campus he not only from excellent organiza- a new journal came from a society never had seen, and was accepted tion and administrative skills but leadership retreat in May 2000. with a full academic scholarship. also from his easy association with The ASBMB never had created a He enrolled as a chemical engineer- a wide variety of personalities. journal de novo; both JBC and the ing student. Societies such as the ASBMB are Journal of Lipid Research (which Knowing (and sharing) my run by elected members, usually the society was then in the process interest in California history, he academics, who present a broad of acquiring from its nonprofit enthusiastically recalled the train array of attitudes and opinions in owner) were started outside the ride to Palo Alto, in part on the de- an ever-changing rotation. Chuck society. This proved to be a signifi- funct San Diego & Arizona Eastern treated all with deference (even cant challenge, in part because two (the SD&AE — known locally as though sometimes I know he was other proteomics journals began at the “salt, dust and alkali eastern”) seething inside) and always car- about the same time. As the editor- railroad, traversing a spectacular ried out the wishes of the officers designate, I worked with Chuck to stretch of Southern California des- whether he personally agreed with develop a plan that took advantage ert and the mountains of the coastal their decisions or not. The more as- of our experiences with JBC to range from Calexico to San Diego, tute of these learned quickly to ask create an online journal that rapidly including the famous (to railroad Chuck his opinion, as over the years became a highly rated publication. buffs) Goat Canyon trestle bridge he became an invaluable source Chuck passed the baton to Barbara in Carrizo Gorge. At a length of of knowledge on essentially every Gordon after a couple of years, but 597 to 750 feet and a height of 186 aspect of the society, its programs his early input was essential. to 200 feet, it is the world’s largest and its operations. He passed this Another of Chuck’s important curved all-wood trestle. knowledge to his successor, Barbara contributions to the society was Chuck made the transition to Gordon, who retired this year, the writing and publishing of the the Bay Area easily and became ensuring the continued well-being ASBMB centennial history “100 an excellent student, a lifetime of the organization. Years of the Chemistry of Life.” He Stanford supporter and eventually Chuck had a commonsense ap- joined with Nicole Kresge, then a an enthusiastic alum. He graduated proach to problems, characterized staff member at the ASBMB, and in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in by clear thinking and decisive ac- me to produce a 522-page volume engineering and a commission in tion. Michael Jackson, who served documenting the first 100 years of the Air Force, in which he served as the FASEB executive director for the society’s history. His extensive for the next 21 years. nearly 10 years in the 1980s and knowledge and experiences with ’90s, told me he often wandered the society were invaluable in this A commonsense approach across the campus from his office project. in the Lee Building to Beaumont In both halves of his career House to schmooze with Chuck — Taking the train north (USAF and ASBMB), Chuck sometimes to get his opinion and demonstrated unique abilities as sometimes to garner his support — Charles Cavanaugh Hancock Jr. a leader. His managerial success, as the federation was growing into a was born in Riverside, California, particularly at the society, stemmed much larger group of societies. He

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 11 RETROSPECTIVE COURTESY OF RALPH BRADSHAW

Chuck Hancock, Ralph Bradshaw and Nicole Kresge, authors of “100 Years of the Chemistry of Life,” a history of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, at Beaumont House in 2009.

Over the years he became greatly valued Chuck’s sage input of the country, and he was a proud and advice. supporter of Kyle Petty’s Victory an invaluable source of Chuck and I shared many Junction camp for children with knowledge on essentially experiences in our activities for the serious medical conditions. I was ASBC/ASBMB, and we became sad for him when he injured his hip every aspect of the society, its quite close friends as a result. We and had to give up motorcycle rid- programs and its operations. spent many hours together above ing. Whenever he talked about one and beyond society obligations, of his cross-country rides, he just such as a long weekend with our glowed with enthusiasm. He spent wives in Cabo San Lucas (following his last years in Florida, close to his a biochemistry department chairs sons and grandchildren. meeting) or when he spent a week Chuck enjoyed two highly in England with us (right after he successful careers and amassed an retired) while we were on sabbatical impressive number of accomplish- at Cambridge. I enjoyed innumer- ments; his legacy will continue to able dinners with him and spent serve the ASBMB long into the many relaxed nights at his place in future. I will miss him as both a Virginia (which beat the Marriott friend and a colleague. in Bethesda by a mile). After his retirement, Chuck Ralph A. Bradshaw ([email protected]) is a profes- became involved in the Kyle Petty sor emeritus of physiology and biophysics at the University of California, Irvine, and a professor of Charity Ride, taking long-distance pharmacology at the University of California, San motorcycle rides across various parts Diego.

12 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 ASBMB TWITTER CHATS Monthly Twitter chats with @ASBMB @ASBMB

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Teaching science with big data

June 21–25 | Virtual

Learn more at: asbmb.org/meetings-events/teaching-science-with-big-data

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 13 Upcoming ASBMB events and deadlines

APRIL 7 Supporting mental health and well-being of STEMM graduate students: Highlights from the National Academies’ report (webinar) 12 Advanced registration deadline for the 2021 ASBMB Annual Meeting 14 World Chagas Disease Day APRIL 25 DNA Day 27–30 2021 ASBMB Annual Meeting , held in conjunction with Experimental Biology 30 Abstract deadline for Teaching science with big data

MAY Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month National Stroke Awareness Month 1 Registration deadline for PDB50: A special symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Protein Data Bank 4–5 PDB50: A special symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Protein Data Bank 5 Deadline to apply or submit a nomination for ASBMB annual awards 9 National Women’s Health Week

MAY 10 National Lipid Day 11, 18, 25 Protonic bioenergetics and action potential: Latest discoveries and progress in mitochondria, neurons and other biosystems (webinar) 15 Dementia Awareness Week 21 Early registration deadline for Teaching science with big data 23 World Melanoma Day 27 Abstract deadline for Extracellular vesicle studies: From benchtop to therapeutics

JUNE 1 Deadline to apply for Marion B. Sewer Distinguished Scholarship for Undergraduates 6 National Higher Education Day 14 World Blood Donor Day 16 Regular registration deadline for Teaching science with big data 19 World Sickle Cell Day 20 World Refugee Day 20–25 Teaching science with big data JUNE 21 Flux-independent signaling by ionotropic receptors: Unforeseen roles and complexities 25 Early registration deadline for Extracellular vesicle studies: From benchtop to therapeutics

14 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 LIPID NEWS

The International Lipidomics Society: Who we are and where we are heading

By Robert Ahrends & Kim Ekroos ROBERT AHRENDS

he human body must regulate we have formed the International lipid metabolism and signaling Lipidomics Society, or ILS, with Ttightly to maintain homeostasis. the aim of fostering international Loss of control can result in unwanted communitywide coordination and cascades of events triggering disorders communication to create lipidomics- and diseases such as insulin resistance, specific guidelines for good scientific metabolic syndrome, lipidic storage practice and future development. diseases, neurodegenerative disorders We founded the ILS in June or cancer. Lipidomics technologies 2019 with Gerhard Liebisch, Harald have evolved to monitor such changes, Köfeler, Michal Holčapek, Xianlin with researchers expecting these tech- Han and Markus Wenk. The society To learn more about the ILS, visit nologies to provide improved oppor- sees itself as the point of contact for lipidomicssociety.org or send an email to tunities to study lipids in health and lipidomics research, development [email protected]. disease and advance lipid biology at and commercialization. By working systems scale, including complex lipid together, we aim to unlock the full the engagement of junior researchers. signaling and metabolism. potential of lipidomics and its adop- The interest group reference materi- Methodologies, workflows and tion in the clinical arena. als included the first intercontinental data presentation differ vastly in Our goal is to stimulate conver- ceramide ring trial across 47 labs. lipidomics, and many studies do not sation with our colleagues in lipid Similar activities now are being orga- report absolute lipid concentrations. biology, medicine and related disci- nized by our clinical lipidomics group. This hinders biological interpretation, plines. We intend to engage research- The Lipidomics Standards Initiative which only can be done using quanti- ers around the globe who are working released updated lipid nomenclature fied molecule numbers, such as moles. on developing lipidomics standards together with our friends at Lipid The broadly recognized discrepancies guidelines, reference materials, Maps and currently is publishing new in published data, such as misidenti- clinical lipidomics, instruments and guidelines for lipidomics research. fication and broader issues of irrepro- methodologies. We also have started ducibility, weaken lipidomics research interest groups that are working on and hinder its use as noted in a paper such hot topics as applied bioin- Robert Ahrends by Gerhard Liebisch, Robert Ahrends formatics, lipid ontology and lipid ([email protected]) is a professor of chemistry in and other members of the Lipidomics function. All these groups are up the department of analytical Standards Initiative Consortium in and running and are engaging with chemistry at the University of the journal Nature Metabolism in the ILS; the first white papers are on Vienna. August 2019. This has a negative their way to transform lipidomics effect, causing deliveries in market research. segments to fall short and interfering During the first year of the ILS, Kim Ekroos (kim@ with advances in drug and biomarker we held vibrant workshops on subject lipidomicsconsulting.com) is the founder and CEO of discovery programs, interlaboratory areas including lipidomics bioinfor- Lipidomics Consulting Ltd., studies and transitions into clinical matics. Participants discussed topics Esbo, Finland, and president practice. such as one-stop workflows, data for- of the International Lipidomics Society. To start tackling these challenges, mats, visualization of lipidomes and

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 15 JOURNAL NEWS

Protein that can be toxic in heart and nerves may help prevent Alzheimer’s

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center UTSW MEDICAL CENTER

Amyloid-β plaque Monomeric Tetrameric TTR TTR

TTR-S neuroprotection

Neuroprotection

Abnormal deposits of the protein amyloid beta in the brain have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The above illustration reveals a potential way discovered by UTSW researchers to stop this process, leveraging the protective nature of the protein transthyretin, or TTR, to identify a segment of this protein, TTR-S, that halts plaque formation and facilitates its degradation in a test tube.

protein that wreaks havoc in proteins were discovered in these thyroid hormone and the vitamin the nerves and heart when it plaques as well. A derivative retinol to where they’re A clumps together can prevent One of these, a protein known as needed in the body. For this job, the formation of toxic protein clumps transthyretin, or TTR, seemed to play TTR forms a tetramer — a shape associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a protective role, explained Lorena akin to a clover with four identical a new study led by a University of Saelices, assistant professor of bio- leaflets. However, when it separates Texas Southwestern researcher shows. physics at the Center for Alzheimer’s into molecules called monomers, these The findings, published in the Jour- and Neurodegenerative Diseases at individual pieces can act like amyloid nal of Biological Chemistry, could UTSW, a center that is part of beta, forming sticky fibrils that join lead to new treatments for this brain- the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Insti- together into toxic clumps in the heart ravaging condition, which currently tute. When mice modeled to have and nerves to cause the rare disease has no truly effective therapies and no Alzheimer’s disease were genetically amyloidosis. In this condition, amy- cure. altered to make more TTR, they were loid protein builds up in organs and Researchers long have known that slower to develop an Alzheimer’s-like interferes with their function. sticky plaques of a protein known condition; when they made less TTR, Saelices wondered whether there as amyloid beta are a hallmark of they developed the condition faster. might be a connection between TTR’s Alzheimer’s and are toxic to brain In healthy people and animals, separate roles in both preventing and cells. As early as the mid-1990s, other Saelices said, TTR helps transport causing amyloid-related diseases. “It

16 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 JOURNAL NEWS

seemed like such a coincidence that suspected that part of TTR was TTR had such opposing functions,” binding to amyloid beta, preventing she said. “How could it be both pro- amyloid beta from forming its The University of tective and damaging?” own aggregations. However, that Texas Southwestern Medical To explore this question, she and important piece of TTR seemed to Center integrates pioneering her colleagues developed nine differ- be hidden when this protein was biomedical research with exceptional ent TTR variants with differing pro- in its tetramer form. Sure enough, clinical care and education. The pensities to separate into monomers computational studies showed that full-time faculty of more than 2,500 that aggregate, forming sticky fibrils. a piece of this protein that was is responsible for groundbreaking Some did this quickly, over the course concealed when the leaflets were of hours, while others were slow. conjoined could stick to amyloid medical advances and is committed Still others were extremely stable and beta. However, this piece tended to to translating science-driven didn’t dissociate into monomers at all. stick to itself to quickly form clumps. research to new clinical treatments. When the researchers mixed these After modifying this piece with TTR variants with amyloid beta chemical tags to halt self-association, and placed them on neuronal cells, the researchers created peptides that in the formation of new fibrils. they found stark differences in how could prevent the formation of toxic Saelices and her colleagues are cur- toxic the amyloid beta remained. The amyloid beta clumps in solution and rently testing whether this modified variants that separated into mono- even break apart preformed amyloid TTR peptide can prevent or slow mers and aggregated quickly into beta plaques. The interaction of progression of Alzheimer’s in mouse fibrils provided some protection from modified TTR peptides with amyloid models. If they’re successful, she said, amyloid beta, but it was short-lived. beta resulted in the conversion to this protein snippet could form the Those that separated into monomers forms called amorphous aggregates basis of a new treatment for this recal- but took longer to aggregate provided that were broken up easily by citrant condition. significantly longer protection. enzymes. In addition, the modified “By solving the mystery of TTR’s And those that never separated peptides prevented amyloid seeding, dual roles,” she said, “we may be able provided no protection from amyloid a process in which fibrils of amyloid to offer hope to patients with Al- beta at all. beta extracted from Alzheimer’s zheimer’s.” Saelices and her colleagues disease patients can act as a template DOI:10.1074/jbc.RA120.013440

May 4–5, 2021 | Virtual

PDB50: A special symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Protein Data Bank

