Vol. 14 / No. 7 / August 2015 Submit Your Next Paper to an ASBMB Journal!

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NEWS FEATURES PERSPECTIVES

2 18 40 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE MEET PATRICK SUNG MEMORIES OF HURRICANE KATRINA: Welcome Aboard! 10 YEARS LATER 21 3 IN CONVERSATION NEWS FROM THE HILL WITH RAYMOND CYPESS A step toward sustainability 5 25 MEMBER UPDATE INSIDE THIS SPECIAL 7 SECTION IN MEMORIAM 41 Introduction 42 "Part of the fabric of our existence" 43 "(S)eeing total darkness on the other side” 9 44 “I never was politically active before.” NEWS 45 “Institutions need to involve scientists" The protective breast 45 “More undergraduates ... than before" 10 46 JOURNAL NEWS ESSAY 10 New function for eHsp90 Fishing in life and the lab 11 Sphingolipid structural variants 12 Super-fast spins hurt lipoproteins 13 Tabor award winner 47 14 Better wine through better yeast hybrids GENERATIONS 15 The Achilles' heel of the MERS virus Nature or nurture? 16 26 Getting over the Ph.D. hump 48 LIPID NEWS 29 Is a master's degree right HOBBIES What's in your dimer? for you? 48 Q&A with Hal White 30 Finding the right graduate 50 ACDC: What's in the name? 14 program 32 Senior scientists share their 51 mistakes OUTREACH 33 Tips for myIDP users and their mentors 51 Resolving major issues with major selection 35 Recap: ASBMB grant-writing workshop 47 36 Teaching science in a creative way 38 Picking a postdoctoral position

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Welcome aboard! By Steven McKnight OFFICERS COUNCIL MEMBERS Steven McKnight Squire J. Booker President Karen G. Fleming Gregory Gatto Jr. Natalie Ahn Rachel Green he American Society for Bio- to generously share their time, talents President-Elect Susan Marqusee chemistry and Molecular Biology and attention with ASBMB. We Jared Rutter Karen Allen T election returns are just in, and are a society of scientists serving the Secretary Brenda Schulman our society is delighted to welcome a fields of biochemistry and molecular Michael Summers Toni Antalis new group of leaders: biology. We care about many things, Treasurer ASBMB TODAY EDITORIAL • President-elect: Natalie Ahn of the including education, the preservation ADVISORY BOARD University of Colorado Boulder of scientific rigor in our fields and EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Charles Brenner • Treasurer: Toni Antalis of the the importance of helping build and Squire Booker Chair Wei Yang Michael Bradley University of Maryland School of sustain an enterprise that is driven by Co-chairs, 2016 Annual Floyd “Ski” Chilton Medicine merit and totally committed to a fair Meeting Program Cristy Gelling • Council members: Committee Peter J. Kennelly Susan Marqusee and open playing field. Peter J. Kennelly Rajini Rao of the University of California, Berke- I close by affirming my delight Chair, Education and Yolanda Sanchez ley, Rachel Green of Johns Hopkins in the prospects of working with Professional Development Shiladitya Sengupta University School of Medicine, and President-elect Natalie Ahn over the Committee Carol Shoulders Wayne Fairbrother of Genentech next few years. Natalie and I have de- Daniel Raben Chair, Meetings Committee ASBMB TODAY • Nominating Committee members: cided to join forces in organizing the Angela Hopp Takita Felder Sumter Amy Rosenzweig of Northwestern 2017 annual meeting of the ASBMB, Executive Editor, Chair, Minority Affairs [email protected] University and Joan Broderick of and we have already worked together Committee Lauren Dockett Montana State University for the past two years on the ASBMB Thomas Baldwin Managing Editor, • Publications Committee mem- Council. All of us who are associated Chair, Outreach Committee [email protected] bers: Michael Yaffee of the Massachu- with our society shoulder the vital Wes Sundquist Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay Chair, Public Affairs Chief Science Correspondent, setts Institute of Technology and En- responsibility of championing the Advisory Committee [email protected] rique De La Cruz of Yale University fields of biochemistry and molecular Blake Hill Valery Masterson • Public Affairs Advisory Commit- Designer, biology so that successive generations Chair, Publications tee members: Committee [email protected] Dorothy Shippen of may inherit the grit and substance we Lauri Pantos Texas A&M University, Martha Cyert inherited from our forbearers. F. Peter Guengerich Manager of Publications Interim editor-in-chief, JBC Technology, [email protected] of Stanford University, Jonathan Herbert Tabor Ciarán Finn Sachs of the University of Minnesota, Steven McKnight (steven. Co-editor, JBC Web Publication Assistant, Richard Page of Miami University [email protected]) [email protected] A. L. Burlingame and Jeremy Berg of the University of is president of the American Editor, MCP Allison Frick Society for Biochemistry and Media Specialist, Pittsburgh Molecular Biology and chairman Edward A. Dennis [email protected] Joseph L. Witztum We are fortunate that all of these of the biochemistry department at the University Barbara Gordon of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Co-editors, JLR Executive Director, active, practicing scientists are willing [email protected]

For information on advertising, contact Pharmaceutical CLARIFICATION AND CORRECTION Media Inc. at 212-904-0374 or [email protected]. • The MRI image on the cover of the June/July 2015 issue was courtesy of Weill Cornell Medical College. www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday • The article “All about ELISA” in the June/July PRINT ISSN 2372-0409 2015 issue of ASBMB Today incorrectly stated Articles published in ASBMB Today reflect solely the authors’ views and not the official positions of that Solomon Berson and Rosalyn Yalow used the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular radioactively-labeled antibodies when developing Biology or the institutions with which the authors are affiliated. Mentions of products or services are the radioimmunoassay. Berson and Yalow used not endorsements. radioactively labeled insulin in their assay. ©2015 ASBMB

2 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 NEWS FROM THE HILL A step toward sustainability By Sarah K. Martin

he biomedical research enterprise ductivity and disenfranchising young is unsustainable. A sustainable and minority scientists,” said co- 8 recommendations T research enterprise working at author Wes Sundquist of the Univer- peak efficiency balances available sity of Utah, chairman of the ASBMB to make the scientific funding with workforce size while Public Affairs Advisory Committee. enterprise sustainable continuing to produce breakthroughs “We need to move beyond this.” The that improve the health of all Ameri- National Institutes of Health have cans. Scientific community leaders experienced a nearly 20 percent reduc- 1. The federal government should have stepped forward to discuss how tion of purchasing power in the past make research funding predictable and sustainable. to address a growing workforce in the decade. A 2013 survey of ASBMB midst of dwindling funds. While they members found that 46 percent of 2. The federal government should have expressed many ideas on this respondents laid off or will lay off sci- increase overall research and devel- topic, they have presented no clear entists, and 55 percent have colleagues opment funding with 3 percent of path to implementation. who have lost their jobs or expect to. gross domestic product as an initial To provide clarity to the discussion, Among the consensus recommen- target. members of the American Society for dations, a call for an increase in com- 3. Federal agencies should Biochemistry and Molecular Biology pensation for postdocs to $50,000 per streamline, harmonize or eliminate published a “Perspective” article in the year would reward pretenure scientists burdensome regulations. Proceedings of the National Acad- for their training and the essential 4. Institutions and federal agencies emies of Sciences that outlined a set role they play in the workforce. As an should increase compensation for of consensus recommendations and example of the interconnectedness of postdoctoral scholars with $50,000 implementation plans to move the these recommendations, increasing a year as an initial target. biomedical research enterprise toward compensation for postdocs to align 5. Institutions and federal agencies sustainability (see box). “This paper is with the NIH pay scale also would should cap the amount of federal about action,” said Chris Pickett, lead contract the workforce without the funding trainees can receive in author and ASBMB policy analyst. federal government increasing overall order to reduce graduate student “The community has had the same research and development funding. and postdoc training periods. discussion many times over. We found The article also identifies issues 6. Institutions and federal agencies where the community is in agreement on which the community has yet to should train students and postdocs and suggested concrete plans to begin reach consensus. “Improving diver- for the breadth of careers available implementing these ideas.” sity in the workforce is critical to to them. Analyzing nine sustainability enhancing research efficiency and 7. Institutions and federal agencies reports published since 2012, the eliminating health disparities,” said should support more trainees on authors narrowed 260 recommen- Pickett. “Only one report we analyzed fellowships and training grants dations down to eight distinct but discussed diversity in any detail.” In rather than research grants. interconnected recommendations addition, mechanisms to improve how 8. Institutions should create new agreed on by the majority of reports. investigators are funded and the need job classifications for staff scien- These recommendations focused on to improve interactions between aca- tists, and federal agencies should increasing research funding, relieving demia, industry and government were incentivize use of staff scientists. regulatory burden and broadening identified as needing further discus- training experiences. sion among enterprise stakeholders. “Researchers — from graduate The research enterprise may not be Sarah K. Martin (smartin@ students to established investigators sustainable in its current form, but the asbmb.org) is the science policy — have been afflicted by stagnant recommendations highlighted by the fellow at the ASBMB. funding and outdated policies that ASBMB paper could steer the scien- damage the enterprise, reducing pro- tific community in that direction.

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 3 4 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 MEMBER UPDATE

Congratulations are in order The American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the members of the class of 2015. The academy has served as the nation’s champion of Carlos J. Marc G. Caron, Stanley Fields, George Michael J. scholarship, civil dialogue and useful Bustamante, Duke Howard Hughes Georgiou, Lenardo, knowledge since its founding in 1780. University of University Medical Institute University of National California, and University of Texas at Austin Institute of Its members contribute to publications Berkeley Washington Allergy and and studies of science and technology, Infectious policy, energy and more. The mem- Diseases bers include some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, humanities and the arts. This class of members includes many winners of notable awards in a wide range of disciplines. The new class includes the following ASBMB Kenneth J. Michael Gerhard James A. Wei Yang, members: Marians, Snyder, Wagner, Wells, National Memorial Sloan Stanford Uni- Harvard University of Institute of Kettering versity School Medical School California, San Diabetes and Cancer Center of Medicine Francisco Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Maquat receives ter for RNA Biology and is professor the 2015 Shaw Prize in Life Science of biochemistry and biophysics and and Medicine. The Shaw Prize is an Gairdner Award professor of oncology at the Univer- international award recognizing indi- Lynne E. sity of Rochester School of Medicine viduals who have made breakthroughs Maquat won a and Dentistry, where she also chairs in the fields of astronomy, life science 2015 Canada the mentoring group Graduate and medicine, and mathematical sci- Gairdner Inter- Women in Science. The recipient of ences. Bassler and Greenberg revealed national Award numerous awards throughout her the molecular mechanism of quorum for her discovery career including the American Society sensing, a process that allows bacteria MAQUAT of the mecha- for Biochemistry and Molecular Biol- to communicate and offers innovative nism that destroys mutant messenger ogy’s William C. Rose Award in 2014, ways to interfere with bacterial patho- RNAs, nonsense-mediated mRNA Maquat is an American Association gens or to modulate the microbiome decay. The Gairdner Foundation for the Advancement of Science for health applications. Administered called this discovery “critically impor- fellow, a member of the American by the Shaw Prize Foundation in tant in both normal and disease states” Academy of Arts and Sciences and Hong Kong, the prize carries a purse and commended Maquat’s work on a Batsheva de Rothschild fellow of of $1 million. NMD and another pathway, Saufen- the Israel Academy of Sciences and Bassler, professor and chair of the mediated mRNA decay. The work has Humanities. molecular biology department at established new roles for long non- Princeton University and a Howard coding RNAs. Bassler wins Shaw and Hughes Medical Institute investi- Gairdner awards are valued gator, also won the Federation of at 100,000 Canadian dollars FASEB American Societies for Experimental (US$77,000) and are presented to awards Biology's 2016 Excellence in Sci- biomedical scientists whose contribu- Bonnie L. ence Award. This award recognizes tions result in greater understand- Bassler and her women in the biological sciences ing of human biology and disease. colleague E. Peter who have advanced knowledge in a Maquat holds the J. Lowell Orbison Greenberg won endowed chair, is director of the Cen- BASSLER CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 5 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Goodman’s research focuses on the White wins ‘educator cell membrane skeleton and sickle- particular field through excellence in cell disease, including recent studies of the year’ award research. FASEB, the nation’s largest leading to potential biomarkers for Harold White coalition of biomedical research- sickle-cell severity. His appointment III was named the ers, represents 27 scientific societies, begins Aug. 3. educator of the including the ASBMB, and seeks to year for higher promote advancement and education education by the in biological and biomedical sciences. Serhan joins Corbus Delaware BioSci- Bassler’s award carries an unrestricted advisory board WHITE ence Association. research grant of $10,000. Corbus Pharma- Originating in 2006, the Delaware Written by Erik Chaulk ceuticals Holdings BioScience Association is dedicated Inc. appointed to advancing the growth of the life- Goodman named Charles N. Serhan science industry and science research to the company’s and education initiatives in Delaware. vice chancellor scientific advisory It bestows this award upon an indi- Steven R. SERHAN board. A clinical- vidual who makes a profound impact Goodman has stage biopharmaceutical company, in science, technology, engineering been named vice Corbus Pharmaceuticals focuses on and mathematics education. White is chancellor for rare, life-threatening chronic inflam- a professor of chemistry and biochem- research at The matory diseases. One of Corbus istry at the University of Delaware, University of Ten- Pharmaceuticals’ principal efforts is where he has been a faculty member GOODMAN nessee Health Sci- the development of Resunab, a drug since 1971. Additionally, he serves as ence Center. The position entails fur- for chronic inflammatory diseases that the director of the Howard Hughes ther developing the UTHSC’s research can lead to chronic fibrosis. Serhan Medical Institute’s Undergraduate initiatives, strategies and infrastructure brings a wealth of knowledge and Science Education Program at UD. and increasing the $100 million the expertise to Corbus Pharmaceuticals’ White’s research interests include the university currently averages in annual scientific advisory board. Serhan was structure, function and evolution of research funding. Goodman comes to the first to identify the role of anti- vitamin-binding proteins as well as the UTHSC from the State Univer- inflammatory cellular mediators in the intermediary metabolism and bio- sity of New York Upstate Medical pro-inflammatory pathway. Serhan, chemical evolution. In 2014, he won University, where, in addition to his a professor of anesthesia at Harvard the American Society for Biochemistry responsibilities as a professor both in Medical School, was the first endowed and Molecular Biology’s Award for the department of pediatrics and in distinguished scientist at Brigham and Exemplary Contributions to Educa- the department of biochemistry and Women’s Hospital and served as direction. molecular biology, he served as vice tor of the Center for Experimental Written by Erik Chaulk president for research and the dean Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacol- of the College of Graduate Studies. ogy since 1995.

Postdoc wins outreach tists and middle- and high-school Martin Hill’s lab in Puerto Rico on students. the cellular reservoirs that sustain fellowship “I plan to visit different schools HIV in the presence of suppressive ASBMB throughout the year and explain retroviral therapy. The lab is investi- member Elinette to the students the importance of gating macrophages as a reservoir of Albino, a post- studying physiology, doing research HIV and whether they are recruited doctoral fellow at in physiology and examples of or derived from monocytes from the Ponce Research physiologists and their contributions placenta since it is a de novo tissue. Institute, ALBINO to science,” she says. “My hope is to For more information about the received the K – inspire them to aim higher in their award, visit www.the-aps.org/ 12 Minority Outreach Fellowship future careers learning a scientific k12minorityoutreach. from the American Physiological topic they feel challenged and pas- Written by Erik Maradiaga Society. The program fosters com- sionate about.” munication among young scien- Albino is conducting research at

