For Friends of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Table of Contents From the Chair ...... 3 International Programs ...... 38 Hector F. DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Complex ...... 5 Our Department in England ...... 38 New Discoveries ...... 6 Our Department in India ...... 39 Pro les ...... Our Department in Uganda ...... 41 New faculty ...... In Memoriam ...... Katie Henzler-Wildman ...... 15 Mo Cleland ...... 43 Vatsan Raman ...... 17 John Garver ...... 44 Philip Romero ...... 18 Alfred Harper ...... 45 Ophelia Venturelli ...... 19 Vinod K. Shah ...... 45 Alumni ...... Honors and Awards ...... Michael Green ...... 20 Boyer Awards ...... 46 William Rutter ...... 21 Faculty ...... 47 Emeritus ...... Sta ...... 48 Perry Frey ...... 22 Postdoctoral Scholars ...... 48 Dave Nelson ...... 26 Graduate Students ...... 49 Education and Training ...... Undergraduates ...... 55 Graduate Program: IPiB ...... 27 From the Labs ...... Biochemistry Graduate Degrees ...... 28 Emeritus ...... 57 Biochemistry Advisor Graduate Degrees ...... 32 Faculty ...... 59 Graduate Student Organization: SFLC ...... 35 Contact Information ...... 77 Postdoctoral Program ...... 36 Donors ...... 78 Undergraduate Program ...... 37 Undergraduate Student Organization ...... 37
E-mail: [email protected] Regular mail in care of the department – see page 77 for address information Like the Department on Facebook Follow the Department on Twitter facebook.com/UWBiochem twitter.com/UWBiochem From the Chair By Professor Brian Fox to hold the combined Biophysics Raines), and Dr. Scott Aoki (Prof. Kimble). Instrumentation Facility/Biophysics e Sigrid Leirmo Award, provided by Optical Core (BIF/BOC). When complete, a memorial endowment from the family, the BIF/BOC space will hold state-of- is given each year to a graduate student the-art instrumentation and microscopes for excellence in research and outstanding used to support the cutting-edge research service, and so honors Dr. Leirmo’s spirit being carried out in the Department. Our and achievements. e most recent winners operating plan for this facility also includes of this award have been Kim Haupt in 2016 making it accessible to researchers from (Prof. Kimble), Raashi Sreenivasan in 2015 across the campus. (Prof. Record), Emily Ru in 2014 (Prof. A new Biochemistry website was created Record), and Amber Schuh in 2013 (Prof. I have experienced the great honor and launched in December 2014. We also Audhya). of being Chair of the Department now have an active social media presence, of Biochemistry at the University of and our website and social media channels Faculty Accomplishments Wisconsin-Madison since July 2015. I are continually updated with new stories e Biochemistry faculty have active would like to personally thank Prof. Betty and features that we encourage you to check federal and non-federal grants and Craig for 10 years of outstanding leadership out. We hope you enjoy the more frequent contracts in excess of $15M, speaking to of the Department. She provided a strong and diverse forms of electronic and print the breadth of research being carried out foundation for hiring and investment in communications that keep you up to date in the Department today. Collectively, the department, and we (faculty, sta , on our Department’s impact. Please let us the Department has published over 350 and students) are now pursuing the many know your thoughts on these so that we may articles and chapters in the past two years. avenues laid out by her e orts. continue to improve. Despite the highly competitive nature of I would also like to thank Prof. Hector extramurally funded research in these times, Deluca, who has been a great friend and Student Accomplishments our faculty have continued to do well, counselor since I met him 24 years ago. Our undergraduate students continue to which is a testament to their dedication His unwavering support as I have learned be remarkably successful. We have over 650 and excellence in research. ere have also the complexities of being Chair has undergraduates who received a Bachelor’s been 46 new patents issued to nine di erent been immensely helpful, and I sincerely degree in Biochemistry since May 2013. Biochemistry faculty since 2015, and several appreciate it. Among these, 28 have received prestigious start-up companies have been formed, e following provides a brief outline of Hilldale Fellowships to perform research a demonstration of the continued focus noteworthy occurrences since our last print with Biochemistry faculty advisors. e on merging basic research with practical newsletter. I hope you will recognize that Department supports the research and travel discovery that has always been near to the the Department continues to ourish and of outstanding undergraduates through heart of this Department. innovate even in these challenging times for our Biochemistry Scholars Program (led Several of our faculty had notable research and higher education. by Prof. Mike Cox). e Department also career achievements. ese include David provides opportunities for international Pagliarini, who was promoted to Associate Sta Accomplishments experiences through our Uganda Program Professor and appointed Director and In 2015, the Department Administrative (led by Prof. James Ntambi); the SCORE Nielsen Chair of Metabolism, Morgridge team (Charlie Lor, Cathy Michael, David and Super G programs (led by Prof. Marv Institute for Research; Alan Attie, Parker and Kerry Tobin) won our rst Wickens); and the Khorana/Bose programs American Association for the Advancement campus-wide Administrative Improvement (led by Prof. Aseem Ansari), which also of Science Fellow; Laura Kiessling, Award. eir contribution was the brings many undergraduate interns from Alexander M. Cruickshank Award, Biochemistry Logistics Tool. is is a India into the department. Gordon Research Conferences; Judith portable bar-code scanning and tracking app ere were 69 graduate students who Kimble, Chair, President's Committee that allows ecient handling of packaging received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry since on the National Medal of Science, 2015- invoices. e BLT arose from necessity, as our last newsletter in 2012, and 116 2017; Ann Palmenberg, WARF Roland over 15,000 packages are now coming into postdoctoral fellows have trained with Rueckert Professor in Biochemistry and the Biochemistry Department each year. Biochemistry faculty. Our trainees are Molecular Virology; Ronald Raines, We use this sta -created tool for inventory, going on to successful careers in industry, Humboldt Research Award, Alexander tracking and distribution throughout the academia, government and many other von Humboldt Foundation; John Ralph, entire Hector F. DeLuca Biochemical professions. Distinguished Professor, University of Sciences Complex, which has more square Our most recent winners of the Boyer Tokyo, Japan; Michael Sussman, Wisconsin footage than the main oor of the Kohl Awards for Postdoctoral Excellence, Alumni Research Foundation Innovation Center! provided by an endowment from Nobel Award; and Douglas Weibel, Scialog Fellow, laureate Paul D. Boyer, have been Dr. Research Corporation and Gordon & Betty Research Infrastructure Zak Campbell (Prof. Wickens), Dr. Eric Moore Foundation. Aer several ts and starts, we have Montemayor (Prof. Butcher), Dr. Melkam Dave Nelson (emeritus) founded the begun the second phase of remodeling Kebede (Prof. Attie), Dr. Kevin Desai (Prof. new Madison Science Museum, and Paul 3 Ludden (retired from being Provost at would like to talk more. campus lead in bringing cryo-electron Southern Methodist University), was named microscopy to campus. Our rst e orts, now emeritus faculty and is now a member of the Looking Ahead underway, include hiring a faculty member CALS Board of Visitors. We also continue To end this brief introduction to the into the department to lead this new to bene t from seeing Perry Frey, George 2017 Newsletter, I would like to let you initiative and siting the new instrumentation Reed, Julius Adler, John Suttie and Heinrich know about a new scienti c initiative and and research support facilities in the Hector Schnoes in the building on a frequent basis. then introduce the newest members of our F.DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Complex. faculty. We will keep you apprised on the progress Programmatic Advancement Cryo-electron microscopy is a in future communications. e Department has committed structural biology technique that is already e Department has had great fortune your generous gis to provide graduate contributing to a remarkable breadth of to hire four new faculty since 2014, and undergraduate research fellowships; scienti c problems. Recent technological including Katie Henzler-Wildman, Vatsan undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral advances have provided the capability Raman, Ophelia Venturelli, and Philip travel funds; campus-wide symposia, to obtain high-resolution structural Romero. You will be able to read about their lecture series and individual seminars; and information from organelles to intact virus interests and accomplishments elsewhere in unrestricted funds to support other needs to single proteins. Coupled with advances this newsletter. of the Department. We sincerely appreciate in computing and image processing, cryo- To end, please accept our best wishes your continued support of the Department electron microscopy o ers the potential and an o er to visit any time. ere are by whatever means you choose, including to visualize an unprecedented number now many easy ways to get in contact with advocacy on the impact of the University of biological phenomena, and so will us – check out our website or social media of Wisconsin on your life and those around enhance opportunities across the entire (www.biochem.wisc.edu, Facebook.com/ you. Please contact us at chair@biochem. spectrum of life sciences research carried UWBiochem, Twitter.com/UWBiochem). wisc.edu or the University of Wisconsin out at UW-Madison. e Biochemistry Foundation ([email protected]) if you Department and faculty have taken the We look forward to hearing from you.
View of the Biochemistry buildings - 1912 through 1985 tower - from University Avenue. Photo by Wolfgang Hoffman, taken sometime between 1986 and 1997. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives (ID S12726)
4 The Hector F. DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Complex State-of-the-art facilities established and celebrated By Professor Mike Cox
Now that the 2010 research tower and remodeled 1912 wing have been occupied, building projects have slowed down. In 2013, the department took stock and held View of the Hector F. DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Complex from University Avenue a celebration to honor Hector DeLuca, the individual who, more than anyone else, is Biochemical Sciences Complex. It consists of facilities, and we encourage you to visit if you responsible for the incredible facilities we three separate buildings, all interconnected have not seen us recently. now occupy. e event was held on April 24, with enclosed bridges as shown in the Nearly every square inch of this larger 2014, and was attended by many hundreds map below right. e Hector F. DeLuca Biochemistry complex is either new or newly of faculty, students, alumni, and university Biochemistry Building is the now completely renovated. One exception is the ground ocials. It was a special occasion and a remodeled and historic 1912/1937 wings. oor of the 1985 wing, which houses the chance for the department both to honor our ese have been almost entirely given over Biophysics Instrumentation Facility (BIF). longtime Chair and colleague and appreciate to instructional functions, with new teaching is will be recti ed with a project that should our broader accomplishments. labs and classrooms. e Hector F. DeLuca be initiated later this year, providing us with a Approved by the board of Regents, the Biochemical Sciences Building is a merger new instrumentation facility destined to be a complex is now named the Hector F. DeLuca of the 1985 wing, the 2010 tower, and the departmental showplace. 1906 Ag Journalism building. e upper three oors of the 2010 tower are occupied by the Biomolecular Chemistry Department, joining us in the complex. e Hector F. DeLuca Biochemistry Laboratories is the 433 Babcock Drive building that used to be referred to as the 1998 Addition. Few departments anywhere can match these Map of the Complex
Hector DeLuca speaking at the dedication of the Hector F. DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Complex Photo by Sevie Kenyon
CALS Dean Kate VandenBosch, Hector View from the connecting sky bridge,clockwise from left: HF DeLuca Biochemistry DeLuca and Chancellor Rebecca Blank Building (1912 and 1937 buildings), 1998 HF DeLuca Biochemistry Laboratories Photo by Sevie Kenyon (center), 2010 HF DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Building. Photo by Robin Davies 5 New Discoveries A sampling of the Department's pioneering research Newly discovered intermediate Drosophila mechanism. e mechanism between receptors and response in Drosophila has been studied by the Adler lab. Many undergraduates, Lar Vang, and Julius Adler isolated mutants which, although motile, failed to respond to all stimuli tested (bioRxiv, July 27, 2016). is is caused by a defect in the central brain at a newly discovered intermediate called “inbetween,” presumably missing in the mutants. At the start - 1961 At the end - 2016
Julius Adler, Vera Waska Scott, John Armstrong, Lar Vang, Julius Adler, Megan Cohen, Laura Burbach, Marge Dahl, Mel DePamphilis & Sylvia Zottu Schade Sarah Drewes, Amelia Remiarz & Alison Heydorn
Day-length perception and owering. e Amasino lab identi ed a speci c light receptor in the phytochrome class (PHYC) that is required for owering in the model grass Brachypodium; mutation of PHYC results in plants that are extremely delayed in owering and consequently produce much more biomass. is study highlights the evolutionary di erences in owering pathways in di erent groups of plants (PHYC has no role in owering in the well-studied model dicot plant Arabidopsis) and provides a potential strategy for engineering grasses for increased biomass production.
'wild type’ (left, small plant) Daniel Woods & Rick Amasino & phyC mutant (big plant)
Furthering precision medicine at the molecular level. e Ansari lab wrapped up several exciting projects over the last year. We developed a facile strategy to reprogram cells from one type to another in a more ecient and unbiased manner. Asuka Eguchi created a genome-scale library of arti cial transcription factors to control cell fate (Eguchi et al. PNAS. 2016;113(51) E8257). Graham Erwin meanwhile charted the genome-wide binding patterns of sequence-speci c small molecules in human embryonic stem cells thereby generating the rst atlas of these genome readers in live cells (Erwin et al. PNAS. 2016;113(47) E7418). Earlier in the year, Juan Rodriguez-Molina and Sandy Tseng published their innovative chemical- genetic approach to freeze the catalytic activity of a targeted kinase in living cells and by doing so revealed a masked role of a well-known kinase in the synthesis of full length mRNA (Rodriguez-Molina &Tseng et al. Mol Cell. 2016;63(3):433).
Asuka Eguchi, Graham Erwin, Sandy Tseng, Aseem Ansari & Juan Rodriguez-Molina
6 Single transcription factor associated with diabetes risk. In a paper in PLoS Genetics, the Attie lab asked if genes identi ed in human populations to play a role in type 2 diabetes might have a common transcriptional driver. We used our own expression quantitative trait locus mapping data and found that 40% of these genes are regulated by a single transcription factor NFATc2. Coincident with our genetic ndings, others have shown that drugs that activate this transcription factor protect against diabetes in animal models. PLoS Genet. 2016 Dec 9;12(12) : e1006466.
Mark Keller & Alan Attie
Crystallography through collaboration. In the Butcher lab, Eric Montemayor determined the high- resolution crystal structure of the core of the U6 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (U6 snRNP). Allison Didychuk described the structural requirements for protein-catalyzed annealing of U4 and U6 RNAs, an essential process in all eukaryotes. Lots of other excitement as well! We continue to enjoy our strong collaborations with Aaron Hoskin’s group and Dave Brow’s group in Biomolecular Chemistry.
Eric Montemayor, Allison Didychuk & Sam Butcher
Breakthroughs in directed evolution of E. coli. In the Cox lab several projects have been moving forward. We are using directed evolution to generate populations of E. coli that are highly resistant to the e ects of ionizing radiation. ese populations adapt by streamlining their DNA repair mechanisms and enhancing processes that ameliorate the e ects of reactive oxygen species. is project has been pursued by a series of graduate students, most recently Rose Byrne Nash and Steve Bruckbauer. T.J. Kim generated RecA proteins with enhanced function, but these bind to DNA more tenaciously and slow cell growth. Functional balance is important for the multiple proteins that share the DNA substrate. A six-year e ort by Asher Page and Tyler Stanage to elucidate the function of the E. coli RarA/MgsA protein has borne fruit. is protein, a AAA+ ATPase in the clamp-loader clade with close homologues in yeast and humans, is part of a switch that replaces the normal DNA polymerase at the replisome with translesion DNA polymerases. Stefanie Chen led our e ort to characterize a new protein involved in double-strand break repair, now called RadD. Finally Angie Gruber and Erin Ronayne made great progress characterizing the activity of the RecA-dependent nuclease Ref.
Rose Byrne Asher Page Nash Back: Tyler Stanage, Wellington Leite, Liz Wood, Mike Cox, Stefanie Chen Front: Erin Ronayne, Steve Bruckbauer, Angie Gruber & TaeJin Kim
7 New Discoveries continued
Spanning the ribosome subunits. e Craig lab has uncovered a means by which a J-protein/Hsp70 molecular chaperone system may coordinate protein translation and protein folding by interacting with both the 40S and 60S ribosomal subunits. Using a combination of site-speci c crosslinking, X-ray crystallography, cell biology and molecular modeling, sites of interaction of the J-protein Zuotin at the nascent chain exit site on the 60S and with the rRNA helix that emanates from the 40S decoding center were de ned.
Kanghyun Lee, Ruchika Sharma, Om Shrestha, Craig Bingman & Betty Craig
Solving the mysteries of metalloenzymes. e Fox lab achieved three structure/function research milestones in the recent past. We reported the crystal structure of stearoyl-CoA desaturase in Nature with Ming Zhou’s group, including former UW-Madison students Jason McCoy and Elena Levin and Pablo Sobrado (former AHA postdoctoral fellow in the lab and now Professor of Biochemistry at Virginia Tech University). In a second work, postdoctoral fellow Michael Mbughuni collaborated with the Joint Bioenergy Institute to report in PNAS the structure of an oxygenated intermediate and a proposal for the mechanism of a new enzyme that helps metabolize aromatic compounds derived from plant lignin. In the third publication, also in Nature, we (Justin Acheson, Lucas Bailey and omas Brunold from Chemistry) reported the in-crystal reaction cycle of a toluene-bound diiron hydroxylase, which provides an unprecedented view into the nature of a reactive intermediate in an oxygenase reaction. Each of these works provides a foundational shi in the way we think about how metalloenzymes carry out dicult oxidation reactions.
Justin Acheson Emily Beebe, Craig Bingman, Kirk Vander Meulen, Robert Smith, Brian Fox, Nate Kuch, Evan Glasgow & Stephanie Dillon
How viruses defeat host cell defenses. Nate Byers and collaborator Rianna Vandergaast in Paul Friesen’s lab recently solved a twenty-year-old puzzle in the eld of viral apoptosis by being the rst to explain the molecular mechanism by which viral inhibitor-of-apoptosis (IAP) proteins prevent cell death during virus infection. ese Ph.D. students discovered that the baculovirus-encoded IAP binds to and prevents degron-mediated destruction of the host cell’s IAP, thereby enabling the host IAP to continue to block apoptosis during infection and thus facilitate virus multiplication. is novel virus strategy sheds important insight into mechanisms of virus pathogenesis and the function of cellular IAPs in human disease, including cancer. J. Virol. 90:533-544. PMID: 26491164.
Nathaniel Byers, Rianna Vandergaast & Paul Friesen
8 New Discoveries continued
How cancer mutations change RNA processing. Tucker Carrocci in the Hoskins lab, working with undergraduate Doug Zoerner (now in medical school at University of Kentucky) and lab manager Josh Paulson, uncovered how mutations in the spliceosome implicated in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) change pre-mRNA splicing. ese mutations change spliceosome delity--in other words, how the spliceosome recognizes some RNA sequences and not others. Changes in delity in uence how RNA sequences compete with one another for the splicing machinery and ultimately may impact alternative splicing and gene expression.
Tucker Carrocci, Doug Zoerner, Josh Paulson & Aaron Hoskins
Using single molecule uorescence in situ hybridization to analyze cell signaling in stem cells. e Kimble lab assayed the Notch-dependent transcriptional response of stem cells to signaling from their niche. Our analysis used single molecule uorescence in situ hybridization to nascent transcripts from individual chromosomal loci in wild-type animals, which permitted quantitation of the transcriptional response at single molecule resolution. We found to our surprise that the transcriptional response to Notch signaling occurred with a graded and position-speci c probability. Our results demonstrate for the rst time that a canonical signaling pathway induces transcription in a probabilistic fashion and that a pool of biologically equivalent stem cells can be graded with respect to their response to signaling. We suggest that this probabilistic response to signaling is likely a common phenomenon.
ChangHwan Lee & Judith Kimble
Mitochondrial protein structures. e Markley lab collaborated with Rutgers University on structures of mitochondrial proteins. One of the challenging structures was NFU1, which functions as an intermediate carrier of [4Fe-4S] clusters in the biosynthesis of iron-sulfur proteins and whose defects lead to human diseases (A). e cluster binds to the side chains of the two cysteine residues located in the C-terminal domain of each subunit and bridges the two subunits (B). e modeling exercise showed that of the two possible ligation con gurations, only one t the SAXS density (C). SAXS data obtained for holo-NFU1 showed that the protein is a trimer of dimers, with a tripartite junction formed by the N-terminal domains of three dimers (D). According to this model, each dimer contains two classes of N-terminal domain: one free and one involved in the tripartite interaction. e work appeared in Structure 24(12), 2080–2091 (2016).
John Markley, Ronnie Frederick, Kai Cai & Marco Tonelli
9 New Discoveries continued
Data management solutions for NMR. One of the challenges of biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, says John Markley, is that a wide variety of computer soware packages, computer servers, and databases need to be used in data processing and analysis, spectral assignments, structure determination, structure re nement, and validation. Di erent soware packages require di erent operating systems and thus may not be easily interoperable. To make biomolecular NMR spectroscopy much more accessible, we have created a platform called Integrative NMR that consolidates soware tools so that they interact eciently in ways that support both manual and automated approaches to data analysis, validation, and visualization. Also included are links to web services, databases, and video tutorials. Although the component soware packages are available for separate installation, we provide, as an option, all of them pre-installed in a virtual machine that runs on any standard laptop or desktop computer. e virtual machine avoids the necessity of installing the separate required soware programs within di erent operating systems. For details, see J. Biomol. NMR, 64:307-32 (2016).
Wonghee Lee, Gabriel Cornilescu, Hesan Dashti, Hamid Eghbalnia, Marco Tonelli, Milo Westler, Sam Butcher, Katie Henzler-Wildman & John Markley
Prime time for fusion in the Martin lab. A hallmark feature of eukaryotic cells is membrane compartmentalization. Cargo ow from ER to cell surface is mediated by vesicle budding from a donor compartment and vesicle fusion at an acceptor compartment. Highly-regulated membrane fusion resides at the end of the secretory pathway in neurons, endocrine cells, and mast cells where protein-loaded secretory granules fuse with the plasma membrane in calcium-triggered fusion reactions (exocytosis). We study the actions of proteins that prime the exocytic machinery for membrane fusion: CAPS and Munc13-4. CAPS, a large soluble protein with C2, PH and CATCHR domains, is essential for neural/endocrine secretion. Studies showed that CAPS functions by binding to plasma membrane PI(4,5)P2 and SNARE proteins to promote assembly of trans SNARE complexes that mediate membrane apposition and fusion. CAPS resides on secretory granules and the basis for its peripheral membrane attachment is under study. Munc13-4, which contains two calcium-binding C2 domains bracketing a CATCHR domain, is the major priming factor for granule exocytosis in mast cells. Its actions resemble those of CAPS in binding membrane and SNARE proteins to assemble fusogenic SNARE complexes but its activity is calcium-dependent. We found that Munc13-4 is multifunctional and also regulates calcium-dependent endosome fusion and exosome secretion. Priming factors exhibit similar fundamental properties; a challenge will be their structural elucidation in the context of SNARE complexes.
Scott Messenger, Sang Su Woo & Tom Martin
10 Finding new fatty acid functions. e Ntambi lab discovered that the monounsaturated fatty acid oleate, 18:1n9, has important metabolic functions in both white adipose tissue and liver. Graduate student Maggie Burhans revealed that hepatic oleate represses both fatty acid synthesis and oxidation in white adipose tissue. Additionally, liver-derived oleate partially protects mice from hepatic ER stress and in ammation.
James Ntambi & Maggie Burhans
Systematically de ning mitochondrial protein functions. Mitochondria are central hubs of cellular metabolism, and more than 150 diseases can arise when they do not work properly. However, the functions of hundreds of mitochondrial protein “parts” remain unde ned. By combining mass spectrometry-based proteomics and metabolomics with machine learning, yeast genetics, in vitro biochemistry, and structural biology, the Pagliarini lab has de ned new roles for orphan mitochondrial proteins in oxidative phosphorylation and coenzyme Q biosynthesis.
Brendan Floyd, Danielle Lohman, Andrew Reidenbach, Jonathan Stefely, Michael Veling & Dave Pagliarini
Regulation of the Mmp13 gene. e Pike Group discovered through ChIP-seq and other analyses that the regulation of Mmp13 gene expression in bone cells is governed by multiple distal intergenic enhancers. One of these control elements which is occupied by the bone cell master di erentiation factor RUNX2 exerts hierarchical control over the others by altering their capacity to recruit factors such as the vitamin D receptor. is nding highlights the central role of key transcription factors in cell-type speci c gene expression.
Nancy Benkusky, Mark Meyer & Wes Pike
11 New Discoveries continued
A remarkable growth factor. Angiogenin was the rst substance shown to promote organogenesis. irty years aer that discovery, the Raines lab has shown that this protein acts by an autonomous mechanism that begins outside of the cell and ends with its catalyzing the cleavage of a particular bond in a nucleolar RNA.