Registration deadline: May 1

Learn more at asbmb.org/meetings-events/pdb50

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 17 JOURNAL NEWS Common blood protein isoforms show promise for Alzheimer’s testing

By Leia Dwyer AJPOLINO/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

polipoproteins are amphipa- thic proteins, meaning they Aboth mix with and repel water. Therefore, they can transport lipids and fat-soluble vitamins through the body’s water-based circulatory system. A structural model of the 22k While apolipoproteins have been fragment of apolipoprotein E4. well studied in the blood, researchers focus less on them in the cerebrospi- In this study, Nedelkov was excited to changes in the plasma samples, sug- nal fluid, or CSF, despite their role in expand their collaboration to another gesting plasma sampling could help transporting lipids to regulate lipid area of Yassine’s research: Alzheimer’s researchers better understand pro- metabolism in the brain. Dysfunc- disease, for which no diagnostic cesses in the brain. tional lipid metabolism in the brain test exists. “We always wanted to The researchers also compared the is implicated in neurodegenerative work with Alzheimer’s disease, but apoE ε4 allele status of the donors conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. there was no easy access for us to get with those increased apolipoprotein Dobrin Nedelkov, president and samples,” Nedelkov said. isoforms. This allele is one of the founder of Isoformix, works with A set of matched plasma and CSF strongest available genetic predic- Yueming Hu to develop next-gener- samples from 61 healthy patients tors of Alzheimer’s. The team found ation mass spectrometry clinical tests without clinical Alzheimer’s disease differences in the isoform profiles in to differentiate isoforms of proteins from the USC Alzheimer Disease individuals carrying the allele, suggest- that may have clinical significance Research Center presented a rare ing an association between Alzheimer’s in human disease. Standard clinical opportunity to study how protein and apoC processing and function in assays cannot detect these differences. isoforms correlate between the blood the brain, which might someday be In a recent paper in the Journal of and brain. For CSF samples, patients used to predict disease risk. Lipid Research, Nedelkov, Hu and undergo a lumbar puncture, which is Nedelkov hopes the results of this collaborators compared truncated and more invasive and time-consuming work will help overcome challenges to glycosylated isoforms of three apolipo- than blood sampling. adopting mass spectrometry protein proteins in plasma and CSF samples. Few researchers have studied apo- tests in clinical labs due to cost and Nedelkov and Hussein Yassine, a lipoproteins in the CSF. “When we complexity. The ability to distinguish researcher at the University of South- started looking, we didn’t even know protein isoforms and the relationship ern California, have a long-standing what we were going to find out,” between these biomarkers in plasma collaboration studying lipoproteins Nedelkov said. versus CSF could open the door to and a friendship born from years of The team found a significantly minimally invasive clinical tests. shared research. “We are both deter- higher percentage of the truncated DOI: 10.1194/jlr.RA120000919 mined and curious, and we are not protein isoforms of two apolipopro- afraid to try new things together,” Ne- teins, apoC-I and apoC-II, in the CSF Leia Dwyer (leia.dwyer@ delkov said. “It’s easier to find reasons compared to blood, as well as a higher gmail.com) is a Boston-area biotech and pharmaceutical why not to do it than to do it.” percentage of the glycosylated forms industry professional. Previously, they have studied lipo- of a third, apoC-III. In each of these proteins in plasma from patients with findings, the changes in CSF protein diabetes and cardiovascular disease. isoforms correlated with measured

18 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 JOURNAL NEWS Messy data, robust conclusions Researchers define dengue–Zika distinctions

By Laurel Oldach COURTESY OF CHRISTINE VOGEL

lodie Ghedin and Christine Vo- They also started a clinical trial, col- gel had wanted to work together lecting serum samples from over 60 Efor years. They were friendly patients. colleagues at New York University, “We were lucky we even got ac- both running interdisciplinary labs: cess to these samples,” Ghedin said; Ghedin’s focused on genomics and competition among researchers was Vogel’s on proteomics. intense. The opportunity to collaborate The data set was challenging to arose in 2016 with what Vogel play- work with. There was no healthy fully recalled as “a call from the NIH control group, and some records were saying, ‘Elodie, can you help us fix missing information about symptoms; Zika?’” one even lacked the participant’s Christine Vogel pipetted samples for proteomic Program officers at the National gender. Although the researchers had analysis the day before her daughter’s birth in Institutes of Health had $152 million planned parallel transcriptome and 2020. in emergency funding to learn more proteome analyses, they had to scrap about the emerging virus as quickly as the transcriptomics, because the sam- understanding Zika ebbed with the possible. They called on Ghedin and ples’ RNA had degraded somewhere epidemic, Vogel and Ghedin, who others with experience in viruses and between the clinic in the Caribbean now works at the National Institute in neglected tropical diseases. and their freezers in New York. for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, At the time, one clinical challenge After proteomic analysis and rigor- continue to collaborate on multiomics was differentiating between infections ous statistical filtering, the two teams studies. While studying samples from with Zika and related viruses, includ- identified 13 proteins with different COVID-19 patients, Vogel has relied ing the deadlier dengue and chikun- abundance between Zika and dengue on lessons she learned from the Zika gunya, when both were circulating. infections, as they wrote recently in study. Polymerase chain reaction diagnostics the journal Molecular & Cellular “In the early days (of an outbreak), can differentiate dengue and Zika but Proteomics. The differences, although you do not have controlled studies. only early in infection. If a patient small, could give new insights into You just have whatever samples you suffers through a few days of fever and Zika disease biology. For example, can get,” she said. aches before arriving at the hospital, it Ghedin said, they were surprised to “I find a lot of my research is like may be too late to detect viral RNA. observe that most proteins upregulated that,” Ghedin added. “You do what Because the viruses are so similar, an- in Zika compared to dengue patients you can with the samples you can tibody tests often used later in disease also are linked to pregnancy — which actually lay your hands on.” tend to be inconclusive. may yield new hypotheses about how DOI: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2021.100052 During outbreaks of Zika and the virus causes pregnancy complica- dengue in 2016 and 2017, doctors at tions and long-term health problems Laurel Oldach (loldach@ the University of the West Indies in for newborns. The researchers empha- asbmb.org) is a science writer Trinidad did their best to diagnose sized that more validation work needs for the ASBMB. Follow her on Twitter @LaurelOld. patients based on ambiguous lab tests to be done before their observations and secondary Zika symptoms such can be used in the clinic. as vomiting and pain behind the eyes. Although urgency about

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 19 JOURNAL NEWS

From the journals By Nicole Lynn, Anand Rao & Rajamani Selvam

We offer summaries of papers Identifying early markers in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease recently published in the Journal of of kidney damage patients display varying conforma- Biological Chemistry, the Journal tions. These different structures of Lipid Research, and Molecular & Chronic kidney disease, or CKD, could have different pathophysi- Cellular Proteomics. is characterized by the progressive loss ological consequences; for example, of kidney function and often leads to large, high–molecular-weight Aβ end-stage kidney failure, which can be aggregates accelerate the accumula- A self-made molecule treated only by transplant or dialysis. tion of toxic Aβ fibrils. scatters Pseudomonas Protein-based approaches to predict In the past, researchers isolated progression of CKD have focused two single-chain variable domain The Gram-negative bacterium primarily on urinary proteins that antibody fragments, or scFvs, called Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes demonstrate overall kidney failure; C6T and A4, which selectively bind hospital infections, particularly in however, urinary proteins don’t ac- to different conformations of βA patients with compromised host curately reflect the diversity of tissue aggregates and represent a promising defense mechanisms, posing a damage in CKD. therapeutic agent to selectively target significant health and economic Ji Eun Kim and colleagues at Seoul Aβ variants. burden. To become virulent, P. National University sought to identify Recent studies by Ping He and aeruginosa must attach to a surface key proteins expressed at the onset of colleagues at Arizona State Univer- such as epithelial tissue; it then forms kidney damage, such as those linked sity use those scFvs to demonstrate a biofilm, whereby the pathogen to inflammation and fibrosis in CKD. that specific βA aggregate variants secretes proteins that aid its spread. In a recent study published in the and their location influence the Researchers aim to identify agents journal Molecular & Cellular Pro- therapeutic response to scFvs in that can disperse these bacteria and teomics, Kim and colleagues assessed mice. The scFvs, which contained prevent them from propagating after protein profiles of cultured renal cells a peptide tag to facilitate transport they have attached. and kidney tissue in rats as well as across the blood-brain barrier, Robert Scheffler and colleagues urine samples taken from CKD pa- were administered to normal or at Princeton University developed a tients. Using label-free and tag-based Alzheimer’s mice, and their effects quantitative single-cell surface-disper- protein detection methods, this team were studied seven months later. sal assay and demonstrated that P. ae- was able to identify the expression of C6T restored neuronal integrity in ruginosa generates several factors that specific proteins associated with vari- the Alzheimer’s mice to nondiseased can stimulate its own dispersal. Using ous stages of kidney damage. levels, promoted growth of new bioactivity-guided fractionation, mass This study is the first to use multi- neurons and increased survival rates. spectrometry and nuclear magnetic sample protein-based methods to de- Treatment with A4, on the other resonance, the authors showed that tect key kidney damage proteins and hand, decreased Aβ deposits but did one such factor, 2-methyl-4-hydroxy- provides a starting point for under- not significantly decrease neuroin- quinoline, inhibits the activity of type standing the functional relevance and flammation or promote neuronal IV pili, or THP, the thin appendages future use of these proteins in CKD integrity, neurogenesis or survival. that decorate P. aeruginosa, and leads detection and progression. These findings, reported in the to dispersal of the pathogen. DOI:10.1074/mcp.RA120.002159 Journal of Biological Chemistry, These findings, published in a suggest that the specific βA con- paper in the Journal of Biological Ameliorating Alzheimer’s formation targeted in therapeutic Chemistry, identify THP inhibition with antibodies applications may affect treatment as a promising strategy against infec- efficacy — including attenuation of tion caused by P. aeruginosa. The hallmark aggregates of the am- neuroinflammation and promotion DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100279 yloid-beta, or Aβ, peptide that form of neuronal integrity — and that the

20 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 JOURNAL NEWS SCIENTIFIC ANIMATIONS INC./WIKIMEDIA location of the targeted Aβ variants also may be a critical factor. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.015327 Genomics can ID plasma lipid traits Lipids provide energy and essen- tial materials to build membrane components for cellular functions. Genetic and environmental factors can influence lipid characteristics, so understanding the mechanism responsible for lipid regulation is essential. Lipid dysregulation also can play a role in cancer and BOSSS: A new toolkit for lipid biochemists Alzheimer’s disease. Capturing functionally relevant genes and Our intestinal microbiome is a complex system that influences our their pathways in lipid signaling metabolism and is affected by extrinsic factors, including diet. For in- cascades can provide insights into stance, breast-fed infants ingest human milk components, such as lipids, the lipid mechanism and its as- that provide nutrients for certain microbes in the gut, thereby influenc- sociation to the disorders. ing gut microbiome development. Lipids are ubiquitous, so determining In a recent paper in the Journal their origin and fate is a major research challenge. The development of of Lipid Research, Montgom- reporter lipids and click chemistry tools has helped researchers who seek ery Blencowe and colleagues at to understand lipids’ complexities. the University of California, Los In a recent commentary in the Journal of Lipid Research, David Angeles, describe an integrative Ford of Saint Louis University School of Medicine writes about a novel genomics approach they used to integrated method developed by Elizabeth Johnson’s laboratory at Cor- identify important genes, pathways nell University known as BioOrthogonal-Sort-Sequence-Spectrometry, and gene subnetworks in tissues or BOSSS, and its application in lipid research. The technique uses that contribute to four blood lipid a bioorthogonal click analog for the lipid sphinganine containing an traits: total cholesterol, high- and alkyne. Johnson gave this compound to mice, whose gut microbiome low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, metabolized the lipid, and the feces were collected. A fluorescent tag was and triglycerides. Lipid metabo- used to distinguish the alkyne-modified sphinganine from the natural lism, protein catabolism and sphinganine in the feces. interferon signaling are among the Johnson found that the alkyne sphinganine differed from natural shared pathways that are common sphinganine by four hydrogen atoms. Her lab sorted the fluorescently among the four lipid traits. The re- tagged lipids by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, or FACS, then searchers found that closely related sequenced them to identify microbes. This technique can be used to lipid traits exhibit shared and dis- examine the metabolism and uptake of various fatty acids and lipids in tinct mechanisms. In analyzing the our diverse microbiome. gene subnetwork, they noted that Ford suggests researchers also can apply the BOSSS platform to certain traits are associated with systems such as blood and lymph, thereby differentiating the origin of cancer and with cardiovascular and lipids in those systems. By creating amenable bioorthogonal click tags, Alzheimer’s disease. they can combine the technology with RNA single-cell sequencing Future work can validate the and multiomics to understand differences in cell populations and gain molecular processes and genes insights into the role of lipids in cell biology. identified in this study in popula- DOI: 10.1016/j.jlr.2021.100025 tion genetic and epidemiological — Rajamani Selvam studies to ascertain whether these