6 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 IN MEMORIAM

David E. Ong, Alexander Rich, National Medal of Science award from President Clinton in 1995, the 1943 – 2015 1924 – 2015 highest scientific honor bestowed by David E. Ong, Alexander Rich the federal government. an emeritus pro- of the Massachu- fessor of biochem- setts Institute of istry at Vanderbilt Technology biol- Nathan Aronson, University, passed ogy department, a 1940 – 2015 away in April at biophysicist who Nathan Aron- his home in Nash- contributed pioneering research on son, former profes- ville. He was 71. the structure of DNA and RNA, died sor and chairman Born on Aug. 16, 1943, in Elkhart, in April in Boston. He was 90. of the University Ind., Ong attended Wabash Col- Born on Nov. 15, 1924, in of South Alabama’s lege on scholarship, graduating both Hartford, Conn., Rich eventually biochemistry summa sum laude and Phi Beta moved to Springfield, Mass., where he department, passed Kappa in 1965 with a degree in attended Springfield Technical High away at his home in Mobile, Ala., in chemistry. He earned his biochem- School. Although accepted at Harvard March at the age of 74. istry Ph.D. from Yale University in College, Rich delayed his studies to Aronson was born on Dec. 8, 1970. Later that year, Ong went to enter the U.S. Navy’s officer training 1940, in Dallas. After receiving an Vanderbilt as a research associate and program during World War II, was undergraduate degree in chemistry National Institutes of Health postdoc- sent to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from Rice University, he attended toral fellow. and attended Syracuse University Duke University for graduate school. In 1974, Ong joined the labora- Medical School. Aronson met his wife of 50 years, tory of his Vanderbilt colleague and Discharged in 1946, Rich went Judy Fuller Aronson, while earning mentor, Frank Chytil, with whom he to Harvard, where he earned his his biochemistry Ph.D. at Duke. produced impactful research in the undergraduate degree in biochemi- The two spent the first three field of biochemistry with a par- cal sciences and a medical degree in decades of their marriage in State ticular focus on vitamin A. Ong and 1949. Subsequently, he became a College, Penn., where Aronson served Chytil discovered cellular binding research fellow in the laboratory of as a professor of biochemistry at proteins for two forms of vitamin A, future Nobel laureate Linus Pauling at Penn State University. They moved to retinol and retinoic acid, changing the California Institute of Technology. Mobile, Ala., in 1992, where Aronson the understanding of the vitamin’s He stayed with Pauling until 1954 became chairman of the biochemistry significance. He shared the Osborne and arrived at MIT in 1958, where he department at the University of South and Mendel Award from the Nutri- worked for the rest of his career. Alabama Medical School and served tion Foundation with Chytil in 1983 Although James Watson and until his retirement in 2007. for this groundbreaking research. Ong Francis Crick famously produced Aronson’s research, for which he continued to focus on the study of the double helical model of DNA in garnered numerous awards over the vitamin A throughout his career and 1953, Rich’s work contributed to a course of his career, primarily focused was regarded as a leading expert on deeper understanding of DNA and on diseases related to the digestion of the topic. RNA structure. In 1973, he employed tissue proteins. He received a Gug- After his retirement from Vander- X-ray crystallography to produce a genheim Fellowship and a Helen Hay bilt in 2008, Ong cultivated his inter- clear, distinct image of the double Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship and ests beyond the laboratory, including helix. The images helped confirm was elected president of the Associa- a passion for the arts. An avid music Watson and Crick’s model. tion of Chairmen of Biochemistry lover with a broad palate, he listened In 1979, Rich led a team of MIT Departments of Medical Schools to jazz, gospel and rock ’n’ roll and researchers that discovered Z-DNA, (now the Association of Medical and attended many festivals and perfor- a different form of DNA that spirals Graduate Departments of Biochem- mances in the Nashville area. Ong left instead of right and has a zig- istry). Additionally, his mentor, was an avid gardener as well, with a zag backbone. Additionally, Rich Christian de Duve, recognized him specific interest in bonsai trees. contributed to the discovery of the during his 1974 Nobel prize accep- The David E. Ong Memorial three-dimensional, triple-helical struc- tance speech. Scholarship Fund is being established ture of collagen, the main structural Written by Erik Chaulk to aid future students attending Ong’s protein of skin and connective tissue. alma mater, Wabash College. Among Rich's many awards was the CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 7 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 Irwin Rose, interest in medicine and the brain during summers spent working in the Robert G. Spiro, 1926 – 2015 psychiatric ward of a local Spokane 1929 – 2015 Nobelist Irwin hospital. But when he enrolled in Rose, an assidu- Robert Gunter Washington State College, he found ous enzymologist Spiro, profes- no courses in neurobiology and, as he who helped to sor emeritus at later wrote in an essay for the Nobel explain how cells Harvard Medical committee, shifted his focus to the destroy unwanted School, died May science of “less obscure matters.” proteins, died in 16 at age 86 of After a short stint in the U.S. June. He was 88. stomach cancer. Navy, Rose did undergraduate and Rose did his prize-winning work Spiro carried out his research pri- graduate work at the University of in the 1970s and ’80s at the Fox marily at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Chicago and postdoctoral training at Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia where he focused on the kidney com- Western Reserve University and New and shared his 2004 Nobel Prize in plications of diabetic patients. From York University. When he became a chemistry with Israeli scientists Avram 1961 until his retirement, Spiro had biochemistry instructor at Yale Uni- Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of academic appointments at Harvard versity, he met his wife, Ph.D. student Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Medical School and the Joslin Dia- Zelda Budenstein. The two moved Technology. betes Center in Boston. Spiro’s wife, together to Fox Chase, where Zelda At a time when other researchers Mary Jane Spiro, joined his laboratory had a lab studying the metabolism were occupied with how proteins were in 1966. They collaborated on diabe- of red blood cells and Rose worked created, the three found that cells tes research for more than 35 years. to further understanding of enzyme label damaged or old proteins with Spiro’s studies on the kidney mechanism. the protein ubiquitin, which acts, glomerulus in diabetes provided a Zelda’s widowed mother lived with among other things, as a kiss-of-death biochemical rationale for tight blood the couple and helped care for their molecule, keying the proteins to be glucose control, a universally accepted growing family of four. Zelda eventu- chopped to bits in proteasomes. This concept. This work won him the ally left science to devote herself to discovery of protein disposal led to the American Diabetes Association’s Lilly peace and justice causes. development of a class of cancer drugs Award in 1968. Rose’s early retirement years were and other medicines that can either Spiro was also a pioneer in the field spent in Laguna Woods in Southern halt protein breakdown or kill off of glycobiology. He established the California. During an interview with diseased proteins. Glycoproteins and Biomembranes Nobelprize.org, Rose advised fellow Rose had a reputation for tireless Section of the Joslin Research Labora- scientists not to retire, saying, “I’m research that was on dramatic display tory and served as chief of this section. very embarrassed when people ask me the day he won his Nobel. According In 1954, while a medical student, what are my hobbies.…I mean it’s just to colleagues at the University of Cali- Spiro noticed the signs and symptoms enough to keep up with the things I’m fornia, Irvine, rather than taking time of type 1 diabetes. He lived with this trying to solve.” to celebrate the news, Rose fielded disease without serious complications. According to the Los Angeles some calls and then tucked a couple The Joslin Diabetes Center gave him Times, Rose worked on a bench in the of test tubes into his shirt pocket and a 50-Year Survival Medal. Spiro in lab of his friend Ralph Bradshaw at slipped off to analyze their contents at turn announced the establishment of nearby UC Irvine. The school named the school’s mass-spectrometry facility. the Robert G. Spiro M.D. Endowed him a distinguished researcher-in-res- Irwin Allen Rose, whom everyone Campership Fund, which helps chil- idence in the Department of Physiol- called “Ernie,” was born in 1926 in dren with diabetes attend the center's ogy and Biophysics. Brooklyn, N.Y. His younger brother camps. Bradshaw told ABC News that caught rheumatic fever, and when a Spiro received the Claude Bernard in Rose’s later years, as he continued doctor advised the family to move Medal from the European Association to dissect enzymes and publish, the the boy to a high, dry climate, Rose’s for the Study of Diabetes, the Rosa- Nobelist also helped students and mother chose Spokane, Wash., where lind Kornfeld Lifetime Achievement researchers with experiments, still pos- a sister lived. The boys’ father stayed Award from the Society for Glycobiol- sessed of an intelligence that was “in in Brooklyn to work, and Rose, who ogy, and the Diabetes Center Lifetime the stratosphere compared with the was 13 at the time of the move, saw Achievement Award from Joslin. rest of us in the field.” little of him over subsequent years. Written by Lauren Dockett Written by Harry Schachter The teenage Rose developed an

8 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 NEWS The protective breast By Indumathi Sridharan

reast milk contains nutrients and bioactive factors that are B essential for babies’ health. Pro- teins, such as growth hormones, enzymes and immunoglobulins, control a baby’s nutrient assimilation, growth and immunity. Carbohydrates, such as lactose, provide energy. Fatty acids, such as arachidonic acid and docosa- hexaenoic acid, stimulate brain and eye development. Vitamins, minerals and bioactive factors, like stem cells, immune cells, and oligosaccharides, also regulate growth and immunity in the infant (1). But breast milk is more than simply food: It protects babies from infec- tions and confers long-term physical and intellectual benefits. If mothers breast-feed for six months or longer, the babies maximize those benefits. Although approximately 77 percent of women breast-feed right after delivery, only 17 percent continue to breast- feed exclusively until six months. One intestinal cells. These oligosaccharides mammary gland development by study estimates that if 90 percent of act as decoys for E. coli and norovirus reducing prolactin-induced activation women breast-fed for six months, and prevent them from infecting the of p-stat5 signaling, which controls it could save the U.S. $13 billion intestines (3). mammary-epithelial cell proliferation Immediately after a woman delivers dollars in medical costs over the span and differentiation. Lactating mice a baby, milk synthesis and secretion of people’s lives (2). To promote without ZnT2 produced 30 percent breast-feeding initiatives in the U.S., follows with a surge in two hormones, prolactin and oxytocin. For some less milk. Additionally, the milk had the United States Breastfeeding Com- lower levels of fat and lactose (4). mittee has declared August National women, medical issues, like hormonal imbalances, cause low milk supply, Breastfeeding Awareness Month. REFERENCES Recent research highlights the nov- which is a common reason for discon- tinuing breastfeeding early. 1. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ el mechanisms by which breast milk PMC3586783/ protects infant health. For example, So some researchers are seeking 2. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20368314 human milk oligosaccharides have no biomarkers that signify lactation 3. emph.oxfordjournals.org/ nutritional value for the breast-fed issues in pregnant women. Shan- content/2015/1/106.full infant. They are actually food sources non Kelleher and colleagues at the Indumathi Sridharan (sridharan. for beneficial gut bacteria. The gut Penn State College of Medicine [email protected]) earned bacteria digest the oligosaccharides report that zinc transporter protein her bachelor’s degree in bioin- using glycosidase enzymes to pro- 2, which transports zinc into milk formatics in India. She holds a duce energy-rich monosaccharides. Ph.D. in molecular biochemistry in the mammary gland, is crucial from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. She Fucosylated oligosaccharides in the for proper lactation. Kelleher's team did her postdoctoral work in bionanotechnology at milk resemble the surface receptors of found that loss of ZnT2 impaired Northwestern University.

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 9 JOURNAL NEWS New epigenetic function for extracellular Hsp90 By Kamalika Saha rostate cancer tops the charts state. EMT is a part of cancer’s inva- epithelial cells, as the target gene to as the most prevalent cancer in sion–metastasis cascade, a series of study the EMT phenomenon. They P men and is second only to lung steps that consists of cells first invad- found that the mesenchymal cell lines cancer as a cause of cancer-related ing adjacent tissue, then moving into had substantially higher EZH2 and death in men. In recent years, new blood vessels and finally achieving P-ERK protein levels than the epithe- diagnostics and treatment regimens distant colonization. lial cell lines. have improved the prognosis of pros- The authors previously docu- Using a host of molecular biology tate cancer that is organ-confined. mented the role of the tumor-secreted techniques involving overexpression However, metastasis, the spread from eHsp90 in metastatic disease. eHsp90 of eHsp90 as well as Hsp90- and the primary tumor location to distant is a chaperone protein that regu- ERK-specific inhibitors, the authors organs, continues to be a key factor in lates the function of several genes established the eHsp90–ERK signal- prostate cancer mortality. Metastatic implicated in cancer. But its exact ing axis as mediating EZH2 activity. cancer cells are more aggressive and mechanism remains undefined. This The study concludes with evidence are often resistant to chemotherapy. motivated Krystal D. Nolan, Jennifer of a dramatic change in appearance This makes identifying the mecha- Isaacs and colleagues at MUSC to in the localized epithelial cells upon nisms that govern the switch from the investigate the link between eHsp90 expression of eHsp90. Additionally, localized to the aggressive phenotype and epigenetic players that are mostly the team established the presence of in prostate cancers an important members of the polycomb group of EZH2 as a key contributor of the research goal. In a recent issue of the proteins. Their earlier study noted invasive phenotype. Journal of Biological Chemistry, that eHsp90 is a key driver of EMT These findings underscore the investigators at the Medical Univer- in prostate cancer. This one sought to complex regulatory interplay between sity of South Carolina report a new define eHsp90’s signaling pathway. signaling molecules and EZH2, an epigenetic function for extracellular Changes in genes regulating integral component of the epigenetic heat shock protein 90 and describe EMT often occur via epigenetic machinery. Additionally, they high- a novel signaling pathway driving mechanisms that produce chromatin- light eHsp90 as a novel regulator of prostate cancer metastasis. structure modifications. The authors EZH2 and EMT in prostate cancer. The authors remind readers that explored the regulation of EZH2, a a primary factor in cancer progres- key epigenetic regulator, by eHsp90. Kamalika Saha ([email protected]) is sion is the epithelial-to-mesenchymal Their study used epithelial and a graduate student in the bio- transition, or EMT, a process whereby mesenchymal cell lines. They used chemistry and molecular biology cells transition to a more aggressive epithelial cadherin, a marker of the department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

10 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Small differences equal big results Insights into sphingolipid structural variants By Breann Yanagisawa ince the discovery of sphingolip- dihydroceramide to ceramide, these ids in the late 1800s, scientists enzymes likely are behind many of S have made a lot of progress in the biologic effects related to dihy- characterizing some of the diverse droceramide levels. Indeed, numerous interactions and functions carried out drugs that interfere with dihydro- by these often complex and enig- ceramide desaturase function also matic molecules. However, given the decrease cell proliferation. Moreover, sheer number of these molecules, it these regulatory aspects indicate the seems likely that there are even more potential role of dihydroceramide interactions waiting to be discovered. desaturases in numerous diseases, The Journal of Biological Chem- including cancer, periodontal disease, istry’s recent thematic minireview AIDS and metabolic disorders. series “Novel Bioactive Sphingolipids” The mysteries of sphingolipids focuses on three structural variants, don’t stop there. Recently, scientists their functions and their intriguing identified strange structural variants therapeutic potential. capable of producing uncommon In the first article, Mitchell effects. In the final minireview of the Kronenberg at La Jolla Institute and mammalian cells, indicating series, authors Jingjing Duan and for Allergy and Immunology and they may play a role in microflora Alfred H. Merrill Jr. at the Georgia colleagues focus on the relationship and immune-system development. Institute of Technology explore yet between natural killer T cells (called Ultimately, because of the glycosphin- another sphingoid structural variant, NKT cells for short) and glycosphingolipids' ability to produce contrast- the deoxysphingolipids. Though sci- golipids. The authors write about ing immune responses, the authors entists are only beginning to elucidate known glycosphingolipid structural posit that they may have clinical roles the biology of these molecules, the variations, especially compounds with as immune-modulating agents. deoxysphingolipids already are known a novel alpha-glycosidic linkage, and But it’s not only the end products to influence numerous cellular pro- how these have been shown to vary of sphingolipid synthesis that hold cesses. For example, they have potent the immune response that occurs potential therapeutic applications. effects on cell growth and survival. upon NKT cell activation. Though originally thought to be Initially studied because some have Of specific interest is these nonfunctional intermediates, the considerable cytotoxic effects believed molecules' capability of producing dihydroceramides, the subject of the to serve as defense mechanisms for different types of immune responses, second review in the series, also have some fungi, these molecules also have including both anti- and pro- proved to have important functional been found in mammals, including inflammatory responses. Though the roles. Scott Summers and colleagues humans. Not only that, but these field remains controversial, it seems a at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes molecules also have been correlated major factor in determining the type Institute in Australia note that dihy- with several illnesses, including neu- of response is the amount of time the droceramides previously were believed rologic disorders, diabetes and liver antigen is available to the T-cell recep- to be rare. But recently these interme- disease. There even have been a few tor. The authors discuss potential diates were found to be increased in clinical trials with deoxysphingoid mechanisms for determining which a variety of conditions, including au- base analogs. Learning more about type of immune response is induced, tophagy, hypoxia and, more contro- these structural variants will reveal pointing out that the binding affinity versially, apoptosis. Interestingly, this more therapeutic possibilities. between the lipid and CD1b, the increase is correlated with inhibited Bree Yanagisawa cell-surface molecule that presents cell proliferation, an effect most likely ([email protected]) is the lipid to T-cell receptors, appears brought about by the oxygen-depen- a graduate student at the Johns to be particularly important. The au- dent function of the dihydroceramide Hopkins School of Medicine thors also mention the prevalence of and managing editor of the desaturases. Responsible for the inser- Biomedical Odyssey Blog. glycosphingolipids in both microbes tion of a double bond that converts

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 11 Super-fast spins hurt lipoproteins By Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay

ometimes the end doesn’t justify the means. In a recent paper in S the Journal of Lipid Research, investigators describe how spinning high-density lipoproteins fast, a typical way to isolate them quickly, damages them. The finding suggests that the current understanding of the hydrodynamic properties and composition of HDL “is incorrect,” states William Munroe at the University of California, Los Angeles. HDL, known as the “good cholesterol,” is an important lipoprotein in diagnosing cardiovascular disease. Its abundance in the bloodstream is considered to be a sign of good cardiovascular health, because HDL carries away cholesterol. Ever since the discovery in 1949 that lipoproteins can be separated and isolated in an ultracentrifuge, spinning lipoproteins like HDL at speeds of 40,000 rpm or greater has been the norm. Samples often get spun at speeds of 65,000 to 120,000 rpm within 48 hours to hasten the isolation process. But there have been whispers in the lipid community that the high speeds damage the molecules. So a tegral to the lipoproteins, got ripped Based on their findings, the trio of researchers at UCLA, led by out of the protein–lipid complexes, investigators now want “to identify Verne Schumaker, decided to see how leaving few intact particles. “With HDL-associated proteins that previ- speed affects HDL. “The phenom- enough gravitational force or time, ous identification studies may have enon of HDL potentially exhibiting this protein-deficient HDL undergoes missed because certain proteins may sensitivity to the ultracentrifuge speed further damage to lose lipid,” notes have been completely lost from the is sometimes mentioned between Munroe. recovered HDL particle during its lipoprotein researchers,” says Munroe, To try to circumvent the damage, isolation by ultracentrifugation,” says the first author on the paper. “How- the investigators tested out an alterna- Munroe. “This may give insight into ever, there was little in the literature tive method for isolating HDL. They additional roles the HDL may par- describing this phenomenon.” poured a potassium bromide density ticipate in besides reverse cholesterol In their JLR paper, Munroe, Schu- gradient over their sample. Next, they transport.” maker and Martin Phillips showed spun the gradient with the sample at that damage to HDL began as soon as a low speed of 15,000 rpm. Admit- the ultracentrifuge speed hit 30,000 tedly, the isolation took longer at Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay rpm. Using mouse plasma samples, ([email protected]) is 96 hours, but at least the amount of the chief science correspondent the investigators demonstrated that HDL that rose to the top of gradient for ASBMB. Follow her on Twitter the damage got worse as the rotor was significantly higher than when at twitter.com/rajmukhop, and went faster. Proteins, which are in- using the conventional method. read her blog at wildtypes.asbmb.org.

