UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 2006 NEWSLETTER For friends of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 2006 NEWSLETTER For friends of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Changes afoot, from Biochemistry Phase II to the New look of the Graduate Program... It is a pleasure to together in contiguous space. !e negotiate the bureaucratic hurdles to write my first “from research space will include specialized establish an official new program. Tom the chair” dispatch areas for structural biology and chemical Martin and Sebastian Bednark, work- for the Biochemistry synthesis, allowing the department to ing with John Denu and Catherine UNIVERSITYNewsletter. OF WISCONSIN-MADISONIt has stay at the forefront of emerging tech- Fox from Biomolecular Chemistry, been a busy and nologies. In addition, the building will spearheaded the effort. I believe that eventful year for the include much-needed state-of-the-art IPiB represents an unprecedented step department, as well lecture halls and teaching laboratories. in cooperation and collaboration in the 2006as NEWSLETTERfor me personally, Another priority in the department biochemical sciences at the UW. From the Chair as I “learn the ropes” has been the move towards a new grad- I hope you like the new look of our Betty Craig as chair. uate program - the “Integrated Pro- Newsletter and find the articles inside ForI am friends pleased ofto reportthe Department that the Bio- gramof Biochemistry in Biochemistry” at (to the be called University informative. of Wisconsin-Madison We would be glad to hear chemistry Phase II Biostar Building IPiB) - a joint venture with the Biomo- from you anytime, and visit us when Project, our newest building to be cen- lecular Chemistry Department in the you can, to meet with old friends and tered on the present site of the 1956 School of Medicine and Public Health. see the changes afoot in Biochemistry wing, is moving forward. We are We think that the time for such a change for yourself. delighted that Flad and Associates, the has come. When the two departments designers of the 1998 Addition, have first established doctoral graduate pro- In this issue: been chosen as the architects. !e grams around the turn of the previous • A unique “hands-on” learning experi- design process should take about two century, these independent programs ence for undergraduates developed by years, with groundbreaking anticipated satisfied the separate need for special- James Ntambi that combines real-life in the spring of 2008. It will be a com- ized training in plant and animal bio- experience with classroom learning plex and challenging project, because of chemistry in CALS, as compared2006 to (page 3). the many physical constraints on the human biochemistry in the Medical • Establishment of two new professor- site. !e plan is to preserve the 1912 School. But, in the ensuing decades, an ships with a dual purpose – an oppor- wing and parts of the 1937 wing to understanding of the fundamental simi- tunity to honor two of our emeritus ensure the preservation of the Curry larities of biochemical processesNEWSLETTER in cells professors, Henry Lardy and Lau- murals (shown throughout this newslet- of all life forms has blurred the bound- rens Anderson, and to help retain ter). !e safety of the vintage elm tree aries between the research carried out two of our faculty, Laura Kiessling (aka Elmer) is also a priority. by students in the two graduate pro- and Ron Raines (page 22). !e new building will have labora- grams. • Efforts by faculty, particularly Mike tories for 20-24 research groups. !e So, the two departments crafted a Cox, to address issues of science edu- remaining labs still located in the old plan for a new joint graduate program, cation in secondary schools (page Enzyme Institute building will be inte- capitalizing on the strong history of 24). grated into the new building, as will all graduate training in both departments. • “Hector DeLuca on Vitamin D”, a the labs of the Biomolecular Chemistry Just weeks ago the two departments talk sponsored by the Wisconsin Department. For the first time the bio- recruited the first class of students for Academy of Sciences, Arts and Let- chemical sciences will be physically this joint curriculum, as we continue to ters (pages 26 & 27). Department of Biochemistry Alumnus by Bill Reznikoff Richard Scheller, Executive Vice-President for Research, Genentech, Inc. As a faculty, we all have a desire to help young Biochemistry at that time. Rich developed a students find and accomplish their life dreams. deep appreciation of structural biochemistry Some of our students come to the Depart- from that experience and was a coauthor of a ment of Biochemistry without a clear idea of paper from Sunda’s lab (Sprang, Scheller, where they want to go intellectually and pro- Rohrer and Sundaralingam. 