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 21 JOURNAL NEWS

genes can serve as novel targets for In a recent study in the journal the same cell type from organisms lipid-associated disorders. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, with varying life spans and evaluated DOI: 10.1194/jlr.RA120000713 Kyle Swovick and colleagues at the the rates of protein turnover, energy University of Rochester in collabora- consumption and cellular stress us- Linking protein turnover tion with researchers from the Wise ing liquid chromatography coupled Lab at the University of Louisville with tandem mass spectrometry. with longevity and energy sought to understand the connec- This study showed that despite Protein turnover refers to the cycle tions among protein turnover, aging having slower rates of protein turn- of synthesis and degradation that and cellular energetic demands across over, some long-lived organisms were controls protein quality and maintains organisms. Among the cells studied able to tolerate protein folding stress protein equilibrium in cells. Efficient were valuable and difficult-to-obtain more effectively than those with protein synthesis and degradation cell lines from whales, provided by short life spans. Further understand- often is associated with youth and Native American scientists at the ing of protein synthesis and longevity. As an organism ages, the North Slope Borough office of the degradation across species of varied turnover process tends to get slower or Department of Wildlife Management life spans could help researchers break down. in Barrow, Alaska. The team isolated develop potential treatments for

Finding new phosphorylation targets in bacteria Bacterial virulence is the extent to which a pathogenic protein preparation and quantitative detection methods microbe can cause disease. Genetic virulence factors in to identify novel targets of protein phosphorylation in bacteria aid in host invasion, disease progression and S. aureus. The expression of virulence factors in this evasion of host defenses. Staphylococcus aureus is one bacterium is triggered by extracellular cues that set off bacterium that has become increasingly difficult to treat intracellular signaling cascades; phosphorylation at with antibiotics due to the onset of resistant strains such serine/threonine kinase residues regulates this process. as methicillin-resistant S. aureus, or MRSA. Researchers believe that Stk1, one of two eukaryotic- In a recent paper in the journal Molecular & Cellu- like serine/threonine kinases expressed in S. aureus, lar Proteomics, Nadine Prust and colleagues at Utrecht calibrates genetic responses to extracellular stimuli via University in the Netherlands describe how they improved phosphorylation at serine/threonine residues. Alter- nately, Stp1 removes these phosphates. To determine This scanning electron micrograph shows S. aureus (red) decimating a potential targets of Stk1 and Stp1, Prust and colleagues human white blood cell (yellow) as it escapes its grip.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES/NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH designed a protein purification protocol that accounted for differences in Gram-positive bacteria, whose thick cell walls can increase contaminants from phospho- lipids, RNA and DNA. Next, using label-free protein detection designed to isolate and identify phosphory- lated amino acids, Prust and colleagues identified 74 potential Stk1/Stp1-related phosphosites in S. aureus. By profiling Stk1/Stp1-deficient MRSA mutants, they were able to generate the most comprehensive S. aureus phosphoproteome to date. These findings demonstrate that bacterial pathogens such as S. aureus use serine/threonine signaling more than researchers previously thought. By elucidating the role that serine/threonine kinases play in the expression of genetic factors like virulence, researchers can learn more about the causes of antibiotic resistance. DOI: 10.1074/mcp.RA120.002232 —Nicole Lynn

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age-related disease. DOI:10.1074/mcp.RA120.002301 The duality of coagulation factor V Factor V, or FV, is a glycoprotein that has a dual role as both an antico- agulation and procoagulation cofac- tor. Central to its opposing functions is the proteolytic removal of its central B-domain, and researchers seek to un- derstand the mechanisms surrounding this functional switch. In a paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Teod- A new way to absorb dietary iron olinda Petrillo and colleagues at the Iron, a mineral found in every cell of the human body, combines with Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania proteins to form the hemoglobin required to transport oxygen. The body describe their study of how bond also needs iron for physical growth, neurological development and criti- cleavage in the B-domain influ- cal biochemical functions, making it an essential nutrient. However, iron ences interactions between FV and in excess is toxic, and the body has no physiological means to excrete FV-short, a physiologically relevant that excess. Instead, levels are regulated by iron absorption. isoform with a shortened B-domain, Dietary iron mainly exists in two forms: heme and nonheme. Plant- and tissue factor pathway inhibitor based and fortified foods are a source of nonheme iron, whereas meat, alpha, or TFPIα. Using clotting assays, seafood and poultry supply both heme and nonheme iron. The National chromatography, fluorescent aniso- Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates that 20% of women, 50% tropy and biochemical analyses, the of pregnant women and 3% of men have an iron deficiency, which is authors demonstrated that key forms the most common cause of anemia, a decrease in red blood cells. This of FV, including FV-short, are physi- deficiency can be treated with iron supplements. However, absorption of ologic ligands for TFPIα. The authors available supplements is inefficient, and it often takes several months to speculate that strategies that target reestablish normal iron levels. the interaction of TFPIα with these Researchers recently identified nicotianamine-iron chelate, or NA- different forms of FV may provide a Fe2+, as a new form of bioavailable iron present in mice, chickens and new way to strengthen or dampen the plant-based foods. However, researchers know little about the mecha- coagulation system. nisms responsible for NA-Fe2+ absorption from its dietary sources. In a DOI: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.016341 recent article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Yoshiko Murata and a team of researchers in Japan identified the proton-coupled amino Finding sites that control acid transporter, or PAT1, as the principal channel through which NA- lipid metabolism Fe2+ is absorbed. Using cultured cells modified to no longer contain the PAT1 protein, electrophysiological analyses of PAT1 overexpression in Triglycerides are stored within aquatic frog oocytes and experiments with mice, the authors demonstrat- lipid droplets, which are essential for ed the uptake of NA-Fe2+ into the epithelium of the proximal jejunum energy metabolism. The triglycerides and iron appearance in spleen, liver and kidney. are broken down into fatty acids and These findings confirm that NA-Fe2+ is a bioavailable source of iron, glycerol via lipid droplet-associated uncover the possible mechanism by which NA-Fe2+ is absorbed in the proteins, such as perilipin, or PLIN. mammalian intestine, and may drive development of improved iron Researchers are interested in PLIN5 supplements. because it is expressed in various DOI: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.015861 highly oxidative tissues and influences — Anand Rao lipid metabolism in response to

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phosphorylation — a post-trans- the particle, and sinking phagocytosis, lational modification in which the inward engulfment of particles. phosphate groups are added to the A number of receptors that activate protein. Previous work has established downstream signaling pathways initi- that the phosphorylation of serine ate phagocytosis. One such receptor, residues is enough to activate PLIN5- CR3, is thought to drive sinking regulated lipid breakdown. phagocytosis. However, evidence of ASBMB CAREER CENTER In a recent paper published in the this receptor’s involvement is sparse. Journal of Lipid Research, Stacey In a recent study published in the N. Keenan and colleagues at the Journal of Biological Chemistry, University of Melbourne describe Stefan Walbaum and colleagues at the Make your how they identified phosphorylation University of Münster in Germany next move. sites of serine residues in PLIN5 and isolated resident macrophages from determined which of these sites are normal unaltered mice and mice functional using cultured cells and genetically altered to lack CR3 recep- mice. Three phosphorylation sites in tors to investigate how macrophages PLIN5 were identified: S155, S161 engage and internalize particles. Browse jobs in and S163. Out of these, S155 is a Using RNA-sequence analysis, genetic academia and functionally important phosphoryla- experiments and real-time 3D imag- industry and get a tion site for lipid metabolism, while ing, the researchers showed that CR3 the others did not show any effect receptors indeed regulate a mode of free résumé review. on lipid breakdown in cultured cells. sinking phagocytosis and also are Using PLIN5 S155A–mutant mice, involved in the formation and closing careers.asbmb.org the researchers showed a reduction of Fc receptors for immunoglobulin in triglyceride breakdown, suggesting G, or fragment crystallizable gamma a critical role for PLIN5 as a regula- receptor–controlled phagocytic tor for lipid metabolism. This work cups that extend outward to engulf provides new information on the particles. role of PLIN5 in controlling lipid DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100256 metabolism. DOI: 10.1194/jlr.RA120001126 Nicole Lynn (nalynn@ g.ucla.edu) is a graduate student at the University of Sorting out sinking California, Los Angeles in the chemistry and biochemistry phagocytosis department. Phagocytosis, the receptor-medi- ated ingestion of cellular particles, is the major function of immune cells Anand Rao ([email protected]) such as macrophages and neutrophils. is an ASBMB science communi- cator. Follow him on Twitter Yet more than 100 years after Élie @AnandRaoPhD. Metschnikoff — the scientist credited with discovering phagocytes — de- veloped his theory of phagocytosis, scientists still know little about the processes that govern this cellular Rajamani Selvam ([email protected]) ingestion process. Researchers have is an Oak Ridge Institute for described two structurally distinct Science and Education research modes of phagocytosis: phagocytic fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Maryland. cup formation, whereby the mem- Follow her on Twitter brane extends outward and engulfs @Rajaman06539874

24 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART 26 | Seeing is believing 33 | Unravelling the mind’s eye — science through a novel lens 36 | Eternal memories and an overdue tribute — storing digital data in DNA 40 | A molecular biologist by day and a science artist by night 43 | ‘Become the protein’ 46 | Advocacy for Black women’s well-being blends science and art 48 | Picture this: The 2nd annual JBC Methods Madness tournament

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 25 SCIENCE& ART Seeing is believing Visualizing science through art and illustration By Isha Dey

Luciana Giono created this whimsical ome 17,000 years ago, on a We spoke to three science illustra- illustration for the website of the Signal cave wall in Spain, a person tors about their career paths. Transduction & Metabolism Laboratory at the drew a picture of a mam- Université Libre De Bruxelles in Belgium. Smoth with a dark shadow where Academic beginnings the animal’s heart would be. Some believe this is the earliest example of Luciana Giono’s family has interests anatomical drawing. in architecture, music and graphic Today’s science illustrators design, but she ended up studying are still expected to know where science, completing the equivalent of to place organs and other major U.S. bachelor’s and master’s degrees structures, but they’re also expected in biological sciences at the University to convey the intricacies of liv- of Buenos Aires in Argentina. The ing beings’ insides — down to the school’s architecture/design and sci- molecular level. Doing that well re- ence departments were in two almost quires specialized knowledge, often identical buildings next to each other acquired formally. on campus.

26 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART COURTESY OF KATE PATTERSON/GARVAN INSTITUTE COURTESY OF LUCIANA GIONO affects ovarian cancer progression. As a graduate student, Patterson enjoyed making graphs and figures to communicate her work clearly, and she realized this was not some- thing that came easily to everybody. “A component of being a scientist is to be able to communicate your work clearly,” she said. “I was one of the weird ones that really enjoyed writing up my thesis and making posters.” Radhika Patnala’s mother was While studying for her Ph.D. qualifying exam, an interior designer. “The world of Luciana Giono realized how much people rely on art and design was quite prevalent diagrams and visuals to communicate scientific in my household as I was growing knowledge efficiently. up,” Patnala said, “so I developed an interest in fine arts, design con- “I used to joke that I went to the cepts and design software from a Kate Patterson shows an animation about RNA wrong building,” Giono said. very young age, even before I was transcription in the Garvan Institute’s Cell She did graduate work at the Icahn exposed to the wonderful world of Observatory. School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in science and biology.” New York, with research focused on Patnala completed her bachelor’s type called microglia,” she said. “I gene expression, cell cycle and DNA and master’s degrees in biotech- did a lot of microscopy during my damage response. While studying for nology from Gandhi Institute of Ph.D. which exposed me to the visual her Ph.D. qualifying exam, she made Technology and Management in beauty inherent in life science.” a big figure summarizing all the cell India and the Australian National cycle details she had learned — and University, respectively, and then Turning an interest realized how much people rely on earned a Ph.D., in neurosciences diagrams and visuals to communicate from the National University of Sin- into a career scientific knowledge efficiently. gapore. “My research was focused on As an extension for their love for Kate Patterson always has enjoyed neuroinflammation and epigenetics arts in science, both Patterson and doing art but said she put it aside to in the context of a fascinating cell Giono eventually found themselves study veterinary science. During her making figures for colleagues’ papers undergraduate studies at the Univer- COURTESY OF RADHIKA PATNALA and posters. “I really enjoy making sity of Sydney in Australia, she was them, which means I take the time intrigued to learn that certain breeds to do it carefully, both in terms of of dogs are prone to specific types of content and looks,” Giono said. cancer. In practice, she treated many She worked as a career investiga- boxers with mast cell tumors (a type tor and teaching assistant for many of skin cancer) and German shep- years and then began asking journals herds with hemangiosarcoma (cancer if they would be interested in having arising from cells in blood vessels). someone dedicated to figure produc- Thinking this must have a genetic tion. Her very first work for a Journal basis that also might apply to human of Biological Chemistry review article cancer, she enrolled for a Ph.D. at the consisted of illustrations showing Garvan Institute of Medical Research ways of studying RNA–protein at the University of New South Wales, Soon after completing her Ph.D., Radhika Patnala interactions at the molecular level. where she studied how a dual speci- moved to Germany and started a creative agency, Now a freelance illustrator, for several ficity phosphatase called DUSP23 Sci-Illustrate. years she has prepared many cover

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About a decade ago, the Australian government funded an animation program as part of “VizbiPlus — vi- sualizing the future of biomedicine,” a project to create a more “scientifically engaged Australia.” Patterson was one of the three people who received a grant; they created public-facing ani- mations from scientific findings across Australian institutions to raise general awareness about science and medicine. This program, which she describes as “awe-inspiring,” helped Patterson make the transition from illustrator to animator. Her very first animated short docu- mentary, called “Cancer Is Not One Disease,” showed the complexities of the disease based on the experience of a patient living with pancreatic cancer. She has worked for the past decade as a visual illustrator at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, put- ting complex scientific concepts and discoveries into the form of visual stories that scientists can utilize and also that nonscientists can understand. She is now the institute’s senior visual science communications officer — a title she said was invented upon her appointment, because she was the first person to do such work there. During Patnala’s doctoral training, arts and aesthetics were an integral This image is one of the first in a series made illustrations and figures for JBC and part of the overall skill set she devel- freely available to the public by Radhika Patnala the Journal of Lipid Research. Her oped, along with the realization that exploring ideas about COVID-19 and how the world illustrations also have been on the science communication is a large part deals with it. covers of other journals including of doing science as we know it. “Even- Cell, Nucleic Acids Research and the tually, the two aspects came together Journal of Hepatology. to dictate what I am going to do as a Patterson took an equally indirect next step” she said. route to becoming a science animator. Soon after completing her Ph.D., She started out working as a science Patnala moved to Germany to be with writer at the National Breast Cancer family and started a creative agency, Foundation and a freelance illustra- Sci-Illustrate, to explore the use of tor through her website, MediPics scientific illustrations and visuals to and Prose. “In Australia, there is no aid in science communication. Since formal training to become a science then, her science-inspired art has been illustrator, so there aren’t many people featured on covers of Cell and JBC in this area,” she said. and the covers of Nature Reviews