Trish Hoang & Ron Raines
Making plant lignin polymers easier to chemically degrade. e Ralph group has been working on modifying plant lignins so that they fall apart more readily during chemical processing to derive value from the polysaccharides. With collaborators working on gene discovery (Wilkins, MSU) and on poplar transformations (Mans eld, UBC), success in bioengineering ‘zip-lignins’ into trees was described [Science, 344(6179), 90-93 (2014)]. en, armed with new and more sensitive analytical methods for detecting zip- lignins, the group has now shown that Nature is already employing such pathways in a variety of plants [Science Advances, 2(10), e1600393 (2016)]. In new collaborations with the Fox lab and Shawn Kaeppler’s group in Agronomy, the group is now searching for the best genes/enzymes to express the highest possible zip-levels in various crop plants without incurring agronomic penalties. At the same time, various studies illustrating the improved processing of the original zip-lignin poplars are beginning to emerge. For more on this story, see… https://biochem.wisc.edu/news/2016/news-designer-lignin-2016-10-17
Steve Karlen & John Ralph
New functions of discriminator region of promoter DNA. e Record laboratory studies the mechanism and regulation of transcription initiation by the multi-subunit E. coli RNA polymerase, as well as the thermodynamics of solute-solute interactions in water. We’ve recently found that the discriminator region of promoter DNA, a major determinant of open complex lifetime and stability located immediately upstream of the transcription start site, also determines the RNA-DNA hybrid length for promoter escape and therefore the amount and length distribution of short (abortive, presumably regulatory) RNA synthesized. Consequences of changing discriminator length and sequence on initiation in vitro and on GFP expression in vivo are being determined, the latter a collaboration with Vatsan Raman’s laboratory.
Tom Record Lab
12 Structural organization of a bacterial cell-division protein complex. Using a combination of computational, biophysical and biological experiments, the Senes lab and collaborators in the Hoskins, Weibel and Cui labs, determined the structural organization of the FtsBL complex, which forms a tetrameric helical bundle that spans the bacterial inner membrane and the periplasmic space. e structure is important for understanding the biological function of the complex, and why mutations impair cell division and induce lamentation of the bacterial cell. In the long term, this knowledge may be important for the design of novel antibiotics.
Sam Condon, Deena-Al Mahbuba & Alessandro Senes
New kinase-peptide ligand pair provides insights to plant growth. At the plasma membrane, plants and fungi utilize protons in the same manner that animals use sodium, i.e., to energize the plasma membrane and control the membrane potential and rates of transport. e Sussman lab has recently identi ed a new receptor kinase-peptide ligand pair that controls the rate of cell expansion in plants by controlling the proton pump. e work shows that within a few minutes of applying the ligand to plant roots, the plasma membrane proton pump is inhibited, resulting in reduced rates of cell expansion and growth of roots.
Miyoshi Haruta, Ben Minkoff, Thao Nguyen & Michael Sussman
e mechanical genome. e Weibel lab has developed a method for rapidly identifying and studying global genes and mutations that alter bacterial cell sti ness. Using this technique they are discovering regulators of control cell wall synthesis and cell mechanical properties that provide opportunities to develop new antibiotic strategies.
George Auer & Doug Weibel
13 New Discoveries continued
Understanding the RNA-protein plexus. RNAs are regulated by proteins to which they bind. ese interactions determine when, where and how much protein an mRNA produces. e Wickens lab developed a new approach – “RNA tagging” – that identi es the collection of RNAs a protein binds. In this strategy, the protein covalently marks the RNA, which permanently identi es it. We have found that single proteins bind 100’s to 1000’s of mRNAs, that these mega-networks are balanced with one another, to create a super-network, and that they contribute critically to metabolic regulation.
Marv Wickens & Chris Lapointe In the image left, a protein of interest (POI) is linked to an agent that covalently marks any RNA to which the POI binds. In this case, the “marker”, a poly(U) polymerase (PUP) that we discovered, adds U’s the end of the RNA. Right, a super-network composed of multiple smaller sets of RNAs. Each large circle is a different protein that binds mRNAs (small dots).
New intracellular transport mechanisms. Neuronal function relies on organelles, vesicles, and macromolecules getting to right place at the right time. Capitalizing on CRISPR gene editing to manipulate molecular motors in vivo, the Wildonger lab identi ed a new mechanism that controls motor activity to keep dendritic organelles from invading axons, maintaining neuronal polarity.
Brian Jenkins, Harriet Saunders, Helena Record, Jill Wildonger, Mike Kelliher, Ashley Ng & Sihui Yang
Photo by Robin Davies 14 New Faculty Pro les Four new faculty span structural biology, allostery, protein design and dynamics, and microbiological communities – and build on the department’s long-standing breadth Professor Katie Henzler-Wildman Understanding the dynamics of membrane proteins and transport, exploiting NMR water in a packed column, and realizing organization of the lipid headgroups and that I didn’t really like engineering aer acyl chains to create defects in the membrane all. is experience convinced me of the structure. is was my rst experience importance of getting undergraduate with lipid bilayers and membranes, which students into research early! In order to are always a bit temperamental to work transfer to Arts and Sciences to become with. While I loved the complexity and a Chemistry major, I needed signed challenge, there was so much unknown permission from ve Chemical Engineering and the experimental tools were so limited professors, four of whom simply told me I I didn’t think it would be possible to really I am most interested in understanding was making a terrible decision and would examine protein structure-dynamics- how things work on a molecular level. never make any money. Only one, Paulette function relationship in the detail I wanted How the speci c features of individual Clancy, said “I understand you don’t want in a membrane environment anytime soon. molecules lead to their particular function, to be a ChemE, what DO you want to do?” So I returned to my interest in protein and how this molecular activity underlies I wasn’t really sure, but I told her about a dynamics as a postdoc, joining the lab of macroscopic biological processes. I love booklet we’d read in AP biology in High Dorothee Kern at Brandeis University, quantitative data analysis: what will each School that had piqued my interest. It was studying the functional importance of data set reveal about the chemical and an HHMI booklet on blood, but most protein motion for catalytic activity in the physical principles governing biological interesting to me was an entire section on soluble enzyme adenylate kinase processes? Will our hypothesis be x-ray crystallography and the structure of My postdoc research addressed two supported or does the data suggest a myoglobin. Without missing a beat, Prof. distinct questions: Is the lid-opening di erent explanation? I really enjoy Clancy told me that she didn’t know any motion of adenylate kinase, which is de ning, testing, and re ning hypotheses crystallographers, but she did know an rate-limiting for catalysis, an intrinsic in the lab and helping students learn to do NMR spectroscopist, and proceeded to property of the protein itself? If so, the same. Figuring out how the world works call Linda Nicholson on the spot. When I how are such slow, large-scale collective has always fascinated me, but I also want le her oce, I had my fully signed transfer motions encoded in the protein sequence? to study something useful. My lab studies form and my rst research position in an Combining solution NMR dynamics, small multidrug resistance transporters NMR lab, and I didn’t even know what single-molecule FRET, crystallography, because the basic biology is interesting and NMR was! I spent the rest of my time at and MD simulations provided the they contribute to antibiotic resistance. Cornell working in the Nicholson lab necessary resolution in both time and How do multidrug transporters harness and became hooked on NMR as a tool space to answer the rst question, revealing the proton motive force in order to to study not just protein structure, but inherent motion along the opening/closing actively pump antibiotics out of bacteria also motion. How do proteins move? On trajectory in the absence of substrate. so that the bacteria can survive? How do what time scales, and how large are the Further comparison of thermophilic these tiny pumps recognize and pump out motions? How is the motion regulated by and mesophilic homologs of adenylate such a broad array of substrates leading to phosphorylation or other modi cations kinase highlighted localized “hinge” their multidrug transport activity? More (we were studying Src domains), or changes regions that enabled the larger functional recently, I have gotten interested in ion in the environment? How does the motion domain motions. is provided the rst channels and we are now investigating ion vary across the protein and how does that insight into how the amino acid sequence selectivity and gating. Our discoveries will facilitate or inhibit the function of the and structure encoded local regions of help us understand allosteric regulation protein? enhanced exibility that in turn facilitated of channels – how gating conditions are To develop a deeper understanding of speci c, functionally important domain sensed by the channel and communicated NMR spectroscopy, I joined the solid-state motions. is experience showed me the to the pore domain to open or close the NMR lab of A. “Rams” Ramamoorthy power of bringing multiple experimental channel. e overarching theme of the lab as a graduate student at the University techniques together to examine the same is a focus on how protein structure and of Michigan. For my thesis research, I question from multiple perspectives. I also dynamics enable membrane proteins to used solid-state NMR to investigate the learned to ask big biological questions – carry out their functions. interaction of the human antimicrobial using new technology to go aer problems I started my undergraduate career peptide, LL-37, with lipid bilayers – both that had previously been impossible to at Cornell as a Chemical Engineering how lipid composition a ects peptide address experimentally. major. I worked in a lab the summer aer orientation and insertion depth, and Right across the hall from the Kern my freshman year, stripping toluene from how the peptide a ects the structure and lab, Chris Miller’s lab was studying the
15 mechanism of transporters and channels, Ph.D. and postdoc experiences to study experiments at di erent pH and with and Chris convinced me to try NMR the functional dynamics of an integral di erent substrates to “walk” through dynamics studies of transporters. It was membrane protein. various steps in the transport cycle. Our a logical next step, since conformational In 2008 I started my own laboratory results demonstrate that EmrE breaks change is central to the transport process at Washington University in St. Louis, all the rules for proton-coupled antiport – the transporter protein must switch fearlessly tackling my new project on EmrE. in the currently accepted, decades-old between states open to opposite sides of My lab demonstrated that solution NMR mechanistic model. We are developing a the membrane in order to move molecules could indeed directly monitor open-in to new model for proton-coupled transport, from one aqueous compartment to open-out conformational exchange in a using our quantitative NMR data on another. Smaller is better for the high- transporter. e data we could obtain with populations and transition rates to build a resolution solution NMR needed to this new approach allowed us resolve the kinetic model for net ux, and comparing measure the conformational exchange controversy surrounding the antiparallel these predictions with liposomal transport process, so I chose to work on the only topology of the EmrE homodimer and assays. Our current working model suggests small transporter with a known structure, experimentally demonstrated that the that it may be possible to target antibiotic the small multidrug resistance transporter two monomers of the antiparallel EmrE resistance in an entirely novel way through EmrE. My preliminary experiments homodimer swap conformations to the eux pumps. It will be fun to see if this yielded beautiful spectra and I now had transport substrate across the membrane. works! a research project that drew on both my More recently, we have used NMR
A) Cartoon model of EmrE transport, protons are moved down their electrochemical gradient into the bacterial cytoplasm in order to pump drugs in the opposite direction. This lowers the drug concentration inside the bacteria, enabling them to survive drug exposure and causing antibiotic resistance. B) Cartoon cross section of a protein embedded in a bicelle. C) NMR spectrum of a membrane protein solubilized in a bicelle. Each spot is a contour plot of a peak in the NMR spectrum and represents the NH group of a different amino acid. By varying the parameters of the NMR experiment and monitoring the change in peak position, intensity, or width we can determine the relative populations of different states and the rates of conformational exchange with amino acid level resolution.
16 Professor Vatsan Raman Using synthetic and systems biology to understand and exploit protein design and allostery and G-protein coupled receptors are prime away when I saw the three-dimensional drug targets. Mutations in these proteins structure of a protein for the rst time. It can lead to a systemic loss of regulation, was the structure of bacteriorhodopsin, resulting in cancer, as well as developmental, a light-driven proton pump. I was in awe hormonal and metabolic disorders. of the complexity of the structure, the Understanding the molecular intricate molecular connections, and the underpinnings of how a mutation disrupts beautiful parallel-antiparallel alignment allostery has important implications for of the transmembrane alpha helices. I precision medicine. Biosensors that can knew right away that I wanted to work e last 18 months have been a detect small molecule ligands (metabolites) on understanding protein structures and rewarding and thrilling experience. When are a highly valuable tool with applications protein folding. I joined the department in September in synthetic biology, medical diagnosis, My second inspiration was the idea that 2015, I remember walking into an empty environmental monitoring, bioremediation, the complex three-dimensional shape of a laboratory and feeling a bit overwhelmed and bioenergy. Our laboratory combines protein structure is uniquely determined at the task that lay ahead of me. Today, we computational protein design and high- by the primary amino acid sequence, and are a vibrant laboratory of biochemists, throughput experimentation to design hence could be computed without the need microbiologists and engineers with research allosteric biosensors for new molecules. for experiments. I joined the laboratory interests in systems and synthetic biology. e research interests of my laboratory of Dr. David Baker at the University of e goal of our laboratory is to re ect my own diverse training as a chemical Washington, Seattle for my Ph.D., where I understand the molecular basis of protein engineer, a computational structural developed computational tools to predict allostery and to design new allosteric biologist and a synthetic biologist. As most three-dimensional structure of proteins at proteins with new function. We use chemical engineers do, I worked in the atomic-level accuracy. designed allosteric proteins as biosensors industry aer college; rst, in a petroleum My third inspiration was as a and switches to engineer cellular pathways re nery, and then selling industrial pumps postdoctoral fellow in Dr. George Church’s and microbial communities. Allostery and control valves. laboratory at Harvard Medical School, is regulation from a distance. It is a However, I did not nd industry where I learned the power of “multiplexing.” fundamental biological property by which intellectually rewarding and decided to Multiplexing is the experimental approach perturbation at one site of a protein leads to pursue a masters in chemical engineering to make millions of measurements of a a functional response at a faraway site. in Missouri. My rst inspiration to pursue system in a single assay. In the Church e best analogy for allostery is to my current research occurred in a Statistical lab, I saw multiplexing applied rsthand imagine someone tapping your head, ermodynamics course. I was amazed in contexts as diverse as next-generation and in response you kick your foot. e that a macroscopic property of matter, sequencing, metabolic engineering and the site of response (foot) is far from site of such as freezing point or boiling point of brain connectome. perturbation (head). Allosteric proteins water, could be accurately computed from I am excited to continue pursuing my are nature’s switches; they control virtually interactions occurring at the molecular research at the University of Wisconsin– every biological process including catalysis, level by applying principles of probability Madison Department of Biochemistry. transcription, transport and signaling. Our and statistics. is led to my masters thesis I enjoy the time I spend in our lab with goal is to understand the molecular basis of on a computational model of molecular talented biochemists, microbiologists, and allostery. is has important implications nucleation in atmospheric cloud. engineers. My experiences here have been in medicine and biotechnology. Allosteric As I was pondering my next career step, great so far and I look forward to many proteins such as nuclear receptors, kinases, I was bitten by the biology bug! I was blown more.
Left: Crystal structure of the lac repressor redesigned to bind to sucralose.
Right: TEM image of bacteriophages attached to a bacterial cell surface.
Right: image by Dr Graham Beards - en:Image:Phage. jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/w/ index.php?curid=5035798 17 Professor Philip Romero Developing high-throughput approaches to understand principles of protein structure and design new functions at Caltech, I engineered proteins as MRI disease and then use a computer to rapidly contrast agents for brain imaging, enzymes design a therapeutic protein to treat it. to degrade biomass into fermentable sugars You could design custom biocatalysts to for bioenergy, and anti-cancer protein interconvert di erent types of chemicals therapeutics. for industry. e possibilities are really A key challenge in protein engineering endless once we learn the principles of is our limited understanding of the protein design. complex relationships between protein I’m really excited about UW-Madison’s sequence, structure, and function. cutting-edge research environment, I joined the UW–Madison Department is mapping involves thousands of excellent colleagues, and its core of Biochemistry in the summer of 2016. I atoms, a practically in nite number strengths in biochemistry and chemical was previously an assistant professor in of conformational states, and poorly engineering. e University really fosters the Department of Chemical Engineering understood physical interactions. My interdisciplinary and collaborative at UCLA. My research group works on lab at UW-Madison leverages new high- research. I’ve been interacting closely with protein engineering, using a combination throughput experimental technologies to faculty in statistics, electrical engineering, of theory, computation, and experimental obtain a comprehensive and unbiased view and chemical engineering. I’ve also been methods. of the mapping between sequence and struck by the many opportunities to Proteins are amazingly diverse function. We’re able to obtain functional participate in larger-scale, team science molecules that are capable of performing data from millions of protein sequence projects. For example, the Great Lakes a wide variety of complex molecular variants. We combine these massive data Bioenergy Research Center, which functions. You can take 20 amino acids sets with recent advances in large-scale is a large multidisciplinary group of and string them together in di erent machine learning to extract detailed and researchers working to solve problems combinations to generate the molecules quantitative knowledge of how proteins in energy. ere is also the Wisconsin that drive biological processes such as work. Institutes for Discovery, which has six metabolism, cellular communication, A longer-term goal for my research research themes to tackle big problems that and DNA replication. We’re interested in program is the ability to rationally design are outside the scope of single-investigator stringing together new combinations of proteins with custom molecular/biological projects. I’m looking forward to building amino acids to generate new and useful functions. is capability would have my interdisciplinary research program in protein functions. e applications of a tremendous impact across all areas of this highly stimulating and collaborative protein engineering are endless. As a biology, medicine, and biotechnology. environment. graduate student in Frances Arnold’s lab You could identify an emerging infectious
Large-scale analysis of protein sequence-function relationships provides a comprehensive and unbiased view of the molecular basis of protein function.
18 Professor Ophelia Venturelli Revealing evolutionary principles of microbial ecologies and networks through experiment, computation and theory Department of Biochemistry in July 2016, networks using computational models and I am fascinated by these processes. and spent several years in undergrad and Before joining the department, I was a grad school taking computer science, postdoc at the University of California, engineering and math classes. At UW– Berkeley and earned my Ph.D. at the Madison, my work focuses on systems California Institute of Technology and biology, synthetic biology, and microbial bachelor’s degree from Stanford. I am communities. interested in elucidating the molecular A recent project has focused on and ecological principles that drive developing a generalizable framework to In natural environments, microbes microbial communities and developing reverse engineer microbial interactions in don’t appear in isolation but are instead mathematical models to predict and multi-species communities. Leveraging embedded in diverse communities analyze microbial behaviors. We also these methods, we are interested in composed of self and non-self. In such aim to exploit biological and engineering understanding the dynamic response of the communities, microbes interact via design rules to engineer microbial systems gut microbiota to external pressures such competition, cooperation and cell-to-cell to perform novel functions. as antibiotics and invasion by the pathogen communication. For example, microbes For example, microbes exist on and C. di cile. We are also developing compete over limited resources, wage inside the human body, which constitutes micro uidic platforms to interrogate antibiotic warfare by producing toxic the human microbiome, signi cantly inter-species interactions and designing chemicals, communicate via signaling, contribute to human health. I’m interested genetic circuits in probiotic organisms to engage in metabolic interchange or in understanding how human-associated shape the structure and function of the gut detoxify their environment. microbial communities function and microbiota. For example, speci c microbes can how to design microbes to monitor I am looking forward to working secrete metabolites that are utilized by human health, deliver drugs on demand with students from diverse backgrounds di erent members of the community, or enhance resistance to invasion by in combining engineering principles, forming a positive interaction. A multitude intestinal pathogens. I am also interested microbiology, biochemistry, and of diverse mechanisms of interaction in studying microbial communities in mathematical modeling. As an assistant impacts community-level functions broad applications including agriculture professor in Biochemistry, I am also by altering the tness and activities of and bioenergy. aliated with the Department of constituent members. During my undergraduate years, I Bacteriology and the Department of It has become increasingly evident became fascinated with the dynamics Chemical and Biological Engineering. that microbial processes provide diverse of biological networks and how these UW-Madison is a supportive and functions to in uence plants, oceans, networks can enable cellular information collaborative environment, the students soil, and even human health. A detailed processing. I realized that it was not are highly motivated and the research and quantitative understanding of the possible to reason about the quantitative areas are incredibly diverse across campus. principles of microbiomes can enable behavior of complex networks without I’m excited to interact with faculty across scientists and engineers to recreate them mathematical frameworks. I became very many departments at UW-Madison. to harness their bene ts. I joined the interested in how you can capture those
The Venturelli lab aims to dissect the molecular and ecological basis of microbial communities using model-guided methods. These principles will be exploited to engineer microbes to perform novel functions that benefit human health.
19 Alumnus: Michael Green A creative leader in understanding how gene control contributes to cancer and new modes of therapeutic intervention UW helped shape my career because they Molecular Biology Organization. He has provided an initial exposure to fundamental also earned a Searle Scholar Award, the scienti c concepts that remain integral to Presidential Young Investigators Award, and my current research,” he says. “I also feel that the McKnight Neuroscience Award. UW provided a great overall undergraduate During his time in the Department, education, and courses I took for example in Green worked in the lab of professor Tom mathematics and the humanities were also Record. One of his undergrad classmates very important to me.” was Alan Attie and the two are still good Broadly, Green researches the regulation friends. Attie is now a professor in the UW– of gene expression and how that expression Madison Department of Biochemistry. a ects disease. He seeks to understand how Green also received a Babcock Fellowship in When he nished his undergraduate normal cells become cancer cells and also Biochemistry from the department in 1973. degree in the Department of Biochemistry reveal new possibilities for treatment. He “What always strikes me when I return at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in says the primary reason he carries out his to Madison is the remarkable amount of 1974, Michael Green had little idea that in research is to have a potential positive impact growth and how much larger and how many 2015 he would become the director of the on human disease. more research buildings there are now here University of Massachusetts Medical School His many honors include election to the compared to when I was an undergraduate,” Cancer Center. He did, however, leave the National Academy of Sciences, National Green says. “It’s always enjoyable to come department with a base of knowledge he Academy of Medicine, and European back to visit or give seminars.” still uses in his current studies of cancer biology. Aer receiving his undergraduate degree, Green attended Washington University for a Ph.D. and medical degree. He was a postdoctoral scholar and then professor at Harvard until 1990, before moving to U Mass Medical School. He held a variety of positions there before becoming director of the cancer center. At U Mass, Green is also currently chair of the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology. “I would say that my experiences studying biology, chemistry and biochemistry at Alan Attie (left) and Michael Green circa 1975
Photo by Robin Davies 20 Alumnus: William Rutter An innovative pioneer in biochemistry and genetic engineering and founder of biotechnology receives an Honorary Degree Research breakthroughs under Rutter’s of biotechnology, has made seminal leadership include the rst cloning of genes contributions in both academia and for insulin and growth hormone, at the industry,” says nominator Ronald T. Raines, University of California, San Francisco. the Henry Lardy Professor of Biochemistry, He became part of UCSF as the head of Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical their Department of Biochemistry and Biology and Professor of Chemistry at Biophysics in 1968. In 1981, he helped UW–Madison. “Our campus played an found Chiron Corporation. ere he important role at the inception of his career; discovered a recombinant DNA vaccine for in turn, the biotechnology industry has had hepatitis B and decoded genomes for HIV an enormous impact on both our campus and hepatitis C viruses. and the city of Madison. e faculty of e Department of Biochemistry was Rutter is currently chairman and the Department of Biochemistry voted proud to nominate William J. Rutter for founder of Synergenics, LLC, which has a unanimously, and with great enthusiasm, a 2016 honorary degree. He received the portfolio of biotechnology companies. e to endorse this nomination.” award during university commencement group provides services, such as nancing, Rutter has published more than on Friday, May 13 at the Kohl Center. legal and business advice, and scienti c 380 scienti c articles and holds over 25 Rutter’s relationship with the and operational resources, to companies at patents. Additionally, he is a member of department goes back to the time he spent di erent stages of development. the National Academy of Sciences and the as a postdoctoral researcher in the lab “Bill Rutter, a founder of the eld American Academy of Arts and Sciences. of professor Henry Lardy. A pioneering biochemist, Rutter helped lay the foundation for the then-emerging eld of biotechnology. Honorary degrees from UW–Madison recognize individuals with careers of William Rutter giving his extraordinary accomplishment. e commencement address. Photo by Bryce Richter Committee on Honorary Degrees looks to sustained and characteristic activity as its warrant: uncommonly meritorious activity exhibiting values that are esteemed by a great university.
