Trouble with testosterone test Annual Meeting Special Section CONTENTS NEWS FEATURES PERSPECTIVES 2 14 36 EDITOR’S NOTE THE TROUBLE WITH PUBLIC AFFAIRS It’s time THE TESTOSTERONE TEST Are postdocs still invisible? 3 18 38 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE MASTERS OF PHYSIOLOGY MINORITY AFFAIRS Celebrating serendipity 38 Exemplifying Sewer’s commitment to diversity 22 40 Diversifying the scientic 4 THE 2017 ANNUAL MEETING NEWS FROM THE HILL workforce with IMAGE 23 Expand your scientic horizons A lot at stake 42 Cultivating a focus on diversity 29 e spotlight is on you as a community 30 Promoting lifelong learning 5 34 Advance your careers, grad students MEMBER UPDATE 44 and postdocs! TRANSITIONS 35 Reminders for the 2017 ASBMB 7 Undergraduate Poster Competition Wrestling with life RETROSPECTIVE 7 Roscoe Owen Brady (1923–2016) 14 48 9 Roger Tsien (1952–2016) Experts are OPEN CHANNELS grappling with what constitutes 10 high testosterone 42 blood levels in elite NEWS track and eld Blind wins Tabor award women athletes. for work on nuclear lipids 11 JOURNAL NEWS 11 Blocking potato blight’s ability 22 to set up shop 12 Infant gut microbes’ thirst for milk proteins 13 How a single-cell marine organism makes fatty acids 12 44 TRANSITION STATES NOVEMBER 2016 ASBMB TODAY 1 EDITOR’S NOTE THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY It’s time By Angela Hopp OFFICERS COUNCIL MEMBERS Natalie Ahn Squire J. Booker President Victoria J. DeRose Wayne Fairbrother. recently saw a documen- Ben Corb, in his “News Steven McKnight Karen G. Fleming tary on Netix about from the Hill” column, Past President Rachel Green uncontacted tribes in writes about the count- Jennifer DuBois Susan Marqusee I Secretary Jared Rutter the rainforest on the border down to a new American Celia A. Shier of Brazil and Peru. Several presidency. I know that my Toni M. Antalis Michael Summers Treasurer factors — including hunger, blood pressure rises every ASBMB TODAY EDITORIAL drug tracking and log- time I think about how EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS ADVISORY BOARD ging — are forcing some close Election Day is. Tick Natalie Ahn Charles Brenner tock. Tick tock. Steven McKnight Chair tribespeople out of their Co-chairs, 2017 Annual Michael Bradley sanctuary. Leaving the for- e “Retrospective” Meeting Program Floyd “Ski” Chilton est is fraught with danger, articles we publish almost Committee Cristy Gelling as each new contact could every month are always a Cheryl Bailey Peter J. Kennelly Chair, Education and Rajini Rao result in illness or deadly good reminder that our Professional Development Yolanda Sanchez misunderstanding. time here is limited. We Committee Shiladitya Sengupta have one about Roscoe Brady and one Carol Shoulders e lm shows how those tribes- Daniel Raben about Roger Tsien in this issue. Chair, Meetings Committee people who requested assistance (by ASBMB TODAY e cover story is about the test Takita Felder Sumter law, they must make the rst contact) Chair, Minority Aairs Angela Hopp are adapting to their new circum- used to measure testosterone in Committee Executive Editor, [email protected] stances. ough they still live in the women athletes. How much testoster- omas Baldwin Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay forest, they get resources and care one does a sprinter need to trim a few Chair, Public Outreach Managing Editor, seconds o her race? e answer, as Committee from a protective agency. e men [email protected] said they are glad to have clothes and the story explains, isn’t simple. Wesley Sundquist John Arnst Chair, Public Aairs Science Writer, medicine. Pots and pans, the women You’ll also see a lot of information Advisory Committee [email protected] agree, are handy. about the ASBMB annual meeting. Amnon Kohen Valery Masterson But what I’ve been thinking about, ough the meeting is months away, Chair, Publications Designer, Committee [email protected] possibly because I’m just not com- the abstract-submission deadline is Lila M. Gierasch Ciarán Finn pletely buying it, was the suggestion close: Nov. 17. On top of that, unlike Editor-in-chief, JBC Web Editor, in past years, there will be no exten- [email protected] by an anthropologist that the tribes- A. L. Burlingame sions. Do not be late! Allison Frick people are terrible at keeping time. Editor, MCP Media Specialist, ey use the sun, he said, but don’t Meanwhile, time plays a big role Edward A. Dennis [email protected] know their ages. I won’t quibble with in an essay by Zachary A. Kemmerer, Editor-in-chief, JLR Barbara Gordon a graduate student who is competing William L. Smith Executive Director, any of that here. I’m no expert. Editor-in-chief, JLR [email protected] However, this idea — of not living on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior.” by the clock — is on my mind. Per- He wrote: “A clash of wills played out haps that is why, as I ipped through in those 1,800 seconds as we tried to break each other down.” For information on advertising, contact Pharmaceutical this issue of ASBMB Today, I saw the Media Inc. at 212-904-0374 or [email