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Neurology for all of 2020. Based in as critical reading, discussion and Munich, Sci-Illustrate now provides writing of scientific papers gave her design services such as scientific il- the ability to grasp concepts and lustrations, motion graphics and data find the information she needs for visualization to biotech companies, her illustrations. She also is able organizations and research labs in to point out errors in figures and health care and life sciences. A passion propose alternatives. project at Sci-Illustrate is the Women JBC publishes papers on a wide in Science initiative which, Patnala variety of topics and reaches a large said, highlights “the personal journeys audience. Giono might not be an of women in science from India and expert in all the topics, but she can around the world over the past two place herself in the readers’ shoes years through art and words.” and find the best way to com- municate the scientific knowledge A science background helps through her illustrations. Patterson said her veterinary Although their careers took them science training helps her under- away from research, Patnala, Giono stand what pieces of information and Patterson agree that their years at are necessary to communicate a the bench were not wasted but actu- message clearly to the audience. Pet ally helped them along the way. owners often do not have detailed “I would think my science scientific knowledge, so she learned background is actually my greatest to simplify complex concepts to This screenshot from Kate Patterson’s animation asset, or at least one of them,” Giono help them understand their animals’ shows RNA being transcribed from DNA by the said. Years of learning science as well diseases. molecule RNA polymerase.

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Science illustration vs. science art Science illustration is a broad term, Giono said, that encompasses every- thing from “‘a boxes and arrows’ kind of diagram to an elaborate 3D human body illustration, to even an illustra- tion for an editorial or news article.” A science illustration caters to the technical needs of the customer, she explained, while science art allows for some poetic license. For example, a figure model summarizing results in a research article is a science illustra- tion, while a journal cover could be science art. When a science illustrator receives an assignment, Patnala said, the person needs to be careful that the depiction is scientifically accurate so it communicates the necessary informa- tion. Science art, on the other hand, can be influenced by the artist’s per- ception of a scientific concept rather than purely based on factually correct information. Creating an illustration requires “We All Come From Fishes” is a skateboard But even with talent and knowl- communication with clients to un- Radhika Patnala designed as part of her edge, science illustration — like all derstand what they want, Giono said, #Futurepopart: Lifescience Edition art series. career paths — has its challenges. and catering to clients’ specific needs When Patnala went to set up sometimes requires compromise. her company in Munich, she found Nevertheless, she enjoys the challenge that all the official documents were of coming up with innovative ways of in German, a language she does presenting a scientific report or idea not read or speak. She said she still on journal covers. relies on her husband to help her “Then the greater challenge comes out with such formalities. when you send your image to the During Patterson’s gradual author and are waiting to see if they transition from postdoc to science will like it or hate it,” she said. illustrator, learning how to use the powerful animation software Raising awareness through was initially a challenge. To overcome these roadblocks, she advances in tech attended conferences and talks Whether creating art or literal illus- by practitioners in the field of tration, professionals use tools such as biomedical animation and accessed Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Pho- online courses and tutorials to help toshop for static illustrations. Many learn how to use graphics can be directly created with the software effectively. such software, but Giono said she

30 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART sometimes prefers drawing by hand, a Christmas event, the Garvan staff scanning the art and coloring it using set up an outdoor booth for a similar Photoshop, especially for journal cover virtual reality experience, Patterson images. said, and people were playing with Patterson uses the 3D animation molecules on the street using the software Autodesk Maya to create ani- headset and controllers. mations. When animating a protein With technologies such as Google that has a known crystal structure, Cardboard, people can use their she imports Protein Data Bank files phones to visualize scientific processes into a plug-in called Molecular Maya. in three dimensions and 360 degrees. The plug-in gives her the 3D coordi- Such experiences leave a longer-last- nates of all the atoms in the molecule, ing impression than reading about the and using those coordinates she can same process in textbooks, Patterson animate the molecule in its entirety. said, or even seeing it as a movie. For the past year, Patterson has been Scientific articles and reviews involved in creating a virtual reality are read by a niche audience, but experience at the Garvan Institute. the same findings presented in the They have built an immersive visual- form of a diagram or a movie can ization dome called the Cell Observa- be understood by a broader com- tory, where visitors are transported munity. Using their skills to bring to the inside of a cell. Animations of science to the masses in this way processes such as DNA transcription serves as a big motivation for science appear on the curved ceiling while sci- illustrators. Patnala’s favorite projects entists explain what specific proteins include “#Futurepopart,” a series of do in the process. 30 skateboards depicting 30 differ- With the help of hand-held con- ent concepts in life sciences, and a trollers and a head-mounted display recent 10-part series of illustrations such as the Oculus Quest, visitors can called “The COVID Dreams.” With This screenshot from Kate Patterson’s animation move the RNA polymerase onto the so much energy and passion invested shows DNA being methylated on a cytosine base DNA strand to make RNA. During in her work, “I end up liking most of by enzyme DNA methyltransferase.

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Luciana Giono created this cover illustration for my creations,” she said. there is not a set career path. an issue of the Journal of Lipid Research titled “Science is about communication,” Both Patnala and Patterson “Exploring the nuances and complexities of Giono said, “and the central role of advise beginners to build their lipoprotein clearance.” visuals in that communication cannot portfolios while doing some- be stressed enough.” thing that makes them financially For many people, the biggest independent and developing skills barrier to understanding the basic required to make illustration a full- scientific concepts that govern life is a time job. It is also possible to enroll fear of asking questions. Nonscientists in a full-time course offered by are intimidated by jargon. According various online platforms and some to Patterson, public activities such institutions to learn the skills of as the cell observatory help break illustration and then seek employ- down these barriers and initiate ment. In fact, Patnala’s company conversations. The Garvan Institute offers an intensive science illustra- encourages school trips so children tion workshop for life scientists and can be exposed to the fun in science. health care professionals. In addition, Patterson has worked “You’ve got to find your own with teachers to find ways to include adventure and create your own job illustrations and animation in their because they don’t get advertised lessons. very often,” Patterson said, but whatever the challenges, “It’s a lot ‘It’s a lot of fun’ of fun and you should do it.”

While science illustration can be Isha Dey ([email protected]) a creatively satisfying job, there are is a scientist at Thermo Fisher roadblocks to making it a career. Few Scientific in India. full-time positions are available. It is often a freelancer’s job, so finance becomes a confounding factor and

32 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART Unraveling the mind’s eye — science through a novel lens By Kamalika Saha

rom the Perseverance rover COURTESY OF ERICA TANDORI landing on Mars to a record- shattering vaccine timeline for FCOVID-19, scientific developments continue to amaze us by pushing boundaries and bridging the gap between imagination and reality. And from NASA’s stunning pictures of the Martian landscape to electron microscopy images of the viral capsid, striking visual displays often bring the unseen facets of our world around us to life. How can these visual marvels be re-created for individuals with low vision or who are blind? An initia- tive known as sensory science aims to make the results of research accessible in new ways. This accessibility forms the crux of Erica Tandori’s work. A legally blind artist, researcher and academic, Tan- Nuances between brain This 2016 oil-on-canvas painting titled “The dori strives to make science inclusive and vision Vegemite Jar” by Erica Tandori depicts the for all. By exploring the intersection entoptic effects caused by Stargardt’s disease. of art, vision loss and science, she cre- Tandori’s life story inspires her ates multisensory displays to articulate mission. She grew up in a family the findings of biological research. that owned a successful art business, An initiative known as sensory As artist-in-residence at Jamie so fine arts were a natural career Rossjohn’s laboratory in the Monash aspiration. During her first year in science aims to make the results of University Biomedicine Discovery art school, she was diagnosed with research accessible in new ways. Institute in Australia, Tandori cap- Stargardt’s disease, a genetic form of tures the scientist’s research in tactile macular degeneration that leads to This accessibility forms the crux of sculptures designed for the low-vision the progressive loss of central vision. Erica Tandori’s work. and blind community. Topics to date The diagnosis came as a shock and led have included infection and immu- to an abrupt halt in her art education. nity and cancer biology. She describes Tandori pursued acting and sing- her large-scale models of sometimes ing for a few years. But art was her invisible phenomena as “delicious and calling and passion, and she returned juicy artworks.” to school to pursue a formal arts

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COURTESY OF ERICA TANDORI Her research brought together two disparate institutions that study a common topic — the eye. The department of ophthalmology at the University of Melbourne studies the eye “outside in,” and the Victorian College of the Arts studies the eye “inside out,” she explained. Tandori’s broader goal was to bring the lived experience of people with disabilities into policy-driven discus- sions of workplace inclusion and creating suitable work environments and opportunities. Sharing science across the spectrum The Monash Sensory Science Initiative was a brainchild of Jamie Erica Tandori created this clay sculpture of a education. Rossjohn, professor of structural human dendritic cell as part of the Monash As a part of her doctoral research, immunology at Cardiff University, Sensory Science Initiative exhibition. Tandori focused on her lived experi- head of the Infection and Immunity ence of blindness. This choice was Program at the Monash BDI and lau- driven by the huge gap between per- reate fellow of the Australian Research ceived notions of blindness and the Council. The idea stemmed from a reality of how low-vision individuals broader aim of disability inclusion. see the world. In 2018, he was thinking about “The doctors can look into my organizing an exhibition to com- eyes, but they can’t see through my municate the nature of biomedical eyes and relate to the delicate nuances research to the blind and low-vision between my brain and vision,” she community. He proposed this to the Few artists can depict the said. “They assume that I might be nonprofit Vision Australia, and they seeing a central black spot (called a were enthusiastic about it. As luck process of vision loss, Tandori scotoma) due to the dead macular would have it, he was connected to said, so she attempted to cells. In reality, cortical completion Tandori, who was in search of an op- takes charge, and my brain fills the portunity, and Rossjohn recruited her create an accurate picture scotoma with color and patterns. Vi- as a part of this initiative. The first of her vision loss. sion loss is gradual and dynamic.” exhibition involved tactile 3D mod- Few artists can depict the process els, 2D graphic displays and olfactory of vision loss, Tandori said, so she at- displays with text in large-print and tempted to create an accurate picture braille formats. It transported the of her vision loss. The aim was to audience to a life science wonderland. provide a direct comparison of the This paved the way for several suc- images she perceived to those seen by cessful exhibits. a person with perfect vision. With a “I want it to grow and for other in- digital camera, she created an image stitutions to take this up and increase as seen by a normal eye. She then participation for broad spectrums of modified it with digital and conven- the community,” Rossjohn said. “We tional tools to resemble what she saw. need to open the doors for everyone.

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Great ideas can come from any- Making disability irrelevant COURTESY OF ERICA TANDORI where.” Tandori recently collaborated with Tandori’s future projects include interaction designer and video artist what she calls an exhibit in a book. Stu Favilla on the HIV Capsid Data Keeping the ongoing global pan- Projection project, an interactive demic in mind, these books contain sculpture of viral RNA coated in a laminated pages and interactive tactile protein capsid that can be explored models that can serve as personal dis- both on the outside and by climbing plays — no exhibition space needed. inside. Its hexagonal cardboard tiles She also is working on a multisen- were smothered with millions of tiny sory COVID-19 sculpture and an foam balls to mimic the texture of initiative to make art in museums the viral surface. To capture dynamic accessible to the low-vision and blind viral mutations, computerized color- community. coded patterns synced to music were Tandori said that there’s much projected on the sculpture. The tactile more work to be done in sensory component coupled with the sensory science and science inclusiveness. outputs, providing an elevated sen- She stressed that engaging people As artist in residence at the Rossjohn lab in sory experience. with disabilities in discourse around science outreach will be a great Melbourne, Australia, Erica Tandori creates tactile The world contains a rich diversity 3D models to communicate biomedical research. equalizer and affect their lives in a of patterns and textures waiting to be “I would like to create a working environment so powerful way. unraveled, Tandori emphasized. “We that dis­ability is irrelevant and is not treated as a are in a continuum of discovery,” she “I want to strive to make science deficit,” she said. said. “If we look back at the scientific accessible and super-inclusive discoveries of the ancient civiliza- irrespective of socioeconomic tions, we are echoing from the past factors,” she said. “I would like to and building on the greatness of our create a working environment so The world contains a rich that disability is irrelevant and is not predecessors.” diversity of patterns and Using a blend of natural and treated as a deficit.” hybrid materials, she has made She recalled meeting a blind in- textures waiting to be another HIV capsid with couscous digenous girl during an exhibition in unraveled, Tandori said. and chicken wire and a yeast cell with Perth, Australia. “She was very smart yeast and dough. She took her multi- and aimed to become a chemist. sensory approach to the next level by Why should vision be a barrier to her incorporating an unpleasant-smelling dreams? I hope to help young minds fruit in a smallpox sculpture. like hers through my work.” “None of us can see the cells Tandori said every individual has with our naked eye — in that, inherent talent and harnessing that all of us are blind,” Tandori said. power will make the world a better “We use powerful technology like place. She signed off by saying, “Do synchrotrons and microscopy to you know what is greater than sci- extrude the images on screen. I am ence? Art and science is greater than adding another dimension to it science — how powerful are they through my work.” together?” And the experts in those technologies also are impressed by her Kamalika Saha ([email protected]) is work, she said. “The scientists marvel a contributor for ASBMB Today. when they hold the cellular models of the organisms that forms the crux of their research in their hands.”