Photo by Robin Davies 21 Emeritus Pro le: Professor Perry Frey Recollections of a life in chemical mechanistic enzymology and 27 years in Madison
became manager of the local oce of the elds of the deep South, the deserts of the General Telephone Company. My parents Southwest, and the mountains and forests impressed on me the importance of a high of the Northwest. And I spent more than a school diploma, which they regarded as a year in Germany. It was a social education. key to success. My father employed me in I returned to Ohio State in 1956 and his contracting business through junior and completed the curriculum for a Bachelor of senior high school, and later in college. I Science degree in chemistry. e chemistry graduated from high school in 1953. courses were generally excellent. As I made progress I became increasingly comfortable In response to a request for a pro le of College at Ohio State with my choice of major, while placing my development as a chemical mechanistic In high school I became interested in a high and appropriate value on all of enzymologist, I o er the following. My science, especially chemistry. I have oen my other courses, including philosophy, parents were John and Inez Frey, who were been asked by students and colleagues if English composition, German, comparative happily married for 68 years in Plain City, I intended to have an academic research literature, economics, political science, and Ohio. is was a small, rural community of career. My answer was always that I had of course physics and mathematics. ~1500 at the time I was born in 1935. My no speci c intention other than to be a twin sister and I started school in rst grade chemist. I was fortunate to live within 19 Chemistry at the USPHS at the local public school in September of miles of e Ohio State University, where Aer graduating in 1959, I took 1941, and three months later we learned tuition was $50.00 per quarter at the additional higher level courses and worked about the attack at Pearl Harbor and the time, and the Chemistry Department was as a teaching assistant. I was at loose ends, start for America in World War II. About excellent. I spent the year aer high school was not doing well, and was uncertain about two years later, I began carrying and commuting daily to and from Ohio State. my future. I was certain about one thing. delivering a newspaper to neighbors, and I e commute was inconvenient, but I could I had met Carolyn Mae Scott on a date read about the war. It was very hard to learn not a ord to live on campus, and there were to see Madam Butter y at the Cincinnati about local soldiers who lost their lives or other pressures. At the time, federal law Summer Opera. Carolyn lived and worked returned with life-long injuries. required all healthy young men to complete in the Cincinnati area, and I thought it was 8 years of military service. ree main important to see her every day. erefore, Early Education paths were available. One could enlist in I moved to Cincinnati and found a By the time I reached high school the Army, Navy or Air Force and serve for position as a food chemist at the Sanitary I had learned how fortunate I was. My eight years or as a career. Alternatively, one Engineering Center in Cincinnati. is parents were intelligent people who had could join an Active Reserve or National center was operated by the United States been prevented by cultural pressures from Guard unit for eight years. is involved Public Health Service (USPHS), and it was obtaining higher education. My father grew limited training on active duty, followed concerned with air and water pollution and up in an Amish family and was prevented by regular training as a “weekend warrior” food safety. e Center later became part by that culture at the time from attending for the balance of the eight years. A third of the Environmental Protection Agency. high school. He was allowed an eighth- option was to volunteer for military Carolyn and I were married in February grade education, aer which he worked on conscription and serve on active duty for 1961, and our rst daughter Suzanne was the family farm until he turned 21 in 1930, two years. For the balance of the eight years born in February 1962. the depth of the Great Depression. He you were in the Ready Reserve, which did As a food chemist in the USPHS, I could have been any kind of professional not require meetings or other training. worked under contract with the U. S. Army man if he had been able to obtain a higher College deferments were possible to avoid to neutralize the paralytic toxin from the education. GEDs did not exist then, but active duty, but I did not know anyone red tide organism Gonyaulax catenella. is he read widely and became socially and who had one. Religious objectors were became known as saxitoxin. I puri ed it politically mature; and he taught himself given alternative options. I chose the third from Alaskan mussels and studied methods music on the violin, guitar, and organ. He option because it would satisfy my military to chemically bind it to bovine serum worked as a farm laborer for a couple of requirement in essentially two years and albumin. I succeeded in chemically linking years and then acquired skills in seasonally qualify me for college support under the it to the protein, and in collaboration with complementary trades as a sheep shearer GI Bill of Rights. I entered the U. S. Army microbiologists tested the conjugate for and painting contractor. My mother grew in 1954. Aer training in basics and tank immunogenicity in rabbits. e conjugate up a Mennonite, which did not restrict her weapons mechanics, I was transferred to elicited antibodies in rabbits, and some of education. However, she had to leave high Germany for the balance of my active duty. the antibodies neutralized the paralytic school in the 10th grade to help support I have been told that my military service e ects of saxitoxin. us, saxitoxin linked her younger siblings aer the departure of was a waste. I do not agree. I met people to serum albumin served as a hapten in their father. She worked at her own job aer from the streets of New York, the mountains immunized rabbits. is work introduced we children entered grade school, and she of Appalachia, the forests and cotton me to immunology and toxicology. 22 Pursuit of the Ph.D. the one-electron reduced form the more kinetic ambiguities and asked me to look During 1960-63 I furthered my common cob(III)alamin. I was charged into this. I conducted reporter group chemical education by taking graduate with nding out what had happened spectrophotometric studies and found the courses in analytical, inorganic, organic, and to the adenosyl-moiety. I synthesized active site microenvironment to lower the physical chemistry in the Evening School 5’-deoxyadenosine and identi ed it as the thermodynamically measured pKa-values at the University of Cincinnati. I decided product derived from adenosylcobalamin of both neutral and positively charged to pursue a Ph.D. degree and applied to in the inactivation. I also showed that acidic groups in the active site by 4 pKa- the National Institute of General Medical inactivation by [2-3H]glycolaldehyde units. is could happen only in a positive Sciences for a Predoctoral Fellowship. led to the incorporation of tritium into electrostatic eld. Based on my academic record the Institute 5’-deoxyadenosine. is keyed me to the awarded me a fellowship. I was drawn to idea that adenosyl-C5’ might participate in University Faculty Career the research of Professor Robert H. Abeles, hydrogen transfer in adenosylcobalamin- ree weeks aer starting my then at the University of Michigan, whom I dependent reactions. In February 1965, postdoctoral research, I received a letter had met when he was an Assistant Professor Carolyn and I welcomed our younger from the Department of Chemistry at of Chemistry at Ohio State. I called him, daughter Cynthia into the world. Ohio State requesting my application for told him about my fellowship, and asked if Next, I found that reaction of [1-3H] an Assistant Professorship. I had been he would accept me as a graduate student. propane-1,2-diol as substrate with recommended by my mentors. I responded He agreed. Our family moved to Ann the complex of adenosylcobalamin by submitting my Curriculum Vitae and Arbor in January 1964. and dioldehydrase produced [3H] application. I was interviewed and o ered Upon arrival in Ann Arbor I learned that adenosylcobalamin, with all of the the position. I accepted the appointment Professor Abeles had accepted a position tritium bonded to C5’ of the adenosyl- and started my own laboratory in January in the Department of Biochemistry at moiety. Reaction of unlabeled propane- 1969. In April 1969 I was awarded my rst Brandeis University in Massachusetts. He 1,2-diol with [3H]adenosylcobalamin individual research grant from the NIH asked if I would be willing to move there and dioldehydrase produced [3H] and accepted my rst graduate students at the following August. I agreed and spent propionaldehyde. erefore the adenosyl- Ohio State. January to August at Michigan taking moiety of adenosylcobalamin mediated During my career at Ohio State from courses in biological chemistry, the chemical hydrogen transfer. is function of 1969-81 and at UW-Madison 1981-2008, synthesis of natural products and starting adenosylcobalamin was subsequently more than 90 graduate and postdoctoral my Ph.D. research. Abeles introduced found in all other adenosylcobalamin- researchers collaborated with me in work me to the biochemistry of the Vitamin dependent enzymatic reactions known at on the chemical mechanisms of action of B12 coenzyme adenosylcobalamin, the time. I completed my Ph.D. research in enzymes. ese students were excellent in which he had found to be required in 1967. their own ways and produced research with the bacterial dehydration of propane- me in the refereed literature. e students 1,2-diol to propionaldehyde. Abeles and Postdoctoral Research became friends and went on to their own his associates had puri ed dioldehdrase, Near the end of my time at Brandeis, careers in academia, research institutes, the enzymatic catalyst. I synthesized 2R- Professor Abeles suggested that I do the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and and 2S-[1-2H]propane-1,2-diols with postdoctoral work with F. H. Westheimer agricultural chemical industries in the U. S. identical con guration at C1 by chemical at Harvard. Knowing that Abeles had and around the world. I cannot name them and enzymatic methods and showed that done postdoctoral work with Westheimer, all in this space, but their names appear in dioldehydrase transferred the 1-pro-R a leading mechanistic enzymologist, I our group website. hydrogen from C1 of one stereoisomer and agreed. Abeles called Westheimer and At Ohio State, our group pursued three the 1-pro-S hydrogen from C1 of the other informed me on the same day that I had a main lines of research. We started with the stereoisomer to C2 of propionaldehyde. postdoctoral commitment. I interviewed Leloir Pathway, UDP-galactose 4-epimerase We published this unusual stereochemistry with Westheimer, was awarded an NIH (GalE) and galactose-1-P uridylytransferase and moved to Brandeis University. postdoctoral fellowship, and joined his (GalT), which had been sparingly studied At Brandeis I continued classroom group in November 1967. Westheimer and presented signi cant mechanistic studies in biochemistry, enzymology, had led research on bacterial acetoacetate issues. We found that the interconversion and physical organic chemistry and decarboxylase and showed the role of of UDP-galactose and UDP-glucose moved forward with research on the the lysyl-6-amine in iminium-formation by the GalE-NAD+ complex involved role of adenosylcobalamin in the action with the Beta-keto-group of acetoacetate, the intermediate UDP-4-ketoglucose. of dioldehydrase. Abeles and associates thereby promoting decarboxylation. Experiments on substrate selectivity and had discovered that glycolaldehyde Researchers preceding me had found binding, kinetics, and isotope tracing inactivated dioldehdrase in the presence that the pH-rate pro le in acylation of suggested that nonstereospeci c hydride of adenosylcobalamin, producing cob(II) this lysyl-amino group displayed a pKa transfer at glycosyl-C4 could be explained alamin. is form of vitamin B12 lacked the of 6, 4.5-pKa units below that of lysine in by substrates presenting di erent glycosyl adenosyl-moiety, and the cobalt was Co2+, water. Westheimer was concerned about rotamers to NAD+, as illustrated (next page). 23 and retention whenever a covalent E—P chemical properties, and proved it to be was an intermediate. e results supported an intermediate in the reaction of PDH the rule that whenever both forward and complex. reverse acceptors were similar structurally As a graduate student, I was taught and electrostatically, the mechanism was that carbon-centered radicals could play two-step phosphotransfer with retention, no role in enzymatic reactions. ey were like GalT. Whenever the two acceptors too reactive and hard to control and would were unlike, the mechanism was a single create havoc in an active site. By the 1970s, Hydride transfer rotamers of Gal E substrates UDP-xylose and UDP-arabinose. phosphotransfer with inversion at P. radicals began to appear in active sites, Beginning at Ohio State, we also even in the active sites of dioldehydrase is proved to be consistent with the undertook studies of a central enzyme and other B12 enzymes. crystal structure subsequently determined in energy metabolism, the pyruvate By 1985 I began to take an interest in at UW-Madison in collaboration with dehydrogenase (PDH) complex. We the role of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) Professor Hazel M. Holden. e structure simpli ed and improved the puri cation in reactions that, at the time, seemed also keyed us to ner points of the hydride from E. coli. Other labs had shown unusual for this molecule. I was particularly transfer mechanism. it to consist of three enzymes – interested in the role of SAM in the reaction GalT catalyzes the reaction of pyruvate dehydrogenase, dihydrolipoyl of lysine 2,3-aminomutase (LAM), which galactose-1-P (Gal-1P) with UDP-glucose transacetylase, and dihydrolipoyl had been discovered at UC-Berkeley by H. to produce UDP-galactose and glucose- dehydrogenase – but its subunit A. Barker and associates 15 years earlier. It 1-P (Glc-1-P). I thought that Gal-1P and composition was controversial. We catalyzed the interconversion of lysine and Glc-1-P should bind to the same site, so managed to provide strong evidence for 3,6-diamininohexanoate, that is, migration that the overall kinetics should be Ping 24:24:12 as the subunit composition, using of the alpha-amino group from C2 to C3. Pong Bi Bi, in the Cleland nomenclature, chemical and molecular mass analysis. is reaction followed the pattern that had and the intermediate should be a covalent In 1981, we moved to UW-Madison been established for adenosylcobalamin- UMP–X-GalT. Our group showed this and continued with research on GalE, dependent enzymes, but it did not require to be correct kinetically and by isolation GalT and other phosphotransferases, and a vitamin B12 coenzyme. I wondered and characterization of the kinetically we focused attention on the chemical whether the adenosyl in SAM (Ado- + competent covalent intermediate. e mechanism of the PDH complex. e CH2—S -Met) could be made to gene and amino acid sequences, site- cofactors thiamine diphosphate ( DP) function in the same way as the adenosyl directed mutagenesis, and chemical rescue and lipoamide were involved, as well as group in adenosylcobalamin (Ado- + 3+ experiments pointed to His166 as the the substrates pyruvate, NAD /NADH, CH2—Co -cobalamin). On its face, active site nucleophile X linked to UMP. and CoA/acetyl-CoA. Various chemical this did not seem reasonable. e Co—C e crystal structure later determined mechanisms could be considered. We bond in adenosylcobalamin was known to in collaboration with Professors were able to prove the intermediacy of be weak (31 kcal/mol) and could undergo Ivan Rayment and Hazel Holden at S8-acetyldihydrolipoamide. We also homolytic scission to the 5’-deoxyadenosyl UW-Madison veri ed this assessment. generated indirect evidence for the radical and Co2+, whereas the homolytic Our work on GalT inspired us to participation of 2-acetyl- DP. Finally, we bond dissociation energy for a C—S+ look more broadly into the mechanisms synthesized 2-acetyl- DP, determined its bond was >62 kcal/mol. However, the of phospho- and nucleotidyltransferases. reaction of LAM was stimulated by Fe2+, Most were controversial regarding suggesting to me that complex chemistry the involvement of covalent (E—P) might be at work. intermediates. I thought that Our group found that the adenosyl stereochemistry at the transferred group in SAM mediated hydrogen phosphorus could resolve controversies. transfer by LAM in exactly the same way We devised syntheses of substrates with as it did in adenosylcobalamin-dependent chiral P, using 18O, 17O, 16O and/or S as enzymes. We wrote a radical isomerization substituents on P to generate chirality. And mechanism for the aminomutase reaction. we developed spectroscopic and chemical We also discovered that the role of Fe2+ methods to assign con gurations. was in the assembly of a [4Fe-4S] cluster We found the GalT reaction to proceed that ligated SAM through the carboxyl with overall retention at P, presumably by and amino groups. And we discovered that way of inversion in two transfer steps. We the iron-sulfur cluster mediated homolytic con rmed inversion in the rst transfer cleavage of the S+—CH2 bond in SAM step to form the E-His166—UMP. We by inner sphere electron transfer. subsequently completed stereochemical Concurrently with the work on analyses on 13 other transferases. All LAM, we undertook to examine the studies indicated inversion at each transfer Frey Group December 1984 reaction of methane monooxygenase, 24 with support from the Amoco Research Low-Barrier Hydrogen Bond (LBHB) behavior I expected. I called Abeles again Foundation. I thought this reaction My colleague W. W. Cleland and pointed out that he had already done should proceed through a carbon-centered postulated in 1992 that certain enzymatic the experiment that I envisioned. He radical mechanism, and we succeeded in processes might be potentiated by the agreed, although I had the impression that demonstrating this by chemical methods. transient formation of LBHBs. is he might not have been convinced of the We also extended the LAM research to keyed me to recall a paper by G. Robillard LBHB. He forwarded the inhibitor. an adenosylcobalamin-dependent lysine and R. Shulman in 1972, in which they Our group synthesized the series 5,6-aminomutase. We ultimately observed observed a down eld 1H-NMR signal at of peptidyl TFKs that Abeles and and characterized more than 15 carbon- 18 ppm in chymotrypsin at low pH (pH associates had introduced, and we studied centered radical intermediates by chemical < 7) and assigned it to the proton bridging the properties of the corresponding and spectroscopic methods, mainly in His57 and Asp102 in the active site. It was chymotrypsin adducts. In collaborations collaboration with my colleague Professor unusual to observe such an exchangeable with John Markley, we found down eld George H. Reed and his associates, proton in aqueous solution by 1H-NMR, 1H-NMR signals between 18.6 and 18.9 who specialized in characterizing and even more unusual to observe one so ppm, very low deuterium fractionation carbon-centered radicals by isotope- far down eld. I thought this should be a factors, very high enthalpies for exchange, edited electron paramagnetic resonance property of an LBHB. and deuterium and tritium isotope e ects spectroscopy. Typical radicals found in Examination of the literature on on chemical shis. We also constructed active sites are shown below, where PLP is such hydrogen bonds in small molecules linear free energy correlations of the pyidoxal phosphate. supported my thoughts. e literature 1H-NMR chemical shis with the characterized three classes of hydrogen published inhibition constants for the bonds according to their strengths, inhibitors, the pKa-values for His57 in conventional, 2-10 kcal/mol; intermediate the adducts, and the enzymatic reactivity strong (LBHB), 10-20 kcal, mol; and very of corresponding methyl ester substrates. strong, >24 kcal/mol. e LBHBs were In short, the evidence for LBHB was very regarded as asymmetric, short hydrogen strong, as was the correlation between bonds intermediate in strength, displaying strength of the LBHB with enzymatic 1H-NMR signals at 18-20 ppm, low reactivity. deuterium fractionation factors, and deuterium and tritium isotope e ects on Collaborators chemical shis. In very strong hydrogen Collaboration in science is very bonds the proton was shared equally important to progress. I have enjoyed the and centered between heteroatoms and pleasures and advantages of collaborating displayed 1H-NMR signals >20 ppm. with more than 30 senior colleagues in I thought that the down eld proton in Asia, Europe, and the Americas during chymotrypsin t the bill for an LBHB, and my career. Ten of my collaborators have we assigned this. My colleague Professor been colleagues in the Biochemistry John Markley and his associates concurred Department of UW-Madison. I have and published extensive properties, mentioned my collaborations with including deuterium fractionation and graduate and postdoctoral students. ey enthalpy of exchange with medium were no less valuable to and appreciated by protons. me. My research was generously supported It was recognized that His57 would be by the NIH for 44 consecutive years. is protonated in the tetrahedral intermediate work could not have been done without of the chemical mechanism at neutral the support of all my collaborators and pH. I thought that it should be engaged nancial supporters. in an LBHB at that step. It was known that the peptidyl tri uoromethylketone Conclusion (TFK) inhibitors, introduced by my My professional life has been made former mentor R. H. Abeles, formed possible by the support and understanding tetrahedral adducts with Ser195 analogous of my family. Carolyn and I have been to tetrahedral intermediates. I called joined by daughters Suzanne Frey and Abeles and asked if he could forward one Cynthia Chapek; grandchildren Samantha of them to me. He agreed. en I read his and Ian Smith, Carrie and Bonnie Chapek; Typical carbon-centered radicals identified at paper published in 1987, in which he and and great granddaughter Alice Smith. enzymatic active sites. his associate observed the down eld signal eir constant a ection for us and for one at 18.7 ppm in one of these adducts, and another has been our sustaining force. the signal persisted at pH 9, exactly the 25 Emeritus Perspective: Dave Nelson Celebrate UW’s groundbreaking and far-reaching contributions to science
research accomplishments publicly is easy to e Wisconsin Science Museum opened illustrate. Who can identify, for example, the in October of 2015 in space shared with man who grew up in Madison, went to high MATC just o the Capitol Square. All of the school and college here, then went on to win exhibits have a connection with Wisconsin two Nobel prizes in physics? Who was the universities or industries. Most of the UW graduate student who developed the exhibits trace an historical development from technology that made arti cial insemination initial discovery to eventual application. of dairy cattle practical, leading to Many of the exhibits are hands-on, and genetically improved dairy herds all over the comprehensible to a seven year-old. ere world, fewer farmers gored by bulls, and the is a Hall of Fame, with 60 historical gures development of a billion dollar Wisconsin and their accomplishments. Several of Dave Nelson (I) retired at the end of industry? John Bardeen (1908-1991), the exhibits combine art and science— 2012, and started a second career as an born and educated in Madison, shared Wisconsin landscape photographers who old guy and science museum developer. It the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for the work with infrared cameras, a Wisconsin has always concerned me that the many discovery of the transistor (which allowed physicist (Robert Wood) who pioneered remarkable contributions in science miniaturization of electronic devices), and UV and IR photography. and engineering in Wisconsin are not the 1972 Prize in Physics for his work on In its current state, the Museum is a celebrated here in the ways that we superconductivity at low temperatures. He “ rst dra”, which will be improved and celebrate accomplishments in sports (Kohl remains the only person ever to have won expanded as we have time and acquire more Center and Stadium), art (Chazen), and two Nobel Prizes in Physics. ( e Bardeen funding. We would be delighted to have music, dance and drama (Overture). ese Laboratories are not named for him, but for you visit the Museum, and to hear your homegrown historical discoveries in science his father, the rst dean of the UW Medical suggestions about people or developments and engineering should be a source of pride School.) Henry Lardy (1917-2010), in that should be included in the Museum. If and inspiration to the young scientists, his rst year of graduate work at the UW, you have historically interesting things in engineers, and entrepreneurs who are found a simple way to preserve bull sperm your attic, we would be very pleased to hear building on the foundations of earlier work. so that cows all over the world could be about them. And it goes without saying For the taxpayers who foot the bill for much arti cially inseminated with semen from that nancial contributions would be very current research, scienti c history provides genetically outstanding bulls. ese are but helpful. See our website: clear evidence for the positive impact that two of many examples of world-renowned such research has on our daily lives. Wisconsin scientists not widely recognized www.WisconsinScienceMuseum.org e result of our not celebrating in their own back yards.