12 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Paul wins Tabor award for Huntington's work By Breann Yanagisawa

indu Paul, a neuroscience standing the interplay of these three instructor at Johns Hopkins messenger molecules would pave the B University, received the Journal way to develop novel therapeutics in of Biological Chemistry/Herbert diseases involving dysregulated gaso- Tabor Young Investigator Award for transmitter signaling,” she says. her ongoing research into the role of Paul grew up in India and received cysteine and its derivatives in Hun- her Ph.D. from the Indian Institute tington’s disease. of Science in Bangalore. Her graduate Paul works on understanding work focused on transcriptional regu- regulatory mechanisms present in lation and DNA-binding proteins. neurodegenerative diseases in the Paul went on to postdoctoral studies laboratory of Soloman H. Snyder at the National Institutes of Health in at Johns Hopkins. Since joining the the laboratory of Yun-Bo Shi. There lab, she has discovered a depletion of she studied the tissue-specific effects the biosynthetic enzyme for cysteine, of thyroid hormone and used her which mediates disease progression expertise in transcriptional studies to in Huntington’s. Now Paul is looking understand better the gene regulatory at the role of cysteine and hydrogen pathways affected by the hormone. sulfide. She is interested in how the Bindu Paul won the Tabor Award in May at Bree Yanagisawa the third European Conference on the Biology interaction of hydrogen sulfide with ([email protected]) is of Hydrogen Sulfide. JBC associate editor other gasotransmitters like nitric a graduate student at the Johns Ruma Banerjee issued the award. oxide and carbon monoxide affects Hopkins School of Medicine regulation of both neuroprotective and managing editor of the Paul is hopeful about the applica- Biomedical Odyssey blog. and neurodegenerative states. tions of this new research. “Under-

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 13 Better wine through better yeast hybrids By Soma Chowdhury

f you enjoy a perfectly chilled glass of sauvignon blanc or a rich I merlot, you can thank heterosis. Heterosis occurs when an offspring has increased vigor or superior biological qualities compared with its parents. In a recent Molecular & Cellular Proteomics paper, researchers analyzed the molecular basis for heterosis in yeast, microorganisms on which the entire wine industry relies. Plant and animal breeders have capitalized on heterosis for a long time when crossbreeding to create hybrids with desirable traits. But according to Michel Zivy, corresponding author of the MCP paper and a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in France, understanding and using heterosis more efficiently “is one of the bigger challenges in plant genetics and breed- ing.” He adds that understanding the molecular mechanisms is essential to predict heterosis reliably. Currently, there is no single unifying way to predict it. Zivy and colleagues used a novel approach to understand better the underlying factors augmenting heterosis. The investigators used yeast because the microorganisms are “less complex than other systems like plants,” says Zivy. Also, hybrids of common brewer’s yeast, such as metabolism. Once fermentation was mental method that the team used so hybrids between Saccharomyces complete, they extracted the proteins that it can be applied to more com- cerevisiae and S. uvarum, are known from the yeast samples and quantified plex systems, such as crops. And wine to be better at wine-making than them. lovers, rejoice: Zivy and colleagues, their parents. In addition, using high- The investigators showed that one of whom works for the wine throughput proteomics allowed the offspring born of parents of different research company Laffort, now are researchers to analyze in a fast and species showed stronger heterosis than using their newly found knowledge automated way how heterosis affected those born of parents of the same spe- of the yeast proteome and heterosis to the abundance of more than 1,300 cies. They also showed that heterosis create better yeast hybrid strains for proteins from the yeast strains used. depends on the functional category of more aromatic wines. The researchers grew all the yeast the protein. For example, the proteins strains in the same batch of freshly involved in response to environmen- Soma Chowdhury ([email protected]) squeezed white grape juice at two dif- tal changes — such as energy and is an intern at ASBMB Today and ferent temperatures, because tempera- virulence — showed more heterosis. at the NIH Catalyst. ture can influence yeast growth and Zivy hopes to improve the experi-

14 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Targeting the Achilles' heel of MERS virus Molecules shut down activity of an essential viral replication enzyme By Elizabeth K. Gardner

The MERS virus ity increased. is in the international “We were sur- spotlight again as South prised to see that this Korea faces the largest inhibitor molecule outbreak outside the that could potentially Middle East. As of July shut down the virus 30, the World Health may also have the Organization reported potential to increase 36 deaths and 186 con- its activity,” he says. firmed cases in South “At low inhibitor Korea and China. concentrations we In a paper published saw an increase in in the Journal of the protease’s activity, Biological Chemistry, but at high concen- researchers studying trations it was shut the viral enzyme nsp5, down completely.” aka 3C-like protease, It turns out that IMAGES COURTESY OF MESECAR LAB AT PURDUE UNIVERSITY successfully blocked its The behavior of MERS 3C-like protease when ligands are absent and present. the MERS protease function with inhibi- requires a ligand in tor molecules. In the SARS and other related coronaviruses order to form a strong process, they also uncovered behavior predicted.” dimer. The intended ligand is part of that differentiates the enzyme from its 3C-like protease is responsible for the strand of viral protein it is meant counterpart in other coronaviruses. slicing a long strand of viral protein to cut, but the team found that the “This enzyme is a prime target – into smaller individual proteins that inhibitor molecule also did the trick. an Achilles’ heel of MERS and other serve various roles in viral replica- “At low concentrations the inhibi- coronaviruses — and we were thrilled tion, and without it, the process tor served as the ligand and triggered our inhibitor worked, but the results shuts down, Mesecar says. Like other the protease to rapidly form a dimer,” were puzzling,” says Andrew Mes- enzymes of its type, 3C-like protease he says. “If the second protease in the ecar, a Purdue University professor must form a dimer to perform its dimer had a vacant binding site, it of structural biology, who leads the function. The dimer is formed when was capable of binding to and cutting research team. “The behavior was very two identical single 3C-like protease the strand of viral protein necessary different from what our work with monomers join together. for replication. However, at higher Most coronavirus monomers have concentrations, we filled the target a strong attraction to their identical sites of all of the 3C-like prote- counterparts. However, Mesecar and ases and its activity was successfully his colleagues found that the MERS blocked.” protease monomers do not have a The team studied the interac- strong attraction for one another and tion of the inhibitor molecule with do not form its dimer readily. The re- 3C-like protease isolated from the searchers found that a MERS 3C-like MERS virus and next plans to study protease monomer will remain single the interaction of the inhibitor with a much longer and its dimer will break complete virus inside a cell. apart much more easily than those of Elizabeth K. Gardner other coronaviruses, he says. ([email protected]) However, when the team added is a science writer small amounts of inhibitor molecules and public information officer for Purdue University. Inhibitor helps MERS 3C-like protease form a dimer. to interact with the protease, its activ-

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 15 LIPID NEWS What’s in your dimer? By William L. Smith

he term “homodimer” — short- catalyze the committed step in pros- Free fatty acids binding to Eallo regu- hand for “sequence homodimer” taglandin synthesis — the conversion lates the catalytic efficiency of Ecat. T — connotes a protein molecule of arachidonic acid to prostoglandin In general, the most common free composed of two monomers with H2 (Fig. 1) (2). There is a constitu- fatty acids including palmitate and identical primary structures. It often tive COX-1 and an inducible COX-2. stearate and oleate inhibit COX-1. In is assumed these proteins function These enzymes are composed of contrast, palmitate is relatively spe- as pairs of independently operat- catalytic (Ecat) and allosteric (Eallo) cific for stimulating COX-2. Overall, ing monomers, but there are other monomers (Fig. 2). With COX-2 high ratios of common free fatty acids scenarios. Many homodimers show at least, Ecat and Eallo each remain to arachidonic acid, and low concen- a substrate or cofactor binding with fixed in the same form during the trations of arachidonic acid, activate high affinity to only half of the biologic lifetime of the dimer (3). COX-2 while suppressing COX-1. seemingly available sites and behave Ecat binds heme more avidly than COX-1 and COX-2 are also differ- as conformational heterodimers (1). Eallo, and as originally observed by ently affected by the omega-3 fish oil This permits allosteric regulation that Richard J. Kulmacz and coworkers, free fatty acids. For example, eicosa- is not possible with true conforma- maximal COX activity requires only pentaenoic acid inhibits COX-1 but tional homodimers. one heme per dimer (4, 5). not COX-2 (2). The molecular basis Prostaglandin endoperoxide H COXs are regulated by fatty acid for the differences in these free fatty synthases are homodimers that func- tone — the cellular composition and acids effects remain to be resolved. tion as conformational heterodimers. concentration of free fatty acids. Dif- Interest in COXs as drug targets These enzymes, commonly known as ferent free fatty acids bind with differ- highlights their importance. For ex- cyclooxygenases, or COXs for short, ent affinities to Ecat and Eallo (5, 6). ample, low-dose aspirin targets plate- let COX-1 (7, 8). Aspirin, naproxen (ALEVE®) and ibuprofen (Motrin®) are mixed COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitors called nonste- roidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which relieve pain by targeting COX-2. Celecoxib (Celebrex®) is a coxib — an NSAID more specific for COX-2 (8). Mechanistically, most NSAIDs and coxibs bind more tightly to Ecat than Eallo. Naproxen is unusual in being a direct competitive inhibitor of COX-1, but an allosteric inhibitor of COX-2 (5, 9). As a consequence, naproxen can inhibit 100 percent of COX-1 activity but only 70 percent of COX-2 Figure 1. The cyclooxygenase (COX) and peroxidase (POX) reactions catalyzed by prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthases activity. This may explain (PGHSs). There are two isoforms that are commonly known as cyclooxygenases-1 and -2 (COX-1 and COX-2). why naproxen has limited

16 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 adverse cardiovascular side effects compared with other COX inhibitors (10). There is much more to be learned about these COXs including identification of likely dietary influences on these enzymes. Additionally, differences in cellular fatty acid tone may well contribute to adverse effects of COX inhibitors, thereby impact- ing therapies. Understanding the structure, chemistry and regulation of these enzymes remains an exciting area of investigation.

William L. Smith Figure 2. The two COX isoforms are sequence homodimers that function as conformational heterodimers. ([email protected]) Both enzymes appear as structurally symmetric homodimers in crystal structures but function in solution as is a professor in the department conformational heterodimers composed of an allosteric (Eallo) and a catalytic (Ecat) subunit. The subunits of of biological chemistry at the COX-1 and COX-2 differ in their affinities for ligands and in their responses to ligands. Substrates are in blue. University of Michigan. Ligands shown in green stimulate COX activity, and those shown in red inhibit activity.

REFERENCES 1. Guth, E., et al. J. Biol. Chem., 284, 20753 – 20762 (2009). 2. Smith, W., et al. Chem. Rev., 111, 5821 – 5865 (2011). 3. Dong, L., et al. J. Biol. Chem. 288, 28641 – 28655 (2013). 4. Kulmacz, R. J. & Lands, W. E. J. Biol. Chem., 259, 6358 – 6363 (1984). 5. Dong, L., et al. J. Biol. Chem., 286, 19035 – 19046 (2011). 6. Kudalkar, S. N., et al. J. Biol. Chem., 290, 7897 – 7909 (2015). 7. Patrono, C., et al. N. Engl. J. Med., 353, 2373 –2383 (2005). 8. Grosser, T., et al. Annu. Rev. Med., 61, 17 – 33 (2010). 9. Duggan, K. C., et al. J. Biol. Chem., 285, 34950 – 34959 (2010). 10. Trelle, S., et al. Br. Med. J., 342, c7086 (2011).

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 17 FEATURE Meet Patrick Sung A new associate editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry By Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay

Patrick Sung at Yale University last summer became an associate editor for the Journal of Biological Chemistry. His expertise is in how cells repair double- stranded breaks in DNA. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s chief science correspondent, Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay, interviewed Sung to learn more about his scientific interests, career trajectory from Hong Kong to the U.S., and work and life philosophies. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is your research Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.) I worked with them on a com- focused on? pletely different DNA repair pathway We have been focusing on yeast and actually did very well. The DNA cells and human cells. We want to repair pathway that I worked on is understand the conserved mechanism called nucleotide excision repair, of how cells go about eliminating which doesn’t deal with DNA breaks DNA double-strand breaks using ho- but rather functions to eliminate mologous recombination as a repair bulky lesions from chromosomes, system. (Homologous recombination) such as those induced by ultraviolet is one of the two major DNA repair light. At that time, I was very happy systems dealing with DNA breaks. doing that. But when it came time for The other one is non-homologous me to look for a job and something DNA end joining. independent to do, I didn’t want to be doing the same thing, because, for How did you become one thing, I didn’t want to compete interested in studying with my own mentors. They spent a lot of time talking to me and helping DNA repair? me shape my future. They convinced I worked for a couple, Satya and me that homologous recombination Louise Prakash. They are my mentors. had a great deal of potential. I knew (Author’s note: Sung was a research very little about it at that point, but By Rajendraniassociate with the Mukhopadhyay Prakashes at the I was convinced this was something University of Rochester in the 1980s. in which I could be making some The couple is now at the University of impact in the future.

18 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 How were the Prakashes had found before because of that. Ignorance has served me quite well in pivotal in your career? that particular regard! They were so patient. They took Reconstituting a very complicated me by the hand and not only taught reaction entailing 12 or 15 differ- me how to go about proper scientific ent proteins to try to capture what thinking but also how to put a grant happens in cells is very hard. So the together, how to write a research intellectual question has remained paper and so on. I remember that the same over the last 20-something we used to write papers during the years: How does DNA repair work? weekends. We didn’t have computers The complexity is quite astounding. then. We would write every single We are doing single-molecule work in sentence together. I really give them collaboration with others. We are also the most credit. From them, I learned doing structural biology in collabora- the virtue of being patient. I learned tion. We still do a lot of genetics by the virtue of not getting too agitated ourselves and also in collaboration about things. with others. But we have made pretty significant contributions, I would say, What were the questions in understanding the biochemical in the field when you mechanism of homologous recombination to repair DNA. started out, and what are the big questions now? What sparked your I was trained as a biochemist when interest in science? I was a Ph.D. student. I did classical My parents always wanted me to enzymology, doing a lot of kinetic go to medical school. I have a brother analyses and so on. When I entered who always was at the top of his class. the field, there were already a handful He ended up going to medical school. of really powerful geneticists. Genet- I always was a B student, even a C ics was never my forte, although I student at times, depending on how understand and appreciate genetics a much I studied. I never liked study- lot. But I could bring my expertise to ing. I just couldn’t focus on flipping understand the (DNA repair) mecha- through a textbook. I hated it. nism at the biochemical level. But I knew that I needed a career. Our forte has been, in the past I thought I would go to graduate 20-some years, to reconstitute very school. I found that I liked it because complicated reactions and learn how it required constant thinking. Every they work. When I entered the field, day, I did something different rather there was very little biochemical than same-old, same-old. That really information available, so by taking interested me and convinced me that one protein at a time, I started to look research was something that I could at the key players of the (homologous do reasonably well. My initial goal recombination) pathway and slowly was rather modest — to find a career began to make contributions in eluci- to pay my bills. dating how they work. As I got more and more involved Because I was ignorant about in research, I realized I could do it homologous recombination when I rather well! At that point, I made up started, I wasn’t constrained by what my mind that I wanted to be a faculty people thought about how things member. This was around the time should work. I started in the field when I was getting done with my By Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay fresh, doing what biochemists always Ph.D. at the University of Oxford. do — the careful titrations of pH and so on. I found things that nobody CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 19 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 How did you get to the U.K.? I was born and raised in Hong Kong. I finished high school and was mulling over where to go for college. I wasn’t good enough to get into the local university. Yes, seriously. Not even close. I was more focused on partying than studying. But I did focus on getting good grades in my advanced level exams, and I did reasonably well. (Author’s note: Advanced level exams are pre-university courses in the British education system.) I was admitted into different universities in the U.K. I picked the University of Liverpool because the soccer team was the best at the time. I love soccer. So I went to Liverpool for my undergraduate work because of the soccer team. Fishing is one of Patrick Sung's favorite pastimes. You’ve been a JBC Any advice for young associate editor for a year. scientists? What does it mean to you Just be patient. Develop a superior work ethic. That is absolutely to be an associate editor essential. There are so many things for the journal? going on outside of the lab, so many I believe I am playing a very different distractions. In order to be important role in shaping nucleic successful, one has to be completely acid biochemistry, at least within my focused. Every single project one realm, in selecting the best work to undertakes now is so much more publish. I think I’m playing a very complicated. It used to be you could important role, particularly in helping write a paper on the biochemistry or younger people to get their best work genetics of a research question. These published. days, you have to combine biochemistry with some cell biology or genetics. What are your hobbies? Unless one focuses, it’s really hard to compete. I don’t play soccer anymore because of time and age. I enjoy going to soccer tournaments with my 16-year-old What’s your motto in life? son. He’s a pretty good soccer player, Stay optimistic! Tomorrow will be Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay and I really enjoy going to soccer a better day. When I’m all down and ([email protected]) is the chief science correspondent games with him. I love fishing, but I out, I tell myself that tomorrow most- for ASBMB. Follow her on Twitter haven’t done any fishing in three or ly likely will be a better day. Most of at twitter.com/rajmukhop, and four years, because time is an issue. the time, it turns out that things have read her blog at wildtypes.asbmb.org. a way of resolving themselves.