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 35 SCIENCE& ART Eternal memories and an overdue tribute — storing digital data in DNA By Ankita Arora DENNIS WISE/UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Members of the #MemoriesInDNA project hat if you could save a manufactured by Twist Bioscience. posing with their portrait of Rosalind Franklin memory forever? What #MemoriesInDNA turned what are, from left, Luis Ceze, David Ward, Bichlien would you want it to be? seems like science fiction into reality. Nguyen, Kate Thompson and Karin Strauss. Not WA family picture, a favorite vacation But then the researchers took the proj- pictured are Xiaomeng Liu and Jeff Nivala. spot, an art performance or a message ect a step farther. They collaborated to future generations? with Seattle-based artist Kate Thomp- What about the face of a ground- son to create a portrait of an often breaking scientist whose work largely overlooked star of DNA discovery, was overlooked in her lifetime? Rosalind Franklin, using the synthetic For the #MemoriesInDNA DNA encoding the memories mixed project, researchers at the Molecular with acrylic paint. Information Systems Lab, or MISL, Luis Ceze, professor in the UW’s at the University of Washington Paul G. Allen School of Computer and Microsoft crowdsourced Science and Engineering, explained in 10,000 images representing a news release: “We had this massive treasured memories and stored collection of image files signifying them indefinitely in synthetic DNA what people want to preserve for

36 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART posterity, and this new storage (1018 bytes per cubic millimeter) method. So, we thought, why not use than any other known storage tech- them to demonstrate the science we’ve nology. One kilogram of DNA can been working on while paying tribute store more data than flash memory to the scientist who started it all?” drives containing 109 kilograms of silicon. How does digital data Existing digital data archiving tech- nologies degrade over years and must storage in DNA work? be replaced approximately every de- Digital data is binary, composed of cade. In contrast, DNA can preserve 0s and 1s. DNA stores genetic infor- information for centuries or even mation in cells, but rather than being thousands of years — as evidenced by binary, it operates on a four-letter the DNA extracted from fossils. code (A, C, G and T). Computers and DNA speak two different languages, The unsung hero English chemist and X-ray crystallographer so the researchers needed to develop a of the double helix Rosalind Franklin and one of her students created translator. X-ray diffraction images of DNA that led to the First, the digital data was convert- Most people know about the discovery of the DNA double helix. This portrait is ed, or encoded, to the A, C, G and T seminal paper by Watson and Crick made up of thousands of images that have been of DNA. Then, the researchers needed published in Nature in 1953 propos- stored on synthetic DNA.

to write the DNA one base at a time DENNIS WISE/UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON to store the data. “This is where Twist Bioscience plays an important role — we write the DNA base by base, like building a Lego tower,” said Angela Bitting, Twist’s senior vice president of corpo- rate affairs. To retrieve the data, the research- ers take the DNA out of its storage container and sequence it to read the A, C, T, G series. Once they have the sequence, they decode it, using the same algorithm first used to encode, back into 0s and 1s. Why store data in DNA? Storing digital data in DNA has advantages over storage in traditional media, including a higher capacity, increased stability and ease in copying data. Demand for digital data storage is growing exponentially and outpacing storage capabilities. However, nature has provided a solution to this storage problem: DNA. DNA’s information storage density is six orders of magnitude higher

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 37 SCIENCE& ART

Rosalind Franklin was largely ing the double helix model of DNA #MemoriesInDNA “ structure. But fewer know that in responsible for uncovering the the same issue of Nature, a paper by Once the MISL team gathered the structure of DNA, nature’s own Franklin and her doctoral trainee, thousands of images from more than Raymond Gosling, provided criti- 80 countries, they encoded them in perfected storage medium.” cal evidence supporting Watson and DNA, then retrieved and converted Crick’s arguments. Specifically, the the individual molecular files back – LUIS CEZE famous photo 51 that shows DNA is, into digital photographs. in fact, helical. The researchers were interested in Watson, Crick and Maurice making the project more tactile, and Wilkins went on to share the 1962 a chance encounter with artist Kate Nobel Prize in physiology or medi- Thompson led them to embark on cine. The contributions of Franklin, a science art journey — in this case, who died four years before the Nobel using the encoded memories to ensure announcement, only began to gain that Franklin’s contributions to the recognition decades later. Her work field of DNA are sealed in memory was highlighted in Photograph 51, forever. a 2015 play by Anna Ziegler, which The team previously had partnered starred Nicole Kidman. with Twist Bioscience to preserve “Rosalind Franklin was largely significant cultural artforms in DNA. responsible for uncovering the struc- These include musical performances ture of DNA, nature’s own perfected at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the top 100 books of Project Gutenberg and David Ward at work in the Molecular storage medium,” Ceze said in the the Universal Declaration of Human Information Systems Lab at the University of UW news release. “Her work opened Rights in 100 languages. Washington in Seattle. The lab, a collaboration up a whole new avenue of scientific between UW and Microsoft Research, is research and discovery for which, to This project was different, however, developing techniques for long-term storage of this day, she does not really get the and the researchers had concerns. digital data using synthetic DNA. credit that she deserves.” If they put the DNA encoding the images into acrylic paint, would they MARK STONE/UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON be able to recover it and retrieve the digital information? What concentra- tion of DNA is sufficient for retrieval? “Once we had figured out the lowest working concentration of the DNA required, making the painting was practically plausible,” said Jeff Nivala, an assistant professor at MISL. The science art journey Thompson came to the project with a long-standing interest in emerging technologies, particularly those that focus on sustainability. During a meeting with Ceze over a glass of wine to discuss details, Thompson said, what started as a project to make a photo collage soon transformed into the elegant idea of superimposing Franklin’s portrait on

38 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART MARY BRUNO top of it and encoding the full piece in DNA. “An artist can take a complex process and turn it into metaphor that makes them real for a lay person,” she said. One challenge was to sift through piles of images that people, mostly graduate students, had submitted; this required a lot of art direction and photo editing. “The next leap was to pick pictures and morph them into the language of Franklin’s face and her story, like layering two things on each other,” Thompson said. “There are so many untold stories of women in science, especially in that era, and this was a way to commemorate all of them.” After printing out the mosaic, Thompson painted the final image on archival paper with black acrylic ink mixed with a binding substance and as a search query that can act as a bait Artist Kate Thompson works on the portrait. After the synthetic DNA that codes the im- and bind to the sequence coding for sifting through all the images, she said, “The next ages’ information. a dog within the image — allowing leap was to pick pictures and morph them into Measuring 40 by 30 inches, the researchers to fish out all images with the language of Franklin’s face and her story, like layering two things on each other.” portrait is now on display in the Bill dogs from the database. & Melinda Gates Center for Com- Among the challenges to making puter Science & Engineering on the such data storage commonplace are UW Seattle campus. the current high cost and slow speed If any portion of the artwork is of reading and writing DNA. But the submitted to DNA analysis via poly- UW researchers are optimistic. merase chain reaction for amplifica- “In the next 10 years, computers tion, the molecular information can may have a molecular processing unit be converted back to digital 0s and 1s. (composed of DNA molecules) as an accessory for compute intensive jobs The future of DNA data such as image search on a large data set,” Nivala said. “This will increase storage efficiency not just in monetary gains The next breakthrough in DNA but also lowering our energy foot- storage involves moving to data pro- print.” cessing directly in DNA — without having to convert the images back Ankita Arora (ankita.arora@ into their electronic form. Let’s say we cuanschutz.edu) is a postdoc- toral fellow at the University need to find all images in the collec- of Colorado Anschutz Medical tion with a dog in them. The research- Campus. In her current project, ers can use a short complementary she is trying to decipher rules that govern RNA transport in DNA strand that encodes for a dog. brain cells. Follow her on Twit- This complementary sequence serves ter @arorankita.

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 39 SCIENCE& ART A molecular biologist by day and a science artist by night MEET BEATA MIERZWA

By Martina G. Efeyini IFTHENCOLLECTION.ORG eata Mierzwa is a postdoctoral opera company in Vienna and cre- researcher at the Ludwig Insti- ates oil paintings, taught her how to Btute for Cancer Research at the draw and paint. Her father repaired University of California, San Diego. electronic devices professionally and She is also an artist with a growing now does engineering projects, such science art brand. as building a 3D printer from scratch, At the bench in the labs of Karen on the side. Oegema and Arshad Desai, Mierzwa In high school, Mierzwa enjoyed studies the cell division machinery. crafting and learned how to sew her “I use genomewide CRISPR own clothes. But, she said, she did screens to discover new genes that are not know she could combine science essential for these cell type-specific and art in a career, so she focused divisions,” she said. “Uncovering such solely on science. genes has the potential to identify While she was earning her com- new targets for cancer therapy, open- bined bachelor’s and master’s degree Beata Mierzwa uses science art in her fashions. ing up new and exciting avenues to in molecular biology from the Univer- “What keeps me going is really the passion,” she treat cancer in the future.” sity of Vienna, she interned at several said. “I love working on something that nobody Through her brand, Beata Sci- laboratories. She finished her master’s has ever seen before.” ence Art, she creates illustrations for thesis at the ETH Zürich in Switzer- other scientists and research groups, land in Daniel Gerlich’s laboratory including journal covers and art for and continued working in his group scientific presentations. at the Institute of Molecular Biotech- “One thing that I really enjoy nology in Austria, where she earned about making drawings and illustra- her Ph.D. in molecular biology. tions for other people is that it doesn’t While working on her Ph.D., she really feel like I get disconnected from noticed the beauty of cell division un- science,” she said. “I read a lot of sci- der a microscope and wanted to find a entific papers … and learn about all way to incorporate art into her work. the amazing discoveries that are being With support from her group made right now.” leader and the communications department at her institute, she began Using science as a tool working on art projects in her spare time in 2013 and recognized that to create art art is a powerful tool for science Mierzwa was born in Poland and communication. grew up in Austria. Her mother, As a scientist, she said, “Tradition- who works as a makeup artist at an ally, the only kind of value you get

40 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART COURTESY OF BEATA MIERZWA

from your scientific work is publica- to print on fabric. She said she is Beata Mierzwa presents her science art at an tions. Science communication is just learning how to draw on a tablet and exhibit. Shown are, from left, paintings titled as important; it’s just not measured create animations. “Chromosome Segregation,” “The Final Cut” and the same way.” “Once I started sharing my art “CRISPR Arrow Poison.” She started Beata Science Art to online, people were reaching out to create scientific illustrations and me — authors who want to submit a science-inspired clothing. She said she cover for their accepted manuscripts, aims to show the beauty of cell divi- editors from scientific journals or sion and communicate science across research groups who want to illustrate audiences. their research. Most of my commis- “My biggest science art inspirations sions are drawings for journal covers are Ahna Skop and David Goodsell, that illustrate specific research papers, I realized people could both of whom have been pioneers but sometimes I get other exciting re- “ remember my research even in bringing together art and science quests too (like space mission patches throughout their careers,” she said. “I or award medals). I love the variety of years after I presented it,” also admire the artists M.C. Escher projects and that I get to learn some- and Vladimir Kush, who create sur- thing new every time,” she said. Mierzwa said. “I realized real worlds through fusing seeming there’s a whole community unrelated elements and imagery.” Illustrating research In 2017, she opened her Etsy about science and art; store, which has had more than 1,300 for clients sales and is a top-rated shop for gifts, During the day, Mierzwa works everyone is approaching it in with five out of five stars. Her best- in the lab doing experiments or data a different way.” selling items are science-themed face analysis (due to the pandemic, she masks, specifically her cell-division is doing more computational work). microscopy images and drawings of Then, in the evenings and on week- chromosome segregation designs. She ends, she works on other projects also sells scarves, ties, art prints and including art and outreach. science jewelry crafting kits. Clients generally contact her via For fashions, she uses images from email for commission projects, and the microscope to create patterns they discuss a timeline that will work

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 41 SCIENCE& ART

so she can create the science art to the University of Southern Califor- the Advancement of Science IF/ meet their needs. nia Bridge Institute. THEN Initiative and the American Research is the first step in any art Society for Cell Biology COMPASS project Mierzwa tackles. She begins Looking into the future Outreach Grant. by learning about the topic in order Along with using art to com- “In a perfect world, I would ab- to determine the best way to illustrate municate science, one of Mierzwa’s solutely love to continue doing both the core findings. Usually, the client goals is to make science accessible to science and art … I cannot imagine sends her a manuscript to read. all, especially young girls. stopping either of them. We will see After making a detailed pencil She is a AAAS IF/THEN Ambas- what the future brings,” she said. drawing on paper, she takes a high- sador and the vice chair of Young To find out more about Beata resolution scan of the drawing and Women in Bio–Southern California Mierzwa’s work, check out her web- then adds the colors digitally. and works with girls who are inter- site or follow her on Twitter. So far, she has made covers for the ested in science careers. EMBO Journal, Nature Genetics, She recently released the preview Martina G. Efeyini (mefeyini@ and Molecular Biology Evolution. of a science-themed video game gmail.com) is a toxicologist, sci- ence communicator and advocate (See them in the gallery section of her that she designed. Called Micros- for the next generation of scien- website.) copya, the game helps the player tists. She works at the University Also, she recently presented her understand the inside of the cell. of Maryland, Baltimore, CURE Scholars Program and is a ca- work at the 11th International Meet- This project is funded by a grant reers columnist for ASBMB Today. ing on Visualizing Biological Data at from the American Association for Follow her on Twitter @mefeyini.