John Bardeen Henry Lardy
26 IPiB Update – A major driving force for excellence By Professor Ivan Rayment, Chair, IPiB Steering Committee
response to our students’ interests in career students, IPiB has initiated a review of its exploration while in graduate school, IPiB graduate curriculum for the rst time since has undertaken several new initiatives to its launch in 2006. Over the years, faculty help our students discover and develop members have retired or moved to other their professional interests. e majority institutions and their courses have been put of our graduates still go on to postdoctoral on hold. While we are proud of the course positions, but this is gradually changing as o erings available to our students, both professional development opportunities inside and outside the IPiB curriculum, we for graduate students continue to increase recognize that as science advances so should e Integrated Program in Biochemistry in areas such as patent law, life science the answer to the question “What do we (IPiB) continues to thrive thanks to the communications, and science policy. We want our students to know?” I expect that joint contributions of its home departments encourage our students to explore these and we will have a consort of new courses to talk – Biochemistry in the College and other areas through graduate coursework about in future newsletters. Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) and outside of biochemistry and biomolecular Finally, our Program would not be as Biomolecular Chemistry in the School of chemistry. successful and robust as it is without the Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) – and As part of the University’s accreditation tireless volunteer e orts of our Student- the stream of high-caliber graduate students process, IPiB has developed ten speci c Faculty Liaison Committee (SFLC), who apply to and join our program every higher learning goals that we expect our IPiB’s student governance body. Each year, year. is marks the tenth year since its rst students to achieve in order to be successful this team of students functions to create entering class so it is appropriate to look in their chosen professions. To help measure professional development and networking back at what has been accomplished since achievement of these goals, the Program opportunities, and community outreach the inception of IPiB and look forward to is preparing to change how students are and academic support events. e SFLC new challenges. evaluated at their annual progress report also provides feedback and perspective to IPiB is currently the graduate school meetings. Each student will be assessed by the IPiB Steering Committee, which helps home to 106 talented students from across her or his thesis committee on how well the Program achieve its goals to: the U.S. and several international locations they are making progress on each of the • Create a preeminent doctoral program in including Bangladesh, China, Germany, higher learning goals, and receive feedback biochemistry with broad opportunities India, Republic of Korea, Russia, South on how to continue to make good progress. for research training Africa, and the United Kingdom. Since e cumulative results will be examined to • O er a coordinated and high quality its launch in 2006, IPiB has granted 99 see how well IPiB as a whole is helping its program of coursework in biochemistry Ph.D. and 14 MS degrees. At the time of students make the most of their graduate • Promote cross-fertilization across graduation, these students collectively had education. departmental and college/school published over 450 scienti c articles, half of IPiB is also part of a multi-disciplinary boundaries among faculty and students which were rst-author publications. e ort – led by the Department of Biomedical • Vigorously recruit outstanding graduate In 2016, the University of Wisconsin- Engineering with additional support from students nationally and internationally Madison ranked 22nd by U.S. News & the Departments of Genetics, Biostatistics World Report among the best global and Medical Informatics, Mathematics, and Let the SFLC tell you for themselves universities for biology and biochemistry, Bacteriology – to add quantitative biology what they have accomplished in the past and 29th among best global universities (QBio) as a minor option. Admissions year (page 35). overall. In 2014, UW-Madison’s graduate data point to an increased interest in this Finally, we cordially invite all IPiB, program in biochemistry tied for second area among prospective students, and Biochemistry, and Biomolecular Chemistry in the U.S. So we can certainly strive to do current students are also taking additional alumni and friends to stay in touch, follow better. coursework in this area. We hope to o er our news via social media, and serve as Following the encouragement from this minor area formally by the Fall of 2017. professional development resources for our the Graduate School and the Oce of In addition to developing and launching graduate students. the Provost at UW-Madison, and in two new required courses for its rst-year
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27 IPiB Degree Listings May 2013 - December 2016 Degree Name (Major Professor) Thesis Title Currently
PhD Claudia P. Sanabria Studies in biomass traits in the model grass Scientist with Corpoica, Bogotá, Aug 2015 (Amasino) Brachypodium distachyon Columbia
PhD Juan B. Rodriguez-Molina Discovering unexpected connections and developing Postdoc, University of Dec 2014 (Ansari) tools to define the CTD code of Pol II Cambridge, UK
PhD Graham Erwin The design and development of polyamide-based Postdoc with P. Kim, Stanford Dec 2016 (Ansari) artificial transcription factors University, CA
PhD Cory Nemec Non-canonical kinases expand the RNA polymerase II Postdoc with A. Ansari, UW- Dec 2016 (Ansari) CTD code Madison
PhD Mufaddal S. Soni Role of Cellular Acyl-carnitines and Glucose-mediated Senior Consultant at Deloitte, Aug 2014 (Attie) Regulation of Tomosyn on Insulin Secretion Inc, Chicago, IL
PhD Amber Schuh Regulatory Mechanisms that Govern Membrane Senior Scientist at PPD, Dec 2013 (Audhya) Deformation and Scission in the ESCRT-Mediated Madison, WI Endocytic Pathway
PhD Mandy Burnham Altered Interleukin-5 Family Cytokine Induced Pharmacy Business & Data May 2014 (Audhya) Signaling in Primary Human Eosinophils Analysis Specialist at Security Health Plan, Madison, WI
PhD Adam Johnson Trk-fused gene clusters COPII-coated transport carriers Postdoc with S. Harrison, May 2016 (Audhya) and promotes early secretory pathway organization Harvard University, Boston, MA
PhD Xin Chen Mechanism and targets of Sen1 helicase in termination Postdoc with X. Bao, Aug 2015 (Brow) of non-coding RNA synthesis in yeast Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
PhD Kathryn D. Mouzakis The structure and function of the HIV-1 frameshift Assistant Professor of Chemistry, May 2013 (Butcher) site stem-loop Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO
PhD Alex Hebert Improvements to stable isotope and label-free Assistant Scientist, Coon Group Dec 2013 (Coon) quantitative proteomic methods
PhD Angela J. Gruber The many faces of RecA: Characterization of unique Scientist, PreventionGenetics, Aug 2014 (Cox) RecA functions Marshfield, WI
PhD Erin A. Ronayne Enzymology and genetic studies of bacteriophage P1 Scientist, Thermo Fisher May 2015 (Cox) Ref, a RecA-dependent endonuclease Scientific, Carlsbad, CA
PhD TaeJin Kim Unlocking the recombinational potential of the RecA Scientist, Provivi, Inc., Santa Dec 2015 (Cox) protein, and its cellular cost Monica, CA
PhD Elise Wagner Identifying small molecule inhibitors of chromatin- Principal Scientist for Chemistry, May 2013 (Denu) binding proteins Covance, Indianapolis, IN
PhD Kristin Dittenhafer-Reed Reversible Protein Acetylation in the Mitochondria: Assistant Professor of Aug 2014 (Denu) Cellular and Molecular Function of the NAD+ Chemistry, Hope College, Dependent Deacetylase Sirtuin 3 Holland, MI
PhD Jessica L. Feldman Molecular mechanisms of the NAD+-dependent Postdoc with C. Peterson, Dec 2014 (Denu) deacylase SIRT6: metabolic links to reversible histone U Mass Medical School, acetylation Worcester, MA
PhD Justin F. Acheson Structural investigation of complex formation in Class Research Associate, Zimmer May 2015 (B. Fox) II diiron enzymes Lab, Charlottesville, VA
PhD Jonathan K. Mitchell Baculovirus AcMNPV manipulates the host DNA Imanis Life Sciences, Rochester, Aug 2013 (Friesen) damage response via a novel F-box protein to promote MN virus multiplication 28 Degree Name (Major Professor) Thesis Title Currently
PhD Nathaniel M. Byers Baculoviruses manipulate the host DNA damage Postdoc, Center for Disease Dec 2016 (Friesen) response and apoptosis to aid virus multiplication Control, Ft. Collins, CO
PhD Rachel L. Kubiak Structural and functional studies of enzymes involved Merck Research Labs, Boston, May 2013 (Holden) in the biosynthesis of unusual sugars MA
PhD Ari Salinger A Structural and Biochemical Investigation of the Postdoc with P. Thompson, Dec 2016 (Holden) Biosynthesis of Deoxysugars from Pathogenic Bacteri U Mass Medical School, Worcester, MA
PhD Matthew Mead Unraveling the Transcription Network Regulating Postdoc with A. Rokas, Aug 2015 (Hull) Sexual Development in the Human Fungal Pathogen Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Cryptococcus neoformans TN
PhD Mingwei Huang Determination of Factors Critical for Sexual Postdoc with C. Hull, UW- Aug 2015 (Hull) Development and Spore Germination in Cryptococcus Madison neoformans
PhD Naomi Walsh Phagocytosis and Dissemination of Cryptococcus Postdoc with C. Hull, UW- Aug 2016 (Hull) neoformans Madison
PhD Kelly Manthei Structural studies of eukaryotic and bacterial RecQ Postdoc, University of Michigan, May 2013 (Keck) complexes Ann Arbor, MI
PhD Basudeb Bhattacharyya Biochemical Mechanisms of PriA-Mediated DNA Lecturer, University of WI-La May 2014 (Keck) Replication Restart Crosse, La Crosse, WI
PhD Sarah Wessel Molecular interactions in PriC-mediated DNA Postdoc, Vanderbilt University, Aug 2015 (Keck) replication restart Nashville, TN
PhD Christine Wolak Structure and Function of the Escherichia coli Scientist at 23andMe, San May 2016 (Keck) Ribonuclease HI/Single-stranded DNA-binding Francisco, CA protein complex
PhD Paul J. Wrighton Synthetic surfaces to probe human pluripotent stem Postdoc with W. Goessling, May 2015 (Kiessling) cell fate decisions Boston, MA
PhD Daniel Zwick Synthetic antigens as probes of B and T cell activation Postdoc with A. Valujskikh, May 2015 (Kiessling) Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, OH
PhD Darryl Wesener Biosynthesis of Microbial Glycans and Their Postdoc with J. Gordon, Aug 2016 (Kiessling) Recognition by the Human Immune System Washington University, St. Louis
PhD Dan Park The response regulator ArcA uses a diverse binding Postdoc, Lawrence Livermore Aug 2013 (Kiley) site architecture to globally regulate carbon oxidation National Laboratory, Livermore, in Escherichia coli CA
PhD Sarah Teter Fe-S cofactor mediated recognition of two classes of Applications Scientist, Promega Aug 2013 (Kiley) binding sites by the Escherichia coli transcription factor Corporation, Madison, WI IscR
PhD Nicole Beauchene Influence of O2 on the Ferric Uptake Regulator (Fur) Postdoc, NIH, Bethesda, MD Dec 2013 (Kiley) Regulon in Escherichia coli K12
PhD Daniel C. Noble C. elegans FOG-1/CPEB and FOG-3/Tob work Postdoc, Molecular analytics Dec 2015 (Kimble) together to control the oogenesis program department., Bristol Myers Squibb, Bloomsbury, NJ.
PhD Pyae P. Hein Regulation of RNA Transcript Elongation: Scientist, Juno Therapeutics, Dec 2013 (Landick) Mechanisms of RNA Polymerase Pausing and Inc., Watham, MA Translocation
29 IPiB Degree Listings May 2013 - December 2016 Degree Name (Major Professor) Thesis Title Currently
PhD Woonghee Lee Computational development towards high-throughput Assistant Scientist, with May 2013 (Markley) NMR-based protein structure determination NMRFAM, UW-Madison
PhD Kai Cai Structural and Functional Studies on Human Postdoc with J. Markley, Aug 2016 (Markley) Mitochondrial Iron-Sulfur Cluster Biosynthesis UW-Madison
PhD Shravan Sukumar Markers of Specificity in Protein-DNA Interactions Dow Agrosciences, Gibson City, May 2016 (Mitchell) IL
PhD Wenjiang Ma Binding of intrinsically disordered sequences to Postdoc, Harvard Medical Dec 2014 (Mosher) structured proteins: Lessons from bacterial adhesins School, Boston, MA and fibronectin
PhD Brendan J. Floyd Characterization of orphan mitochondrial proteins via Finishing medical degree part of May 2015 (Pagliarini) quantitative interaction mapping MD/PhD at UW-Madison
PhD Amelia Nestler Impact of Dynamic Post-Translational Modifications Manager, Northwest Green May 2015 (Pagliarini) on the Activities of Mitochondrial Proteins Chemistry, Oregon
PhD Jonathan A. Stefely Biochemical Functions of ADCK3 and Other Postdoc in Pagliarini lab before Aug 2015 (Pagliarini) Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis Proteins finishing medical degree part of MD/PhD at UW-Madison
PhD Kelly Watters Comparative Analysis of Rhinovirus 2A Protease Postdoc with A. Palmenberg, May 2014 (Palmenberg) Cleavage of the Nuclear Pore Complex UW-Madison
PhD Ryan V. Petty Studies on the Encephalomyocarditis Virus Leader Harvard Law School, Boston, Dec 2014 (Palmenberg) and 2A Proteins' Cooperative Interactions for Host MA Cell Control
PhD Hillary C. St John The Osteoblast to Osteocyte Transition: Epigenetic Researcher, Cystic Fibrosis Aug 2015 (Pike) Changes and Response to Mineralotropic Hormones Foundation, Boston, MA
PhD Md. Sohel Shamsuzzaman Roles of Vitamin D and Its Target Gene RANKL in Faculty position, Biochemistry Aug 2016 (Pike) Atherosclerosis Department, University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
PhD Chelcie H. Eller Interactions of Ribonuclease 1 with the Cell Surface Scientist, PPD, Middleton, WI Dec 2014 (Raines)
PhD Sean B. Johnston PTEN in Vitro and in Silico: Implications in Cancer Programmer, Google, Mountain May 2015 (Raines) and Autism View, CA
PhD James D. Vasta Development of Selective Inhibitors and Modulators Scientist, Promega, Fitchburg, Dec 2015 (Raines) of Human Collagen Prolyl 4-Hydroxylase WI
PhD Trish T. Hoang Molecular Basis of Angiogenesis and Neuroprotection Postdoc with R. Raines, UW- May 2016 (Raines) by Angiogenin Madison
PhD Kate E. Helmich Structural biology of enzymes involved in the Legal specialist, uarles & Dec 2015 (Ralph) biosynthesis and biodegradation of lignin Brady, Madison, Wisconsin
PhD Katherine C. Rank The Role of Asymmetry within Kinesin Motors Scientist, PPD, Middleton, WI May 2013 (Rayment)
PhD Keenan Taylor The Application of Fusion Proteins in Structural Postdoc, Vanderbilt University, Dec 2014 (Rayment) Studies of Coiled Coil Containing Proteins within Nashville, TN Macromolecular Complexes PhD Rebecca Phillips Dec 2016 (Rayment) The Structural Basis of Kinesin Processivity Scientist, PPD, Middleton, WI
PhD D. Benjamin Knowles Effects of polyethylene glycols and polyols on protein Postdoc with V. Sperandio, May 2013 (Record) and nucleic acid processes UTSW Med. Center, Dallas, TX 30 Degree Name (Major Professor) Thesis Title Currently
PhD Loren M. LaPointe Structural organization of the FtsB/FtsL Postdoc with C. Sanders, May 2015 (Senes) transmembrane subcomplex of the bacterial divisome Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN
PhD Ambalika S. Khadria FRET-based biophysical characterization of bacterial Postdoc with M. Ramsey U of May 2015 (Senes) divisome transmembrane proteins North Carolina at Chapel Hill
PhD Benjamin K. Mueller The GASright Motif in Membrane Protein Postdoc with J. Meiler, Aug 2015 (Senes) Dimerization and Structural Prediction Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville TN
PhD Rachel B. Rodrigues Investigating the function and regulation of the Postdoc with S. Gygilab, Aug 2013 (Sussman) Arabidopsis plasma membrane proton pump AHA1 Harvard University, Boston, MA using reverse genetics and mass spectrometry
PhD Melanie M. Ivancic Identification of serum protein biomarkers for the early Postdoc with M. Sussman, UW- May 2014 (Sussman) detection of colon cancer via quantitative proteomics Madison
PhD Kelly Stecker Investigation of early signaling mechanisms in plant Postdoc with Heck lab, Univ. of May 2016 (Sussman) osmotic stress response Utricht, Netherlands
PhD Benjamin B. Minkoff Mass spectrometric based analysis of receptor mediated Postdoc with M. Sussman, UW- Aug 2016 (Sussman) hormone signaling in Arabidopsis Madison
PhD Manohary Rajendram Uncovering specialized roles for membrane Postdoc, Stanford University, Dec 2015 (Weibel) phospholipids in protein localization and function in CA Escherichia coli
PhD Douglas Porter Target selection by natural and redesigned PUF Postdoc with Khavari Lab, Dec 2015 (Wickens) proteins Stanford University, CA
PhD Shruti Waghray Control of translation by the CCR4-NOT complex Postdoctoral Scientist, Ionis Dec 2015 (Wickens) during Xenopus early development Pharmaceuticals, Carlsbad, CA
PhD Christopher Lapointe New strategies reveal key features of protein-RNA Postdoc, Stanford School of Dec 2016 (Wickens) networks Medicine, Stanford, CA Degree Name (Major Professor) Currently
MS Clay Williams Covance, Madison, WI May 2015 (Coon)
MS Matthew W. Zmudka Epic, Verona, WI Dec 2013 (Holden)
MS Alexander DeHaven Project Coordinator, Center for Open Science, May 2016 (Hoskins) Charlottesville, VA
MS Mark DeCanio May 2014 (Kiessling)
MS Kaitlin R. Marquardt Programmer Analyst, Forward Health Group, Inc., Dec 2013 (Mitchell) Madison, WI
MS Lucas O'Neill Teaching chemistry & biology & coaching baseball at Aug 2015 (Ntambi) Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth, TX
MS Robert G. Presler Scientist, In uenza Research Institute, Madison, WI Dec 2013 (Raines)
MS Christine N. Bradford Administrator, UW-Madison Dec 2016 (Raines)
MS Rachel Barkley Senior Research Associate, Kemin Industries, Animal May 2013 (Rayment) Nutrition and Health, Des Moines, IA 31 Biochemistry Advisor Degree Listings May 2013 - December 2016 Degree Name (Major Professor) Program Thesis Title Currently
PhD Daniel Woods Genetics Genetics of flowering time in the temperate Postdoc with R. Amasino, Dec 2015 (Amasino) grass, Brachypodium distachyon UW-Madison
PhD Asuka Eguchi CMB Control of Cell Fate with Artificial Postdoc with A. Ansari, Aug 2016 (Ansari) Transcription Factors UW-Madison
PhD Devesh Bhimsaria ECE Computational Methods for Detailing Postdoc with A. Ansari, Dec 2016 (Ansari) Protein–DNA Binding Affinities UW-Madison
PhD Lyndsay Wrighton CMP The role of synaptotagmin-11 in the Pathology Specialist, Roche, Aug 2015 (Attie) formation of the dense core insulin granule Inc., Boston, MA and regulated insulin secretion
PhD Rose T. Byrne Microbiology Defining the Genetic Basis of Ionizing Scientist, InDevR, Inc., Aug 2013 (Cox) Radiation Resistance Boulder, CO
PhD Lindsey Kaschner CMB A Conserved Domain Important for Program Coordinator, Student Dec 2014 (Craig) Ribosome Association of the Eukaryotic Success Initiatives, University J-protein Co-chaperones Jjj1 and Zuo1 of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
PhD Johnnie A. Walker Biophysics The Potential of Multifunctional Glycoside Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dec 2015 (B. Fox) Hydrolases in Biocommodities Production Emory University, Atlanta, GA
PhD Margaret Rodgers Biophysics Conformational Dynamics of the snRNAs Postdoc with Sarah Woodson, Dec 2016 (Hoskins) during Spliceosome Assembly and Activation Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD
PhD Rachael T. C. Sheridan Biochemistry Directing the immune system through Flow cytometry core manager, Van May 2013 (Kiessling) targeted multivalent interactions Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI
PhD Christopher D. Brown Chemistry Design, Synthesis and Biological Utility of Medical Resident, Cornell Aug 2013 (Kiessling) Polysaccharide Chain-Terminating Glycosides University, Ithaca, NY
PhD Joseph C. Grim Chemistry Chemical probes of dendritic cell C-type Postdoc, with K. Anseth, Univ. Aug 2014 (Kiessling) lectin receptors of Colorado Boulder, CO
PhD Mario A. Martinez Farias Chemistry Acceptor Surrogates for Mycobacterial Research Investigator, Dupont, Aug 2014 (Kiessling) Glycosyltransferases Wilmington, DE
PhD Joshua M. Fishman Chemistry Polyoxazinones from ROMP Research Scientist at 3M, Aug 2015 (Kiessling) Minneapolis, MN
PhD Kittikhun Wangkanont Chemistry Structural Analysis of Galactofuranose- Lecturer, Chulalongkorn May 2016 (Kiessling) Binding Lectins and Biosynthetic Enzymes University in Bangkok, Thailand
PhD Elena P. Sorokin CMB Genomic Perspectives on Cell Fate Postdoc, Bustamante lab, Aug 2014 (Kimble) Reprogramming in the C. elegans Germline Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA
PhD Aman Prasad CMP RNA binding landscapes in germ cells: Finishing medical degree part of May 2016 (Kimble) Insights on stem cell regulation MD/PhD at UW-Madison
PhD Hesamaddin T. Dashti Biophysics Computational aspects of protein NMR Postdoc with NMRFAM, Dec 2015 (Markley) UW-Madison
PhD Neil J. Daily MCP CAPS interacts with SNARE proteins to Biotechnology Research Dec 2013 (Martin) enable vesicle membrane fusion Scientist, University Research Park, Madison, WI
PhD Sang Su Woo CMB Calcium-induced vacuole formation in Research Associate with T. Dec 2014 (Martin) RBL-2H3 basophils requires Munc13-4 Martin, UW-Madison
PhD Joseph M. Esquibel MCP CAPS Clusters t-SNAREs prior to SNARE Instructor, Madison College, Aug 2015 (Martin) Complex Assembly Madison, WI
32 Degree Name (Major Professor) Program Thesis Title Currently
PhD Maggie Burhans Nutritional Role of monounsaturated fatty acids in Postdoc, University of Dec 2013 (Ntambi) Sciences metabolic regulation Washington, Seattle, WA
PhD Joshua J. Carson CMB Regulation of Mitochondria by Reversible Licensing Associate, WARF, May 2015 (Pagliarini) Protein Phosphorylation UW-Madison
PhD Jarred W. Rensvold CMB Identification and characterization of an Assistant Scientist, Pagliarini Dec 2015 (Pagliarini) adaptive mitochondrial biogenesis response lab, UW-Madison to iron deprivation
PhD Holly A. Basta CMB Phosphorylation by distinct kinases Faculty, Montana State May 2014 (Palmenberg) regulates cardiovirus Leader protein University, Bozeman, MT function at the nuclear pore complex
PhD Valjean R. Bacot-Davis Microbiology Structure and Dynamics of the Postdoc, McGill University, Aug 2014 (Palmenberg) Encephalomyocarditis virus Leader Protein in Montreal, Canada Deregulation of Host Nucleocytoplasmic Transport
PhD Jessica J. Ciomperlik CMB Identification of EMCV Leader protein's CDC intern, Atlanta GA Aug 2015 (Palmenberg) cellular partners for inhibition of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking
PhD Alex H. Carlson MCP Transcriptional Regulation of and by Epic, Verona, WI Dec 2016 (Pike) Components of the Vitamin D Endocrine Axis
PhD Jo Ellen Lomax CMB Ribonucleases and Ribonuclease Inhibitors: Program Director, Harvard May 2014 (Raines) Structure, Function, and Evolution Medical School, Boston, MA
PhD Amit Choudhary Biophysics n-to-pi* Interactions in the Molecules of Life Assistant Professor, Harvard Dec 2014 (Raines) Medical School, Boston, MA
PhD John C. Lukesh III Chemistry Thiol–Disulfide Interchange: Design, Postdoc, Scripps Research Dec 2014 (Raines) Synthesis, and Evaluation of Reagents and Institute, La Jolla, CA Organocatalysts for Chemical Biology
PhD Kristen A. Andersen MCP Bioorthogonal Reactions for Protein Scientist, Catalant Pharma Dec 2015 (Raines) Chemistry and Chemical Biology Solutions, Madison, WI
PhD Matthew R. Aronoff Chemistry New Tools for Chemical Biology from Main Postdoc, ETH - Zürich, Zürich, Dec 2015 (Raines) Group Elements Switzerland
PhD Robert W. Newberry Chemistry Backbone Carbonyl Interactions in Proteins Postdoc, UCSF, San Francisco, May 2016 (Raines) CA
PhD Thomas P. Smith Chemistry Biomedical Applications and Strategies Postdoc with R. Raines, Dec 2016 (Raines) using Boronic Acids UW-Madison
PhD Wu Lan BSE Investigation of the Structure and Postdoc, École Polytechnique Aug 2016 (Ralph) Biosynthesis of the Flavonolignin Polymers Fédérale de Lausanne, in Monocots Switzerland
PhD Emily J. Guinn Chemistry Developing Solutes as uantitative Probes NIH Postdoc with S. Marqusee, May 2013 (Record) of Protein and Nucleic Acid Processes UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
PhD Emily F. Ruff Chemistry Studies of Key Regions of Escherichia coli Postdoc with Levinson lab, Aug 2014 (Record) RNA Polymerase and Promoter DNA in University of Minnesota, Transcription Initiation Minneapolis, MN
PhD Raashi Sreenivasan Biophysics Characterizing DNA bending, wrapping Postdoc with M. Whorton, Dec 2015 (Record) and opening in E. coli RNA Polymerase Oregon Health & Science during transcription initiation University, Portland, OR
33 Biochemistry Advisor Degree Listings May 2013 - December 2016 Degree Name (Major Professor) Program Thesis Title Currently
PhD Rituparna Sengupta Biophysics Developing Solutes as Probes of Postdoc with T. Record, May 2016 (Record) Conformational Changes in Steps and UW-Madison Transition States of Protein Processes
PhD Sabareesh Subramaniam CB Conformational sampling in protein VMware, Palo Alto, CA May 2014 (Senes) structure prediction
PhD George K. Auer Biomedical Developing new tools to identify novel Scientist, Emerald Cloud Lab, May 2016 (Weibel) Engineering factors that contribute to bacterial cell South San Francisco, CA mechanics
PhD Katherine A. Hurley Pharmaceutical Discovery and characterization of the Aug 2016 (Weibel) Sciences antibacterial activity of small molecules
PhD Cary T. Valley CMB Specificity and manipulation of PUF-RNA Senior Scientist, PPD, May 2015 (Wickens) interactions Middleton, WI
PhD Daniel J. Wilinski Jr. CMB Evolution of RNA-PUF protein networks Postdoc, University of Michigan, Aug 2015 (Wickens) Ann Arbor, MI
Degree Name (Major Professor) Program Currently MS Anna Kropornicka Genetics Epic, Verona, WI Aug 2016 (Ansari)
MS Kelly Werner CMB Middle & High School Tutor, Califon, NJ Aug 2014 (Pagliarini)
MS Kaylee A. Underko er Chemistry Medical Student, Tus Medical School, May 2014 (Raines) Boston, MA
BSE: Biological Systems Engineering CMP: Cellular and Molecular Pathology CB: Computational Biology ECE: Electrical & Computer Engineering CMB: Cellular and Molecular Biology MCP: Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology
34 SFLC IPiB Student Faculty Liaison Committee – Students foster interaction and collaboration By Kimberly Haupt, 2015-2016 IPiB SFLC Chair
talks and 57 poster presentations. At the IPiB students and share her work on cancer IPiB Winter Reception, we recognize the immunotherapy. is coming year, we look achievements of IPiB faculty, students and forward to hosting several career panels for sta , both scienti c and otherwise, over the jobs outside of academia. past year. A slideshow of accomplishments Finally, SFLC strives to give back to the from the IPiB community is looped during University of Wisconsin and the city of the event as we celebrate work well done, Madison by sponsoring numerous outreach alongside the traditional lab supplies events, including Family Science Nights ornament making contest. In the spring, the at local schools and community centers, e Student Faculty Liaison Committee annual Awards in Research and Teaching Exploration Stations at the Wisconsin (SFLC) is the IPiB graduate student (A.R.T.) Reception honors the recipients Science Festival and service at the Second organization. We work to organize of the Leirmo and Denton awards and the Harvest Food Bank. Fun science activities events and programs that serve IPiB creative talents of our IPiB colleagues. led by IPiB students at these events include graduate students, the Biochemistry and To prepare IPiB students for their next DNA extraction from bananas and testing Biomolecular Chemistry departments, and steps aer leaving UW-Madison, the SFLC the acidity of di erent kinds of candy our local community. works to provide professional development using baking soda. Additionally, in Winter A central tenant of SFLC’s mission is opportunities. e Student Lunch Symposia, 2015, we held a very successful Food and to facilitate interaction and collaboration an SFLC sponsored lunchtime seminar Clothing Drive to collect donations for within the IPiB program. Twice monthly, series, has traditionally been an excellent the Community Action Center of South SFLC invites everyone to enjoy co ee, tea, venue for IPiB students to give practice talks Central Wisconsin. e IPiB community cookies and conversation at Tea Time. e for conferences, preliminary exams, and donated everyday clothes and canned event is beloved and well attended, and o ers thesis defenses. In addition, over the past goods, as well as high-need items such as a venue for networking between students, two years, we have expanded the Student children’s clothing, business wear (including postdocs, faculty, sta and undergrads of the Lunch Symposia to include discussion men’s ties), toiletries, new socks and Biochemistry and Biomolecular Chemistry of professional development topics; undergarments. departments. In the fall, to welcome new IPiB aliates have presented on science rst year IPiB students to campus, SFLC policy experiences, industry internship hosts the New Student Welcome Picnic. e experiences, how to nd a postdoc, and annual “new students vs. current students” money management during grad school. kickball game is always a lot of fun, and In May 2015, IPiB students had a chance in August 2016, the current students to participate in Mock Interviews with continued their winning streak. scienti c professionals from the Madison SFLC also works to recognize and community. Participants received valuable All of the Food and Clothing Drive donations celebrate the achievements of IPiB interviewing experience and resume advice. prior to drop-off at CACSCW. researchers at several annual events. In IPiB students also have an opportunity to September each year, more than 200 people network with renowned scientists through e events and programs organized by attend the annual IPiB Retreat. e 2016 the Student Invited Speaker Seminar. In SFLC would not be possible without the Retreat was held at the Wisconsin Institutes October 2016, Professor Carolyn Bertozzi hard work of our committee members. We for Discovery and featured 12 research from UC Berkley visited to meet with encourage students and faculty to support the SFLC by volunteering to serve on the committee itself and participating in our programming. We also ask that you consider supporting SFLC through our annual Apparel Sale – look for more information on the IPiB Facebook Page (facebook.com/ UWMadisonIPiB) each Fall semester. Please reach out to let us know if you have any questions, event ideas or would be willing to serve as a career resource for current students by contacting our Graduate Student Services Coordinator Kate Ryan ([email protected]).