20 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 FEATURE In conversation with Raymond Cypess Chairman and CEO of ATCC has had an unusual career path By Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay

As a teenager, Raymond Cypess cut his teeth in business at his father’s bakery. These days, Cypess applies that business education as the current chairman and chief executive officer of American Type Culture Collection, better known as ATCC.

aymond Cypess joined ATCC What was your vision for in 1993 as the president of ATCC when you were hired, R the organization and became its chair and CEO in 2006. Before and how has it changed? leading the ATCC, Cypess was a When I was interviewed, the dean, a professor of microbiology and (ATCC) board asked, “What’s your immunology, and the vice provost for vision?” I said, “Basically, my vision is research and research training at the that the ATCC is a standards organi- University of Tennessee, Memphis. zation.” About the ATCC He also held appointments at the I said, “You’re a knowledge com- ATCC was established in 1925 University of Pittsburgh and Cornell pany, because the microbes that you by several scientific societies as a University. Cypess has a doctor- have stored away are full of informa- centralized collection of micro- ate in veterinary medicine from the tion, the keys of which we haven’t yet organisms. But starting in the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in been able to identify. But when we get 1990s, ATCC expanded its role and services. Headquartered in parasitology from the University of the right keys and unlock the doors, Manassas, VA, the nonprofit North Carolina. we’re going to find information.” This organization now is the leading In an extensive interview with the was before the genomic revolution. American Society for Biochemistry collector, preserver and supplier Well, recently (the board) asked of reference standard micro- and Molecular Biology’s chief science me again what my vision is. I said, “A correspondent, Rajendrani Mukho- organisms, cell lines and other standards and knowledge company.” biomedical research materials. padhyay, Cypess described his vision That hasn’t changed, except now it’s for ATCC, passion for science and The organization, known as a been realized. We are the standards “biological resource center,” unusual career path. The interview company. I’m fascinated by the im- also offers technical services and has been edited for clarity and length. CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 educational programs.

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 21 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 reinvented ourselves was focusing on standards. portance of standards and their role in Some people on the board felt science and society. that ATCC could be a beacon for the In 1993, ATCC had a huge capital scientific community. I said, “I agree deficit, and we were in a death spiral. with you. But we have to fix up this I said to the employees, “You don’t place.” know how good ATCC could be. A little creative imagination, a little What were those fixes? leadership could probably realize that potential.” There are some key components I also said to them, “Nobody can to business success. I call them the help you but you. Stop looking for three R’s. The first R is recruitment. divine intervention or saviors from The second is retention, and the third industry, agencies or (scientific) societ- is resource development. We had to ies. You’ve got to help yourself, so let’s get better people. We had to get the roll up our sleeves and get it done. ” right people. We had to decide who That’s how it all started. to keep and not to keep and what to keep in the business and what not to Why are you fascinated keep in the business. I had to focus on resource development, because by standards? we had to get financially sound. We The methodology of science is didn’t even have a good place to work. built around replication. Replication (Author’s note: Before Cypess took requires minimizing variation. Science over, ATCC was based in Rockville, is the study of constants and wrestling Md.) The utilities couldn’t support the with the variations. place. You couldn’t plug in instrumen- I have a way of looking at things tation. We were bursting out of the that’s very eclectic. I like to take ideas seams. We were in really antiquated from other fields and apply them to facilities. what I’m thinking about. I always Another change was that I, with was creative. I may not always spell Judy Vaitukaitis (former head of correctly or write grammatically, but I the National Center for Research have “the vision thing” and can create Resources at the National Institutes new structures and programs. I have of Health), created the concept of the ability to look at problems, pro- a “biological resource center” that cesses and structures with a very open emphasized the sourcing, authentica- mind without placing limits. When I tion, preservation, manufacture and distribution of standards. ATCC was originally put together by scientific societies for the purpose of storing When I looked at ATCC, I realized that while we had the genetic diversity of the microbial some of the finest biological materials, we had to find a world. There’s some element of that way for ATCC to reinvent itself without throwing out its still, but it’s much more about providing the standards to do research. mission. One way we reinvented ourselves was focusing on We’re also a public collection. It’s standards. very important not only that scientists replicate what they do but also that they share what they do. Nobody looked at ATCC, I realized that while has deposited anything significant at we had some of the finest biologi- ATCC since 1985 with the change in cal materials, we had to find a way biotechnology patenting laws. With for ATCC to reinvent itself without the Bayh-Dole Act and the fact that throwing out its mission. One way we you can patent biologic material,

22 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 everything changed. Nothing signifi- mother wanted to be a journalist, but cant was being deposited anymore. she became a frustrated seamstress. I coined the term “scientific philan- My father’s whole family was farriers thropy” to describe the depositing of and farmers. In the U.S., my father materials and sharing. If people don’t became a professional baker. He loved share, you cut off quality control. The it. It was creative, because he was a whole issue of sharing of materials is cake baker. He was a very interesting a big problem, and I think a biologic man. In 1923, he said that the family resource center is one of the ways of had to leave Europe. The family was dealing with that. in Lithuania and Poland. One reason, he said, was that there was no oppor- What happened in your tunity for education for the working class, and education is the key to childhood to spark your everything. The family had to go to interest in science? a place where there would be educa- I grew up in an immigrant com- tional opportunities. He was right. In munity. Working-class Brooklyn. You many ways, he saved the family. wouldn’t go near the place. I was a He was full of energy. He loved skinny, freckle-faced redhead with big working, and he loved his family. That glasses. I was recognized as being very influenced me quite a bit. smart in school. Well, that was tough, except I was a good athlete. I ran and How did you become I could play baseball really well. That a scientist? kept me alive. But my other outlet was reading. I When you were from the immi- read everything I could get my hands grant class (in the 1950s), there were on. Sick in bed, Mom taking care of only certain professions open to you. me, sometimes I think I got sick be- One of them was teaching. In the cause I wanted to read. I started read- New York City school system, the ing books about science. “Microbe pay and benefits were very good. So Hunters” was one of my favorites. I it was natural for me to be thinking became fascinated with science. With about teaching. When I was pursu- the imagination that I have, I could ing a bachelor’s degree in biology, live vicariously by reading books. I got a minor in education. I was a The other influence on me was certified New York State teacher and music on the radio. In the 1940s and substitute-taught. 1950s, radio was the hot medium. I In order to advance in my teaching played woodwinds – the bass clarinet career, I had to get a master’s degree. I and saxophone. I listened to music always was interested in entomology. on the radio, like to Benny Good- University of Illinois had one of the man and Woody Herman. They were great programs. I went to Illinois as a great clarinetists. That’s probably why graduate student. I played the clarinet. I love music. When I was in my first year as an Music permeates everything I do. entomology student, my advisers said, In the summers, my parents would “If you want to advance in the field, take me to the (Catskills) mountains, you better get a health-related degree.” and I loved the farm there. I got I said, “I always wanted to be a involved with chickens, cows, horses veterinarian.” They said, “Apply to vet and tractors. In many ways, it was an school.” I did and Illinois let me in. escape from the city. I never finished my entomology master’s degree. It was a 6-year What did your parents do? program (at vet school). The dean CONTINUED ON PAGE 24 My parents were immigrants. My

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 23 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 cine and became its first chair. With an experimental science. It’s different these substantial administrative posts, from chemistry and biology, but it is of the vet school at Illinois said, my career in experimental science a science. A science background can “I’m accepting you into vet school, came to a crashing close. With my be productive in the business world. Raymond, because this field is going successes in academic management, I The ability to teach also is valuable, to need academics. You’re going to be was recruited to be vice provost and because teaching is communication. an academic.” I said, “You’re probably dean of the graduate school at the The three most important things in right.” But I did practice veterinary University of Tennessee, Memphis. business are communication, commu- medicine for a short time. But when there was the possibility nication, communication. of becoming the provost at another We need more people who under- Why and where did university, I said, “No, this isn’t what I stand management both in science you do your Ph.D.? want to do anymore.” and in business. You can find scientists who can dabble in business, and My veterinary degree was a stop on once in a while, you find someone my way to getting a Ph.D. I did my Where did you get who’s really good at it. Then you find Ph.D. in parasitology at a combined your taste for business? some businesspeople who have an University of North Carolina-Duke People always do ask me, “Where understanding of science. But it’s rare University program. My wife be- did you learn to be a businessperson?” when you can find someone who does came an assistant professor of Latin The answer is in my father’s bakery. both really well. American literature at Duke. She did From the age of 14 to about 20, I was her Ph.D. in Illinois when I was at vet running the business part of my fa- What’s your advice school. North Carolina was the only ther’s bakery. That’s how I learned the place we could get two jobs together, retail world. That’s how I learned how to young scientists? a problem that plagued us throughout to deal with the customer. I learned Don’t specialize too fast. Get a our two careers. how to do a budget, read a financial well-rounded education. (One of) When I graduated, University sheet and manage risk. Then I just my sons is an MD/Ph.D. He says the of Pittsburgh offered me a tenure- kept learning and reading. You watch two most important classes he took track position in the school of public good people and listen. were Spanish and typing. There were health. At Pittsburgh, I really grew When I got to ATCC, the business times when he was a medical student into being a scientist and a teacher. part of me came out fully. I am very on the hospital floor and the only one What am I proud of? I’ve won every comfortable in the business world, who could speak Spanish to certain teaching award in every institution because I can talk the talk and under- patients and their families. where I’ve taught. I’m very proud of stand the talk. I understand invest- Make sure you learn how to write. that. ments, strategic planning, finance, Make sure you learn the fundamental I was a competitive, tenured scien- performance evaluations and recruit- courses that contribute to science: tist at one time. I worked on the ge- ment. I understand all the things that Know your statistics, basic math, netics of susceptibility and resistance a businessman has to understand but physics and chemistry. These skills to parasites. I used Nematospiroides without an MBA. will give you more flexibility and dubius as a model, which is a natural But I still have an academic ap- options along your career path. Don’t helminth of the mouse. I also came up pointment at Pittsburgh as an adjunct become a reductionist too quickly. with a diagnostic test for Visceral larva in epidemiology. (Author’s note: When I look at a frog, I can see a frog. migrans, which is the dog roundworm Cypess’ appointment allows him to I don’t see a bunch of molecules. But I that gets into children’s eyes. Before stay abreast of the field and maintain can get down and look at molecules if my work, eyes sometimes got taken contacts in public health.) you want me to. After you specialize, out, because the infection bears a appreciate the bigger picture, because similarity to retinoblastoma. (Author’s How do you find it helps to find perspective and iden- note: Retinoblastoma is a cancer that tify the next questions. Always think forms in retinal cells.) I came up with synergy between about how it all works together. the ELISA test for the roundworm. science and business? I left Pittsburgh to become the di- Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay I love problem solving and teach- rector of the veterinary school’s diag- ([email protected]) is ing how to solve problems. My friends the chief science correspondent nostic laboratory at Cornell in 1977. I in the academic world are aghast for ASBMB. Follow her on Twitter also planned and obtained funding for when I say this, but management is at twitter.com/rajmukhop, and the department of preventive medi- read her blog at wildtypes.asbmb.org.

24 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Inside this special section

Getting over the Ph.D. hump...... 26 Is a master's degree right for you?...... 29 Finding the right graduate program...... 30 Senior scientists share their mistakes...... 32 Tips for myIDP users and their mentors...... 33 Recap: ASBMB grant-writing workshop...... 35 Teaching science in a creative way...... 36 Picking a postdoctoral position...... 38

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 25 Getting over the Ph.D. hump

few years into earning their Ph.D., it hits them. They hate A their topic. They are disillu- sioned with academia. They dread the years they have left to their dissertation defense and the years of brutal competition after that. They are convinced they are denying themselves a real life with sane hours, time with loved ones and a defensible salary. They start to feel like they are doing it for the wrong reasons. There are so many reasons to stop. And in fact, half of all doctoral students do quit. But what is the story with those who don’t? To find out, we asked scientists to write and tell us what got them over the “I’m dropping out” hump and what stead- ied them on their paths to the Ph.D. Here is what they said. A Ph.D. is an asset, no matter what By Ulli Hain I’d spent more than two and a half years and scented sterile lab for exotic places knew I was over the infamous third- countless reagents like Botswana or Fiji. But I still loved year hump. Seeing my elusive protein tying to crystallize science, even if it didn’t seem to love on the computer screen for the first a protein in order me back all the time. The more I time was amazing, reminding me HAIN to determine its investigated science careers, such as why I liked research in the first place. three-dimensional structure. I needed teaching, writing and policy, the more Though I later left bench science to the structure so I could design anti- I realized a Ph.D. would be an asset. pursue science writing, I’m thankful malarial drugs that would stem the Even the Peace Corps recruiter said that I persisted and was able to expe- deadly scourge in Africa and, you I would have a greater impact if I rience the thrill of discovery. know, graduate. X-ray crystallogra- had my doctorate. Rather than push Ulli Hain received her Ph.D. from phy appeared to be a mix of science, extra hard and put in more weekends the Johns Hopkins University, where magic, luck and persistence — or during this time, I did more activities she studied the malaria parasite. She is maybe masochism. One crystalliza- outside of the lab. I trained for and passionate about communicating science tion guidebook even suggested a ran my first half-marathon and TA’d a and writes two science blogs, Science beard might be useful, since facial class to explore a career in teaching. Extracted and Bench and Beyond, hair can seed crystallization. By my third year, I’d finally gotten which address issues at the intersection At this point all I could think of protein crystals and was able to col- of gender, ethics and science. In her free was how nice it would be to quit lect data. While it took several more time, she enjoys traveling, reading and and join the Peace Corps and trade months to determine the structure, I painting. in a fluorescently lit, chemically

26 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 A cost–benefit analysis This is not as idealistic as it may summary of why they want to work sound; it is also self-serving, because on a given project. By looking at what By Nikolai Slavov living up to my values contributes to they write and how they write it, I’ve As part of my my own happiness. recruited many of the best students doctoral research, Nikolai Slavov did his doctoral into my lab. I developed a research at Princeton University and his So a good mantra I teach my stu- conceptually new postdoctoral research at the Massachu- dents is “Never stop writing.” network infer- setts Institute of Technology. Jen Grant is an associate professor at ence algorithm SLAVOV the University of Wisconsin–Stout and and published it an award-winning scientist and educa- as a single author. This publication Writing through it By Jen Grant tor. Her undergraduate degree is from resulted in multiple recruitment offers Oberlin College, a college passionate So many pals of by top financial firms and a possibili- about writing, and she completed her mine pointed out ty to continue the quantitative aspects Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin– that their advisers of my research at Google. I chose to Madison. She pursues protein chemistry hadn’t given them continue my experimental research in and mass spectrometry. biology for two primary reasons. permission to The first reason was a cost–benefit GRANT write yet. First- analysis. I was extremely excited by years, second- Small steps to my experimental research and did years, even fourth- and fifth-years. I a dream fulfilled not think that the extra money could often asked them why they needed By Samarpita compensate for not being able to do permission. No answer! Well, I never Sengupta the experiments that I was burning stopped writing. It was three to do. Furthermore, I expected that Every experiment is a chance to years ago this the aspects of academia that I dislike write up some part of your thesis. No summer that I de- the most and find most disappoint- usable data? Instead, there are meth- fended my Ph.D. ing — the career-building priorities ods to write or technical challenges to SENGUPTA thesis. Twenty-six and the ego-centric, self-serving discuss. At the very least, there is the years of formal education culminated politics — are likely present in all background and the literature search in five years of toil, sweat and tears intellectually stimulating and, thus, on the project. At some point, my and the biggest presentation of my competitive careers. If I am to endure thesis started writing itself. Explana- life. The euphoria that I experienced political shenanigans as the price for tions and new experiments suggested immediately after my committee pursuing intellectually stimulating themselves. chair said, “Congratulations, Dr. work, I might as well pursue the line I wrote through the good times, I Sengupta!” was something else! of work that I find most meaningful wrote through the bad times, and I I came to the U.S. on a student and exciting. wrote through the stale times. I knew visa. I had the biggest reality check The second reason was that I I had the project I was meant to have when I started my first year with 70 saw leaving academic research as a when I realized I had such a passion of the best students from across the weakness and a betrayal of my ideals. that I couldn’t put my nascent thesis world. I was no longer the best but I saw it as missing the opportunity down. one of many. I still clung to the hope to contribute ideas that can acceler- I graduated on track. And perhaps that I would be able to do phenom- ate scientific research and open new most importantly, I am a scientist enal science. fields. I saw it as a failure to contrib- and have a career that involves both But graduate school was harsh: ute to education, which I consider discovery and competing for grants. Experiments didn’t work most of the of prime importance. I believe that Indeed, I’ve never stopped writing. time, and troubleshooting consumed many catastrophes in history — in- Writing sharpens critical thinking. my life. I realized well into my third cluding the despicable evils of the I never have to scrape for material year that the project I was working Third Reich — happened because a for posters or presentations. I have on was going nowhere. Thankfully, majority of well-intentioned people illustration skills to be envied. When my principal investigator came to the did not resist staunchly enough a projects don’t work, I am able to write same realization and gave me another minority of ill-intentioned people. through it and find the answer. project. I chipped away at the new Thus, I will be deeply unhappy if I Now I hire students. It’s difficult to project. see myself as not being strong enough choose sometimes, but I may ask po- CONTINUED ON PAGE 28 to stand up for my ideals and values. tential candidates to write a one-page