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE Extracellular vesicle studies: From benchtop to therapeutics

July 21–23 | Virtual

Submit your abstract by May 27: asbmb.org/meetings-events/extracellular-vesicle-studies

42 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART ‘Become the protein’ Scientists put their best feet forward for ‘Dance your Ph.D.’ contest

By Laurel Oldach

athered on a rooftop in RACHEL LEICHER/YOUTUBE masks, rapping about aerosol particle formation, GFinnish physicist Jakub Kubečka and his team won the grand prize in this year’s “Dance your Ph.D.” contest. The American Association for the Advancement of Science and Sci- ence magazine contest, now in its 13th year and with a new corporate sponsor, artificial intelligence com- pany Primer, invited researchers from across the sciences to film a dance video explaining their dissertation research. The winners, selected by a Rachel Leicher, a Rockefeller University student, appears in a still from a breakdance video she filmed panel of professional dancers and arti- with lab mates and friends. Leicher studies the polycomb repressive complex, PRC2. ficial intelligence researchers, received cash prizes of up to $2,500. advisor gives you a hard project? You Where viewers once could expect become the protein.” to see troupes of scientists perform- Leicher, a graduate student at ing together, this year’s competi- Rockefeller University in New York, Many biologists choreographed tion looked a little different. Many said she enjoyed watching past entries were solo projects, and others “Dance your Ph.D.” videos and had dances in which they played the involved masked dancers who kept a fun choreographing her single-mole- proteins they study. careful distance from each other. Still, cule studies of the polycomb repres- scientists found fun and accessible sive complex. One particular chal- ways to represent their work in mo- lenge was depicting how the complex tion: One plant biologist imagined brings nucleosomes (portrayed by synthesis of terpenes as a tap dancing Leicher’s lab mates and friends) into step — and mutant plants as bare- proximity, while observing social dis- foot dancers unable to make sounds. tancing requirements. She solved the A researcher studying invertebrate problem with a break-dancing move motility restyled the lyrics of a well- that let her sweep her legs toward the known Ed Sheeran song to as “Come other dancers without approaching on now, follow my cantibead.” them. Many biologists choreographed “Yes, these (proteins) are making dances in which they played the pro- contacts with each other, but they’re teins they study. As the caption in a not covalently bound,” she said. “Not video by entrant Rachel Leicher put having people physically touching it, “What do you do when your Ph.D. might actually be more realistic.”

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 43 SCIENCE& ART

Leicher said that she planned to use clips from the video when she defended her dissertation in March 2021 “Dance your Ph.D.” winners to make the talk more accessible to nonscientists in the audience. Krishna Zivraj–Nair, a science OVERALL & PHYSICS: Jakub Kubečka, Ph.D. student at the University writer and dance teacher in Eng- land, envisioned the protein she of Helsinki | “Formation, structure and stability of atmospheric molecular studied when she was a graduate clusters” student, which is involved in mRNA transport in neurons, as a mother CHEMISTRY: Mikael Minier, software engineer who recently earned guiding her child on a journey. She cast her son as the mRNA and her his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology | “Biomimetic daughter as the resulting protein carboxylate-bridged diiron complexes: From solution behavior to modeling in an imagined travel diary filmed the secondary coordination sphere” at home during the U.K.’s second lockdown. Heather Masson–Forsythe, a SOCIAL SCIENCES: Magdalena Dorner–Pau, a postdoctoral researcher graduate student in biophysics at at the University of Graz, Austria | “Playful (de)scribers. Examination of Oregon State University, won the COVID-19 research category with a performative methods for the promotion of descriptive skills of children In video about the SARS-CoV-2 nu- linguistically diverse elementary school classes using the example of image cleocapsid protein, whose structure description” she studies using nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, spectroscopy. Her representation of the protein’s BIOLOGY: Fanon Julienne, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Le structure and its molecular tumbling Mans, Paris | “Fragmentation of plastics: Effect of the environment and the in an NMR tube is a highlight of the nature of the polymer on the size and the shape of generated fragments” video. “I knew that I wanted to show very structured versus very disor- COVID-19: Heather Masson–Forsythe, a graduate student at Oregon dered proteins,” she said. “And so I State University | “Biochemical and biophysical studies of the COVID-19 just freestyle danced being structured and stuck in one place, versus a nucleocapsid protein with RNA” disordered protein that had a lot of movement.” Masson–Forsythe organized the solo video like a scientific paper, with each section set in a differ- ent location and choreographed in a different dance style; for the introduction, she chose ballet, call- ing it “the basis of all dance,” while she performed the forward-looking future directions section as a hip-hop routine. Masson–Forsythe, who also runs a popular TikTok channel aimed at making science fun for teenagers from diverse backgrounds, said the

44 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART HEATHER MASSON–FORSYTHE/YOUTUBE

Heather Masson–Forsythe, a graduate student at Oregon State University, filmed her video about the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein in several locations, with sequential dance styles chosen to match the flow of a scientific paper.

pandemic has made it easier to at- Laurel Oldach (loldach@ tract viewers to biochemistry-themed asbmb.org) is a science writer videos. for the ASBMB. Follow her on “That’s kind of an amazing result Twitter @LaurelOld. of a terrible thing,” she said, adding, “People really think it’s delightful to see dancing in the lab.” KRISHNA ZIVRAJ–NAIR/YOUTUBE

Science writer and dance teacher Krishna Zivraj–Nair plays a transporter protein guiding her son, an mRNA, from one part of a neuron to another. Zivraj–Nair’s daughter also appears in the video.

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 45 SCIENCE& ART Advocacy for Black women’s well-being blends science and art By Latavia Hill COURTESY OF SHANNON BONO

Shannon Bono, a London-based artist, began her ith the goal of helping to master’s degree in arts and sciences at studies as a biochemistry student and earned a provide accessible health Central Saint Martin’s University of master’s degree in arts and sciences at Central care for Black women, Art and Design in London. Saint Martin’s University of Art and Design. WShannon Bono initially considered a Although she decided not to study career in medicine as an OB/GYN. medicine, Bono maintained a strong A “lack of exposure to black female interest in cell biology, microbiology artists and family pressures” led her and anatomy, and she uses this imag- to pursue an undergraduate degree in ery “to metaphorically and sometimes biochemistry rather than art, she said. literally depict what is occurring During her undergraduate years, internally to the central figures” in Bono determined that the best way her works, she said. Bono’s parents are for her to combine science with ad- from Sierra Leone and the Demo- vocacy for the Black female body was cratic Republic of the Congo, so she through her art. Since her education also uses colors and designs from Af- always had included both the arts and rican fabrics and female figures from the sciences, she seamlessly merged African artifacts in her works to pay these two passions and completed a homage to her origins. Completing

46 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART ethnographic and archival research for COURTESY OF SHANNON BONO her artwork, she said, “has increased my intrigue with African spiritualities and my own family history.” Now a visual artist and associate lecturer at the University of the Arts London, Bono views it as her mission to educate others on the issues and successes of minority individuals, with a focus on exploring the totality of Black womanhood. She also would like to change per- ceptions about art. When Bono was a master’s student, she said, she looked around her art history class and noted, “There isn’t much diversity.” Shannon Bono combines images from biology and news photos She now wishes to “help decolonize in this work titled “Na yu wan grain mi get!” the curriculum” to ensure that all art- ists are represented and that nonwhite “Say their names” piece, which pays During her undergraduate culture is appreciated. Her interest homage to six minority women, years, Bono determined in this area is fueled by examples of including Breonna Taylor, who were Black women in history, such as Sarah victims of racial injustice. that the best way for her Baartman, a South African Khoik- In what she describes as “attempts hoi woman who faced brutal objectifi- to decolonize the curriculum,” Bono to combine science with cation in 19th-century Europe due to started her academic teaching practice advocacy for the Black her distinct body features. in 2020. She recently completed a The recent Black Lives Matter residency as a painting tutor at The female body was through worldwide protests, issues affecting Koppel Project Campus, a nonprofit transgender women in the U.S. and providing communal studio and event her art. U.K., and the disproportionate effect spaces in central London. She also is that the COVID-19 pandemic has completing a postgraduate certificate had on minority people have been in academic practice with a focus in the focus of Bono’s 2020 series titled art, design and communication. She “Lock Down.” One example is her has been part of numerous group exhibitions, and her art has been Shannon Bono celebrates her African heritage featured in several publications. with images of African artifacts in pieces such as Bono says the most rewarding this one, “Untitled (Mangbetu).” part of her work is the “therapeutic de-stress” of painting and the creative process. Specifically, she enjoys spend- ing time in her studio and trying new techniques for future artwork.

Latavia Hill ([email protected]) is a graduate student studying microbiology at the University of ON THE WEB Kansas. See more of Shannon Bono’s work on her website, bono-art.com, and on Instagram @bonoart.

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 47 SCIENCE& ART Picture this The 2nd annual JBC Methods Madness tournament

f you’ve ever been part of a March Madness office pool, you know the drill. Fill out your brackets to predict which National College Athletic Association basketball teams will prevail, put a dollar in the Ikitty, and then cringe as your brackets get busted — usually well before the Final Four. Well this is the Journal of Biological Chemistry version, so instead of teams we bring you competing scientific methods and a chance to sway the outcome with votes (and maybe some trash talk) on Twit- ter. As this issue of ASBMB Today goes to press, we just learned that #TeamMassSpec is the 2021 champion, beating out last year’s winner, #TeamCryo-EM, in a nail-biter, every-vote-counts finish. Vic De Luz OK, not exactly like March Madness — but we do have some pretty adorable team mascots. Thanks to Vic De Luz, the executive assistant in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s publications department, our competing methods have been brought to life. Check out De Luz’s images and descriptions on these pages, and look for details of the 2021 Methods Madness tourney at asbmb.org/asbmb-today.

3D organoids A nostalgic pair of paper anaglyph glasses highlights this organoid’s 3D distinction.

Advanced chromatography In the same way a prism divides white light into its colorful spectrum of wavelengths, chromatography separates a mixture into its components.

48 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 SCIENCE& ART

Advanced live-cell imaging It’s tough to encapsulate all the advancements in live-cell imaging in one cartoon, so this cell-fie gets at the broader concept.

Sanger sequencing I focused on the chain termination step of Sanger sequencing here, in which the target DNA is “clipped” into fragments of various lengths.

Super-resolution imaging I’m always enchanted by mega–high-resolution photos when I see them online. I wanted to evoke that same sense of massive scale and clarity here, even though spotting a single cell from space might be hyperbolic (for now).

Machine learning A self-improving algorithm is a pretty abstract concept to draw, but the human mind improves with experience the same way. Therefore, I’ve plugged a familiar-looking brain into a computer.

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 49 SCIENCE& ART

Cryo-EM Last year’s winner, cryogenic electron microscopy, is literally the coolest imaging method, represented by this icy microscope. Stay frosty, #TeamCryo!

Immunoblotting Sometimes a name demands a pun. This is one of my favorites — a Western blot.

X-ray crystallography Possibly the cutest method mascot, this little guy has Rosalind Franklin’s iconic “Photo 51” of DNA’s double-helix structure as a big round eye.

Mass spectrometry Some of these came out more sports-mascot–like than others. #TeamMassSpec won this year’s championship, making a strong comeback in 2021, just like my mass- building spectrogram here.

Molecular cloning A lot of widely used methods in BMB seek similar goals — to differentiate this image from PCR’s, I leaned on Dolly the sheep, the original cloning mascot.

50 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The Journal of Biological Chemistry

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology welcomes nominations and applications for the position of editor-in-chief of The Journal of Biological Chemistry. The JBC publishes original research that makes novel and important contributions to the study of the molecular and cellular bases of biological processes. The next editor-in-chief should be a public- facing thought leader, a committed advocate for authors and readers, a leader who listens and delegates, and an active researcher of significant accomplishment.

Candidates should possess:

• broad, general knowledge of biological chemistry; • strategic planning experience; • a commitment to publishing the very best science; • an appreciation for data-driven decision-making; • the ability and desire to recruit outstanding scientists to serve as contributors, associate editors and editorial board members; • a willingness to provide sustained and consistent editorial direction; • proven interpersonal, communication, leadership and coalition-building skills; and • scientific editorial experience.

The editor-in-chief will:

• provide visionary strategic editorial direction that continuously improves the Journal’s stature, • act as the steward of the quality of the journal’s scientific content; • engage with ASBMB senior management and elected leadership; • establish and refine journal policies and editorial guidelines; • lead inclusive, productive meetings for board members and associate editors; • respond to media requests and actively participate on social media; • cooperate with ASBMB journal staff; • represent the journal at meetings and other venues; and • write quarterly (or more frequent) editorials.

The editor-in-chief will serve a five-year term, with the possibility of reappointment, beginning July 1, 2021. ASBMB will provide administrative support and a stipend.

A search committee appointed by the president of ASBMB will review nominations and applications.