IPiB colleagues enjoying a Tea Time event in February 2015.
35 Postdoctoral Training – Developing researchers and teaching and planning for the future By Professor Robert Landick discuss strategies for success in a research Studies (www.postdoc.wisc.edu). e career. e 2017 speaker was Jackie Barton Oce of Postdoctoral Studies provides from CalTech, who presented a seminar on a wealth of useful career information “DNA Signaling.” Last year’s speaker was to prospective and current postdocs in Andrew Camilli from Tus University. Biochemistry, ranging from information on e postdoc-invited seminar is a great bene ts, funding sources, and University opportunity for postdocs to interact as an policies – to Career Planning Workshops academic community, as well as to explore in topics like Negotiating E ectively, themes of career development. Starting a Company, and Research Mentor Postdoctoral training in the Department Teaching also is a focus of training for Training – to individual counseling of Biochemistry continues to grow in some of our postdocs and the Department sessions and peer-editing grant writing importance in the Department’s research, o ers several opportunities for postdocs groups. e Oce of Postdoctoral Studies teaching, and outreach missions. Currently, to gain teaching experience. Trainees participated in a Postdoc Forum hosted by over 40 postdoctoral trainees work on have collaborated with faculty to develop the Department of Biochemistry on Dec. research projects in collaboration with lectures in the lab course, Biochemistry 11, 2016, at which many new ideas were our 36 research-active faculty, including at 651. Here, postdocs gain experience by generated and the level of enthusiasm for least ve trainees supported by individual developing topics for discussion and leading additional activities was exceptional. If postdoctoral research fellowships from seminar sections on a biochemical theme. you know anyone considering a postdoc at diverse sources, including the National In Biochemistry 660, postdoc trainees work UW-Madison Biochemistry, please refer Institutes of Health and the Beckman with Professor Marv Wickens to develop them to the Oce of Postdoctoral Studies Foundation. Postdoctoral trainees play vital lectures on biochemical methods for the website for more information on campus- roles in the Department and University. incoming graduate students. is approach wide postdoctoral training programs. Several of the more prominent roles are provides the experience of teaching a course Our postdoctoral trainees are a highlighted here. – as many of the postdocs ultimately will do special group of colleagues who join Training in the successful conduct as faculty – but in a microcosm, enabling the Department at a crucial stage in of high-impact research is the principal their research to continue unabated. Some their careers. ey help the Department focus of postdocs in the Department. of our postdocs also participate in the develop new scienti c expertise and drive eir scienti c accomplishments are too University of Wisconsin Delta program the Department’s productivity. ey also numerous to list, but are a cornerstone (www.delta.wisc.edu), which o ers a year- are key members of the Biochemistry in the Department’s success. Each year, long Certi cation in Research, Teaching, community who help train and mentor faculty nominate outstanding trainees and Learning and provides outstanding our graduate and undergraduate students for the Department's Boyer Award for preparation for those wishing to pursue a and foster unexpected advances through Postdoctoral Excellence, endowed by teaching career. new collaborations. If you have ideas Nobel Laureate Paul D. Boyer (see “Boyer Postdoctoral training also has become or suggestions for postdoc training in Award” essay page 46). an increasingly important focus for Biochemistry or want to help support Each year, postdoctoral trainees in the UW-Madison generally. e Department our e orts, please contact Bob Landick Department select and invite a seminar has been happy to see the University’s (landick@ biochem.wisc.edu). speaker to present research in an area of postdoctoral training mission formalized their choice, and to meet with postdocs to by the creation of the Oce of Postdoctoral
Photo by Robin Davies 36 Undergraduate Program – Training the leaders of the future through innovative programs By Professor Mike Cox extends over 3+ years. at experience contingent is pictured (below) in San Diego. oen includes summer internships abroad Mike Cox accompanies this group each year in the SCORE, SuperG, or Khorana and will be taking 16 students to the Chicago programs described later in this newsletter. ASBMB meeting in April, 2017. e James Ntambi takes another large group of department supports these undergraduate students, many of them pre-med, to Uganda travel opportunities in part with scholarship each winter break, also described below. e funds that never grow as fast as the demands department keeps a list of summer internship placed on them. Finally, our undergraduate opportunities at other U.S. universities on student organization is now linked to the e Biochemistry undergraduate major the department’s undergraduate webpage, ASBMB. Our goal is to provide both a continues to grow, challenging Department and students unable to go abroad oen take science education and a research experience resources but inspiring some of our best advantage of these opportunities to expand at UW that will be transformative. activities. In Fall 2016 Biochemistry had their research 585 declared undergraduate majors, and experience. e is the 13th largest major at UW. e two capstone for semester Biochemistry 507-508 sequence the Scholars designed for our majors serves about 200 of program is a trip those students each year. e one semester to the ASBMB Biochemistry 501 now has over 750 students meeting in in the fall, over 500 in the spring, and 45-50 in April of their the new summer version. e undergraduate senior year to experience in the Department includes the compete in the Biochemistry Scholars program, which undergraduate From left to right: Matt Stefely (Pagliarini), Brexton Turner (Hoskins), Alina places our top declared majors into labs no research poster Zdechlik (Ntambi), Sara Bugliosi (Landick), Lindsey Felth, Mary Menhart later than the fall of sophomore year, and competition. (Cox), Bowon Joung (Cox), George Luo (Hoskins), Matt Lammers (Weibel), initiates a lab commitment that usually e April 2016 Serena Wan (Cox), and Willey Lin (Eisenstein)
Undergraduate Student Organization – The evolution of a group driven by enthusiasm for research By Collin McFadden campus opportunities, and meet others with skills and connect to global and campus a shared interest in biochemistry. e chapter opportunities with individual meetings is committed to nding engaging speakers dedicated to helping students nd research and exploring a broad range of topics to help labs, learn to e ectively communicate on a its students prosper in Madison. scienti c poster, and discover study abroad Meetings are oen twice a month on opportunities that match their interests. ursdays at 6PM. Most members are Advising: biochemistry or molecular biology majors, Each semester, ASBMB hosts a meeting but all interested students are encouraged to to explore ways to satisfy course requirements is year, our undergraduate major join. If you wish to join our mailing list or and arrange time to work in research labs. student organization (Undergraduate are interested in sharing your insights at one Students enroll with greater con dence Biochemistry Student Organization or of our meetings, contact us at teamasbmb@ aer discussions with other students and UBSO) ocially changed its name and status gmail.com. with Kendra Gurnee, the biochemistry to represent UW–Madison as a local chapter Outreach: advisor, about class o erings and previous for the American Society for Biochemistry ASBMB hosts a DNA extraction booth experiences in each section. and Molecular Biology (ASBMB). With the at the Wisconsin Science Festival and CALS resources from the national organization, Career Planning: Day for Kids to o er younger students our chapter o ers an environment for Guests from academia and industry a hands-on opportunity to experience undergraduates to learn about future speak at meetings each year to show students science. Members lead children through the opportunities, meet students taking similar potential career options aer graduation. experiment and explain the science behind classes, and share their excitement about ASBMB also invites graduate and medical each step of the process. science with their community. students to talk at an event each fall to o er Our ASBMB chapter provides a space for Professional Development: advice for undergraduate students who are students to grow academically, connect with Many events help students develop interested in pursuing similar paths.
37 International Programs: England, Germany, India and Uganda Science is international. It is not merely provide opportunity for study abroad. ese Department, UW, and WARF. e SCORE that facts are facts, but also that great work are run by their founders -- Professors Aseem and SUPER-G Programs (Prof. Wickens) are is being done all around the world, and is Ansari, James Ntambi, and Marv Wickens. described in some detail below. e Uganda communicated instantaneously. World-wide Students do research or eldwork in India, Program (Prof. Ntambi) sends students to research collaborations and consortia now Uganda, England, and Europe. Each program that African nation to learn rst-hand how permeate science, and regularly reach the provides a di erent experience, but they all biochemistry and nutrition impact Uganda’s headlines. Each culture builds on its own are designed to enrich the students’ training, health care. strengths, perspectives and history. e more experience and international perspective. ese experiences come at an our students understand other cultures, the e Khorana Program (Prof. Ansari) exceptionally formative time in an more e ective they will be in the future. sends students from UW to India to do undergraduate’s life, and so ripple into the Scientists, companies and policy makers all research, and brings students from India student’s future. We are honored to work bene t from having a rst-hand international to UW (and now other institutions). with so many gied and stimulating young perspective. Associated programs are designed to men and women, and provide them with e Biochemistry Department has enhance agriculture and Tech Transfer in these exceptional opportunities to learn more created four innovative programs that India, and draw on the expertise of the about themselves, science, and the world.
SCORE and SUPER-G Programs: Research in Cambridge, Oxford and Heidelberg By Marv Wickens students have gone on to receive prestigious “I worked hard, I played hard, but I also international fellowships, including relaxed hard… It felt like a lifestyle, one that the Rhodes, Marshall and Wellcome I truly embraced.” scholarships, and to do their post-graduate SUPER-G student, 2016 work in Cambridge or Oxford. Students oen nd that the experience e students do research intensively enriches their interest in science, and in a host lab, using a broad range of virtually all of them see the world as a richer approaches, including biochemistry, and more inviting place. ese programs give students the neurobiology, development and structural opportunity to do research in cutting-edge biology. e problems they have studied “…a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime experience laboratories in one of the world’s leading vary each year, and range very broadly – that I will be forever grateful for. I learned institutions of scienti c enquiry and from cancer, to how the ribosome works, more about myself as a person, proved to scholarship. e SCORE program sends to neurodegeneration. e mentors are myself that I am capable of moving away students to Cambridge or Oxford, and outstanding scientists, and include Fellows from home independently, gained a clearer the SUPER-G program to the European of the Royal Society and EMBO, as well as idea of what type of research I would like to Molecular Biology Lab (EMBO) in recipients of the Nobel Prize. do, and did some unforgettable traveling.” Heidelberg, Germany. e experience blends committed SCORE student, 2015 research with fascinating locales and “This trip was honestly one of the most cultures. It enables students to see meaningful experiences of my life so far.” themselves, their work and their future SCORE student, 2016 through an international lens. In some cases,
From left: Hannah Mast, Alex Koo, Jaffna Mathiaparanam, Andy Delaitsch brings UW to the Tim Krueger, Cai Cimperman and Matt Ritger on the Jungfrau during a break from EMBL. Cambridge "backs" behind King's College. Matt Ritger, Cai Cimperman and Alex Koo For more information visit: in front of Blenheim Palace, overjoyed www.biochem.wisc.edu/score or www.biochem.wisc.edu/super/superg with their data. 38 The Khorana & Bose Programs - India By Professor Aseem Ansari
50 Indian students but also provides Indian new and mutually bene cial research and Government funds for 25 U.S. students (at entrepreneurial ventures in U.S. and India. all stages of their academic career) who are Sci-ROI was launched by Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, interested in a summer research internship the Consul-General of India at the Consulate in India. ere is a possibility that NSF will in 2015, and within a year this vibrant support an additional 25 American students postdoc-run organization partnered with so that there is parity between the number WINStep to put together the very rst Young of U.S. and Indian Bose scholars exchanged Investigators Meeting at Chicago (YIMC every year. 2016). e event brought together the 2017 will mark a decade since the Together, the Khorana and Bose heads of top Indian academic institutions, “Khorana Scholars” pilot program brought programs are now second in size and scope leading science policymakers from the U.S. in three students to the Department of only to the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright and India, multinational Pharma companies, Biochemistry from the best schools in India. program in India. And, there are serious Water management groups, Chicago-based e program aims to give wings to talent discussions of expanding the programs Tech Incubator CEOs, and senior U.S. and nurture future “Khoranas.” For those further to include industrial internships Commerce Department representatives in who may be unfamiliar with this avatar of and entrepreneurial programs. Over the India. e event was launched at the Indian the Wisconsin Idea, it might help to restate past decade, as the programs grew from 15 Consulate in Chicago on October 23rd and that the program is named in honor of Dr. students per summer at UW (2007 – 2010), continued at the University of Chicago over Har Gobind Khorana, a pioneer in the eld to 30 Khorana scholars per year across the the next two days. e participation was of chemical biology and synthetic biology, Big 10 Midwestern Universities (CIC 2011- capped at 150 because of space restrictions at who won the 1968 Nobel Prize as a member 2013), to 100 Indian and 25 U.S. scholars the Consulate but of our department. With the nancial at all leading U.S. and Indian institutions the groundswell backing of the Government of India (DBT), (2014 - onwards), the administrative of interest in 50 talented Indian students identi ed burden associated with handling the the event was so through a meritocratic nation-wide search unique requirements of nearly 50 U.S. and encouraging that are o ered summer research internships in Indian institutions led us to create a U.S. the next event leading laboratories across the U.S. Over 501(c)3 non-pro t called Wisconsin-India is scheduled in the past decade, the Khorana program has Science & Technology Education Program September 2017 grown in numbers and prestige and is oen (WINStep Forward) to manage the multi- with the Indian considered the “undergraduate Fulbright” institutional engagements. WINStep has Minister of Science program in India. Dr. Khorana himself since been contacted by leadership at Yale, and Technology was pleased with the students who bore his University of Chicago, Cold Spring Harbor and a senior Dr. Harsh Vardhan, name and expressed his joy in meeting and Labs, UT-Southwestern, Rice, Baylor and representative Minister hearing of new batches until he passed away Brown University to set up institution- of the U.S. State Science & Technology, Government of India in November 2011. speci c programs that are templated on Department as Since the Newsletter in 2012, the the Khorana and Bose Programs. At UW, the key speakers and sponsors of the event. Khorana Program was “cloned” by the the non-pro t now works closely with the e focus will be on the creation of mutually Science and Engineering Research Board Visiting International Scholars Program bene cial research and entrepreneurial (SERB), the Indian counterpart to the U.S. (VISP) to place scholars across di erent partnerships between the U.S. and India. National Science Foundation (NSF). While colleges. Not surprisingly, placements at e future of Khorana and Bose Programs, based on the Khorana program template, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and Caltech have Sci-ROI and WINStep Forward, looks the SERB supported program is designed to not mitigated the cohort size at UW, we promising and together we hope to make a support undergraduates who are interested have continued to attract about 15 Khorana positive impact and carry proudly the banner in science, mathematics and engineering and Bose scholars every year. of UW and the Wisconsin Idea. disciplines that are not connected to biology. Another example of “organic” growth Over the years, we have received us, it complements the Khorana program was the creation of a new initiative for invaluable advice and support from UW that is focused on supporting undergraduates scholars that had obtained the Ph.D.s and alumni that have helped these programs who are engaged in life sciences. To honor the were engaged in postdoctoral training. In grow and thrive. As always, we seek your scientist who imagined the particle that was 2015, Khorana alumni and their friends advice on areas that might bene t from to bear his name (Boson), the program was worked with WINStep to launch Sci-ROI further engagement and we invite you help named S. N. Bose Scholars Program. e (Science and Research Opportunities in create new and exciting opportunities for the Bose program was launched in early 2013 India). Sci-ROI, a postdoc-run initiative, next generation of transformative U.S. and and by the end of the year Higgs-Boson was is building a network of graduate students, Indian Khorana and Bose Scholars. awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. e S. postdocs, professionals and entrepreneurs For more information visit: N. Bose program not only funds an additional in the U.S. and identifying and creating www.winstepforward.org. 39 "Madison has been highly motivating for me both professionally and personally. It provided me with the opportunity to work and interact with Dr. Kevin Eliceiri, Dr. Yuming Liu, and Dr. Aseem Ansari, the pioneers of my eld who will continue to inspire me throughout my life. This program helped me to understand the scienti c quest of 'light delivery modeling and simulations.' The work culture in the U.S. was something that not only inspired me, but also all the young fellow Indian scholars who had been awarded Khorana Scholarships. This experience, inspiration and exposure is something that I believe will motivate all of us for the advancement of research in India and its application to solve the current challenges in the life sciences." University of Wisconsin-Madison students Hannah Lider, Vaibhav Phad Daniel Howard, Tenzin Paljor in India.
Left to Right: Aadithya Kannan (2014 Bose Scholar and Grad Student at Stanford) Dr. Aseem Ansari, Amir Faraz (2016 Khorana Scholar), and Alap Kshirsagar (2016 Bose Scholar), meet up in California, 2016. University of Wisconsin-Madison physics student Daniel Howard Trying his hand at an alternative career in India.
"Accepting this scholarship is doubtlessly the best decision I have ever made. I learned more about myself, my career goals, and what is important to me than I even knew was possible. The experiences I had and the connections I made this summer will be with me for a lifetime. After returning home I decided to pursue a certi cate in International Engineering with a focus on Southeast Asia. I have been looking forward to my return to India since the moment I boarded the plane home." Hannah Lider
2016 Indian Khorana Students at Camp Randal, UW-Madison
"The S.N. Bose program was a great experience to conduct research and learn how it is done in another country The experience was both scienti cally and culturally enriching. I can truly say I met a lot of great people in and out of the lab." Tenzin Paljor University of Wisconsin-Madison students Anna Barker and Kelli Verhoeven in India. 40 The Uganda Program By James Ntambi, with past participants Ryan Berns, Anna (Marsicek) King and Trista Cushman drive to their home for the next 3-weeks, University. rough these relationships, the village of Lweza. In Lweza, students students gain a truly unique exposure to the become a part of a place-based approach to intersection of politics, economics, culture, community development that focuses on and education as it relates to public health. collaborative e orts to help address needs e formal program is a collaboration as identi ed by the community. During between the Biochemistry and Nutrition their time in Uganda, the group departs Departments, and the CALS Oce of also has an opportunity to see the beauty of International Programs. e students gain a the country by visiting one of two national profound understanding of the realities faced e Uganda Health and Nutrition parks, either ueen Elizabeth National Park by so many in the world. Students collaborate Program combines what students learn in or Murchison Falls National Park. During intimately with villagers, who in fact identify the classroom with real world experiences these trips, they visit health clinics and the projects that are needed. e program in the East African country of Uganda. To villages in those areas so that they also have needs nancial support to continue. With prepare for the international experience, perspectives on healthcare in other regions that in mind, the student alumni themselves students enroll in a semester course where of the country. created e Village Health Project (VHP). they interact with UW faculty, sta and While in Uganda, students come face-to- is program raises funds, applies for grants other students to learn about the myriad face with the reality of subsistence farming and fellowships and seeks donations. To of factors that impact people’s abilities and the impacts this has on health, they see donate, please send a check to: Village to make informed health and nutrition HIV/AIDS rst hand, and they are able Health Project, 333 East Campus Mall, decisions for themselves, their families to see how important women’s health and Room 3207, Madison, WI 53715-1380 and their communities. Topics covered nutrition are to the overall health of their (http://www.villagehealthproject.org/). include: agriculture, child malnutrition, families and communities. While much For more details concerning the communicable and non-communicable of the success of the program lies in the international health and nutrition program diseases, economics, education, politics, strong relationships built over the years in Uganda please contact John Ferrick (john. prenatal care, women’s health, and many with members of the Lweza community, [email protected]) Associate Director of more. e end of the fall semester culminates this directly is related to Prof. Ntambi's International Programs at UW-Madison/ with a three-week learning experience in connections both with Lweza, but also with College of Agricultural & Life Sciences and Uganda. the experts who add to the program which co-director of the Uganda program. e journey begins when students land include community experts along with in the city of Entebbe and then take a 2-hour faculty and sta from Uganda’s Makerere
"Throughout my undergraduate education I was involved in a variety of medical/health programs both locally and abroad, but my experiences with Village Health Project and the Uganda Field Experience stand out distinctly. Students who sign up to complete their Undergraduate Certi cate in Global Health Field Experience in Uganda are required to carry out a project. These projects allow students to explore the links between agriculture, nutrition, sanitation, and health. My project helped me gain real-world experience in the eld of global-public health while I was still a student. After having lived in Uganda for three weeks, working with the community in order to create sustainable solutions, I saw rst-hand the impact that a small, motivated group of students can have on the lives of others. I found out that working with and through the community allowed us to build relationships and lay the groundwork for changes that continue even when we are not there. Additionally, we had the unique opportunity to live and work in the Mukono (Lweza) community while we were there, which was such an Students involved in setting up a community garden in amazing way to contribute to Dr. Ntambi’s hometown the agriculture and nutrition arm of the program. and certainly adds to what makes this Field Experience so memorable, rewarding, and fun." Ryan Berns, 2013
41 "Participating in the Uganda Program during my junior year at UW-Madison was the highlight of my undergraduate career. I had done very little international travel prior to traveling to Uganda, and the Uganda Program was my rst glimpse of the poverty, healthcare, and resource depletion in another part of the world. The trip was truly eye opening, and it fostered my passions for public health, global citizenship, and civic participation. Following the trip to Uganda, I felt empowered to help nd solutions to some of the problems I had observed in Uganda. I became a part of the Village Health Project (VHP), a 501(c)(3) non- pro t student organization that was created by alumni of the Uganda Program. Through VHP I have met amazing people and learned about the joys and challenges of working on global health issues abroad. My trip to Uganda and my work with VHP encouraged my desire to become a healthcare professional. As a graduate of UW-Madison, I am currently pursuing my goal of becoming a Physician Assistant. The Uganda program shaped my perspectives on public health, healthcare, and social justice. It has also in uenced how I plan to practice medicine in the future. I would absolutely recommend this trip to any student who wants to learn more about global health and expand their view of global citizenship." Anna (Marsicek) King, 2014 Students participating in running a mobile clinic in a rural community in Uganda.