protected]. signicance of time everywhere. I hope that you will be blessed with In her column, Natalie Ahn, the a bit of uninterrupted peace to read president of the American Society for the issue. (But do not put o submit- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ting your meeting abstract!) www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday writes about serendipity. If something PRINT ISSN 2372-0409 happens at the right time, it’s seren- Angela Hopp ([email protected]) Articles published in ASBMB Today reect solely dipitous. If it happens at the wrong is the communications director the authors’ views and not the ocial positions of for the ASBMB and executive the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular time, it’s usually a real bummer. (Cue: Biology or the institutions with which the authors editor of ASBMB Today. Follow are aliated. Mentions of products or services are Alanis Morissette.) her on Twitter at twitter.com/ not endorsements. ASBMB Public Aairs Director angelahopp. ©2016 ASBMB 2 ASBMB TODAY NOVEMBER 2016 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Celebrating serendipity By Natalie Ahn n September, the Lasker Founda- major roles of every breakthrough. peutics for HCV. Diverse individuals tion awarded the 2016 Albert For example, Semenza’s detection from many countries and of many I Lasker Basic Medical Research of a faint hypoxia-induced band on races and ethnicities, in both academic Award to Gregg L. Semenza, Peter J. an EMSA autoradiograph enabled and private settings, made key contri- Ratclie and William G. Kaelin Jr. for the biochemical purication of butions in each scientic team. the discovery of the HIF1 transcrip- HIF1, which launched the molecular Recognition for Alberts especially tion factor and the mechanistic steps mechanism for hypoxia signaling. is appreciated by the ASBMB, given in the universal pathway explaining Rice’s chance discovery of a 3’ segment the special regard that our society has the cellular response to hypoxia. e missing in the HCV genome and the for science education. roughout his 2016 Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medi- invention of HCV minigenome rep- career, Alberts has led the way as an advocate for teaching critical-thinking cal Research Award went to Charles licons by Bartenschalger were critical skills to students, from his landmark M. Rice, Ralf F.W. Bartenschlager and to the development of a cellular model textbook “Molecular Biology of the Michael J. Soa for research charac- of HCV infection. And it was Alberts’ Cell” to his achievements as president terizing the molecular biology of the accidental discovery that DNA binds of the National Academy of Sciences hepatitis C virus, the development of tightly to cellulose that enabled him to in promoting curiosity and inquiry- in vitro systems for HCV replication, purify and reconstitute DNA replica- based methods for STEM undergrad- and the development of therapeutics tion proteins and realize that the repli- uate and K–12 education. to treat and in some cases cure chronic some is a macromolecular machine is advocacy impacts everyone, HCV infection and liver disease. And capable of simultaneous leading and at all levels — here in Colorado, my the 2016 Lasker–Koshland Special lagging strand synthesis. colleague Amy Palmer has overhauled Achievement Award in Medical Sci- e perspicacity to pursue initial freshman chemistry to emphasize ence went to Bruce Alberts for his leads, often murky and obscure, and concepts-based learning with transfor- fundamental discoveries of the protein the tenacity to follow the science to mative results. components and mechanism of DNA discover their full meaning are key to No matter what we do as scientists, replication and for his leadership in creating new knowledge. part of our mandate certainly must science education and international Also essential to their success were include instilling students with the collaborations in science teaching and the investigators’ interdisciplinary curiosity, self-condence and passion learning. e American Society for strategies, with chemistry, biochem- for scientic inquiry that will prepare Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, istry and molecular biology at their them for their own serendipitous which proudly counts four of the win- core. Essential as well were collabora- moments to come. ners as members, heartily congratu- tion and information sharing between lates all recipients. many labs, including the knowledge Natalie Ahn (natalie.ahn@ Importantly, serendipity and the ow in both directions between basic colorado.edu) of the University of Colorado, Boulder, is president of ability to glean deep insights from research and private sector R&D labs the ASBMB. hints and unexpected ndings played that was critical for successful thera- Learn more about the 2017 meeting on page 22. www.asbmb.org/meeting2017 NOVEMBER 2016 ASBMB TODAY 3 NEWS FROM THE HILL A lot at stake By Benjamin Corb ith Election Day just a few famously has said, “Don’t tell me what However, the gridlock isn’t likely to be days away, here are my sug- you value.