Nominations and applications will be reviewed until the position is filled. Send to the ASBMB Editor-in-Chief Search Committee c/o ASBMB Director of Publications, Isabel Casas ([email protected]) PERSPECTIVES Lessons from plants: A changing environment

By Beronda Montgomery

The following is an excerpt from they scan the environ- Beronda Montgomery’s new book, ment and assess what “Lessons From Plants,” published responses they need by Harvard University Press. to make. Based on the information they gather, vividly remember one of the they are able to alter first science experiments I their behavior, morphol- Iever performed, when I was in ogy, and physiology in response to changes in kindergarten. By watching a simple bean seedling grow, I learned about their surroundings. the remarkable ability of plants to Most of us know that adapt to their environment — and bean seedlings, like other now, decades later, I am still in awe green plants, use light to at that ability. The experiment was make food through the coordinated by my kindergarten process of photosynthesis. teacher, who instructed each of But few of us know the us to grow a bean seedling on a fascinating details of how

windowsill at home. We were to PRESS UNIVERSITY HARVARD they respond to shifting put wet cotton balls or some wet light conditions. Light soil in the bottom of a plastic influences plants from the cup, add a few beans, and ob- very beginning of their life serve them daily. One day when cycle; while still under- I looked at my beans, I made an ground, some seeds are exciting discovery. I noticed that a and spindly. The teacher explained stimulated by light to germinate. crack had appeared in one of them, that these differences depended While the root follows gravity to and a tiny root was emerging from on how much light we’d each had grow downward, the shoot grows the crack. Then, in the days that coming through our window. If upward toward the light. The first followed, a stem began to emerge the windowsill was shady, the plant leaves to appear are the embryonic from the other end of the bean, would grow tall to try to reach the leaves, or cotyledons. They accu- and tiny leaves unfurled. Reaching light. This was my first exposure to mulate molecules of the pigment toward the sun in our window, the an essential feature of plants — that chlorophyll, which “captures” light bean plant continued to grow. they are exquisitely attuned not just energy. The bean seedling’s leaves A few weeks later, the teacher to light levels, but to a whole array of appear green to the human eye asked all of us to bring in our environmental conditions. because chlorophyll absorbs red seedlings for show and tell. The Plants are aware of light, water and blue light, leaving the green plants, I was surprised to see, were availability and moisture level, and portion of the visible spectrum to not all the same: Some were short nutrient abundance in the soil. They pass through or be reflected. The and stocky, while others were tall perceive changes in these factors as photoreceptors in our eyes see the

52 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 PERSPECTIVES

wavelengths that are not used by called “antennae,” that trap and light-gathering system, plants light-gathering photosynthetic transport light energy to “reac- maximize their energy production pigments. tion centers,” where the chemical to support essential activities. As the seedling continues to reactions take place. The efficiency At the same time that a newly grow and mature, its leaves stretch with which plants collect, convert, sprouted seedling is making these toward the sun to gather pho- and harness energy can easily rival adjustments within the cells, it is tons — quanta of electromagnetic any solar cell. But the bean plant in also adjusting its stem and leaves in energy. Chlorophyll molecules in your garden can do something no an effort to maximize light absorp- the leaves convert light energy to solar cell can currently do — it can tion. The difference in height of chemical energy. That energy is modify its light-gathering structures the bean seedlings that my fellow then used to turn carbon dioxide in response to dynamic external kindergartners and I had brought into carbohydrates. It is through cues such as dim versus bright light, to class was the result of coordi- this process of photosynthesis — or a change in the predominance of nated communication between the the harvesting of sunlight to drive different colors of light. seedlings’ tissues and organs based conversion of inorganic carbon, in Experiments that my laboratory on available light. Stem position is the form of carbon dioxide, to fixed and others have conducted with vitally important, since it deter- carbon, in the form of sugars — plants and cyanobacteria — bac- mines the location of the leaves, that plants make their food. teria that carry out photosynthesis and it is the leaves that absorb the The bean’s new leaves are not — reveal a remarkable ability to light required for producing chemi- just passive recipients of light. They adjust the light-gathering system cal energy and sugars. When the make adjustments depending on to adapt to different light condi- leaves sense that they are in a favor- how much light they receive. But tions. If light is too dim, levels able position for receiving adequate how do they measure the light? Sci- of photosynthesis can be too low light, they send a chemical “stop” entists have discovered that plants to provide the organism’s energy signal to the stem, which inhibits are able to detect the number of needs. But too much light exposure further elongation. This process, photons absorbed by a unit of leaf is also detrimental. When available known as de-etiolation, results in surface area per unit of time. The light exceeds the capacity for light plants with short stems and well- rate of photons hitting the surface absorption, the excess energy can developed leaves. If the leaves are of a leaf affects many plant pro- generate toxic byproducts. What a not able to harvest enough energy cesses because it controls the rate plant wants to do is to maximize because of poor light conditions, of photosynthetic reactions; more light absorption while limiting however, they send a “go” signal photons means more excited elec- damage. It does this by “tuning” its to the stem to elongate, with the trons, which means faster reactions. light-harvesting system to external goal of getting the leaves into bet- The chlorophyll molecules that light conditions. ter light. This process, etiolation, are central to this calculation of Plants and photosynthetic bac- results in seedlings with long stems photon density are contained in teria tune their antennae in several and few leaves. complex light-gathering systems, ways. They are able to match the specific light-harvesting proteins contained in the antennae to the Beronda Montgomery ([email protected]) is MSU wavelengths of light available. Foundation professor in the They can also adjust the size of departments of biochemistry and their light-harvesting complexes; molecular biology and microbiol- ogy and molecular genetics at these complexes become larger in Michigan State University. Her low light conditions, to increase lab studies how individuals light absorption, and smaller in perceive, respond to and are affected by their environments, bright conditions, to limit potential including responses of photosyn- damage. It is an intricate balance thetic organisms to external light to obtain just enough but not too cues. She is a member of the ASBMB Today editorial advisory much light energy. Through these board. Follow her on Twitter complex modifications of their @BerondaM.

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 53 PERSPECTIVES Early-career scientists need pandemic relief funds By Sarina Neote

he COVID-19 pandemic has These new challenges sit atop long- “It was either you had to just come affected workers in every sector standing ones faced by early-career into the labs and risk your safety or Tof the American economy. In the scientists, including limited research just end up having to lose months and biomedical enterprise, early-career sci- funding and intense job competition. months of work,” said Dominique entists, especially those from histori- Federal science agencies are work- Baldwin, a third-year Ph.D. student at cally underrepresented backgrounds, ing to quantify the pandemic’s effects Indiana University. Baldwin contin- have been hardest hit. on the education and career prospects ues to conduct research in his lab University campus closures have of gradu- but within the limitations of social- limited access to classrooms and ate students, distancing measures in place. labs, delaying degree and research postdoctoral Early-career scientists certainly project completion. Social distancing scholars and need support from their institutions has made hands-on instruction and new investiga- and colleagues. But more importantly, in-person collaboration impossible, tors, but in the they need help from the federal gov- slowing learning, innovation and meantime, those ernment, which has the most to lose if problem-solving. Increased domestic early-career BALDWIN they ultimately leave the science, tech- and caregiving responsibilities have scientists are nology, engineering and mathematics eaten up both time and mental band- desperate for help — and having to workforce. The federal government, width, especially for women. make difficult decisions. after all, has invested taxpayer dollars,

54 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 PERSPECTIVES

in the form of research grants, in their a significant loss of STEM talent. relief funds specifically for junior now-imperiled careers. Prior to the pandemic, numer- women in STEM, more of them will The American Society for Bio- ous studies showed that women and complete their education or train- chemistry and Molecular Biology is minorities are pushed out of STEM ing and persist in the STEM work- urging Congress to pass immediate, fields at nearly every career transition force. The ASBMB’s policy proposal targeted COVID-19 relief for junior or milestone and that women who strongly recommends a prioritization scientists. In a policy proposal released stop doing research find it especially strategy that ensures that women of Feb. 9, the society recommended that difficult to reenter the research color and other minorities, specifi- Congress provide an additional year of enterprise. cally, get the funds they need. funding for students and early-career The pandemic is exacerbating these researchers whose grants expired in existing challenges. 2020 before they could complete their A study published in Nature Not enough time in the lab training and research. Human Behavior in July found that Prior to the pandemic, scientists Several publications, such as a women have been hit with a double reported spending an average of 61 report in August by the Council of whammy during COVID. “Female hours per week on planning experi- Governmental Relations and a white scientists and scientists with young ments, collecting or analyzing data, paper in January by the nonpartisan dependents reported that their ability fundraising, and other administrative research organization NORC at the to devote time to their research has or clinical duties. University of Chicago, have recom- been substantially affected, and these New standards for research opera- mended that institutions extend effects appear additive: the impact is tions have redefined how scientists do deadlines for graduate students and most pronounced for female scientists their work for the past year. These in- postdocs by at least one full year after with young dependents,” the authors clude restricted access to laboratories, the pandemic ends, if not longer. wrote. social distancing within labs, stag- Doing so would allow STEM students The COVID-19 childcare crisis has gered shift scheduling and additional to complete high-quality research and resulted in women leaving the U.S. time required to clean lab space and would increase the likelihood that workforce at a rate four times higher equipment. they’ll remain in STEM fields. than men. Total working hours for scientists But many institutions simply do Women of color, in particular, are have decreased by 11% on average, not have the money to support such bearing the brunt of this public health and time devoted to research itself extensions. Without federal support, crisis. Health disparities created and has declined by 24%, according to the vulnerable but valuable scientists are perpetuated by structural racism put study in Nature Human Behavior. at risk of dropping out of the biomed- them at higher risk of experiencing By September, eight out of 10 ical workforce — at a time when they severe COVID-19. Not only do they postdoctoral researchers reported the are needed most. have higher rates of preexisting condi- pandemic had hampered their ability tions, but they also are more likely to conduct experiments or collect Negative impact on science to live in multigenerational house- data, according to a survey of 7,670 holds that make social distancing and postdocs by the journal Nature. career trajectory isolation difficult. The graduate students ASBMB According to the National Insti- It is no surprise that they are Today talked to tutes of Health’s COVID-19 impact experiencing more cases, hospitaliza- also reported survey, released in November, 65% tions and deaths and, on top of that, productivity of trainees believe the pandemic the biggest economic losses compared declines. will have a negative impact on their with other groups. “The careers. If these trends continue, the STEM pandemic has They’re not wrong. workforce will be significantly less slowed down According to the National Science diverse, reversing the gains that all myself and MAGRINO Foundation, significant career gaps, women, women of color specifically, others because such as running out of federal grant and other underrepresented minorities labs are working in shifts,” said Joseph funding or delaying the completion have made in recent decades. Magrino, a Ph.D. candidate study- of graduate education, could result in If Congress establishes pandemic ing macromolecular machines at the

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 55 PERSPECTIVES

University of Massachusetts Medical were most likely to report being nega- extensions, junior scientists will have School. “You have to socially distance tively impacted by being physically more time to work with their PIs, in some capacity, and that has been a separated from colleagues. more time to spend collaborating and major hurdle.” That includes people in their own troubleshooting with members of Others have been able to do at least cohort. Student–student interac- their cohort, and more time to net- some of their research from home. tions facilitate learning while doing work and disseminate their research. Baldwin’s principal investigator at research, but social distancing requires Indiana University runs the medical staggered shifts in the lab. Role of federal agencies school’s proteomics core. “Because our Magrino said that for first-year lab is a big data-focused lab, one of graduate students, working with oth- After the U.S. Department of the luxuries for us is that there’s a lot ers in your cohort is vital to under- Health and Human Services de- of research time spent on a computer standing challenging research papers clared a public health emergency for analyzing data,” Baldwin said. and to overcoming roadblocks in COVID-19 in January 2020, the experiments. NIH extended short-term administra- Productivity and Julia de Amorim, a Ph.D. can- tive flexibilities to NIH applicants didate at Emory University, agreed: and recipients. Other federal fund- dissemination affected “I definitely relied heavily on my ing agencies, such as the NSF and Junior scientists are having fewer classmates — not just for actual the Department of Energy, instituted interactions with their mentors and understanding similar administrative flexibilities, but colleagues, which also reduces of the material, few policy changes have addressed the productivity. but, you know, unique challenges that junior scien- It’s important for junior scientists, moral support.” tists are facing. and especially women and under- Baldwin In early February, the NIH issued a represented minorities, to work with added: “A lot notice allowing recipients of fellow- mentors. But as demands on every- of what I’ve ship (“F”) and career-development (“K”) awards to request extensions. body’s time have increased during the learned has DE AMORIM pandemic, maintaining mentee–men- been from other But those extensions will be granted tor relationships has become more students in the lab. Now, there’s a only “within the existing constraints difficult. lot of times, if something is going of available funding.” “An increasing challenge is that wrong, I have to wait for my weekly Aside from processing daily grant (your) PI — they don’t need to come meeting (with my PI).” He said that payments, extending deadlines for to campus,” Magrino said. “I see my has caused a significant delay in his submitting proposals, and continuing mentor mostly virtually. He used to research and added stress. to provide stipend payments to fel- come in every day to check in on us. Finally, graduate students and lows and trainees who may be unable And now he has a million more tasks postdoctoral fellows have missed out to work as a result of COVID-19, to do.” on in-person scientific conferences federal agencies have few other op- As the pandemic extends well into at which they present their work, tions to support junior scientists. 2021, established scientists are figur- network with lab heads and hiring As the NIH struggles to sustain ing out how to network with junior managers, and exchange ideas. funding and funding extensions scientists and maintain relationships “An integral part of science is shar- for its scientists while prioritizing that might have eroded during the ing science, and we did that through COVID-19 research, other fields of pandemic. Social media, in particular, live talks with speakers or confer- research are suffering. has played a crucial role in connecting ences. Now that everything is virtual, Magrino said he is concerned scientists with one another. it is so hard,” de Amorim said. about the future of funding for However, more than half of the Grant extensions would make a junior scientists who do fundamental respondents in the Nature survey over real difference by giving junior scien- research: “I worry that we’re going the summer said they were finding it tists more time with their currently to lose funding or opportunities for harder to share their work with their overextended PIs and members of funding for things ... that don’t have lab heads or colleagues. And according their cohort. an immediate translational attribute. to the NIH impact survey, trainees If federal agencies provide grant The basic sciences are not well-funded