1978. Journal of fessionally, while others know that they are the American Chemical Society 100: 2867- interested in Biochemistry and want to go on 2878). to be a scientist. Richard (Rich) Scheller is Rich’s interest in structural biology led in that latter group. him to go to the California Institute of Tech- nology so that he could work with Richard “I think that there are a lot of very dedicated Dickerson. It was during this time that he teachers at the University of Wisconsin. I thought manifested key features of his career; his great that the classroom lecturing was generally out- interest in exciting science and his ability to collaborate with a variety of investigators. standing. !ere were tremendous opportunities, During is graduate training at Cal Tech, Rich even at a large state school, to do individual re- worked with Art Riggs, Keiichi Itakura and search and an honors undergraduate thesis.” Herb Boyer. He made his mark at the time as one of originators of key recombinant DNA Rich came to the University of Wisconsin – techniques, but later worked with Eric Madison as a freshman in 1971. He had Davidson’s lab as his interests changed to grown up in Milwaukee with a passion for using the technology to study developmental science in general and biochemistry in par- biology questions using the sea urchin as a ticular. By some good fortune for me, he was model organism. assigned to me as an advisee. I do not know Rich then went on to work with Richard whether I had an impact on him, but I do Axel and Eric Kandel at Columbia Univeristy remember that I thoroughly enjoyed the rela- – Physician and Surgeon’s Medical School for tionship. Rich was a very successful student a postdoc. Rich was the molecular biology who worked hard because he loved the adven- bridge that led these two labs to use recombi- ture of science and he loved learning new nant DNA technology to start studying things. He was a thoroughly fun person to molecular neurobiology using the marine snail interact with. He recently gave the University Aplysia as a model organism. !is is the field the best compliments that we could receive. that he continued to pursue as a professor at “I think that there are a lot of very dedicated Stanford University, at first in the Biology teachers at the University of Wisconsin. I Department, and then in the Department of thought that the classroom lecturing was gen- Molecular and Cellular Physiology and the erally outstanding. !ere were tremendous Howard Hughes Medical Institute. opportunities, even at a large state school, to In 2001, Rich became the Director of Sci- do individual research and an honors under- entific Research at Genetech. Currently he is graduate thesis.” Rich took advantage of the the Executive Vice President for Research. His research opportunities open to undergradu- scholarly contributions have been recognized ates by first working in the laboratory of Ray by numerous honors including his election to Brown in the Oncology Department and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences then in the laboratory of Muttaiya Sundaral- and to the National Academy of Sciences. All ingam in our Department. Dr. Sundaralin- those who know Rich, know him as an excit- gam was the lead X-ray crystallographer in ing, fun person who still loves science. 2 Study Abroad in Uganda – International Health and Nutrition by Professor James Ntambi Billions of people face pressing health and nutrition issues that seldom confront most Americans. James Ntambi, Professor of Biochemistry and of Nutritional Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), has initiated a program to help educate UW students about these world- wide problems. He does so by taking a group of students from UW-Madison to Uganda, “!e Pearl of Africa,” to learn first hand about the many health and nutrition 2006 students issues faced by people in a developing students develop a better understanding of not-for-profit student organization called country. !e “Uganda Study Abroad: Inter- the many health and nutrition issues that the Village Health Project-VHP (www.vil- national Health and Nutrition” program confront most Ugandan's. !ese questions lagehealthproject.org) and applied and offers exciting opportunities to learn about then form the framework for the course as obtained two Wisconsin Idea Undergradu- these issues from a classroom perspective well as the 3-week field experience in ate Fellowship grants from the Morgridge and through real world experiences. Uganda. Examples of some questions stu- Center for Public Service to help imple- !e program is the outgrowth of a part- dents consider are: What are common ment rural water projects. VHP also works nership between CALS and Makerere Uni- nutritional deficiencies in developing coun- with an AIDS support organization to versity (Uganda’s premier institution of tries? Why do people have vitamin defi- purchase ribbons for sale back here at UW- higher education) in Kampala, Uganda.