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 27 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 all about me — my wants, my disser- 16-year-old, I had set my sights on tation and my career goals. Frankly, being a scientist. Now, seven years Slowly but surely, I started making it was exhausting and changing who later, it was horrifying to realize that I progress. Each successful immunoblot I was as a person. I had lost sight of might have set off on the wrong path. would lift my spirits a little and pursuing science to help others. My misery increased through the motivate me to come in the next Yes, in a few years, my assay second and third years of graduate day. I kept on going this way, and, could lead to therapeutic targets for school, and I knew I had to find a at my final committee meeting, my osteogenesis imperfecta and so was in way out of academic science. But committee members were satisfied itself a worthwhile task, but serving in my time, other careers in science with my progress and gave me the others went beyond getting that assay were not publicized much, and some green light. right. Each day I could help oth- faculty openly discouraged them. It was the small steps that kept me ers by simply assisting my lab mates To get a break from science, I going. It seemed easier to quit, but with experiments or volunteering for enrolled in an evening writing class. I am not a quitter. I kept on putting lab maintenance duties. Measuring As soon as I set pen to paper, a weight one foot in front of the other, and, my success by how my work got me lifted. This was what I wanted to do ultimately, I had the coveted three closer to that elusive science job was for the rest of my life. letters after my name. not getting me anywhere. Instead, I began learning about people Samarpita Sengupta completed her determining the success of each day with academic training who opted Ph.D. at the University of Texas South- based on working with integrity, for careers in science policy, law and western Medical Center at Dallas. She serving others and trusting that doors communications and asked faculty is now a postdoc at UT–Southwestern. would open as the time came is what members how I might combine sci- got me over the hump. ence and writing. My department Science can be service Lynn Mirigian recently defended chair told me that if I could com- By Lynn her dissertation under an individual municate the excitement of science Mirigian graduate partnership with the National to nonscientists, there was a career After three Institutes of Health and the Univer- for me. years of career ses- sity of Texas Medical Branch. She is a I devoted evenings after I finished sions and reading postdoctoral fellow with the National in the lab to building my portfolio of about the science Institutes of Health and a science com- writing clips. By the time I finished MIRIGIAN job market, I munications and outreach intern at the my Ph.D., I had my first job as a sci- formed a mantra: “If and only if I ASBMB. ence writer in hand. am the very best at research, writing, My scientific training helps me teaching and networking, then I have A weight is lifted understand the scientists I now a chance of getting a job in science.” By Rajendrani Mukhopadhay interview. I now recognize that one publication represents years of work In the middle of my third year of My Ph.D. training at Johns Hop- and that the Eureka moment is rare. graduate school, my eyes burned with kins University The Ph.D. helped me become the tears I refused to let fall as I stared at was the first time writer I am today — insatiably curi- what felt like my 800th failed experi- I was in the lab on ous, healthily skeptical and always ment. I was developing a new protein my own. Much to asking for evidence for statements. I pulse-chase assay, and yet again I my alarm, I found may not be at the bench, but I feel was staring at a gel with zero labeled that experimen- that in my career as a science journal- protein. Awesome. Never mind all of MUKHOPADHAY tal design wasn’t ist, I continue to play a role in the the other stuff — I couldn’t even get intuitive and that I lacked the instinct quest for knowledge. my stupid assay to work. Defending a and dexterity for experiments and Rajendrani (Raj) Mukhopadhyay is thesis and getting a job one day? Ha! the patience for research. Surrounded the chief science correspondent for the I ripped off my gloves and sat down by peers who seemed at ease in the ASBMB. She got her start as a writer at my desk to host a moderate-size laboratory, I realized there was no after completing her Ph.D. from Johns pity party for myself. way I could compete against them for Hopkins University. Follow her on As I scrolled through various Web academic or industry positions after Twitter (@rajmukhop) and read her articles, I came across a piece on graduation. ASBMB Today blog, Wild Types glorifying God at work. As I read it, I I grew miserable and scared. As a realized I had been making each day (wildtypes.asbmb.org).

28 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Is a professional science master’s degree right for you? By Weiyi Zhao

he transition between college industrial math- and graduate school isn’t always ematics. Rice T as clear-cut as one would like. University offers Most science majors are encouraged master's degrees to matriculate into Ph.D. programs in a variety of after graduation. Some choose to areas, includ- get advanced degrees in medicine, ing bioscience, dentistry or veterinary science. But if health policy none of these options works for you, and nanoscale what are some other choices? What physics. The if you are a nontraditional student University of looking for a career change but would Connecticut’s still like to acquire additional training master's program and knowledge? Are there training has applied offered jobs at host companies. opportunities worth considering? genomics, microbial systems analysis, A professional science master’s is In 1997, the Sloan Foundation and applied financial mathematics obviously not the right fit for every- began an initiative that awarded options. one. But even for those who think grants to research universities to The University of Oregon has an this may be a viable career option, establish professional science mas- industrial internship program that is a PSM a worthy investment? A ter’s programs in the natural sciences prepares students for work in indus- survey conducted by the Council of and mathematics. Over the years, trial research labs and offers tracks Graduate Schools in 2013 found that the initiative funded more than 50 in bioinformatics and genomics, the majority of PSM graduates from universities and established more than polymers and coatings, optical ma- 100 degree programs. PSM programs the 2011 – 2013 classes earned more terials and devices, and photovoltaic than $50,000 annually while working have expanded to include training in and semiconductor device process- biotechnology, bioinformatics and full time. The survey also found that ing. Students begin with intensive earning a PSM degree provided value social sciences. summer courses and then interview The rise of PSM programs coin- and benefits that go beyond annual for internships with partner compa- salary. The benefits include fulfillment cides with the recent economic reces- nies. Successful candidates complete sion. More and more graduates are of personal interest, acquiring specific nine-month paid internships and, skills and knowledge, and more op- worried about their competitiveness according to the program’s director in today’s job market. What distin- portunities for promotion. of recruitment and marketing, Lynde To learn more about PSMs, visit guishes a PSM from other advanced Ritzow, the average annual intern- science degrees is that, in addition to the National Professional Science ship pay is about $46,000. Master’s Association at www.npsma. offering advanced training in math “What's wonderful about this and science, these programs also help org or ScienceMasters.com’s search- program is that it enables students able directory. students gain practical experience to graduate with work experience — through internships. something every employer seeks in Weiyi Zhao is the program direc- Both the institutions that of- their hires,” Ritzow says. She notes tor at Grocery Manufacturers Association Science & Education fer PSM degrees and the types of that 98 percent of the program’s degrees offered are diverse. Michigan Foundation. This article first students have completed internships appeared in Enzymatic, ASBMB’s State University offers a master's in successfully, and 90 percent have been undergraduate newsletter.

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 29 The perfect match A graduate program director offers advice on finding the right fit for you By David J. Katzmann

s a graduate program director, I doing the sort of research that you academic diligence, but the admis- want to find the applicants who find interesting. Who are they? Are sions committee also is trying to A best fit our training program. As you inspired by their publications? understand you as a person, your mo- an applicant to graduate school, you Where have their trainees gone after tivation for pursuing graduate studies, want to find the program that best leaving the lab? Select an environ- your aptitude for research, how you supports your career goals. There are ment that will foster your intellectual will respond to challenges, and how three parameters, each of which you curiosity and be certain that there are well you align with the graduate pro- have control over, that will influence a number of individuals who could gram and its research interests. These this matching process: your selection serve as part of your mentorship criteria are best addressed through of where to apply, the application team. your personal statement and recom- itself and the interview. Where to apply: Select an environment that will foster your intellectual Do your homework curiosity and be certain that there are a number of This is a decision that will help individuals who could serve as your mentor and as part of shape the trajectory of your career, so your mentorship team. you want to get it right. Some institutions have name recognition that may resonate with The ideal environment would have mendation letters. you, but even the best program in the a number of productive, impactful The admissions committee wants country is only a good fit if it matches labs doing work that you find stimu- to understand what initially drew you your scientific interests. You’ll want to lating and that meshes well with your to science and your particular field of make sure the institution’s environ- interests and goals. This is critical for study. Committee members especially ment aligns with your long-term a variety of reasons: Faculty members want to understand your research goals. may move or retire, labs may fill to experiences. Is the program department-centric, capacity, personalities may clash and/ Research is hard. Successful cross-discipline, or interdepartmental, or the focus of a lab may change radi- researchers have found strategies to or a mixture? How does this fit with cally in short order. deal with what can at times seem like your own level of certainty regarding a barrage of negative results and fail- your chosen research area? The application: ures. So it is essential that you spend How large is the program, in terms significant time performing research of class size, and how does that affect Be true to you prior to joining a graduate program. your access to faculty? The application is a means for you Perform hypothesis-driven research How are student training costs to convey your passion and aptitude in a self-directed manner, get out covered? This includes general sti- for research. Your grades and GRE of your comfort zone, and generate pends, training grants and opportuni- scores provide a general assessment of novel information. ties for teaching assistant or research your intellectual horsepower and your assistant positions. Most programs will not constrain students to a specific lab, so don’t Don’t shy away from describing research failures in your select a training destination based on personal statement. Rather, highlight how these challenges the work of one investigator. Instead, find out how many investigators are made you better and more motivated to succeed.

30 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Don’t shy away from describing research failures in your personal statement. Rather, highlight how these challenges made you better and more motivated to succeed. The admissions committee cares less about the number of techniques you have learned than the scientific processes you have undertaken. In your application, focus on why the scientific question was important, how you chose to investigate the problem and what you learned about the topic (and yourself) through this experience. The ability to choose a technique will be learned during graduate school training, but curiosity cannot be taught. It is critical that you convey your motivations in your personal statement. Also, be sure to use your personal statement to convey your research interests for the future. The admis- statement, write multiple drafts right fit for you by coming up with sions committee is trying to identify until you feel your words represent appropriate questions based on your individuals whose interests align with who you are, what you have accom- homework about the program. the interests of the faculty in the plished and what you want to do in program. Studying different graduate the future. Then ask someone who Graduate school programs will enable you to represent knows you well to read it and tell you your interests appropriately. whether you described the real you. is a stepping-stone, Imagine that you are a reviewer not a destination with two applications in front of you. One of them describes the burning The interview: Graduate school is a stepping- desire of the applicant to perform a two-way street stone in your career. With curiosity, studies that are not well represented resilience, resourcefulness and hard The final component of the ap- work, you will be able to succeed at the institution. The other describes plication process is the interview. You how the research of eight faculty wherever you choose to pursue your have an opportunity to learn more studies. If you encounter multiple members at the institution sounds about the program you investigated, amazing and meshes well with the ap- programs that are great fits, start and you get a chance to understand considering other parameters. When plicant's interests, history and goals. what life as a graduate student in the How would you react? The reviewer you encounter programs that are not will be more inclined to select the individual who took the time to If you encounter multiple programs that are great fits, ensure that the program is indeed a good fit and can articulate his or her start considering other parameters. reasoning. Before you send your personal program is like. a good fit, ignore those and don’t David J. Katzmann (Katzmann. The interview is a two-way street. [email protected]) is a consul- look back. Even if you delay gradu- tant, associate professor and Be prepared to be more explicit about ate school for a year or so while you graduate program director for your motivations, your research identify the best program for you (of biochemistry and molecular experiences and your research inter- course enhancing your research port- biology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester. A longer ests. But also be prepared to explore version of this article first appeared in Enzymatic, folio in the interim), this will be time ASBMB’s undergraduate newsletter. whether the graduate program is the well spent in the long run.

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 31 Lessons learned Senior scientists share what they gleaned from their mistakes By Jen McGlaughon

t’s a scene in the lab that many of answer. So I dispensed with running disturbing the pellet. Only after the us are all too familiar with: You’ve (what I thought were) wasteful con- liquid went down the drain did the I reached the end of an experiment trols after the first set of experiments student have the courage to say that that has taken hours or days only and charged ahead with generating he had meant to discard the pellet to find out it has failed. As you’re data. As I proudly displayed my and analyze the supernatant. De- looking through your lab notebook results at the group meeting, I was spite the setback, the student, Lewis wondering where you went wrong, it dismayed to be told that my data “Rusty” Williams, went on to a bril- hits you. You added the wrong buffer were not usable and was made to liant career at the University of Cali- at step 13. Or perhaps your calcula- understand why. I smile when I think fornia, San Francisco, and in industry tions were wrong and you added 10 back on that experience, especially as and was later elected to the National microliters when you should have I regularly pound away about inad- Academy of Sciences. The adviser, added 100. Whatever the mistake, big equate or insufficient controls in my Robert Lefkowitz, did even better and or small, most of us can relate. own lab meetings. won the Nobel prize in 2012. Part of being a successful scientist is learning from your mistakes and Henrik Dohlman F. Peter Guengerich moving on. Scientists are only hu- University of Vanderbilt man, after all. Even the most success- North Carolina University ful and respected scientists can recall School of School of instances when they learned lessons Medicine Medicine the hard way. We asked a handful of Associate editor, Interim senior scientists to share such stories Journal of editor-in-chief, and the knowledge they gained from Biological Chemistry Journal of Biological Chemistry the experiences. The first story is about a colleague When I was a graduate student, I whose undergraduate adviser had needed to prepare 15N-labeled lysine encouraged him to apply to graduate for my thesis research. I ordered Ruma Banerjee 15 school and that he should consider at- NH4NO3 to do the appropriate University tending Washington University (in St. reaction. I proceeded through the of Michigan Louis). He did apply, did great things, synthesis and did the labeling experi- Medical School met his wife, earned his Ph.D., and ment with my molds. However, no Associate editor, is now an accomplished scientist at 15N label was in the expected product Journal of the National Institutes of Health. The of lysine. After backtracking, more Biological only thing is that he misunderstood detective work and finally calling the Chemistry the advice and attended the Univer- company, they admitted that they had In my first foray into research as a 15 15 sity of Washington, not realizing they sent me NH4 NO3 — the N label summer intern in (Obaid) Siddiqi’s were different schools in different in the wrong nitrogen. Although the laboratory at the Tata Institute of states. Happy ending. company did replace this with the Fundamental Research in Bombay The other anecdote is about how correct material, I lost a month of my (now Mumbai), I found myself work- my thesis adviser wanted to help time. So I have warned my students ing on the sugar-digesting enzyme another graduate student isolate and postdocs not to trust blindly found in Drosophila legs. Being receptor preparations from whole cell things they buy. Most are what we averse to wasting especially precious lysates. He picked up a centrifuge order, but over the years we have reagents, I did not see the point of re- tube from his student’s ice bucket received wrong chemicals, bad oligos peating controls — i.e., assays lacking and demonstrated how to decant the CONTINUED ON PAGE 34 enzyme — only to get the expected soluble material carefully without

32 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Fostering science careers with individual development plans Suggestions for students and mentors from a co-creator of myIDP By Philip S. Clifford