56 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 PERSPECTIVES

anymore, from a graduate school Spark the Economy Act, or the RISE at risk of losing a vital component perspective.” Act, and the Supporting Early-Career of the STEM workforce. This is why Terri Goss Kinzy, vice president for Researchers Act. But neither of these the ASBMB is calling for targeted research and innovation at Western bills focuses on supporting the most COVID-19 relief for STEM gradu- Michigan University and chair of vulnerable groups within the scientific ate students, postdoctoral fellows and the ASBMB’s Public Affairs Advisory community. others in similar positions. Committee, said that continuing Re-introduced in the 117th Con- “Taxpayers invested in the training to support basic research and the gress, the RISE Act, if passed, would of the next generation of American STEM workforce that conducts basic authorize nearly $25 billion to sup- scientists,” said Benjamin Corb, the research is more important than ever. port U.S. researchers whose non– ASBMB’s public affairs director. “For “The COVID-19 pandemic has coronavirus-related research has been those junior scientists who were close demonstrated the power of basic affected by the pandemic. More than to completion and were hurt by the research on mRNA to drive the de- 300 organizations have endorsed the pandemic — we owe it to them and velopment of a new approach to vac- RISE Act, but it continues to stall in to the enterprise to help see them cines,” she said. “While we all worry Congress as lawmakers grapple with through these hard times.” about deficits and possible future the next COVID-19 relief package. While supplemental funding will spending cuts, we can all do our part The Supporting Early-Career not solve all the challenges junior to remind Congress of the impor- Researchers Act would authorize the scientists are facing as a result of the tance of basic research in solving the NSF to establish a two-year pilot pro- pandemic, an additional year of fund- nation’s problems.” gram to award grants to early-career ing would help retain talent when the investigators to carry out independent American research enterprise badly Congress should act research programs at their institu- needs it. Federal lawmakers recognize tions. While this would support future that the scientific community needs junior scientists, it would not address Sarina Neote (sneote@ support. the impacts of the pandemic on cur- asbmb.org) is the ASBMB’s sci- ence policy manager. Follow her Two bills introduced in Congress rent ones. on Twitter @SNeote. would help mitigate the impact of If junior scientists don’t get the COVID-19 on the research com- support that they desperately need, munity: the Research Investment to the American research enterprise is

Call for 2022 ASBMB Award Nominations

Submit your nominations or apply by May 5 asbmb.org/career-resources/ awards-grants-fellowships/annual-awards

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 57 ESSAY How can we recognize and reward innovation in teaching?

By Adele J. Wolfson

itations, and the metrics they the departments thought that the they do not encourage dialog generate, are the currency combined course seemed like a between author and reader. The Cof academia. Faculty worry waste of resources. It would have authors don’t typically know how about h-factors, and journals about strengthened our argument for well the innovation worked in impact factors. Long ago, calculat- continuing the offering to hear that a new setting or how widely it ing these numbers was the work of others thought it a worthwhile idea, spread in a department or institu- statisticians; now they can be deter- and it might have improved our tion. mined by any author or editor. course cluster to know how other Instructors reading and using In addition to the influence these instructors were imagining their publications about pedagogy statistics have on careers, citations own integrated one. are like physicians reading case can open up a dialog between those I am not talking about discipline- studies — the paper may inform citing and those cited. Whether the based education research, known their own practice, but that rarely paper citing your work is acknowl- as DBER, or the scholarship of feeds back to the original author. edging, refuting or building on your teaching and learning. Publications To some extent, this is even true results, you know that your research in these fields are referenced like any for DBER papers, whose findings is being read about and scrutinized. other type of research, although, for do generate more research but You may develop new ideas based reasons discussed below, they still also simply are incorporated into on the papers that reference yours. are cited less often than laboratory classroom methods. This is a productive and progressive research. I am discussing papers that Several years ago, I brain- loop. describe a new course, a new lab stormed with a group of librar- However, for one group of module, a case study or problem- ians and educational technology authors, citations fail to capture based learning exercise, or any other types on how the relatively new readership and, more importantly, teaching innovation that takes into field of altmetrics might improve don’t allow for that dialog. Publica- account how students learn, what both recognition and feedback tions that describe curricular or the noted educator Ernest Boyer for instructors publishing their pedagogical innovations are cited called “scholarly teaching.” teaching ideas. In 2013, we pub- rarely, and their authors get little When instructors read these lished a short paper in the journal feedback about their impact. papers or find an innovation on a Biochemistry and Molecular Many years ago, two colleagues website such as CourseSource, they Biology Education about options and I published a paper about don’t write a new paper that builds for citation and recognition. There a set of combined introduction on the result — they introduce it in are, in fact, mechanisms to give to biology and introduction to their own classes. This benefits their credit to authors via some of these chemistry courses. Eventually, I students but doesn’t reflect back to metrics, and instructors should was approached by others thinking the original authors or give them build portfolios including these about such courses, but for a long any credit. views, downloads, blog mentions time it felt like my colleagues and I Online metrics such as views and and such when they are presenting were swimming against the stream, downloads address the question of credentials for reappointments, especially since some members of credit to some extent. However, promotion and tenure.

58 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 ESSAY COURTESY OF ADELE WOLFSON

Adele J. Wolfson, right, in her classroom on her last day of teaching at Wellesley College. To her left is Justin Armstrong, an anthropologist with whom she co- taught a first-year seminar titled “The Science and Culture of Blood.”

For feedback, however, simple the POGIL Project (an acronym for Citations can open up a courtesy may work best. In light process-oriented guided-inquiry learn- of our findings, I started citing the ing), and they also occur informally at dialog between those citing source of every assignment I used the small meetings organized by the and those cited. Whether or adapted on the handouts to American Society for Biochemistry students and telling colleagues when and Molecular Biology and Gordon the paper citing your work I appreciated their exercises and Research Conferences. Perhaps such is acknowledging, refuting case studies. This may not have a feedback can be built formally into widespread effect, but it indicated to poster sessions and talks at meetings, or building on your results, my own students that they should both large and small, and websites acknowledge all kinds of intellectual with educational materials can include you know that your research property in all settings, not just in more space for dialog. All of this — is being read about and formal publications. It also some- plus any other ideas that recognize times indicated to young scholars creative teaching activities alongside scrutinized. that I was aware of their work and creative research activities — would could be called on for recommenda- benefit the profession. tions and reviews. Some opportunities for feedback Adele J. Wolfson ([email protected]) is Schow already exist, of course, at meetings professor emerita and professor emerita of chemistry for long-standing networks such as at Wellesley College.

APRIL 2021 ASBMB TODAY 59 QFive Questions “Grad school is just the foundation” By Laurel Oldach

ebecca Krisher recently cause dangerous hyperstimulation. became the global director With IVM there’s zero incidence of Rof reproductive biology at hyperstimulation. the agricultural biotech company We were able to start from a Genus. She sat down virtually with treatment that did not exist in ASBMB Today to talk about some humans, develop and publish it in surprising similarities between in animal models, take it to a human vitro fertilization and animal breed- trial, and actually see it impact ing research. This interview has people’s lives. been edited and condensed; read a longer version at What are you working on asbmb.org/asbmbtoday. now? Rebecca Krisher   Tell me about the transi- 3The goal is to bring the entire tion from the Colorado breeding cycle in vitro and do CURRENT POSITION Center for Reproductive male–female pairings without ever Global director of reproductive Medicine to Genus. producing an animal: establishing biology, Genus 1At CCRM, I was focused on stem cells, differentiating them into FIRST JOB OUTSIDE OF ACADEMIA creating better human IVF treat- gametes, making an embryo, then Research director, Colorado ments, doing both very basic starting again. That is a huge task. Center for Reproductive Medi- cine, 2010–2020 discovery and translational work. It’s not going to happen in the next Here at Genus, we’re also doing year or maybe even five. But it’s so FAVORITE MOLECULE some basic work and some things enticing that everybody is pretty “Pyruvate!” we hope will turn into products. excited about it. I’m still doing IVF but with a dif- ferent purpose: to improve animal How did you land the job? What’s the most important genetics for food production. skill you didn’t learn in grad school? What’s the project 4A headhunter reached out because a lot of people had given you’re proudest to have 5Grad school is just the foundation him my name. At first, I said no. worked on? of your learning. There are so many I liked living in Colorado and had skills you learn afterward that are 2Human in vitro maturation. In reservations about big agriculture. critical to success. A lot of them fall IVM, you take the oocyte out of But after 10 years at CCRM, it into the managing people category. the follicle and hold it in meiotic was time to find a new challenge. Those are skills that I have constantly arrest, then release it and let it de- A few months later, he called back developed, often by word of mouth velop. It’s used extensively in cattle and told me about what they were from colleagues. but not in humans. trying to do and the resources they I saw an opportunity to offer had available. I spoke with the chief Laurel Oldach (loldach@ something better for patients scientific officer, and went through asbmb.org) is a science writer with polycystic ovarian syndrome. the interview process, and was im- for the ASBMB. Follow her on Historically, you had to be care- pressed not only with the resources Twitter @LaurelOld. ful with IVF in those patients, but with the really smart people. So because triggering ovulation can here I am.

60 ASBMB TODAY APRIL 2021 QFive Questions classifieds Postdoctoral Position Available Scientist, Cell Engineering, Discovery Department of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University Obsidian Therapeutics

A NIH-funded postdoctoral position is im- We are looking for a scientist with mediately available to join the Scaraffia re- a strong background in cell en- search group. Scaraffia´s lab is particularly gineering, cell biology, or related interested in unraveling the physiological, field to contribute to building biochemical, and molecular basis underlying the regulation of nitrogen Obsidian’s regulated gene editing program. The successful candidate will and carbon metabolism in mosquitoes, as well as in discovering new met- explore the ability to regulate the activity of gene editing proteins in cell abolic targets that can be used for the design of better mosquito–control lines and primary cells using a variety of delivery methods. This role will strategies. The successful candidate will apply traditional and modern be highly collaborative with other members of the team and across the biochemical approaches to investigate the mechanistic regulation of am- company to help build out a novel focus area for the Discovery team. monia metabolism in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. • Develop protocols to engineer cell lines and primary cells using trans- Requirements fection, lentiviral, and AAV delivery methods. • PhD degree in biochemistry or related discipline with a strong back- • Collaborate with the team to develop and execute assays to measure ground in protein biochemistry, and metabolic signaling regulation of gene editing in engineered cell lines and primary cells. • Research experience in metabolic studies • Interpret results, troubleshoot technical hurdles, and propose solutions • Documented experience in biochemical techniques including western to the team. blotting, immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence microscopy • Communicate with internal and external stakeholders. • Excellent communication skills and ability to work independently as well • Maintain excellent records of experiments in Electronic Notebook as part of a team entries. To apply, submit a single PDF file to [email protected] with the • Collaborate across Obsidian organization to support ongoing research subject Postdoc Application and include: projects by contributing insights and presenting to project teams, man- agement, and scientific teams. (1) a cover letter describing research interests (no more than1 page); (2) your curriculum vitae; and https://careers.asbmb.org/job/scientist-cell-engineering-discov- (3) contact information for three references. ery/56304373/

Research Laboratory Manager — Sahin Lab ResearchApplied BioMath, Associate LLC III / Scientist Boston Children’s Hospital BiochemistrySenior Scientist, Mathematical 1107716 Modeler stratacuity

At Boston Children’s Hospital, Our Cambridge based client the quality of our care – and our focused in Neurodegeneration inclusive hospital working envi- is seeking an exceptional RA III / ronment – lies in the diversity of our people. With patients from local Scientist to join their ranks! In this role, you will be pivotal in helping communities and 160 countries around the world, we’re committed to to execute and drive biochemical experiments that will help generate reflecting the spectrum of their cultures, while opening doors of op- data for go or no go decision early in the discovery life cycle. You will portunity for our team. Here, different talents pursue common goals. need to be a self driven, motivated individual to thrive in this role, Voices are heard and ideas are shared. Join us, and discover how your with a passion for early stage discovery. Apply now to learn more! unique contributions can change lives. Yours included. Primary Job Responsibilities: A research lab manager position is available in the Sahin Labora- tory. The Sahin Lab focuses on translational research in rare genetic Work independently and as part of a collaborative team to design, neurodevelopmental disorders, primary Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. plan, and execute experiments, including compound evaluation in Position will assist in the management of financial, research and both biochemical and cellular assays and study protein function in operational activities of a dynamic research laboratory. cellular and biochemistry/biophysics methods https://careers.asbmb.org/job/research-laboratory-manager-sahin- Data analysis using analysis software and database lab/56304240/ Compound handling and management

https://careers.asbmb.org/job/research-associate-iii-scientist- biochemistry-1107716/56304089/

To see a full list of jobs, please visit careers.asbmb.org The 2021 ASBMB Annual Meeting will be virtual! Join us April 27–30

SESSIONS AT THE 2021 ASBMB ANNUAL MEETING

Deepen your knowledge of research trends during sessions curated by pioneers and innovators at the ASBMB Annual Meeting, held in conjunction with Experimental Biology.

SESSION TRACKS: • Biochemistry of lipids and membranes • New developments in metabolism • Glycosylation and extracellular matrix in • RNA and disease development, repair and disease • Understanding the rules of life • Molecular mechanisms of cell signaling • Education and professional development • Molecular machines — structure and function

See all sessions and register at: asbmb.org/meetings-events/2021-annual-meeting

The ASBMB annual meeting is held in conjunction with Experimental Biology.