"Last summer I moved back to Wisconsin receive some training and supplies of basic properly educating mothers, communities, after one of the most di cult experiences care so they can understand if someone and even the children on how they must eat of my life. If you had told me then in one is ill and needs to see a doctor. They to remain healthy. Nutrients are explained year I’d be experiencing Uganda, I would’ve devote themselves to spreading the word in relatable terms and families are taught said you were crazy. Fast forward one of healthcare opportunities, such as our to prepare foods properly in the right ratios. year and I walked on the reddest sands mobile health clinics, to their community This preventative approach to healthcare and the greenest grasses. I held the hands and help keep things organized when we is mirrored in all facets of the system. of the young and old. I saw some of the provide such care. A level of healthcare Nutritionists, doctors, and nurses aim to worst living conditions, but the happiest of based solely on volunteers to care for the teach their patients how to remain healthy faces. I learned that a country struggling to initial wellbeing of its citizens exhibits an to avoid illness, but they can only help once provide a healthcare system to its citizens aspect of healthcare not mirrored in our people have sought help. Because of this could see the importance of preventative society. glitch, they reach less of the population healthcare that a ‘civilized’ country Big pharmaceutical companies drive than necessary. This weakness is such as ours cannot. I saw the e ects of most healthcare systems in developed strengthened by the VHTs, caring members malnutrition like I could never imagine, but countries, particularly in the United of the community who visit their peers found more similarities in our two countries States. Because it is more pro table to and urge them to seek medical attention. than I would have guessed. I saw elephants treat chronic illnesses, especially non- Without the knowledge spread by these and cried. I could almost touch gira es communicable illnesses, than to prevent volunteers, ghting for the improvement of and lions and hippos and alligators. I rode them, funding is allocated to medications Uganda’s health would be futile. a boat on the Nile. I learned more this rather than prevention education. Uganda I have always believed in science. summer than I ever could have imagined does not follow this trend. The importance Biochemistry makes the bodywork. Proper possible, but perhaps the most important of prevention and xing the problem nutrition feeds a body so it can properly lesson I learned was the power of love. before it occurs is valued in Uganda’s grow. Medicine cures illnesses. Science Uganda is, as most developing healthcare system. Though mostly a ected can be proven. But some things in life are countries, struggling in its ability to by communicable diseases, the rates of intangible. Sometimes your soul needs provide healthcare. Their system consists non-communicable illnesses and deaths more than proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, of the expected doctors, nurses, clinics, and are rising in Uganda. This is indicative of vitamins, and minerals to grow. Medicine hospitals, but lacks the funds, medicine, the importance of proper nutrition. Along is instrumental to healthcare and the and personnel that are necessary to reach with illnesses, malnutrition is an epidemic wellbeing of a country, but it can only go the masses. In our country, doctors and in Uganda. Whether caused by lack of so far. Medicine can only treat; it can do nurses are far overworked, but imagine education or the inability to access proper nothing to prevent illnesses. The care and their workload if only a fraction of nutrients, it can lead to stunting, edema, love that is put into the healthcare system them existed. To combat this, Uganda’s increased risk of disease, and even death. in Uganda is something we could all learn healthcare system implements a level Uganda’s ght to reduce malnutrition is from. We all need medicine to aid our of healthcare called the Village Health an excellent example of their strategies to health, but perhaps we often overlook the Team (VHTs.) These members are ordinary prevent illnesses rather than treat them. strongest medicine of all." community members selected by the Uganda treats many children su ering from Trista Cushman, 2016 village to volunteer their time to help. VHTs poor nutrition but focuses even more on
42 In Memoriam: Mo Cleland By Professor Perry Frey implicating a covalently modi ed enzyme- to the National Academy of Sciences in substrate intermediate. ese papers have 1985. He received the Merck Award from been widely cited and led to his inclusion the American Society for Biochemistry among the 300 most cited scientists in 1978. and Molecular Biology, the Alfred Bader Prior to Mo’s report in the early Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic 1960s, proteins were oen puri ed in Chemistry from the American Chemical the presence of mercaptoethanol, which Society (ACS), the Repligen Award In e countered the detrimental e ects of oxygen. Chemistry of Biological Processes from the Mercaptoethanol had an unpleasant odor, Division of Biological Chemistry of the and two equivalents were required to ACS, the Stein and Moore Award from the reduce a disul de. Mo studied the reducing Protein Society, and the Hilldale Award in William Wallace Cleland, Professor of properties of a number of dithiol compounds the Physical Sciences from the University of Biochemistry, passed away on March 6, 2013 and found that dithiothreitol, also known as Wisconsin-Madison. of injuries sustained in an accident. DTT or Cleland’s Reagent, tted the bill Mo enjoyed sailing on Lake Mendota Professor Cleland preferred to be perfectly. He found DTT to be a water- and was the Commodore of the Mendota addressed as "Mo", and all of his friends knew soluble solid with little odor and a strong Yacht Club in 1966. Mo also enjoyed ice him by this name. Mo was born to Elizabeth reducing agent. Cleland’s Reagent or DTT boating and crewed on a Class A ice boat and Ralph E. Cleland in Baltimore, MD on has been on the shelf in most biochemical on Lake Winnebego. Mo once commented: January 6, 1930. His mother was a chemist laboratories for nearly half a century. “I do remember sailing on the Mary B at and his father a botanist. His father was e analyses of bond changes in Oshkosh in a real blow. at was the race elected to the National Academy of Sciences nonenzymatic chemical reactions oen where we made one downwind leg (2 miles) and as a Fellow of the American Academy employ kinetic isotope e ects (KIEs) in one minute at. uite a thrill!”. He was a of Arts and Sciences. Mo took pride in because heavy isotopes alter reaction rates, patron of the arts and was honored recently following his father into these honorary usually with minimal e ects on chemical as one of a handful of 50-year subscribers to academies. properties. In enzyme studies, such analyses the Madison Symphony Orchestra concert Mo's family moved to Bloomington, are complicated by noncovalent steps, such series. He loved the opera and supported IN, where his father served on the faculty as the binding of reactants and release of Madison Opera as well as opera companies and administration of Indiana University. products, plus conformation changes of across the United States. Mo graduated from Oberlin College, A.B. the protein. In early collaborations with Mo was a world-class philatelist. Known 1950, and from the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Madison colleagues to his philatelic colleagues as Wallace M.S. 1953 and Ph.D. 1955. He served in Dexter Northrop and Marion O’Leary, Mo Cleland, he began collecting stamps in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army for undertook to overcome the problems and childhood. He became active as a philatelic two years, and he carried out postdoctoral apply KIEs to analyze chemical mechanisms researcher in the late 1960s, and was research under Eugene P. Kennedy at the in enzymes. In the process, Mo invented recognized as one of the leading experts University of Chicago. He returned to the the equilibrium perturbation method on plate numbers on U.S. stamps. He was a University of Wisconsin-Madison as an for measuring KIEs. is method was member of the United States Stamp Society Assistant Professor of Biochemistry in 1959 brilliantly conceived and enabled a KIE to be (U.S.S.S.), formerly called the Bureau Issues and advanced to Professor of Biochemistry measured at chemical equilibrium in a single Association, since 1966, and served on in 1966. He served as the Marvin. J. Johnson experiment. its Board of Governors from 1989-91, as Professor of Biochemistry in 1978 and Mo continued with this work and Chairman of the Board from 1992-97, and Steenbock Professor of Chemical Sciences in became a master of enzymatic kinetic isotope as Acting President in 1992. 1982-2003. e ects. He worked to neutralize the masking In recognition of his many contributions Mo made many in uential contributions of chemical steps by the use of alternative to philately, he received the B.I.A. (U.S.S.S.) to enzymology. He brought order into the substrates to increase ligand dissociation Hopkinson Memorial Literature Award for eld of multi-substrate steady-state enzyme rates, by determining pH-e ects in search of best article or series of articles in a single kinetics. In 1963, he published a series of conditions where chemical steps limit rates, year in 1986, 2002, and 2006. He received three papers on this topic in Biochimica et and by site-directed mutagenesis to decrease the prestigious George W. Brett Century of Biophysica Acta; paper I. Nomenclature and rates of chemical steps. When any of these Service Award from the U.S.S.S. in 2006, and rate equations; II. Inhibition: nomenclature methods worked, KIEs on maximum the Lifetime Achievement Award in Philately and theory; III. Prediction of initial velocity turnover velocity could be measured. from the Smithsonian Institution in 2008. In and inhibition patterns by inspection. In Mo extended these methods by 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Stamp this work, Mo derived the basis for Cleland’s employing multiple KIEs to re ne structures Society Hall of Fame and the Wisconsin rules, which allow one to write the rate of transition states and even to distinguish Federation of Stamp Clubs Philatelic Hall of equation for a multi-substrate enzyme by between step-wise and concerted chemical Fame. He published more than 320 articles inspection of kinetic patterns. In connection mechanisms. in the United States Specialist and the Canal with this work, Mo coined the term Mo was elected to the American Zone Philatelist. “ping pong kinetics” for a kinetic pattern Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977 and continued, bottom page 45 43 In Memoriam: John Garver By Professor Dave Nelson We lost our friend and colleague John and with several UW researchers in the on State Street, renamed the Fanny Garver Garver in 2015. John was born Oct. 16, 1925 production of restriction enzymes before Gallery, in which he became deeply involved. and died on April 16, 2015 at Longboat Key, they were commercially available. In 1981 John retired from his position Florida, where he and his wife Fanny spent John’s own research interest was in testing in Biochemistry to give more time to the their winters aer retirement. mathematical models of microorganisms’ gallery, which John and Fanny ran together John grew up on a dairy farm near growth under conditions of limiting substrate for many years. To nd promising artists and Rockford, and came to the University of or oxygen. He studied the growth kinetics of their art, they traveled widely in the U.S. and Wisconsin to earn his B.S. and M.S. degrees ciliated protozoans, and of mixed bacterial abroad; London was a favorite destination. in Chemical Engineering in 1947. In 1955 cultures that metabolized methane. Many John continued to work at the gallery until he nished his Ph.D. work at the UW, also of us pro ted from his gi for quantitative his death. in Chemical Engineering. Aer several years reasoning, applied to problems as diverse as John loved to play bridge, and was very at the University of Illinois, in 1957 he the kinetics of sugar mutarotation and beta- good at it; it apparently appealed to his joined the UW faculty in the Department galactosidase activity in milk. analytical side. John’s friends in Biochemistry of Biochemistry, where he continued the Much of John’s informal consulting enjoyed his no-nonsense, can-do attitude long tradition (E.L. Tatum, W.H. Peterson, took place over co ee at the Rennebohm’s about both science and politics, his wry sense E.B. Fred, Marvin Johnson, for example) drug store where the Wisconsin Institutes of humor, and his complete lack of ego. He of Wisconsin excellence in the eld of for Discovery now stand. ere was also was a very good man and a very good friend. fermentation biochemistry. a certain amount of political discussion Fanny Garver has retired, but their son With Johnson’s retirement, John took on at Rennebohm’s; it was common to nd Jack continues to run the downsized Garver the operation and management of the 2000 John and Mo Cleland there, generally Gallery in Madison. liter fermentation pilot plant in Biochemistry, representing opposite ends of the political and began a long series of collaborations spectrum. When John retired in 1981, his with researchers throughout the UW and friends in Biochemistry acquired a booth in industry, in which John’s expertise in from Rennebohm’s and presented it to him, fermentation allowed the production of with an appropriately inscribed brass plate. large quantities of bacterial and yeast cells at booth stood for years in the Fanny and the valuable proteins contained in them. Garver Gallery. For example, he collaborated with Frank During his student years, John met Strong in isolating pigments from Physarum, Fanny over a bridge game one night in the with Bob Burris in the production of large Memorial Union. ey were married in amounts of cytochrome c from wheat germ, 1948. In 1972, they bought an art gallery
In Memoriam Alfred E. Harper Professor 1956-1990, W.W. (Mo) Cleland Emeritus 1990-2017 David D. Nehls Professor 1959-2013 March 2017 Lab Tech Support March 2013 Supervisor 2003-2015 Charles F. Huebner August 2016 William W. Cravens MS 1941, PhD 1943 - Link PhD 1940 - Hart November 2012 Sambhorao T. Rao October 2008 1969-1990 with Sundaralingam Roy Kanemoro Asst Prof 1970-1977 Erna Ellestad MS 1982 - Adler, February 2011 Lab technician PhD 1986 - Ludden April 2015 January 2011 Larry D. Satter PhD 1965 - Suttie John C. Garver George O. Kohler 2006 Professor 1957-1981, MS 1936, PhD 1938 - Hart Emeritus 1981-2015 2006 Vinod K. Shah April 2015 Senior Scientist 1986-1998 - Ludden Nancy F. Millis December 2015 PhD - Johnson September 2012 44 In Memoriam: Vinod K. Shah Adapted from Dhavan V. Shah, Winston J. Brill, Gary P. Roberts, & Paul W. Ludden memorial article his Ph.D. for a dissertation on fungal was a caring mentor to many younger metabolism. Immigrating to the United scientists who sought his advice on science States in 1965, Vinod joined the Department and life. On numerous occasions, he deferred of Bacteriology at UW–Madison in 1966 rst authorship on important manuscripts where he began an incredibly productive in order to promote the careers of students research career, most prominently in the working with him on the projects. In his area of biological nitrogen xation. He retirement, Vinod remained active in discovered, isolated and characterized the scienti c circles and within the Madison Iron-Molybdenum cofactor (FeMo-co) of Indian community. He was an enthusiastic the enzyme nitrogenase. card player and he became an accomplished Dr. Vinod K. Shah, Senior Scientist Vinod sought out important research chef. Emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry questions, no matter how dicult and Vinod was a rst-rate scholar who passed away from complications following a pursued them with tenacity. He retired contributed signi cantly to one of the most heart attack on December 21, 2015. in 1998 as a senior scientist in the challenging research areas of his time, as well Born in Vadondara, India to Kasturchand Department of Biochemistry. He received as a generous and caring mentor, devoted and Savitaben Shah, Vinod studied the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in patriarch to his family, and civic-minded biochemistry at the Maharaja Sayajirao Research in 1992. citizen of the university and the broader University in Baroda where he received An extraordinarily generous man, Vinod society.
As we go to press: Alfred (Alf) E. Harper passes away Ph.D. in 1953. Following a four-year stint at scienti c organizations and government the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, groups. Harper spent his entire career at UW– Working with the Food and Nutrition Madison, retiring in 1990 to the state of Board, he played a large role in setting Washington. recommended dietary allowances (RDA). In 1968, he was instrumental, along ese guidelines served as an example of a with others, in establishing the Department healthy diet. He authored several reports of Nutritional Sciences. He served as its on these topics, including one on the role of rst chair for almost 20 years. His research cholesterol in heart disease. focused on amino acids and the control of During his life, he received many Professor Emeritus Alfred “Alf ” E. metabolism, and he mentored more than 50 recognitions and awards, including the Harper passed away in late March of 2017. graduate students in his lab and published Borden Award from the American Institute Harper was aliated with the Department more than 400 research articles. of Nutrition in 1965 and the Atwater Award of Biochemistry and also the Department of Harper had a strong interest in national from the USDA in 1990. He also received Nutritional Sciences. nutrition policy and served on and chaired the Conrad Elvehjem Award for Public Born in 1922, the native of Lethbridge, the Food and Nutrition Board of the Service in Nutrition from the American Alberta began studying under biochemist National Academy of Sciences for many Institute of Nutrition and the Distinguished Conrad Elvehjem in 1949 and received his years. He was also part of many other Service Award from CALS.
Cleland continued om page 43 Mo was a proud and devoted parent, generous to colleagues he regarded as advised as a consultant in Lou's research, with his former wife Joan Cleland, to kindred spirits. Professor Louis B. Hersh commented as follows: "I can't think of a daughters Elsa and Erica and grandparent to of the University of Kentucky, whom Mo kinder gentle giant." Max, Finn, and Grin. He was generous to colleagues everywhere who consulted him on enzyme kinetics, oen insisting that he be given no attribution. Postdoctoral students and young faculty members commented on their pleasant experiences with Mo’s quick answers to their questions. He was a kind and generous friend to colleagues and collaborators, and a dominant force in mechanistic enzymology. Mo was a large man in both physical stature and spirit. He was very kind and
45 Boyer Awardees Build on Postdoctoral Successes By Professor Robert Landick
speci city in RNA-binding proteins and called RtcB. Aer completing his highly for the development of a new method to successful postdoctoral research with determine protein anities to large libraries Raines, during which he rst-authored ve of protein sequences. Zak is now building high-impact papers describing his ndings his own research group aer starting as an on this interesting repair enzyme, Kevin Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences has assumed a position with Aeon Global at the University of Texas-Dallas in August Health in Gainesville, GA. At Aeon, Kevin 2015. Zak’s group has launched research is applying his considerable research prowess e orts on synthetic biology, biochemical to develop new clinical applications. One of the most visible demonstrations genomics, and stem-cell biology while Melkam Kebede of the vitality of research in the Department continuing his strong interest in protein- was recognized for is the exceptional success of the young RNA recognition. her ground-breaking scientists selected for the Paul Boyer Our 2014 discovery that a Postdoctoral Research Award. e Boyer Boyer Awardee, gene of unknown Award for Postdoctoral Excellence was Eric Montemayor, function associated endowed by Paul D. Boyer, aer his receipt was recognized for with diabetes of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to elucidation and encodes a key player recognize the exceptional achievements of characterization of in the formation of postdoctoral researchers in our department a stunning co-crystal insulin secretory and the crucial roles they play in so many of structure of U6 granules. Melkam came to UW Madison the research projects underway here. Paul RNA bound to its from an unusual background, having earned Boyer is an alumnus of the UW-Madison protein chaperone a B.S. degree at the University of Melbourne Biochemistry Department, having earned a Prp24 at 1.7 Å resolution. is was the at the age of 18 aer a childhood in Nigeria. Ph.D. degree here in 1943 aer completing rst structure of a protein with multiple Melkam has now returned to Australia to landmark research on vitamin C and (four) RNA recognition motif (RRM) assume a position as laboratory lead in the potassium as enzymatic co-factors under domains bound to an RNA and the rst Charles Perkins Centre at the University of the guidance of Prof. Paul Phillips. Dr. example of a protein domain threaded Sydney, where she is pursuing a high-pro le Boyer went on to conduct postdoctoral through an RNA loop. Eric’s postdoctoral research program on type 2 diabetes. research at Stanford on stabilization of achievement spanned the research programs Our 2016 Boyer bovine serum albumin for transfusions of Sam Butcher (Biochemistry) and David Awardee is Scott during the war e ort then underway. Aer Brow (Biomolecular Chemistry), and is an Aoki, a postdoctoral WWII, Dr. Boyer became a faculty member excellent example of the way postdoctoral researcher with at the University of Minnesota where he researchers in the Department can leverage Judith Kimble. Scott developed new methods for investigating e orts across research groups to both was recognized enzyme mechanisms, and then moved strengthen their training and empower for his discovery to UCLA in 1963 where he became the their research. Eric has now assumed a that the PGL germ founding director of its Molecular Biology sta scientist position in the Department granule assembly Institute. Dr. Boyer was awarded the 1997 of Biochemistry and is continuing his protein is a base- Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research award-winning research on RNA splicing speci c, single-stranded RNase. As our most on the enzymatic mechanism underlying mechanisms. recent awardee aer less that two years in the biosynthesis of ATP (along with In 2015, the pool the Kimble group, Scott is, not surprisingly, co-awardees John E. Walker and Jens C. of nominees was still nishing his postdoctoral studies in the Skou), and is also widely known for editing so strong that the Kimble group prior to heading out on the the classic series “ e Enzymes.” Boyer Award was job market. Our recent Boyer Awardees are o split between two We celebrate the successes of all the to a great start following in Paul Boyer’s highly successful outstanding postdoctoral researchers in the footsteps. Our 2013 postdoctoral UW-Madison Dept. of Biochemistry, and Boyer Awardee, researchers: Kevin are especially proud of this outstanding Zak Campbell, Desai, working group of recent Boyer awardees. It is a mark was recognized for with Ron Raines, of his humble foresightedness that Paul his breakthrough and Melkam Kebede, working with Alan Boyer chose to invest a portion of his Nobel research with Attie. Kevin was recognized for his novel Prize winnings to promote the development Marv Wickens on research on mechanisms that repair RNA of their careers, and we look forward with mechanisms that molecules by ligating nucleolytic fragments, eagerness to the many great things they too control recognition mediated by a noncanonical RNA ligase will accomplish. 46 Honors & Awards Faculty
Rick Amasino 2013 Hilldale Professorship Alan Attie 2015 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Sebastian Bednarek 2013 "Thousand Talents Plan" Award, Zhejiang Province Government, China 2013 National "High-end Foreign Expert" Award, China Central Government 2015 "Thousand Talents Plan" Award, Zhejiang Province Government, China 2015 National "High-end Foreign Expert" Award, China Central Government Sam Butcher 2016 Spitzer Teaching Excellence Award Mike Cox 2013 Evelyn M. Mercer Professorship Hazel Holden 2016 Prolific Author Award by the journal Biochemistry Aaron Hoskins 2014 Beckman Young Investigator, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation 2014 Shaw Scientist, Greater Milwaukee Foundation Laura Kiessling 2014 Alfred Bader Award in Bioorganic or Bioinorganic Chemistry 2014 Hamilton Award, University of Nebraska 2015 Alexander M. Cruickshank Award, Gordon Research Conferences 2016 Vilas Distinguished Teaching Award 2016 Gibbs Medal, Chicago Chapter of the ACS 2016 Vilas Distinguished Faculty Award, UW-Madison Judith Kimble 2013-2014 Chair, ASCB International Affairs Committee 2014-2015 Member, President’s Committee on National Medal of Science 2014-present Vilas Board of Trustees 2015-2017 Chair, President’s Committee on National Medal of Science committee 2016-2018 Member, National Research Committee on Next Generation Researchers James Ntambi 2013 ASBMB Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education 2016 Wisconsin Without Borders Peter Bosscher Award Dave Pagliarini 2014 Vilas Associates Award, UW-Madison 2015 Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure 2015 Lead Investigator and Neilsen Chair of the Morgridge Metabolism Theme 2016 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) 2016 Pound Research Award, CALS 2016 Co-lead for one of the 14 inaugural UW2020 awards Ann Palmenberg 2014 International Data Corp. (IDC) High Performance Computing Innovation Excellence Award 2015 WARF named Professorship 2016 Fellow American Academy for the Advancement of Science Ron Raines 2013 RSC Jeremy Knowles Award (UK) 2014 WARF named Professorship 2014 Givaudan–Karrer Lectureship (Universität Zürich) 2014 Robert W. Taft Memorial Lectureship (UC Irvine) 2015 Humboldt Research Award (Germany) 2016 ACS Ralph F. Hirschmann Award 2016 Elected to National Academy of Inventors John Ralph 2013 Bruker Award 2014 Thompson Reuters as a Highly Cited Researcher 2014 Anselme Payen Award, American Chemical Society 2014 CSIRO, Australia, McMaster Fellowship 2015 ASPB Highly Cited Author (2009-2013 papers) 2015 Thompson Reuters as a Highly Cited Researcher 2016 Awarded Distinguished Professor status at Tokyo U. of Agriculture and Technology 2016 Thompson Reuters as a Highly Cited Researcher Vatsan Raman 2016 Shaw Scientist, Greater Milwaukee Foundation Tom Record 2013 Hilldale Professorship
47 Honors & Awards Faculty Michael Sussman 2015 WARF Innovation Award Doug Weibel 2013 Vilas Associate Award, UW-Madison 2013 ASCB Early Career Life Scientist Award 2014 CALS Class of 1955 Distinguished Teaching Award 2014 Pound Research Award 2015 Scialog Fellow, Research Corporation and Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation Emeritus Roland Rueckert 2014 Forest Steward of the Year. Awarded by the Lumberjack Resource Conservation & Development Council.