Sports teams would never go into values. Users identify skills that need Supporting your student’s competition, military units would improvement and the activities they IDP: suggestions for never go into battle and contractors most enjoy. They are able to zero in mentors would never construct a building on the things they value most, which without having detailed plans. Why often turn out to be the overriding • Encourage and assist your train- should a young scientist’s career be factors in career decisions. Is it most ees in creating their IDPs. any different? We created the freely important for them to work inde- Offer constructive feedback available myIDP (myIDP.scienceca- pendently or as part of a team? To about their scientific skills. To reers.org) to help graduate students have predictable job duties and hours help, use the assessment form and postdoctoral fellows take charge or engage in activities that change from the “skills summary” page of their careers by mapping out short- frequently? in myIDP. and long-term goals. • A recent survey (5) found that Research-based evidence supports Career exploration less than 40 percent of principal the value of career planning. People investigators encouraged their myIDP provides an extensive list with well-considered career plans postdocs to participate in profes- of career paths that correspond to rank themselves higher on career sional development. Familiarize users’ skills and interests and lists satisfaction (1) and achieve better yourself with your institutional numerous resources to help them salaries and promotions and higher career resources and explicitly explore these career paths. They can levels of responsibility (2). A nation- encourage your trainees to take learn about Ph.D. scientists who wide survey of postdoctoral scholars advantage of them. enjoy satisfying careers as academics, found that those who developed • Help your trainees under- as science writers for pharmaceuti- structured plans with their advisers stand the value of developing a cal companies or as field application reported greater satisfaction, more network. Introduce them to your specialists for state-of-the-art scien- papers published, more grant applica- contacts both inside and outside tific equipment. We encourage users tions and fewer conflicts with their academia. to start out by reading about scien- mentors (3). Another survey revealed • The old apprenticeship model tific careers, attending career events that a majority of postdocs and their for graduate and postdoctoral and gathering insights from people mentors found the process of working training is outmoded and inade- already on their desired career paths. through an individual development quate for today’s Ph.D. scientists. The career-exploration process is time plan to be beneficial (4). Training in skills like effective consuming; it’s not something users An IDP is a four-step process that communication, intellectual should expect to complete in a day, a helps users understand themselves, property, budgeting, negotiation, week or even a month. understand the breadth of career teaching, leadership and man- paths available, set goals to prepare agement is accomplished more for a desired career path and get Goal setting efficiently at an institutional started in the right direction. Once users narrow choices down level. Lobby your administration to a plan A and plan B, it’s time to to provide such training through Self-assessment determine what skills they need to de- courses and workshops organized velop to be competitive. They are en- by your graduate school, postdoc- The first step consists of simple toral office or career center. exercises to assess skills, interests and CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 33 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32 for a postdoc in the lab of (Lewis) up with dead inactive enzyme each Cantley, who had just discovered time. Even though this was a tough and so forth. If things aren’t going (phosphoinositide 3-kinase). A major purification procedure, the experience smoothly in your experiments, check recurring lab requirement was purifi- was pretty disheartening. Obviously, I your commercial reagents to be sure cation of PI3K enzyme from rat liver. made mistakes at different steps, but they are what you think they are. Everyone in the lab took turns in this it taught me one important lesson ordeal, which included many steps of that I have carried with me since and Alex Toker column chromatography in the cold try to instill in all my students and Beth Israel room followed by assaying fractions postdocs — persevere. Always perse- Deaconess with 32P-ATP. PI3K is a notori- vere in science, and if you love what Medical Center, ously unstable enzyme and, given the you do you will succeed. Harvard Medical many steps involved, the purification School sometimes failed, meaning no one in Jen McGlaughon (jla254@ Associate editor, the lab would have active enzyme for cornell.edu) is a graduate their experiments and projects. As I student in the molecular biology Journal of Biological Chemistry and genetics department at I recall, as a freshly minted Ph.D. took my first few stabs at this puri- Cornell University. from the U.K., arriving in the U.S. fication as the new postdoc, I ended

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 gram or contacting a local community areas where they need assistance. For college to inquire about teaching a full example, if their PIs are not the most couraged to set what we call SMART course for a semester. effective communicators, they might goals — specific, measureable, action want to ask other faculty members to oriented, realistic and time bound — Implementing a plan critique their presentations. Talking that will ensure they develop those with labmates about their goals also Users should discuss their IDPs skills. If someone’s plan A is to teach will provide some accountability, as with their mentors and agree on or science in a primarily undergraduate will reviewing their progress on a revise the goals they’ve set. They also institution, he or she will need real regular basis. teaching experience, not just a lecture should recruit additional mentors in here or there. That user’s SMART goal REFERENCES will entail getting experience through 1. Ng T.W.H., et al. Personnel Psychology, 58, 367 – 408 (2005). a university’s faculty-preparation pro- 2. Abele A.E. and Wiese B.S. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81, 733 – 749 (2008). Philip S. Clifford ([email protected]) 3. Davis G. American Scientist, 93:3 supplement 1 – 13 (2005). is associate dean for research 13 in the College of Applied 4. Hobin, J.A., et al. CBE Life Sciences , 49 – 53 (2014). Health Sciences at the 5. Mitchell, J.S., et al. “The 2013 Canadian Postdoc Survey: Painting a Picture of Canadian Postdoc- University of Illinois, Chicago. toral Scholars.” Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars and Mitacs (2013).

34 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Increasing funding for minority scientists Recap of ASBMB workshop on grant writing and mentoring By Marion Sewer

he third annual American Society panel review and a presentation about for Biochemistry and Molecular The mentors were: crafting a strong proposal. Program T Biology Grant Writing and Men- directors from the National Institute toring Workshop was held in June in of General Medical Sciences and the • Orlando Acevedo Washington. Spearheaded by the soci- Molecular and Cellular Biosciences ety’s minority affairs committee, this of the University of Miami Cluster of the Biological Sciences Bio- year’s workshop brought experienced • Karen Allen directorate at the NSF discussed the mentors and program directors from grant-review process at their agenicies of Boston University the National Science Foundation and provided tips for communicating and the National Institutes of Health • Vahe Bandarian with funders. In addition, William together to guide assistant profes- of the University of Utah Trenkle of the Office of Research sors and postdoctoral scientists best • Squire Booker Integrity at the U.S. Department of practices for writing grant proposals Health and Human Services delivered and to offer practical advice about of Pennsylvania State University a sobering presentation on research navigating the academic world. • Craig Cameron integrity. Emphasizing that more than a of Pennsylvania State University Former mentees Folami Ideraad- third of the mentees from previous bdullah of the University of North • Sonia Flores workshops have been funded, organiz- Carolina at Chapel Hill and Hugues ers for the 2015 workshop introduced of the University of Colorado, Oullet of University of Texas at El new features, including one-on-one Denver Paso, whose work has been funded, mentor–mentee pairing that will • Marion Sewer also served as peer mentors and led a extend beyond the workshop and well-received panel discussion about of the University of California, through the submission process. the approaches they used in the grant- San Diego Workshop mentors shared two preparation and -submission process. important characteristics: they were • Takita Sumter They also touched on their experi- recipients of extramural funding, in- of Winthrop University ences as junior faculty members who cluding NSF, NIH, Howard Hughes are training and mentoring students Medical Institute or other foundation while also adjusting to the demands support, and they were committed to of managing a research program and team; Sumter discussed strategies initiatives that diversified the profes- teaching. for balancing teaching, research and soriate. Mentees were a diverse cohort Looking forward, the organizers service; Allen covered building fruitful with respect to gender, race, geo- hope to expand the popular work- research collaborations; and Flores graphical location, research interest shop’s reach by developing Web-based led a discussion on mentoring and and institutional settings. interactive resources. the importance of saying no. Ban- Mentors provided feedback about darian and Acevedo led a discussion research proposals and led lively Marion Sewer for postdoctoral participants about discussion about sustaining careers in ([email protected]) interviewing and negotiating for a is a professor at the academia. faculty position. Skaggs School of Pharmacy Cameron provided tips for build- Other components of the work- and Pharmaceutical Sciences ing and maintaining a research at the University of California, San Diego. shop included an NSF-style mock

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 35 From Drosophila to kit design Danielle Snowflack is teaching science in a creative way by Soma Chowdhury

Danielle Snowflack is a scientist When I was an undergrad at Muhlen- best experience possible. The other set by background, an artist at heart berg College in Pennsylvania, I did of skills I started picking up was with and a passionate science educator by a lot of tutoring, was involved as a social media and trying to connect profession. As part of her job as the learning assistant and ran educa- our customers in a different way. director of education at Edvotek, a tional training sessions. I really liked biotechnology education company, teaching. When I went to graduate Did you always want she designs scientific kits, protocols school, I started doing teaching as a and programs and attends trade shows graduate student and getting involved to get away from to help teachers communicate science with some K – 12 outreach activities, bench research? in an effective and user-friendly way. which furthered my desire to work in I didn’t necessarily want to be 100 In an interview with ASBMB Today’s the classroom. So I did what everyone percent away from bench research. science-writing intern Soma Chow- does, which is network. I was in the My job gives me a nice ability not dhury, Snowflack shared her experi- right place at the right time, because only to have the teaching experience ences at Edvotek and her career path Edvotek happened to be looking for in terms of developing the materi- away from the laboratory bench. The someone like me. als but also in terms of traveling to interview has been edited for clarity education conferences and teaching and length. What skills did you acquire people the techniques. I also go into in graduate school that are the lab to develop some of the experi- What do you do at Edvotek? ments myself. useful in your current job? I am the director of education. We try to translate cutting-edge science My Ph.D. is in molecular biology You have taken a very into a format that can be useful and from Princeton (University). I worked unusual path. Was it hard? easily brought into classrooms. A on post-transcriptional regulation It was. One thing that I found lot of what I do as the director of of RNA during early Drosophila when I was looking for jobs is that education is to look at what’s going development. My work focused on many jobs in science education on in science and figure out a way to the mechanisms used to keep the want you to have a degree in science bring it to the classroom. A big part unlocalized nanos RNA from being education or experience with K – 12 of my job is traveling to education translated during oogenesis and students as opposed to having any conferences where I present hands- embryogenesis. But it’s not just using experience with science. I did go on on biotechnology workshops. This my Ph.D. knowledge from the labora- some interviews where they said, “You is an important opportunity because tory. A lot of what you learn during have to have three to five years of it helps our teachers get comfortable your Ph.D. is also how to communi- teaching experience in a high-school with the experiments. But I am also cate clearly to other people, how to classroom before we can consider responsible for developing educa- interpret information and figure out you for this position.” The employer tional materials and YouTube videos how to get it out there in a way that looks for keywords in your resume and working on our official media everyone can understand. and cover letter or you don’t even get presence. I am still in the lab doing seen. It’s tricky. That’s why I think some of the research myself. I have my What new skills did that if you are a scientist trying to get hands in a lot of different pots. you have to learn? out of your traditional science careers, A lot of what I’ve really learned networking is extremely important. What inspired you here is customer service: how to work to take this job? with people who are outside of your Can you describe a typical It’s kind of a long and crazy path. field and try to get them to have the

36 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 DANIELLE SNOWFLACK Danielle Snowflack is director of education at Edvotek. day in the office? to yours? complishments was to redesign our protocols, making them more illus- This is a kind of job where there’s I wish I had identified that I trated and more visual so that we are no typical day. But I’ll say a lot of wanted to be in this field earlier as describing our experiments not only my time is spent in developing our a graduate student. I would have in words but also in pictures. educational resources and protocols, worked more with kids, done more writing blog posts and connecting outreach, perhaps taken some more with educators. I’ll fill in on technical education classes and learned more What do you anticipate calls, and I’m probably in the lab two of the pedagogy behind the field. I the next steps of your or three times a week trying some- do find that I am learning a lot of career will be? thing out to see if I can get it to work that on the fly. I think especially for and be reproducible. people who don’t know whether they I like being involved with science want to do bench research, the best education and with the teachers. What did you find most thing to do is to try out some things if Sometimes I do wish I had more time they have the opportunity as graduate to work with students on the front challenging when you students. line. As a woman in science, I think joined Edvotek? it’s important to get girls comfortable and inspired by scientific fields. It’s the time management. I feel What do you do when I have a lot of freedom to do exciting like when you are a graduate student, you are not working? things at Edvotek — I don’t know you have no concept of what a normal I love to ride my bike and like to that I would be willing to trade that day should be. You get to the lab freedom to be in the classroom right early, you leave late. Now I am really get out as much as possible. My hus- band and I like to do some traveling. now. I hope I am still in education trying to manage that work–life bal- developing these amazing experiences ance. Sometimes it can be difficult. I am very interested in art, and I try to take art classes when I can. Both — and hopefully with Edvotek. my parents are very creative, and I What advice would you Soma Chowdhury actually was a studio art and natural ([email protected]) give to anyone looking sciences major as an undergraduate. is an intern at ASBMB Today and to have a career similar It serves me very well at Edvotek, at the NIH Catalyst. because one of my very proud ac-

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 37 How to pick a postdoc By Preethi Chander

In the biological and biomedical definitively that she did not want to Likewise, when your postdoc training fields, a postdoc is a huge commit- be in academia. is complete, it is ideal that you be ment that can play a decisive role in “I wanted to get into industry open to look beyond where you are a scientist’s career path. We asked a as fast as I could, so my first option — i.e., be ready to move to where a diverse group of current and former was an industrial postdoc. The few job might be and not expect to find it postdocs to weigh in on finding the academic institutions that I contacted in your backyard!” right placement and spoke with a were focused on labs with applied principal investigator to get a supervi- projects with industrial applications,” Institution sor’s perspective on this all-important she says. Apart from understanding a lab’s search. The opinions they expressed research projects, applicants should do not represent those of their cur- Geographic location ask about pay, leave benefits, mentor- rent employers. Having a regional preference, or ing and training opportunities, and Here are the six points that a family or avocation that will be af- exposure to career options. Some emerged. fected by a move, can make geogra- institutions might encourage postdocs phy a major concern. to teach at local colleges, take courses Know yourself Sitharam offered in other departments or make Danielle Ramaswami, a time for summer internships. Gutierrez did her postdoc in derma- According to Gutierrez, “For postdoc in mass tology at Colum- postdocs applying for training grants spectrometry bia University, through NIH funding and look- analysis at the Na- says, “I loved New ing to become professors, they will RAMASWAMI GUTIERREZ tional Institutes of York and didn’t need to show that their mentor and Health intramural want to leave my interests in the local facilities will provide the best training program and at Texas A&M Universi- organizations that I volunteer with. and opportunities. Additionally, the ty. She says graduate students should Since there are plenty of well-known institution’s reputation for training get clear on their core values before science and research institutes here, in a particular field can open job op- embarking on a postdoc quest. I started looking into research labs portunities." “If you know what you want to that work on immunology and cancer do, your time as a postdoc has the research primarily focusing on New Lab culture potential to be much more fruitful. York City.” A new lab may offer experience You can focus your efforts on obtain- But Michael setting up a research team and building that goal, not only through your Redmond, who ing infrastructure, skills that are criti- efforts in the lab, but also through heads the lab for cal for starting a lab in the future. But networking conferences, seminar at- Retinal Cell and an established lab can provide a head tendance — for any opportunity that Molecular Biol- start on experiments, with access to comes along, you can ask yourself- ogy at the NIH, REDMOND protocols and projects that have been will this help me obtain my goal?” cautions that developed over the years. The latter she says. geography should not override other might also have a large alumni base Antara Baner- considerations. for networking. Either way, it’s crucial jee, a scientist at “It should not be the only con- to understand a lab’s dynamics. Takeda California, sideration. If you are limited to one Ramaswami is on his second did her industry geographic area due to insurmount- postdoc. He says, “My earlier postdoc postdoc at Scher- able considerations, do not be afraid was in a large lab with an established ing–Plough Bio- to cast your net wide in that area so (principal investigator). The lab BANERJEE pharma. She knew that you can make the best choice. culture was very set in its ways, and

38 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 the guidance I required for my project I’ve been blessed to have talented Danforth Plant Science Center in St. was hard to come by. Having a men- mentors who provided great examples Louis. “The most important element tor who was extremely accessible was as successful scientists and committed is to work on increasing your skill critical to me, so I picked a smaller parents and spouses.” set and being productive, by actively lab with a new investigator where I A flexible mentor who can adjust publishing and forging new collabo- interact with my supervisor multiple if things do not go as planned is also rations. My Ph.D. work resulted in times a day. I look forward to steady key, says Redmond. “Given the cur- a patent, and we started collabora- publications in good journals rather rent state of science funding, getting tion with industry. I was more than than waiting for the next big Cell or that first faculty position and/or R01 happy to continue to see the work to Science paper.” takes longer and longer, and there is fruition. I did not see any reason to increasing competition, so alternate move,” he says. Research mentor paths may be necessary or desirable. Is Banerjee, alternatively, decided to the mentor amenable to allow you to diversify. “I wanted to do something An investigator who prioritizes consider this?” very different than what I had done postdoc success is crucial to a future during graduate school to increase career. For those pursuing an aca- my perspective and experience. I was demic track, it is important to have Scientific topic always interested in antibodies. But conversations about taking your Whether the postdoc research will in order to do that I needed to have projects with you when you leave. be an extension of Ph.D. work or a a strong foundation in immunology Gutierrez says, “It can be helpful to branching out into other areas, ap- and infectious diseases, and so I found know the expectations and personality plicants should pick topics that piquie a lab that supports both,” she says. of your PI before starting. Some PIs their curiosity. may have very specific requirements Umesh Katpal- about hours worked, number of ly, now a business Preethi Chander (chander. [email protected]) did her publications, number of projects, etc., analyst at Novar- Ph.D. in biochemistry and and others may be more hands-off. tis, did his postdoc molecular biology and her Placing yourself in a situation where and Ph.D. in the postdoctoral work in eye and you know you can perform well and same virology lab vision research. She is interested in science policy KATPALLY and communications. work with your PI is advantageous. at the Donald

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 39 INTRODUCTION

JEFF SCHMALTZ, NASA This image of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 28, 2005, was captured by NASA’s Terra satellite.