Staff
Jorge Rencoret Ralph 2013 Bruker Award Yuki Tobimatsu Ralph 2013 Best poster award, Stanford’s GCEP National Conference Laura Vanderploeg Dept. Media Lab 2013 CALS Excellence in Service Award Xueming Zhang Ralph 2014 China Scholarship Council fellowship Jenelle Gierhart-Sutter Dept. Oce 2015 CALS Classified Staff Award Mathish Nambiar-Veetil Ralph 2015 Fulbright Fellowship Kallee Radtke Dept. Oce 2015 Rose M. Klein Special Events Award Charlie Lor Dept. IT 2016 Administrative Improvement Award Cathy Michael Dept. Oce 2016 Administrative Improvement Award Dave Parker Dept. Oce 2016 Administrative Improvement Award Kerry Tobin Dept. IT 2016 Administrative Improvement Award
Postdoctoral Staff Eric Montemayor Butcher/Brow 2014 Boyer Award for Postdoctoral Excellence in Biochemistry Melkam Kebede Attie 2015 Boyer Award for Postdoctoral Excellence in Biochemistry Kevin Desai Raines 2015 Boyer Award for Postdoctoral Excellence in Biochemistry Scott Aoki Kimble 2016 Boyer Award for Postdoctoral Excellence in Biochemistry Justin Mobley Ralph 2016 WARF Ambassador Postdoctoral Fellowships 2013 J. Kyle Friend Kimble American Cancer Society Melkam Kebede Attie American Diabetes Association Mentor Based Fellowship Katie Brenner Weibel Hartwell Postdoctoral Fellowship Thomas Ream Amasino Life Science Research Foundation Hannah Seidel Kimble Life Science Research Foundation Scott Aoki Kimble NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Zachary Campbell Wickens NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Kevin Desai Raines NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Paul Grimsrud Pagliarini NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Matthew Kotlajich Landick NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Matthew Kraft Kiessling NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Nicholas McGrath Raines NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Melanie Preston Wickens NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Matthew Bruss Attie Trainee on the Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Grant Natalie Niemi Pagliarini United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation 2014 Erika Sorensen-Kamakian Kimble American Cancer Society Melkam Kebede Attie American Diabetes Association Mentor Based Fellowship Katie Brenner Weibel Hartwell Postdoctoral Fellowship 48 Postdoctoral Fellowships 2014 continued Pradyut Paul Attie Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Katie Brenner Weibel L'Oreal USA for Women in Science Fellow Hannah Seidel Kimble Life Science Research Foundation Scott Aoki Kimble NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Jameson Bothe Markley NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Kevin Desai Raines NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Paul Grimsrud Pagliarini NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Matthew Kotlajich Landick NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Sayaka Masuko Kiessling NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Melanie Preston Wickens NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Scott Messenger Martin Trainee on the Molecular and Applied Nutrition T.G. Natalie Niemi Pagliarini United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation 2015 Erika Sorensen-Kamakian Kimble American Cancer Society Melkam Kebede Attie American Diabetes Association Mentor Based Fellowship Pradyut Paul Attie Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Hannah Seidel Kimble Life Science Research Foundation Katie Brenner Weibel L'Oreal USA for Women in Science Fellow Katie Brenner Weibel Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest Scott Aoki Kimble NIH Career Transition Award Scott Aoki Kimble NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Katie Brenner Weibel NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Robert Brown Kiessling NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Kevin Desai Raines NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Sayaka Masuko Kiessling NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Jonathan Mayers Bednarek NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Scott Messenger Martin NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Scott Messenger Martin Trainee on the Molecular and Applied Nutrition T.G. Natalie Niemi Pagliarini United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation 2016 Erika Sorensen-Kamakian Kimble American Cancer Society Brian Gold Raines Beckman (Arnold and Mabel) Foundation Pradyut Paul Attie Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Katie Brenner Weibel L'Oreal USA for Women in Science Fellow Mateusz Manicki Pagliarini Morgridge Postdoctoral Fellowship Scott Aoki Kimble NIH Career Transition Award Katie Brenner Weibel NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Robert Brown Kiessling NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Sayaka Masuko Kiessling NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Jonathan Mayers Bednarek NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Scott Messenger Martin NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Graduate Students 2013 Rachel Kubiak Holden Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching & Mentoring Amber Schuh Audhya Sigrid Leirmo Memorial Award in Biochemistry Paulo Castro Ralph Chilean International student exchange researcher award Fabio Carvajal Ralph Chilean International student exchange researcher award Ambalika (Rika) Khadria Senes Dance Your Ph.D. Competition Top Honors John Lukesh Raines Harry and Helen Cohen Graduate Research Award Heather Free Ralph International student exchange researcher award from U. Auckland, NZ Judith Schaefer Ralph International student exchange researcher award from U. Hamburg, Germany Rebecca Smith Ralph International student exchange researcher award from UBC, Canada John Lukesh Raines Sigma–Aldrich Graduate Student Innovation Award Yang Lin Ralph Student exchange researcher award from UCSB 49 Honors & Awards Graduate Students continued 2014 Angela Gruber Cox Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching & Mentoring Kristen Dittenhafer-Reed Denu Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching & Mentoring Emily Ruff Record Sigrid Leirmo Memorial Award in Biochemistry Laura Bond Ntambi Best Poster at ASBMB, lipids section Robert Newberry Raines Eastman Chemical Summer Research Award Kalie Mix Raines Great Lakes National STEM Scholarship Anders Jensen Ralph International student exchange researcher award from Copenhagen U., Denmark Tucker Carrocci Hoskins RNA Society Meeting Biochemistry Journal Poster Award Brett Diehl Ralph Student exchange researcher award from Penn State U. 2015 Brendan Floyd Pagliarini Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching & Mentoring Tucker Carrocci Hoskins Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching & Mentoring Raashi Sreenivasan Record Sigrid Leirmo Memorial Award in Biochemistry Matthew Stilwell Weibel Discovery Challenge Award Darryl Wesener Kiessling Discovery Challenge Research Competition Robert Newberry Raines Ralph F. Hirschmann–Daniel H. Rich Graduate Award in Bioorganic Chemistry Kate Helmich Ralph Selected to represent GLBRC at the DOE Contractors meeting 2016 Rebecca Phillips Rayment Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching & Mentoring Ian Windsor Raines Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching & Mentoring Kim Haupt Kimble Sigrid Leirmo Memorial Award in Biochemistry Tina Lynch Kimble Biological Scholars Award Robert Newberry Raines Charles and Martha Casey Research Excellence Award in Chemical Biology Jinze Dou Ralph International student exchange researcher award from U. Helsinki, VTT, Finland Robert Newberry Raines WISL Award for Communicating Research to the Public
Graduate Fellowships 2013 Brandon Taylor Kimble Advanced Opportunity Fellowship Angela Gruber Cox Burris Predoctoral Fellowship Christopher Lapointe Wickens Biochemistry Scholar Research Assistant Award Loren LaPointe Senes Biochemistry Scholar Research Assistant Award Gregory Reynolds Bednarek Biochemistry Scholar Research Assistant Award Douglas Porter Wickens Biochemistry Scholar Research Assistant Award Manohary Rajendram Weibel Biochemistry Scholar Research Assistant Award Matthew Zmudka Holden Biochemistry Scholar Research Assistant Award Sandra Tseng Ansari Biochemistry WARF Research Assistant Award John Crooks Weibel Biochemistry WARF Research Assistant Award Jonathan Stefely Pagliarini NIH NRSA Fellowship Kristen Andersen Raines PhRMA Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Jarred Rensvold Pagliarini Louis and Elsa Thomsen Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Kate Helmich Ralph WARF Research Assistant Graduate Fellow Ryan Petty Palmenberg Wharton Predoctoral Fellowship Mufaddal Soni Attie Wharton Predoctoral Fellowship 2014 Gregory Reynolds Bednarek Stephen Babcock Agricultural Chemistry Research Fellowship Danielle Lohman Pagliarini NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Wen Chyan Raines NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Sarah Robinson Kimble NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Sandra Tseng Ansari NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Jonathan Stefely Pagliarini NIH NRSA Fellow Tucker Carrocci Hoskins William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry
50 Graduate Fellowships 2014 continued John Crooks Weibel William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Graham Erwin Ansari William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Ti-Yu Lin Weibel William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Ananya Ray Landick William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Shravan Sukumar Mitchell Steenbock Predoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry See-Yeun Ting Craig Steenbock Predoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry Brendan Floyd Pagliarini Louis and Elsa Thomsen Distinguished Graduate Fellowship James Vasta Raines Wharton Fellowship in Biochemistry Kate Helmich Ralph WARF Research Assistant Graduate Fellow 2015 Robert Newberry Raines ACS Nelson J. Leonard Graduate Fellowship See-Yeun Ting Craig Denton Fellowship in Biochemistry Ian Windsor Raines Genentech Predoctoral Fellowship Kanghyun Lee Craig Hopkins Fellowship in Biochemistry Zack Kemmerer Pagliarini NIH Molecular and Applied Nutrition (MANTP) fellowship Jonathan Stefely Pagliarini NIH NRSA fellow Jessica Cardenas Bednarek NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Wen Chyan Raines NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Michael Veling Pagliarini NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Ellen Crummy Martin Dr. James Chieh-Hsia Mao Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Ti-Yu Lin Weibel Dr. James Chieh-Hsia Mao Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Samuel Craven Senes William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Emily Garnett Raines William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Thi Thao Nguyen Sussman William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Valerie Tripp Raines William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Mohammad Murshid Alam Kiessling Mary Shine-Peterson Fellowship John Crooks Weibel William R & Dorothy E Sullivan WI Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Laura Bond Ntambi William R & Dorothy E Sullivan WI Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Gregory Reynolds Bednarek William R & Dorothy E. Sullivan WI Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Molly McDevitt Pagliarini Stefaniak Fellowship in Biochemistry Fima Zaltsman Kiessling Stefaniak Fellowship in Biochemistry Andrew Reidenbach Pagliarini Louis and Elsa Thomsen Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Tyler Stanage Cox Wharton Fellowship in Biochemistry 2016 Kalie Mix Raines CALS Senator Robert Caldwell Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Allison Didychuk Butcher CALS Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Ari Salinger Holden Genentech Predoctoral Fellowship Samantha Anderson Senes Dr. James Chieh-Hsia Mao Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Kyle Robinson Pagliarini NIH Biology of Aging and Aging-Related Diseases (BAARD) Fellowship Wen Chyan Raines NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Tina Lynch Kimble NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Beth Boudreau Landick William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Tina Lynch Kimble William H Peterson Fellowship in Biochemistry Ti-Yu Lin Weibel Dorothy Sullivan Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Kelly Mitok Attie Dorothy Sullivan Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Thi Thao Nguyen Sussman Dorothy Sullivan Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Thiago Santos Weibel Louis and Elsa Thomsen Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Sabrina Dumas Ntambi Science and Medicine Graduate Research Scholar Michael Andreas Rayment Steenbock Predoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry Deena-Al Mahbuba Senes Steenbock Predoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry Tyler Stanage Cox Steenbock Predoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry
51 Honors & Awards Graduate Students continued Training Grant Awards 2013 Tucker Carrocci Hoskins Biotechnology Training Program Kristen Dittenhafer-Reed Denu Biotechnology Training Program Megan Dowdle Sheets Biotechnology Training Program Alexander Justen Kiessling Biotechnology Training Program Danielle Lohman Pagliarini Biotechnology Training Program Robert Presler Raines Biotechnology Training Program Elena Sorokin Kimble Biotechnology Training Program Christine Bradford Raines Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Aubrey Ellison Raines Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Heather Hodges Kiessling Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Andrew Reidenbach Pagliarini Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Kaitlin Marquardt Mitchell Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine Rachel Barkley Rayment Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Michael Bellecourt Landick Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Shane Bernard Wildonger Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Laura Bond Ntambi Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Roger Diehl Kiessling Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Graham Erwin Ansari Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Elisa Frankel Audhya Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Angela Gruber Cox Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Trish Hoang Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Sean Johnston Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Anastasia Lindahl Denu Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Molly McDevitt Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Kalie Mix Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Amelia Nestler Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Lucas O'Neill Ntambi Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Jarred Rensvold Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Katharine Schulz Harrison Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Sandra Tseng Ansari Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences James Vasta Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Michael Veling Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Naomi Walsh Hull Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Sarah Wessel Keck Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Anna Kropornicka Ansari Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Benjamin Minkoff Sussman Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Matthew Mead Hull Microbes in Health and Disease Training Program Brendan Floyd Pagliarini Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Program Emily Garnett Raines Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Training Program Anna Kropornicka Ansari Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Sarah Robinson Kimble Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Daniel Woods Amasino Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Brandon Hoover Weibel Predoctoral Training in Molecular Biophysics Margaret Rodgers Hoskins Predoctoral Training in Molecular Biophysics Matthew Stilwell Weibel Predoctoral Training in Molecular Biophysics Funita Phan Mosher Training In Cancer Biology Nathaniel Byers Friesen Virology Training Program 2014 Tucker Carrocci Hoskins Biotechnology Training Program Kristen Dittenhafer-Reed Denu Biotechnology Training Program Megan Dowdle Sheets Biotechnology Training Program Alexander Justen Kiessling Biotechnology Training Program Danielle Lohman Pagliarini Biotechnology Training Program Ian Windsor Raines Biotechnology Training Program
52 Training Grant Awards 2014 continued Aubrey Ellison Raines Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Sarah Hansen Hoskins Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Andrew Reidenbach Pagliarini Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Samson Condon Senes Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine Michael Bellecourt Landick Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Laura Bond Ntambi Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Roger Diehl Kiessling Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Graham Erwin Ansari Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Sean Johnston Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Anastasia Lindahl Denu Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Molly McDevitt Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Kalie Mix Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Amelia Nestler Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Lucas O'Neill Ntambi Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Katharine Schulz Harrison Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Brandon Taylor Kimble Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences James Vasta Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Michael Veling Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Johnnie Walker B. Fox Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Naomi Walsh Hull Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Sarah Wessel Keck Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Anna Kropornicka Ansari Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Benjamin Minkoff Sussman Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Brendan Floyd Pagliarini Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Program Kimberly Krautkramer Denu Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Program Erik Jessen Landick Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Sarah Robinson Kimble Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Funita Phan Mosher Training in Cancer Biology 2015 Megan Dowdle Sheets Biotechnology Training Program Alexander Justen Kiessling Biotechnology Training Program Sarah Hansen Hoskins Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Andrew Reidenbach Pagliarini Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Samson Condon Senes Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine Zachary Kemmerer Pagliarini Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Program Kimberly Krautkramer Denu Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Program Josue Baeza Denu Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Michael Bellecourt Landick Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Laura Bond Ntambi Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Roger Diehl Kiessling Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Elisa Frankel Audhya Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Evan Glasgow B. Fox Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Trish Hoang Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Sean Johnston Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Anastasia Lindahl Denu Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Molly McDevitt Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Kalie Mix Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Amelia Nestler Pagliarini Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Kyle Nishikawa Raman Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Lucas O'Neill Ntambi Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Katharine Schulz Harrison Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Brandon Taylor Kimble Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Nathan Thomas Henzler-Wildman Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Naomi Walsh Hull Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences
53 Honors & Awards Graduate Students Training Grant Awards 2015 continued Sarah Wessel Keck Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Alejandra Canales Attie Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Anna Kropornicka Ansari Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Benjamin Minkoff Sussman Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Erik Jessen Landick Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Alex Murphy Kimble Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Margaret Rodgers Hoskins Predoctoral Training in Molecular Biophysics Christopher Brandon Attie Training Program in Translational Cardiovascular Science 2016 Kyle Robinson Pagliarini Biology of Aging and Age-Related Diseases Training Grant Megan Dowdle Sheets Biotechnology Training Program Evan Glasgow B. Fox Biotechnology Training Program Alexander Justen Kiessling Biotechnology Training Program Dylan Plaskon Raman Biotechnology Training Program Sarah Hansen Hoskins Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Mark Klein Denu Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program Samson Condon Senes Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine Josue Baeza Denu Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Roger Diehl Kiessling Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Elisa Frankel Audhya Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Alexis Lawton Denu Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Anastasia Lindahl Denu Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Kalie Mix Raines Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Kyle Nishikawa Raman Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Hridindu Roychowdhury Romero Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Katharine Schulz Harrison Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Brandon Taylor Kimble Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Nathan Thomas Henzler-Wildman Graduate Training in Molecular Biosciences Alejandra Canales Attie Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences Zachary Kemmerer Pagliarini Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Program Kimberly Krautkramer Denu Molecular and Applied Nutrition Training Program Anna Kropornicka Ansari Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics Megan Leander Raman Predoctoral Training in Molecular Biophysics Margaret Rodgers Hoskins Predoctoral Training in Molecular Biophysics Christopher Brandon Attie Training Program in Translational Cardiovascular Science
Photo by Robin Davies 54 Undergraduates Biochemistry Undergraduate Hilldale Undergraduate Research Fellowship Summer Research Award 2013 Chin Leng Cheng (Raines) Drew Birrenkott 2013 Thomas Alderson (Markley) Drew Gunderson (Pagliarini) Emily Gasteyer Chin Leng Cheng (Raines) Kristin Harrington (Ntambi) Bridget Mais Kellie Kolb (Landick) Emily Lingeman (Martin) Sarah Nordeen Hong Hong Liao (Butcher) Kayla McKaveney (Craig) Enio Perez Jack Vidani (Kiessling) Hannah Meddaugh (Fox) Jyothiprashanth Prabakaran Kevin Walters (Raines) Tayla Olsen (Cox) Nicholas Sanchez Lucas Zarling (Kiessling) Madhusudan Rajendran (Weibel) Alexander Sliwicki 2014 Allison Abellaneda (Wildonger) Matthew Sternke (Record) Jack Vidani Ibrahim Ali (Markley) Kevin Walters (Raines) Cl ar a Ye Claire Armstrong (Senes) Si Wang (Record) Emily Baumann Lucas Zarling (Kiessling) Evan Buechel (Record) Yurun Zhang (Record) Lixue Cheng (Record) 2014 Allison Abellaneda (Wildonger) Emily Baumann Victoria Heinrich (Weibel) Matthew Ashton (Hoskins) Sin Chan Daniel Hron (Landick) Daniel Chantigian (Holden) Eric Madsen Matthew Lammers (Weibel) Sherry Cheng (Record) Daniel Magyar Bradley Maerz (Weibel) Rachel Dvorak (Cox) Bill Mulligan William Mulligan Victoria Heinrich (Weibel) Mengyao Niu John Nielsen (Wickens) Isabel Johnson (Pagliarini) Nicholas Rettko Madhusudan Rajendran (Weibel) Hong Hong Liao (Butcher) Meghan Turner Meghan Turner Jiayue Liu (Ansari) Matthew Wolf Benjamin Weber (Kiessling) Victoria Martino (DeLuca) 2015 Claudia Aldrich (Kiessling) Jennifer Nguyen (Wildonger) Aaron Anderson 2015 Claudia Aldrich (Kiessling) Adam Awe Adam Awe Amanda Beltrame (Raines) Carol Coutinho Amanda Beltrame (Raines) Nathan Delvaux (Holden) Richard Giza Katherine Faulkner (Weibel) Emma Doenier (Kimble) Amal Javaid Matthew Grieshop (Ansari) Matthew Grieshop (Ansari) Katherine Jiang Katherine Jiang Matthew Lammers (Weibel) Tej Mehta Matthew Lammers (Weibel) Evan Lange (Senes) Yiming Qin George Luo (Hoskins) Adam Lauko (Craig) Kelsey Rayment Hannah Mast (Hoskins) George Luo (Hoskins) Jane Ryu Bradley Reynolds (Weibel) Kevin O'Connor (Record) Un Shin Schmidt Alexander Peterson (Raines) Praisten Tiano (Senes) Matthew Stefely (Pagliarini) Brexton Turner (Hoskins) Brexton Turner (Hoskins) Lucas Zarling (Kiessling) Benjamin Weber (Kiessling) Alina Zdechlik (Ntambi) 2016 Joshua Bensen (Kiessling) Jennifer Bird 2016 Samuel Block Clare Kai Cimperman (Record) Sloane Bratton Jonathan Doenier (Kimble) Arthur Clark (Hoskins) Aditya Dewanjee Brandon Dopkins (Holden) Andrew Delaitsch (Butcher) Austin Gluth Wen Fu (Kiessling) Jonathan Doenier (Kimble) Runyu Hong Jack Gellerman (Mitchell) Michael Drahnak (Pagliarini) Laurel Kelnhofer Austin Gluth Wen Fu (Kiessling) Jorgo Lika Collin Goebel Evan Heiderscheit (Ansari) Brady Lundin Timothy Guthrie (Kimble) Hannah Mast (Hoskins) Matthew Schneider Lucy Jiang (Senes) Helena Record (Wildonger) Sarah Wang Lili Kim (Kiessling) Nicholas Yan (Craig) William Xiang Joseph Kraft (Record) Hannah Poe (Hoskins) Ryan Rebernick Joseph Trimarco (Cox) Ke Xu (Kiessling) Nicholas Yan (Craig) Trevor Zachman-Brockmeyer (Holden) 55 Honors & Awards Undergraduates Nationally Competitive Campus-Wide Goldwater Scholarship Holstrom Environmental Scholarship 2013 Drew Birrenkott 2013 Heather Smaby Emily Lingeman (Honorable Mention) 2014 Rachel Dvorak (Cox) Sophomore Research Fellowship 2015 Bill Mulligan 2015 Jaime Brown (Friesen) Meghan Turner Ryan Rebernick Sarah Wang 2016 Hannah Mast (Hoskins) William Xiang Annie Yao Marshall Scholarship 2016 Stefani Lucarelli (Butcher) 2015 Rachel Dvorak (Cox) (Finalist) 2016 Bill Mulligan (Finalist) Named a "Top 15 of 2015" 2015 Emily Baumann Rhodes Scholarship 2014 Drew Birrenkott University Book Store Award 2016 Bill Mulligan (Finalist) 2014 Chin Leng Cheng (Raines) 2015 Victoria Heinrich (Weibel) Kevin O'Connor (Record) 2016 Lucas Zarling (Kiessling) Other National ASM Undergraduate Research Capstone Award Wisconsin Idea Fellowships 2015 Madhusudan Rajendran (Weibel) 2016 Stephen Early (Kiessling) 2015 Victoria Heinrich (Weibel) RIKEN Summer Internship in Japan Kevin O'Connor (Record) 2013 Drew Gunderson (Pagliarini) 2016 Lucas Zarling (Kiessling)
Meetings Other Campus ASBMB Meeting Best Undergraduate Poster Prize (Cell Biology) Adult Student Scholarship Award 2015 Allison Abellaneda (Wildonger) 2014 Emily Zytkiewicz (Record)
ASBMB Meeting Undergraduate Poster - Honorable Mention Alpha-Helix Scholar 2015 Doug Zoerner (Hoskins) 2014 Amanda Belltrame 2016 Brexton Turner (Hoskins) Alina Zdechlik (Ntambi) CALS Outstanding Senior Award 2015 Rachel Dvorak (Cox)
Ann M. Durra Scholarship 2016 Ashley Ng (Wildonger)
Trewartha Undergraduate Honors Research Grant 2015 Matthew Lammers (Weibel)
University League General Scholarship 2016 Ashley Ng (Wildonger)
56 From the Emeritus Faculty
1. “Decision Making by Drosophila Julius Adler, 2016, Anatomy, Physiology, Flies”, Julius Adler and Lar Vang, 2016, and Biochemistry. is is a hypothetical bioRxiv. Here we isolated mutants that can’t paper (allowed most rarely!). In all decide what to do when presented with organisms, whether microorganisms or attractant plus overpowering repellent, they plants or animals, there is a mechanism that move only randomly. controls everything ( gure below). 2. "Drosophila Mutants that Are Motile I will be very happy to see any of you, but Respond Poorly to All Stimuli Tested”, please come. Recently, I saw one of my Lar Vang and Julius Adler, 2016, bioRxiv. recent undergraduates, Joe San lippo. e Julius Adler Here we isolated mutants that fail to highlight there is a beautiful baby girl, Rose! It has been wonderful to have eight respond to any stimulus, whether attractant Joe and Madelyn have just graduated with super undergraduates this past year, and or repellent. e mutants are defective in a a Ph.D. from Indiana University and are seven super undergraduates the year before, gene needed for sending information from now doing postdoctoral work out east, Joe to do research with me. As a result of their sensory receptors to response. at Princeton. Ran Tao has visited me, he is excellent work, we have published these 3. “A Search for e Boss: e ing very excited about being a rst-year student papers just now: Inside Each Organism at Is in Charge”, at the University of Wisconsin Medical School here. I enjoyed meeting Ran’s parents from China a year ago in Madison.