40 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Memories of Hurricane Katrina: 10 years later By Angela Hopp

he National Hurricane Center in Memo authors Eric S. Blake and American Society for Biochemistry 2011 published a memorandum Ethan J. Gibney focus primarily on and Molecular Biology provided small T titled “The deadliest, costliest, those things that are quantifiable: grants to a few dozen Gulf Coast sci- and most intense United States tropi- wind speed, coordinates and air entists who had lost just about every- cal cyclones from 1851 to 2010 (and pressure. But they also emphasize thing. Ten years later, we asked some other frequently requested hurricane things that are not so easily measured: of those grant recipients and one of facts).” As the name implies, the 47- urgency, attitudes and vulnerability. our regular contributors from the page technical memo is swollen with Importantly, they raise the concern region to tell us what they remember data points about storms of all sizes of forgetting. They say sociologists and how their lives and careers were and consequences. warn that people remember only “the affected. In the following pages, we’ve The memo notes that Hurricane worst effects of a hurricane for about printed their (shortened and edited) Katrina, a Category 3 storm that seven years.” They say that those at responses. came ashore in Florida on Aug. 25, the National Weather Service’s hur- Like the memo by the hurricane 2005, and then in Louisiana a day ricane preparedness office worry that center, their reflections are part later, was the third deadliest and coastal communities will put too technical and part cautionary. Perhaps by far the most costly hurricane in much faith in forecasting and technol- they will help us not to forget. U.S. history. The storm killed 1,200 ogy. They say, “Katrina provided a Angela Hopp people, and subsequent flooding grim reminder of what can happen in ([email protected]) is the killed hundreds more. It caused $108 a hurricane landfall.” communications director for ASBMB and executive editor of billion in property damage. In the weeks after Katrina, the ASBMB Today.

Melanie Ehrlich: “I never was INSIDE THIS SPECIAL SECTION politically active before.” Page 44

Essay EHRLICH

Andrew Hollenbach: “We knew we had no time to lose and set to work harder and more focused than we had been Iris Lindberg: “Institutions need to before the storm.” Page 42 involve scientists more in disaster planning.” Page 45 HOLLENBACH

LINDBERG Recollections

Wayne Backes: “I recall going over the Larry Byers: “The following year, High Rise and seeing total darkness on there were more undergraduates the other side. I knew that a city was enrolled at Tulane than before there but could not see it.” Page 43 Katrina.” Page 45 BACKES BYERS

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 41 ESSAY ‘Part of the fabric of our existence’ By Andrew Hollenbach

“So what are your plans?” I was confused by my department chair’s question. Consumed by a family health emergency, I had been out of touch with the world around me for weeks. I gave her a vague answer unrelated to the outside world. “You haven’t been watching the news, have you?” she asked. That’s when it hit me: “Katrina?” After preparing the house, board- ing up all of the windows, gathering our essential documents and important keepsakes, and loading up the car with the dog and cat, we left for Memphis, where we stayed with friends. Over the next few days, IRIS LINDBERG we watched coverage of the storm’s Lower floors of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center’s towers were immersed in the flooding that approach. When it missed the city, we engulfed more than 80 percent of New Orleans. felt great relief that New Orleans had dodged a bullet, only to wake up the nitrogen storage had no power, and we don’t dwell on it. It is a part of next day to images of the city lying there was no air conditioning. This our history, a terrible event in the under water, the result of a man-made was New Orleans in August, when past that affected and changed us in disaster that would be compounded temperatures routinely reach the up- many important ways — as a city, as in the following days and weeks by per 90s and humidity hovers around a region, as a people and, for us in ineptitude, politics and confusion. 80 percent to 90 percent. Everyone academic science, as institutions. After two weeks in Memphis, we lost all bacterial stocks, cell lines and Now we have distinct protocols traveled to my parents’ house near valuable reagents, and for many of us in place that include the long-term Philadelphia, where we stayed for this amounted to years of hard work. off-site storage of important reagents six weeks, returning home to New Even more devastating, many people and supplies. Individual labs have Orleans in late October. at regional research institutes lost developed detailed evacuation plans Everyone knows this part of the valuable clinical samples or animal that can be implemented with little story. But what many people don’t models that were housed on the lower warning, and that will guarantee the realize, and what we scientists hadn’t floors of buildings and sat under safety of years of work. As a result considered as we packed up our water for weeks. of the extended evacuations after personal lives, was that many of us Every June 1 to Nov. 30, also Katrina, many of us established life- would lose years of research, reagents known as hurricane season on the long collaborations and professional and work to Katrina. Once the levees Gulf Coast, residents sit poised to friendships, and, if the unthinkable broke and the city was flooded, evacuate at a moment’s notice. We were ever to happen again, we know electricity was gone. This meant live with the specter and memory we have places we can stay and work that refrigerators, freezers and liquid of Katrina. It has become a part of for extended periods of time. the fabric of our existence. However, More importantly, I think many of

42 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 RECOLLECTIONS us have learned from Blanche Dubois, spicuous publication gap. Many were But was it a negative change? Overall, that indelible character created by unable to publish in the years after the no, it wasn’t. We in New Orleans are Tennessee Williams, to “rely on the disaster, which left a gap that must be stronger, better prepared and more kindness of strangers.” This not only explained to reviewers. However, we attentive than we ever were before. includes the general kindness of busi- can’t explain this gap, because, as a It highlighted our deficiencies, and nesses, hotels and people from all over reviewer bluntly put it to me, they are we stepped up and fixed them to the country who so generously took “tired of hearing the Katrina excuse.” create better preparedness, better care of us in the aftermath but also Despite how this gap looks on pa- institutes and better structures. In collaborators, colleagues and friends per, I will say that when our institute many respects, we have an awareness in the academic world. My postdoc- finally did open and we returned to and strength that didn’t exist before toral mentor, Gerard Grosveld at St. work, we were all hyperfocused on the storm. Calling on that tried and Jude Children’s Research Hospital, of- what needed to be accomplished. We true literary device, Katrina may fered me lab and office space and gave knew we had no time to lose and set have flooded our city, but it washed me access to any and all reagents and to work harder and more focused than away the veil of denial, baptized us supplies I required to regenerate my we had been before the storm. into a new life, and cleansed and lost stocks. Thanks to his generosity, So does Katrina still factor into our refreshed our community, allowing us our lab was able to recreate everything lives? Of course it does. It has to. So to develop grassroots efforts to do for we had lost within weeks, and I was many of us were traumatized by what ourselves and improve the city that we able to generate the data that would happened and what we lost. But does all love and call home. become my first published manuscript it consume our lives and our thoughts Andrew D. Hollenbach (aholle@ from my independent work. today? No, of course not. It can’t. If lsuhsc.edu), author of the book Given the enormity of the loss it did, how would we be able to func- “A Practical Guide to Writing a we all suffered, it isn’t a surprise that tion or live? Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Grant,” our productivity slowed. Many of Did Katrina change us forever? is an associate professor in the genetics department at Louisiana State University us experienced, and still to this day It had to. It was a disaster of a kind Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. experience, the catch-22 of a con- never before seen in the United States. ! ‘I recall going over the groups of faculty and staff into the tions. Again, there was no power in research buildings to recover samples the buildings, so it was hot, and High Rise and seeing total (with National Guard escorts). Most numerous rodents of varying sizes had darkness on the other samples in freezers, with the excep- taken up residence there. side. I knew that a city was tion of DNA and some antibodies, Many of the scientists relocated were lost. There were a lot of samples to their colleagues’ labs throughout there but could not see it.’ in Dewars scattered throughout the the country in the interim. By late Wayne Backes, Louisiana State Uni- research buildings. The smaller ones December, the first of the research versity Health Sciences Center New were carried down the stairs, placed buildings had power and could be Orleans onto National Guard trucks and taken occupied; however, there was no s an institution, we lost three to Baton Rouge. The larger ones could Internet, and phone service was mini- major resources — personnel, not be moved, so liquid nitrogen was mal. All of the research buildings were A laboratory samples and time. brought in and carried up the stairs reopened by mid-March. After the After the storm passed through — in 100-degree temperatures — to research buildings reopened, scientists New Orleans, there was about six top-off the larger Dewars. slowly migrated back to New Orleans; to seven feet of water surrounding After about three weeks, the flood however, some relocated permanently. LSU Health Sciences Center. All water was pumped out of the city; ! power to the research buildings was however, most people were not al- Once the research building re- lost for about three months. Add- lowed to return. About six to eight opened, the real recovery began. Our ing in the summer heat, the build- weeks after the hurricane, faculty scientists needed to re-establish cell ing temperatures rose to about 100 were allowed to return to the research lines; try to salvage constructs; and degrees. This was not good for the buildings to recover computers and biological samples. It was about 10 take them to alternate sites where they CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 days before we were able to send small could salvage their research opera-

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 43 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 43 three hours per day. Everyone went shopping for supplies at replace antibodies, purified proteins the same time — 10 minutes and numerous other resources. Many to get your items and then 90 clinical and animal tissue samples minutes in a line to pay for were lost. them. The time to recovery depended Gasoline was also difficult on the investigator, but the average to get. Without power, the was probably about one and a half to pumps didn’t work, so you two years for recovery of seminormal needed to travel to an area research activity. For my lab, it was where there was power. about a year and a half. But we had a And the traffic! Traveling lot of help from the scientific commu- by car was an experience in nity. The National Institutes of Health patience. There was a bridge provided a one-year, full-cost exten- on I-10 that was destroyed sion of active research grants, which during the storm, so there was essential for many of us maintain- was a detour that lasted a few ing our research programs. ASBMB KEN EHRLICH months before a temporary Melanie Ehrlich comforts Haruka Tsumagari, the wife of one of her members in the affected area also were bridge was constructed. Trav- postdocs, in the days after the storm. provided grants to help offset some eling east from New Orleans of our unexpected costs. This support was fine for about 25 miles. ‘I never was politically was very much appreciated. Then you got to wait for about three active before’ ! hours to get across Lake Pontchar- After 10 years, the scientific com- Melanie Ehrlich, Tulane University train. Traveling to Baton Rouge was Health Sciences Center munity has recovered. Many new no picnic either. So much of New Or- never was politically active before faculty have been recruited to replace leans relocated to Baton Rouge that a (Hurricane Katrina). Destruction faculty losses immediately after the two- to three-hour wait was common of my home from floodwaters storm. The biggest concerns are now I in either direction. due to faulty levee construction and similar to those of everyone else — Another memory is the dark- incredulity at how poorly organized lack of NIH support due to the tight ness. When traveling east from New the $10 billion Road Home Program budget environment, recruiting and Orleans, there is a bridge called the for homeowner victims was from its retaining faculty and staff, and so High Rise. It crosses the industrial inception led me to found the non- forth. canal and goes to East New Orleans. profit Citizens' Road Home Action ! This area was under water for at least Team. (CHAT was active from 2006 I tend not to think too much about a month, and all the electrical substa- to 2010.) Katrina. It was a painful experience. tions were damaged. So there was no Using my science-based analytical Ultimately, the reminders come back power in East New Orleans. When and oratorical skills in dealing with every August. Will there be another traveling into East New Orleans at the top officials of the United States storm? Will it hit New Orleans? There night, I recall going over the High Department of Housing and Urban was about a 40-year span between Rise and seeing total darkness on Development-financed, state-run pro- Katrina and the previous major storm the other side. I knew that a city was gram, other members of CHAT and (Betsy in 1963). Hopefully, it will be there but could not see it. Power to I secured more equitable rule-making at least another 40 years. that area was not restored for at least and implementation benefiting many There are a lot of thoughts that six months. thousands of the applicants. enter my mind when I think about One last thought is the variety of CHAT was mentioned in more Katrina. One is getting used to wait- insects that encroached on the city. than 50 newspaper articles, including. Everything — I mean everything Within two weeks of the storm, there ing three mentions in the New York — took longer after the storm. The were species of insects that I had never Times, and featured numerous times Internet, when it was finally avail- seen. New plants began to grow, prob- on TV to advocate for logical rules. able, was slower. Going to the store ably seeded by the floodwaters. It was Still, the Road Home was a very took longer. There were not enough amazing to see how quickly civiliza- unfair program, but CHAT made it employees to maintain full staffing, so tion can devolve and be overtaken by appreciably less so. stores would only be open for two to nature.

44 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 2005 and March disaster planning. We think about 2007 was also the hurricane a lot. It was actually the pretty stressful. beginning of a 10-year period of stress I still have not for New Orleans scientists, both those regrown all of the who stayed and those who moved. plasmids. We are First some of us lost our labs, then growing them as came the housing bubble … and this needed. I think was then followed by the collapse in Katrina set me NIH funding … I am sure the last back about two decade of heightened cortisol levels

IRIS LINDBERG, FROM HER DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PRESENTATION FOR SCIENTISTS: years of profitable has shortened my lifespan. THELINDBERGLAB.COM/RESOURCES research time. I However, I have very much en- Mold obscures labels on retrieved bacterial stocks. was very grate- joyed my new research environment ful for the extra in Baltimore in the last eight years. ‘Institutions need to support I received from the National I just wish I could have moved here involve scientists more in Institute on Drug Abuse. under less stressful circumstances! disaster planning’ ! I think people need to realize that ‘The following year, there Iris Lindberg, University of Maryland disasters involving power outages are Medical Center (formerly of Louisiana much more common than they think, were more undergraduates State University Health Sciences Center and they should have valuable materi- enrolled at Tulane than New Orleans) als backed up off site. I now provide before Katrina’ he most prominent memory I an external hard drive for backup of have of Katrina is the visit to Larry Byers, Tulane University all lab computers, as I had to carry eing on the high ground of T New Orleans that Mike Jazwin- seven desktop computers down seven ski, Bronya Keats and I made from the campus — about four flights of stairs in 90-degree heat! I Baton Rouge to rescue our lab materi- B feet above sea level — means also think institutions need to involve our part of Uptown, along with the als three weeks after Katrina, after scientists more in disaster planning. the National Guard had evacuated French Quarter, was among the 20 There was no need for me to lose my percent of the city, which has an aver- the city for Hurricane Rita. As we mice. Firstly, there were people in the drove down Claiborne Avenue toward age elevation of seven feet below sea building who could have carried a few level, that did not flood. However, the LSUHSC in the only car on the cages to upper levels when the build- road, we did not see a single person basement, where the stockroom is, ing started to flood. It didn’t happen was flooded by groundwater. or animal — nothing else moving that rapidly. Secondly, we were told but us. We were in an empty city, Our building did not suffer se- the mice had all drowned when the verely right after Katrina. There was surrounded by wind-wrecked signs top level of mice were still alive and I and tree debris, and passed an empty very little wind damage. Most of the could have rescued them when I went damage was due to about five months boat stranded on the median strip. It in to get my stuff a few weeks after- was and will remain the most surreal without power. Aside from replacing wards. Lastly, these very valuable re- stockroom reagents, most of the reme- experience of my life. maining live mice were then sacrificed I lost everything but my Dewars diation expense was mold removal. by LSUHSC because they had fur The chemistry department did not and my plasmids: 10,000 frozen tis- mites — a purely cosmetic disorder. sue samples, milligrams of purified lose any faculty, but the administra- There was no need to sacrifice them. tion cut staff support by 20 percent to protein intended for crystallography, Basically, many decisions were taken and knockout mice that are no longer 30 percent, and this still has not been by people who should have asked the restored. on this earth. scientists involved, which compound- ! The fall 2005 academic semes- ed the losses … A lesson I learned ter, which was just about to begin, What I really missed in the next six is that no one cares about your stuff months was new data: There was, of could not take place, but the spring more than you do. semester of 2006 took place, and the course, none coming in. Most (princi- ! pal investigators) are data junkies, and fall courses were offered then and in Katrina changed my life and hope- the summer. The following year, there not getting any new data for so long fully taught all research institutions was tough! Interviewing for 11 jobs all were more undergraduates enrolled at that they must include a business- Tulane than before Katrina. across the country between November continuity plan for researchers in

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 45 PERSPECTIVES Fishing in life and the lab By Lynn Mirigian

ishing is synonymous with my Know the target childhood. My first memory is I know catfish are partial to slow- F of gleefully picking up earth- moving, smelly bait. So if a fish fry worms from my driveway after a is at stake, I need to have a juicy heavy rain and poking their wrig- earthworm bobbing at the end of my gling bodies one by one into a bait hook. With hundreds of successes bucket. At the age of 4, fishing was and failures at capturing collagen not yet an option, but bait collecting recorded in my lab notebook, I now was a prime pastime. I hunted down know collagen does not favor warm worms, crawdads and other crawling temperatures and shields itself from things to put in the bait bucket or capture by cozying up with DNA. in the Polly Pocket clamshell purse But the protein is attracted by low I used as a tackle box. I received my pH and agitation. first Disney princess rod and reel as a birthday gift from my parents with Enjoy the cold drink and tales the sense of anticipation, joy and of triumph and woe responsibility typically reserved for a Stopping by Dairy Queen at the first pet. end of the day was one of my favorite I grew up in rural Indiana and parts of childhood fishing adven- spent all of my summers, first as a Mirigian's favorite pan-fried fish with rice dinner was tures. Sitting in a faded red booth, just moments away. child in pigtails, then as a teenager in slurping down a double blueberry ponytails and finally as a young adult milkshake, my dad and I recapped unknown. As I mature as a scientist, I with wavy hair, with a fishing pole in the glories, laughed at the mistakes look forward to teaching students just my hand. As I watched the bobber and commiserated over the fish that as I was taught. float up and down, fishing showed got away. Without that same easy me what it was to be calm. Working camaraderie with lab mates and an Living creatures deserve respect on my jigging technique engrossed enormous $8 bottle of pinot grigio, In that split second after a fish me. It taught me patience when it forging through science would be takes the bait, it is the fisherperson’s seemed like all of the fish had gone tough. responsibility to recognize a fish has on vacation away from my hook. been caught and to set the hook. Wait Little did I know then that fishing It’s important to teach others too long, and the fish could swallow would be great training for my jour- “Da-ad, it’s in a tree again!” My the hook or get it caught in its gills ney through science and my current dad heard those words at least five and be hurt unnecessarily. Whether job as a postdoctoral researcher. times an hour when he first began to I'm handling a fish or a laboratory Here are some lessons take me fishing. But each time, he mouse that must be sacrificed, I do I’ve learned. would patiently rescue my hook, and my best to prevent suffering. The gut we’d move to a new spot where, once check that accompanies each proce- Proper bait is key again, he’d show me how to sidearm dure, even when I know the animal Just like fish reject old, worn-out cast under trees. But through this is to be used for food or to benefit crickets, regardless of how superb the effort, he passed the love of fishing human health, never goes away. fishing technique, cells don’t respond from one generation to the next. This to an ancient, undated tube of cyto- cycle also occurs in the lab. My grad- Lynn Mirigian (mirigianls@ kines found in the back of the 4 °C uate-school supervisor patiently set mail.nih.gov) is a postdoc at the National Institutes of Health fridge no matter how many times I aside large chunks of his day not only studying disordered proteins repeat the experiment. to rescue my haywire experiments but and a communications/outreach also to instill a love of discovery of the intern with ASBMB.

46 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 Nature or nurture? By Mariana Figuera–Losada

hat was the tipping point that minds to mine. Those friends, an chemistry became my put my younger self on a path ever-expanding group of teachers, path, and studying W to a career in science? Was it physicians, biologists, sociologists and proteins’ functions the hours I spent as a child reading psychologists, would spend endless turned out to be my books about space exploration or hours on somebody’s porch or at passion. It is hard to the immune system, playing exotic the beach talking about everything believe I ever could adventure and strategy video games, under the sun. Eavesdropping on get tired of peeking or solving puzzles? Was it watch- their conversations was always a treat into the amazing lives ing educational programs on public for me. It didn’t matter whether they of proteins. Learn- television about the wonders of the were talking about the latest medical ing what they do and universe, the beauty and toughness of advances, the best cuts of meat for a how they do it is like the African savannah, or the mysteries barbecue, or world politics or social going on an expedi- of the oceans? justice. Whether I could understand tion to a faraway, Perhaps it was the long stories that their discussions was also beside the exotic place with no The writer with her son my mom, who was a teacher and a point. What mattered most was that map to show the way; psychologist, told me about lost pre- I was there and part of something I if you are lucky, a few tales told by Columbian civilizations, their amaz- perceived to be exciting and extraor- those that came before guide your ing cultures and their demise. Maybe dinary. first, hesitant steps. it was my uncle, the marine biologist, For all I know, I even may have Now I believe it is my turn to pass who poured some intellect fertilizer had a genetic predisposition to the torch. There is a new member of into my head while we fantasized become an experimentalist. Family my family, a little one with insatiable about the mysteries of the Bermuda stories make reference to my great- curiosity. I cannot wait to share with Triangle, survival in the jungle or how grandmother Mimi, who was a sort him the stories that made me dream to come up with brand-new sports of shaman in the little town hidden when I was little as well as the ones games. At the time, these games in the low mountains of northeastern that amaze me these days. I hope felt like the most fun games ever Venezuela where my mom was born. he shares my hunger for knowledge invented, but now they only seem Mimi was the healer to seek out when and my need to see the magic of the like awkward variants of baseball, my health troubles struck. Since access universe and the unbelievable beauty uncle’s favorite sport. to modern medicine was a journey of of life and nature. I will try to tickle Maybe it was just the flow of hours in those years, her healing pow- his inquisitive mind with fantastic knowledge following a steep gradi- ers and recipes for special concoctions questions and encourage him to ent from my mom’s and her friends’ were said to cure relatives and friends explore and to learn. He won’t have to of all sorts of afflictions. become a scientist to be able to enjoy It may not be a single reason exploring, but I want to make the but a combination of factors process fun for him. I want him to that shaped me. Whatever love what we do together and to grow those factors are, I am glad that up to live his life doing what he loves I decided to take this journey most, whatever that turns out to be. and that I never have stopped exploring, asking questions, Mariana Figuera–Losada (fmariana@hotmail. and feeling the joy of discovery com) is an associate scientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. The writer and her mother Great-grandmother Mimi and learning in daily life. Bio-

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 47 Pursuing dragons and damsels with Hal White By Martina Efeyini

arold White III, a professor of during metamorphosis in dragon- chemistry and biochemistry flies. While that research never was H at the University of Delaware, published, it significantly influenced recently won the 2015 Educator of his graduate career. the Year in Higher Education award For many years, he and his fam- from the Delaware BioScience Asso- ily spent their summer vacations in ciation. White, who runs the Howard Maine on Mount Desert Island and Hughes Medical Institute Under- in its vicinity, where many northern graduate Science Education Program species of odonates live. In 2011, he at the university, was also the winner published, “Natural History of Del- of the 2014 Award for Exemplary marva Dragonflies and Damselflies: Contributions to Education from the Essays of a Lifetime Observer,” American Society for Biochemistry a book that reveals his passion for and Molecular Biology. these insects. White earned his bachelor’s degree Our conversation has been edited at the Pennsylvania State University for length and clarity. and his doctorate in biochemistry at Brandeis University. He was a What sparked your Harold White III National Science Foundation post- interest in science? doctoral chemistry fellow at Harvard Beyond the classroom and labora- University. In 1971, he became a tory, White likes to find, observe and I have been interested in nature faculty member at the University of photograph dragonflies and dam- activities since as early as I can Delaware, where he has done protein selflies (members of the carnivorous remember. My interest in dragonflies chemistry research and taught chem- Odonata order of insects) whenever and damselflies started when I was istry and biochemistry and where he and wherever he can. Dragonflies in junior high school. I was think- developed a strong interest in using and damselflies have large eyes, short ing of majoring in entomology in problem-based learning in his bio- antennas and four large wings. Drag- college when a geologist who also had chemistry courses. onflies are usually larger, more robust an interest in dragonflies told me, and stronger fliers than the smaller “Whatever you do, don’t major in and more delicate damselflies. White entomology. Keep it a hobby. In col- developed an interest in these insects lege, major in the most difficult thing in high school. In college, he tried to you enjoy.” That advice might not be merge his interests in dragonflies and good for every budding entomologist, biochemistry with an undergraduate but it worked well for me. When I research project studying isoenzymes applied to college at Penn State and of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydroge- had to choose a major, I knew I liked nase. Without realizing the signifi- chemistry and biology, so I checked The painted skimmer, an uncommon cance at the time, he observed a huge the box marked “biochemistry,” even dragonfly, is about 1.7 inches long. increase in the activity of that enzyme though I was not sure what it was.

48 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 be of interest to both amateurs and experts. What can the reader expect to learn from reading your book? I think of my book as having the potential for reading enjoyment — with vignettes about dragonflies that can be read in small doses or cover- to-cover, perhaps even as bedtime reading. I have some more formal information about Odonata in the book The Southern sprite is a tiny damselfly found in the swamps of the Southeastern U.S. but did not present it in the structure of a field guide or a textbook. In How did you get slogging knee-deep in a steamy bog addition, there are many tidbits in interested in dragonflies surrounded by deer flies. Sitting by my book that would not be found a farm pond watching many of our in other books about dragonflies and and damselflies? more common dragonflies flying damselflies. Biochemical topics are My earliest interest in odonates around is enjoyable, but I most enjoy mentioned infrequently. was kindled by George and Alice the search for rare and elusive species One of my daughters, an elemen- Beatty, biologists who lived near me in places few people go. tary-school teacher, thought that the in central Pennsylvania. We met one book could be the point of departure summer evening in 1957 when they What inspired you for teaching biology using examples stopped for an ice cream at a frozen to write your book students could observe and explore. custard stand where I and a friend, In the book, I suggest science projects armed with nets, were catching on Odonata of the that some enterprising students might sphinx moths and silk moths around Delmarva Peninsula? work on. the lights. The Beattys were willing I originally was approached by two to help us as emerging entomologists. people from the Delaware Nature What have you gained They transferred my interests from Society to write a book about drag- from this hobby? Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), onflies of Delmarva, a defined area I Being a scientist requires commit- a usual interest of youngsters, to their knew well. In contrast with when I ment and willingness to devote time, primary interest, Odonata. One day started observing dragonflies, there energy and productive thinking into in 1959, I saw an Anax longipes, a were now many field guides to help one’s work. Hopefully most scientists large, rare, brightly colored dragonfly with identification. Writing yet an- consider their work as having some that was notoriously difficult to catch. other identification book was not my elements of enjoyment, but having George Beatty challenged me to catch goal. Instead, I wanted a book that something quite different that one it and offered $10 for a specimen. A had an eclectic mix of information. I enjoys – be it music, sports, photog- week later, after many failed attempts, wanted to include stories using each raphy, woodworking, travel, family, I caught it! of the more than 120 species found gardening or whatever – is important on the Delmarva Peninsula as a point to refresh one’s mind and keep things Where do you like to go of departure. The table of contents in perspective. to observe dragonflies is unique in that the two-page entry for each species is referenced in three and damselflies? ways — by the scientific name, by the I observe dragonflies wherever they Martina Efeyini (mefeyini@ common name and by a catchy title. gmail.com) is a toxicologist are. That is part of my enjoyment, I have a mix: Some are stories sharing and freelance writer. Read her because different species have differ- my experiences, and some relate to blog at mademoisellescientist. ent habitat preferences. Thus, I revel history and descriptions of dragon- worpress.com. She also writes in wading in a swift-flowing, boulder- for the National Society of Black flies, and some are about their biology Engineers and ScientistaFoundation.com strewn mountain stream as much as and behavior. I wanted this book to

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 49 ACDC: What's in the name? By Eleftherios P. Diamandis

aving a distinct name like to AC/DC and let them Eleftherios gives you a lot of ad- know about the research H vantages. People never ask you laboratory that shares to spell your name, and they remem- their name and is de- ber it without much trouble. voted to fighting cancer, Ha! If only! but with no success. In When I make restaurant reserva- fact, not only is the lab tions, I simplify things by going with named after them, but to the name Elvis. Nobody has ever celebrate the music of asked me to spell it, and I get a smile AC/DC, we formed a in return. When people ask me for rock band within the the name of my research laboratory, I lab with me represent- reply, “the ACDC lab.” ing Angus Young (lead The usual response is, “I’ve heard guitarist and music that name before. Is it a band from composer) and my the ’70s?” graduate students playing But of course it is. And the follow- the other members. We up question is always, “Does your created a poster and shot lab’s name have anything to do with a video of the AC/DC the band?” song “Chase the Ace.” Well, it does and it doesn’t. The Until recently, I name was chosen many years ago for thought naming a two reasons: to celebrate one of my research lab after a rock all-time favorite rock bands, band was rather unique. AC/DC, and to outline the scope of That changed when, in my research laboratory — ACDC 2014, I met my friend stands for Advanced Centre for De- and fellow physician and tection of Cancer. scientist Steven Boyages I have tried repeatedly to reach out from Australia. Boyages revealed that he’d created Eleftherios P. Diamandis a digital communications ([email protected]) is company and named the biochemist-in-chief for the it “Red Zeppelin” to Laboratory Medicine Program at celebrate the legendary the University Health Network and head of the clinical biochemistry division at rock band Led Zeppe- Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada. He also lin. The name is meant is the division head of clinical biochemistry at the to connote inspiration, laboratory medicine and pathobiology department and capture the sense of at the University of Toronto. Diamandis is a fanatical music lover. Apart from rock, he also imagination and innova- listens to Greek folk, classical and other types tion the band represents. of music, but he dislikes rap (which he suggests should be called “crap”). Eleftherios Diamandis and graduate students in character for their "Chase the Ace" video: http://y2u.be/UTKvs-zvdus.

50 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 OUTREACH Resolving major issues with major selection By Kristian Teichert

ordan Soucy and Emily Breviglia ates, or NEPTUN. NEPTUN, much turnout to a combination of issues: had similar experiences choosing like other LU programs, brought low student interest, low commit- J their undergraduate majors. Both high-school students to the college ment on the part of the student and rising juniors at the University of campus to take classes designed and competing extracurricular activities. Massachusetts, Amherst, Soucy and taught by Northeastern students. In previous programs, no-shows who Breviglia selected their majors in their Over the past two years, we have run contacted us said that events, such as freshman year but changed them be- three programs and taught a variety track meets, class projects and exams, fore the year was out. The change for of classes ranging from “Introduction interfered with their attendance. But Soucy was dramatic: from chemical to Rocketry” to “Power, Wealth and they still voiced a desire to attend. engineering to kinesiology. Brevi- Happiness.” Soucy and Breviglia both We think organizers could strengthen glia’s switch from communications agree that programs like these would student commitment by charging a disorders to psychology was more of have been helpful in their major-selec- nominal fee, fostering a level of in- a fine-tuning. But both changes, it tion process. Asked what would have vestment on the part of the student. turns out, were fairly typical. Ac- helped her make the right decision We’ve also found it is difficult cording to the National Center for about her major at the start, Soucy for organizers to choose a date for Education Statistics, about 80 percent said, “A program in high school.” the event that works for all schools of students change their major at least Each year, NEPTUN runs two in the area. With the sheer number once before graduation. programs, Splash and Waterfall. of schools participating, this can be College major selection is an im- Splash is a one-day event in the spring a nearly impossible feat. This year, portant process. Choosing the wrong where students take classes designed to combat the issue of the schools’ major can result in additional stress to introduce them to a new topic conflicting extracurricular activities, and financial burdens, which can be that they would be unfamiliar with we are designing a new, alternative debilitating for some. A number of otherwise. On average, there are 34 outreach program to bring the college factors contribute to students choos- unique classes taught per NEPTUN students to high schools. By working ing a major they’ll later reject. These Splash program. Waterfall is a multi- directly with each high school, orga- include practical concerns like stu- week program run in the fall to foster nizers can settle on a date that will al- dents’ income expectations and career a deeper understanding of topics than low for the most student engagement. opportunities, ignorance of how the can be offered in the Splash program. College students across disciplines major aligns with their interests, and a Last fall, 30 classes were taught during and universities, such as Soucy and lack of familiarity with their major of Waterfall. Past students involved in Breviglia, will be recruited to design choice. Programs designed to expose NEPTUN programs claimed that lessons focused on their respective ma- students to their chosen field of study they enjoyed the “intro to new topics” jors. This program will begin during can mitigate the latter two factors. and considered it a “fun place to try the fall at Methuen High School in Learning Unlimited is an organiza- new things.” Methuen, Massachusetts. Ideally, this tion that aims to expand educational Each NEPTUN program is de- program, or others like it, will expand opportunities for high-school students signed to accommodate 200 or more into a network that can accommodate while providing college students with students, and generally we have had a multiple high schools. teaching and leadership opportunities. large number of sign-ups, achieving or In 2013, with a group of friends, I nearing our goals. But attendance has Kristian Teichert (teichert.k@ opened an LU chapter at Northeast- been an issue. Only about half of the husky.neu.edu) is a biochemistry student at Northeastern ern University called the Northeastern people who sign up actually attend University. Program for Teaching by Undergradu- the programs. We attribute the low

AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 51 Interested in science policy?

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Upcoming ASBMB events and deadlines Aug. 17: Abstract deadline for ASBMB Science Communication and Outreach Career Symposium,

AUG San Antonio, Texas

Sept. 1: Registration deadline for ASBMB Science Communication and Outreach Career Symposium, San Antonio, Texas SEPT Sept. 10: Oral abstract deadline for ASBMB Special Symposium Kinases and Pseudokinases: Spines, Scaffolds and Molecular Switches, San Diego, California Sept. 17–20: ASBMB Special Symposium: Membrane-Anchored Serine Proteases, Potomac, Maryland Sept. 18–19: ASBMB Science Communication and Outreach Career Symposium, San Antonio, Texas Sept. 22: Early registration deadline for ASBMB Special Symposium Kinases and Pseudokinases: Spines, Scaffolds and Molecular Switches, San Diego, California Sept. 27–30: 14th Human Proteome Organization World Congress (HUPO 2015), Vancouver, Canada, Molecular & Cellular Proteomics booth #413

Oct. 14: Poster abstract deadline for ASBMB Special Symposium Kinases and Pseudokinases:

OCT Spines, Scaffolds and Molecular Switches, San Diego, California Oct. 27: Registration deadline for ASBMB Special Symposium Kinases and Pseudokinases: Spines, Scaffolds and Molecular Switches, San Diego, California Oct. 29–31: Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) National Conference, Washington, D.C.

Nov. 5: Abstract submission deadline for ASBMB 2016 Annual Meeting, San Diego, California

NOV Nov. 12: Travel award application deadline for the 2016 Annual Meeting, San Diego, California Nov. 11–14: Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), booth #900, Seattle, Washington

52 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015