Where decision making, final pathway, and behavioral response are thought to act in organisms in general
Department. It has been gratifying to hear Downs is “living the dream,” also at UGA. unsolicited praise of UW Biochemistry Steve Singer is now Director, Microbial over the years from university leaders Communities Group at Livermore Labs, around the world as well as from former and Dan Wacks continues as Dept. Chair at students of the Department spanning the Redlands University. Luis Rubio runs a large decades. On returning, it is reassuring to group at the Centro de Biotechnologica see that the graduate program remains in Madrid and recently had his funding strong and that the young faculty of the from the Gates Foundation renewed. I had department are inspiring. dinner with Ranjini Chatterjee, Yan Ma Paul Ludden I have enjoyed hearing from quite a few and Dehua Zhao in SF this past year and It is wonderful to be back “Home” in former students and postdocs over the past was amazed at how they have moved into Biochem aer an absence of 15 years. Aer year and the range of their careers amazes the CRISPR world! Two former labmates ve years at Cal Berkeley and just nishing me. Haian Fu is now the holder of an now work in the art world – Chris Staples 10 years at SMU in Dallas, Linda and I are endowed chair at Emory. Sandy Grunwald as an artist and environmentalist in Florida relishing the opportunity to spend part is currently serving as interim associate and Ken Dick is now the business manager of each year in Madison. My time away vice chancellor for academic a airs at UW for the very successful art enterprise of his has given me a perspective of UW and LaCrosse. Scott Ensign continues to receive wife Michelle. Aer stepping out as Dean its Biochemistry Department, and I am every teaching accolade at Utah State. Tim of Faculties at Stockholm University, con dent that there is no greater university Hoover is embarking on his second term Stefan Nordlund keeps nding things to and certainly no better Biochemistry as department chair at UGA and Diana do – most recently he served as chair of a 57 humanities department as they reorganized. continues to explore the rhizobial genome. 141D) available to me and giving me a Bob Lowery is setting new directions in his Gail Stirr is now the Administrative space in his lab where I am playing around company, BellBrook Labs and occasionally Director at McPherson Eye Research developing experiments for future scientists gets together with Len Saari to play some Institute at UW. Connie Williams and her who are currently in third grade. anks, bluegrass. Len and his wife Brenda, hosted husband, Je , are also back in Madison. Je Brian. I especially enjoy sitting in on the Linda and I at their Northern Minnesota was an undergrad with Bob Burris and is Fox lab meeting when I can. Of course, retreat last summer. Len is now enjoying now President of Lucigen. I have lost touch I continue my collaboration with Gary retirement aer many years and many with some former labmates and I hope this Roberts – now as a Frisbee golf partner; roles at DuPont. Priya Rangaraj is now a note will prompt them to drop me a line we routinely crush the opposition team market segment manager at ermo sher at [email protected]. Apologies if I of retired UW mathematicians against Scienti c in Rockford and Yaoping Zhang overlooked anyone who had sent a note to whom we play regularly. CALS Dean Kate is now a Senior Scientist and Project leader me this year. Vandenbosch also asked me to serve on the in the GLBRC at UW. Juan Imperial from Brian Fox has made my return to the CALS Board of Visitors and I am enjoying Madrid visited this past summer and he Department easy by making an oce (Rm that experience. Best wishes to all. – Paul
been frequently quizzed about how I am rule” and quips about too many signi cant taking to retirement. My stock answer is gures in published data! that I haven’t yet found anything that I do Perry Frey and I collaborated on an not like about it. I have been fairly successful invited chapter on Biological Catalysis in avoiding tasks that I do not enjoy or at for e Encyclopedia of Cell Biology. Russ least minimizing their consumption of Poyner assisted with a chapter on Fourier my time and energy. I have enjoyed very methods of resolution enhancement in much attending the Biochemistry Club EPR for Methods in Enzymology. lunches and Departmental seminars and I have appreciated hearing from many George Reed colloquia. Participation in the 909 seminar former students and postdocs in the Greetings from 4404A HFD BSB. In has provided opportunities to pass along Department and Institute. the short four years post retirement I have axioms such as the now legendary “1 kcal
e decade started o with our building of his experiences as a Physiology Course a new home (Cathy’s design) coupled with student (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ our moving to Cape Cod, MA, near to pmc/articles/PMC3814159/). I totally the research/teaching laboratories at the loved the job although it sometimes Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in involved a degree of multi-tasking that is Woods Hole. not my customary way of working. My goal was to have a hobby lab at the My appointment ended and following MBL meaning that I would have a desk and an unprogrammed heart attack, and Bill Reznikoff a bit of bench space in someone’s lab. From recovery, I moved back into my hobby that territory I collaborated with other lab. I have been using high throughput A Decade of Retirement scientists and did some of my own research. DNA sequencing to study mixed bacterial e UW-Madison Biochemistry I knew that it would work because I had populations and sometimes the mobile Department – although some things recently completed a 6-month sabbatical elements found in some of the genomes. change slowly (same drive for excellence in a microbial genomics lab and had a blast Again it has been great with wonderful in research and education) and quickly (and a BLAST) and published two papers. science and colleagues. Best of all, I have (imagine trying to nd my way in the “old” My idyllic situation changed when the NO ocial responsibilities. Henry Mall Biochem building [a great new director of the MBL (Gary Borisy, an Cathy and I enjoy being with our venue for undergrad education] or checking old friend from UW Madison days) decided grandchildren, having friends visiting the faculty list and wondering who a third that he could twist my arm to perform us, and traveling. Before I retired, James of the faculty are [they are new, Bill! a sign administrative duties. is lead to a 6-year Ntambi introduced us to Uganda and of the continued excellence in research]). appointment as Director of Education. Cathy, in particular, has continued our In ten years, a lot can happen. Our (Cathy's In MBL terms this means supervising the connections supporting K-12 education and my) lives have also included both great advanced research courses for grad initiatives. continuation with the previous 37 years students and postdocs. To get a avor of Yes, you can visit but please give us at and new exciting happenings. these courses, see Doug Weibel’s description least a week’s notice. 58 From the Labs
Calling all Past Members of the Department of Biochemistry Like the Department on Facebook We want to hear from you!!!! Let us know what you have been up to. facebook.com/UWBiochem Please remind us of the faculty or facility you worked with and approximately when. Follow the Department on Twitter Keep in touch!! Send updates to: twitter.com/UWBiochem E-mail: [email protected] or regular mail in care of the department.
independently – 150 million years ago, Institute of the College of Menominee when the grass and Arabidopsis lineages Nation funded by the USDA. e goal of split, the continents were in di erent the project is to develop a cross-cultural locations, the earth’s climate was much community of educators, basic researchers, warmer, and vernalization systems had not and First Nation members to foster, in yet evolved! a culturally integrated manner, science Daniel Woods and Tom Ream, starting education in energy and sustainability “from scratch,” investigated owering at a at the middle school, high-school, and molecular level in Brachypodium. Starting undergraduate levels. A major driving force Amasino lab with 1) screens for mutants with altered in this project is my colleague Hedi Baxter- We continue to study how plants owering behavior and 2) studies of the Lau er who has a Ph.D. in education. I am perceive seasonal cues and translate that genetic basis of natural variation in owering also the faculty director of the Great Lakes perception into the initiation of owering. behavior, Daniel and Tom identi ed many Bioenergy Research Center’s Education For many years, we have studied this in the novel genes that are critical for the initiation and Outreach program; a major goal of this model plant Arabidopsis, but since the last of owering in Brachypodium. Tom moved e ort is to broaden the understanding of newsletter, our focus has shied to a model on to a position at Monsanto, and Daniel has current issues in bioenergy at the K-16 levels grass, Brachypodium distachyon. Some of continued to piece together grass owering through the development of curriculum the reasons for this shi include: 1) grasses pathways starting with identi ed genes and modules, teacher-training workshops, are an important group of plants in many using various biochemical techniques to and supporting summer research for native ecosystems as well as for food (corn, esh out the molecular details of the role K-12 teachers in Energy Center labs. I wheat, and rice are grasses), 2) grasses are of the gene products. We have found that also co-authored a National Academy of also a potential bioenergy crop and delaying a unique phytochrome photoreceptor is Sciences report on ‘Developing Assessments owering can increase biomass yields, so involved in day-length sensing in grasses for the Next Generation Science Standards’ our work is relevant to our Great Lakes (see Highlights section of this newsletter), about methods to evaluate K-12 students’ Bioenergy Research Center, and 3) much of and several other exciting projects are in the understanding of scienti c concepts. what my lab and others have learned about pipeline. Daniel has been recently joined News of lab members who have become owering in Arabidopsis is not likely to in this e ort by graduate student Aaron alumni since the last newsletter: As noted apply to grasses (see below); thus, owering Lomax and postdoctoral fellow Frédéric above, former postdoc Tom Ream is now in grasses is a new frontier to explore. Bouché who joined us aer completing his at Monsanto. Graduate student Claudia One seasonal cue we have studied is thesis at the University of Liège. Sanabria, who did her thesis work on exposure to winter cold. Many plants that Associate scientist Scott Woody biomass traits in Brachypodium, has joined are adapted to temperate climates require continues to develop innovate tools for a research organization, Corpoica, in her exposure to winter cold in order to ower bringing classical and molecular genetics to native Colombia. Her web page (in Spanish) in the spring. e changes brought about by high school and undergraduate classrooms; is http://www.corpoica.org.co/menu/ninv/ exposure to cold are known as vernalization. these tools use a collection of rapid-cycling nuevos-investigadores/claudia-patricia- When we began to study vernalization in Brassica rapa mutants that he developed (see sanabria-galindo/. Joohyun Lee, who Arabidopsis, nothing at all was known about http://fpsc.wisc.edu). did postdoctoral work on the mechanism how this process operated at a molecular In addition to our owering studies, I by which the duration of exposure to level. Over the years, we and others worked have been involved in a few educational cold is measured during vernalization, is out many of the molecular details of how endeavors beyond teaching in our large- now a Research Assistant Professor at the exposure to winter cold leads to owering in enrollment course, Biochemistry 501. One University of Massachusetts at Amherst. the spring. However, what we have learned is a project entitled “POSOH—Place-based Ryland Bednarek, who did an internship in about vernalization in Arabidopsis does Opportunities for Sustainable Outcomes the lab aer completing his undergraduate not apply to grasses because the grass and and High-hopes” which is a partnership degree, is now a graduate student in the Arabidopsis vernalization systems evolved with the Sustainable Development Department of Plant Pathology at Cornell.
59 screen for genes that a ect insulin that determine which organisms in the secretion. e heavy liing was done by our microbiome take up residence in the wonderful core team: Mary Rabaglia, Kiki intestine. With Wes Pike, we have identi ed Schueler, Donnie Stapleton, and Shane a gene that a ects bone mineral density. We Simonnett. e e ort paid o ; we have are excited by all of the leads and the many mapped ~20 loci and are now drilling in to exciting projects that will emerge from our study individual genes and their function. genetics pipeline. Joining this e ort is a Our genetic studies have also been a hub new graduate student from the Nutritional for collaborations with other labs. With Sciences program, Laura Borth. In addition, Attie lab Josh Coon’s lab, we are mapping genes Jieun Lee, a graduate of Michael Wolfgang’s Our lab mobilized over the past two that control metabolites and proteins. lab at Johns Hopkins, will soon join the lab years to carry out an ambitious genetic With Federico Rey, we are mapping genes as a postdoctoral scholar.
of Dave Brow and Aaron Hoskins. Our student and published an outstanding collaboration with Dave Brow led to the paper describing the mechanism of protein- rst high resolution structure of the U6 catalyzed annealing of U4/U6 RNAs. snRNP core, solved by Eric Montemayor. In 2016, the laboratory welcomed In collaboration with Nate Sherer’s lab new biophysics Ph.D. student Gurnimrat (Molecular Virology and Oncology, “Nimu” Sidhu and a new postdoctoral McArdle Laboratory), Pablo Garcia- scientist, Yuichiro Nomura. Our strong Miranda described how RNA stability team of undergraduate researchers includes determines the eciency of frameshiing Andrew Delaitsch, Matt Larson, Stefani Butcher lab in HIV. Pablo is now a professor in Seville, Lucarelli and Johanna Virta. Our NIH- Greetings from the Butcher lab! Spain. Sam continues to be an active co-PI funded e orts to understand how proteins e past several years have been busy of NMRFAM, along with John Markley and RNA associate during spliceosome and exciting. We continue to enjoy our and Katie Henzler-Wildman. Allison assembly continues to produce exciting new productive collaborations with the groups Didychuk is a senior biophysics Ph.D. structures, so stayed tuned!
repair their DNA aer being exposed to demonstrated a substantial role of the stress. gene in DNA double strand break repair. Steven Bruckbauer received a Wisconsin Stefanie was also involved in a wide range Distinguished Graduate Fellowship award, of teaching programs at UW-Madison. e Morgridge Biotechnology Fellowship In summer 2016, Stefanie accepted a in December 2016. Congratulations, position as Teaching Postdoctoral Fellow, Steven! Biotechnology Center, North Carolina Bragging rights for the lab go to Mike State University, Raleigh, NC. who scored the plane seat next to Steven Since the last newsletter the following Cox lab Van Zandt in May 2016. Little Steven and Cox lab graduate students received their Current Lab News: Mike had such a great conversation that Ph.D.s: We're very pleased to welcome two Mike was given a free ticket to see Bruce 2013 – Rose Byrne Nash: Scientist, graduate students into the lab this year. Springsteen and the E Street Band's rst InDevR, Inc., Boulder, CO. Miguel Osorio Garcia from the concert of their European tour in Barcelona. 2014 – Angela Manlick Gruber: University of California, Berkeley. While Way to go Mike! Scientist, PreventionGenetics, Marsh eld, at UC, Berkeley, Miguel worked in the lab WI. of Seth Rubin identifying the activating Goings: 2015 – Tae Jin Kim: Scientist, Provivi, partners of the E2F family of transcription Stefanie Chen joined the Cox lab as Inc., Santa Monica, CA. factors. a postdoctoral fellow in 2012. She came 2015 – Erin Ronayne: Scientist, Zachary Romero from New Mexico from the Tao-shih Hsieh lab at Duke ermo Fisher Scienti c, Carlsbad, CA. State University. While at New Mexico University where she explored the need for State University, Zachary worked in the topoisomerase activity in the Blm-Top3a Cox Lab Visitors: lab of our Cox lab alumna Shelley Lusetti "dissolvasome" DNA repair complex. Susan T. Lovett, Professor, Department (Ph.D. UW-Madison 2002), who's an In the Cox lab, Stefanie took over the of Biology and Rosenstiel Medical Sciences Associate Professor at that institution. analysis of two proteins that turned up Center, Brandeis University. Fall 2016, While in Shelley's lab, Zachary studied the in an earlier screen, the products of the Susan spent a month in the lab while on various mechanisms that bacteria use to genes yejH and uup. Her studies of yejH sabbatical working on RadA. 60 Camille Henry, graduate student, Aix the bacterium Herbaspirillum seropedicae. and Yeajin Song, Rachel Dvorak, Reece Marseille University (UMR AMU CNRS) Shelley Lusetti, Associate Goi on, Tayla Olsen, Mary Menhart, LBC Barras. Spring 2016, Camille spent Professor, Department of Chemistry Kevin Rice and his wife, Angela Gruber two months in the lab working to test and Biochemistry, New Mexico State and Khanh Ngo. If any other alumni are other biochemistry properties of RecA like University. August - September 2014 and in the Madison area, make sure you stop by DNA binding and DNA exchange for the March - May 2015, Shelley worked in the to say hi and let us know how you're doing. di erent oxidation states of RecA. lab while on sabbatical. Liz and Carol are still around so you'll be Emiko Sano, postdoctoral fellow, Other lab alumni who dropped by while remembered well. University of Montana in the lab of in town were un Shan, Dennis Harris Scott Miller. Spring 2016, Emiko spent one month in the lab to learn how to purify RecA proteins from the bacterium Acaryochloris marina. A. Brindhi Hyacinth, Khorana Program for Scholars. Summer 2016, Brindhi spent 10 weeks in the lab studying the e ect of methyl methanesulfonate in the expression of DNA polymerase V subunits in E. coli. Wellington Claiton Leite, graduate student, Ponta Grossa State University, Brazil. From 2014-2015, Wellington working in the lab carrying out experiments related to the RecA and RecX proteins of Mike Cox and Steven Van Zandt May 2016
18th – and as productive as ever. Two grad an undergrad in the lab, has been working students from Jarek’s lab, Julia Majewska with him on the Tim44 project. All three and Michal Rogaczewski, worked in the have made very productive use of the Bpa lab for a year on their Fe-S cluster biogenesis site speci c crosslinking approach. projects, as well. Szymon Ciesielski, Brenda Schilke Lindsey Kauschner (nee Hoover) and Tom Ziegelho er have been tackling graduated. Aer an extended trip to a question that we have been working on Central America, she moved back to her for years – and just what is the di erence beloved Austin, TX, with a job at UT between the J-protein that can maintain Craig lab Austin working in the oce of “Student yeast prions and the similar one that can’t? Greetings from the Craig lab. Much has Success Initiatives.” Her work on ribosome Combining yeast genetics and NMR, we happened since the last dispatch from the associated chaperones, Jjj1 and Zuo1, was may be getting there. lab – many comings and goings. picked up by a postdoc who joined the Both Hyun Young Yu and Om Some folks have both come and lab, Ruchika Sharma. Ruchika comes Shrestha have moved on to new positions. gone: Tommer Ravid from the Hebrew to Madison from the Indian Institute of Hyun Young is happily employed at University of Jerusalem recently le the Science, Bangalore - via Bethesda, Maryland Catalent Pharma Solutions here in the lab aer spending a sabbatical year here. where she had a short, but productive, stint Madison. Om moved (and got married!) We got immersed in ubiquitin system/ in the Masison lab. to a position at Cold Spring Harbor Labs proteolysis and he in molecular chaperones. Two other graduate students are close to – where, not surprisingly, he continues We both learned a lot, including HOW graduating – almost there! Kanghyun Lee structural biology. COMPLICATED both systems are! And has made progress in guring out Zuo1 and Last, but not least, Betty is no longer Jarek Marszalek has come and gone several its interaction with both the ribosome and chair. She is spending much more time on times, spending a few months a year here that pesky atypical Hsp70 Ssz1. See-Yeun the 4th oor, thinking about science in as a visiting professor from his permanent Ting has been picking apart Tim44, that ways she had not before (e.g. what exactly home at the University of Gdansk. It is amazingly complex sca old protein of the is an NOE?). hard to believe that the recent visit was his mitochondrial import motor. Nick Yan, 61 doing well in their new positions, and I am of single, pure enzymes with various happy to see them learning how to do even polysaccharides in plant cell walls. Johnnie more things at once, as is required by their is now a postdoctoral fellow at Emory chosen profession. University. Our two most recent Ph.D. graduates Kirk ended a multi-year project with are Justin Acheson (Summer 2015) and Elanco this year, and quickly transitioned Johnnie Walker (Fall 2015). to work with Evan, Nathan and Emily Justin made a nal ash in his Ph.D. on various aspects of bioenergy-related thesis, aer guring out how to get enzymology. We continue to use cell-free Fox lab toluene into the active site of toluene translation as a platform for gene discovery Hello from 141B Biochemistry 4-monooxygenase crystals. He was able to from many di erent species, bioinformatics, Laboratories. is updates comings and carry out catalysis in the crystal and trapped biochemical assays, and structural biology goings from 2013 to present. a reactive intermediate in the active site that in our research. Emily has been using cell- In the Biochemistry Laboratories, the is best described as an Fe2+/Fe3+-peroxo free translation to provide functional current people, sorted by their lab bay bound at the C-4 position to a delocalized ngerprints to phylogenetic trees. is is a from south to north are Nathan Kuch toluene radical. We worked with Prof. great way to improve on the uncertainties (IPiB graduate student, BTP trainee), omas Brunold from the Department of of in silico genome annotation. Evan Glasgow (IPiB graduate student, Chemistry on this project, and the result Mike Mbughuni became a Clinical BTP trainee), Kirk Vander Meulen (sta is now in press in a respectable science Chemistry Fellow at Mayo Clinic in scientist) and Emily Beebe (sta scientist). magazine. Justin is now a postdoctoral Rochester, MN and Lai Bergeman became Jenna Amro is our current Dane County fellow at the University of Virginia. the Administrator for NMRFAM. Youth Apprenticeship intern, following Johnnie nished his dissertation work You can read elsewhere in this newsletter in the footsteps of Edward Cao, our most with two notable publications on how my comments on being Chair of the proli c ever “bard of the white board.” enzymes react with plant biomass. His rst Department (page 3). is is a great honor In 2014, we had a remarkable year, as major contribution was on the fusion of and challenge. I look forward to every day Chris Bianchetti took a job as an Assistant carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) because of the outstanding people I get to Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry to a broad speci city catalytic domain. He work with from my research lab, from the at UW Oshkosh, Shishir Chundawat showed di erent CBMs could promote department, and the entire university. became an Assistant Professor of Chemical activity by guiding the catalytic domain to To you, the reader of these brief Engineering at Rutgers University, and di erent substrates. Johnnie also worked comments, best wishes for the future. Taichi Takasuka became an Assistant with Lai Bergeman and collaborators Please let us know if you are in Madison for Professor of Biochemistry at Hokkaido from California and Georgia on another a visit. We would be happy to see you. University in Sapporo, Japan. All three are study where he demonstrated the reactions
our model. Our main interest is the hot a new sta scientist at Imanis Life Sciences topic of how the host cell’s DNA damage (Rochester, MN), where he works with response (DDR) is manipulated by DNA Rianna Vandergaast (Ph.D., 2011) who has viruses to expedite viral DNA replication, been an Imanis scientist for nearly two years a project initiated by Jonathan Mitchell – they both don’t seem to want to get away (Ph.D., 2013) and continued by Nate Byers from cold weather. I have heard much from (Ph.D., 2016), both of whom were IPiB grad many PDF lab alumni this past year. During students in the lab. Jonathan and Nate found the holidays, I love the cards and letters that that a baculovirus-encoded protein has the keep me up-to-date with the families, new Friesen lab ability to alter the DDR of mammalian cells jobs, and travels. New positions and jobs have A hearty greeting from the Friesen lab. and thus we are looking into the mechanistic over owed recently. Special congratulations I hope that this newsletter nds everyone details of this exciting discovery and to Nadine Dalrymple (Rutgers University happy and in good health. Located on probing other large DNA viruses for similar Foundation), Kim Schultz (FDA Fellow), the 7th Floor of R.M. Bock Laboratories, e ects. So for the rst time, we have lots of Mike Guy (Northern Kentucky University), the PDF lab is one of ve research groups mammalian cells plus other DNA viruses in Dave Taggart (MorNuCo, Inc.), Erik Settles that comprise the Institute for Molecular the lab. Something new happens every day! (Northern Arizona University), Becky Cerio Virology (IMV). Both Ann Palmenberg and A second-year Ph.D. student Jared Erickson (Nat. Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & myself are Biochemistry faculty members is continuing this interesting project. Kidney Diseases), and Jen Cartier (Unity within the IMV - I currently serve as IMV Both Nate and Jonathan are the most College, Maine) on their new positions over Chair. Our lab continues to research the recent lab members to graduate. Nate is a the past couple of years. Also, congrats to biochemistry of host-virus interactions postdoctoral fellow at the Centers for Disease Gulam Manji, who is now on the medical by using insect-speci c baculoviruses as Control (Fort Collins, CO) and Jonathan is faculty at Columbia University Medical 62 Center. Erica Lannan (Prairie State College) good reason for us to get outdoors for long working together. Nonetheless, one of was awarded tenure this year, too – hurrah! runs and canoeing. I continue my hobby of my favorite jobs is teaching within the Kathy Zuehlke (Hajek) continues her skeet shooting at a local club. I shoot well Biochemistry Department – I continue award-winning science classes at Chamblee enough that I have been traveling to high- to instruct upper-level undergrads in my in Atlanta. Traveling from Indiana, Doug end competitions here in the Midwest on virology course (Biochem 575) with my LaCount and Susan Mendrysa, along with the weekends. However, this summer (2017) co-instructor Andrew Mehle, a faculty their boys, stop by oen in Madison on their there will be less fun and more work as I member and in uenza expert in the Dept. of way to visit family up north – both Susan and once again will serve as the local organizer Medical Microbiology & Immunology. is Doug are tenured faculty at Purdue. Proving for the American Society for Virology spring semester, we have almost 70 students that it's a small world, Tamara Rodems, meeting to be held at Monona Terrace enrolled, mostly seniors. ese students daughter of Steve Rodems, is working in late June. We expect a record-breaking inspire me to come into the lab early to work on her Ph.D. here in the Cancer Biology attendance (>1,500) of virologists simply on and update my lectures. e advantage to Program (McArdle)! e Rodems family because Madison is such a great place to have me is that the sunrises from my east-facing stopped to say hello when they dropped the ASV conference (really it’s all about the oce window have been spectacular (see Tamara o to begin her studies. Steve Zoog quality of beer served!). is year’s meeting photo) as seen from the 7th oor. Oen, I (BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.) says all is will be my third Madison meeting in a row also can also view the Bock Labs’ family of well in California and still follows Badger working as the local host. Fortunately, the red-tail hawks then. ese majestic aviators athletics. Steve Pullen and his wife Sue virology community here is very strong and have nested and raised two broods on (Steve is a research director at Boehringer we have lots of excellent help, including the window ledge on the 8th oor of our Ingelheim, CT) have sent me a holiday my co-host Kristen Bernard, a professor in building – pretty cool! It looks to be another photo card for more than 20 years in a row, Veterinary Medicine who studies West Nile successful year as they are already building thereby documenting their family history – virus. Some of you may remember when our their nest for the coming season. Similarly, it’s one of my favorite Christmas gis each lab would present more than ve workshop I wish success to all of you, too. God bless! year. Lastly, Diccon Fiore continues to work talks at the Madison ASV meeting because in virology as he runs the Kalejta Lab on the we all volunteered to 6th oor here in the IMV. help with the meeting Anna and I, plus our four Brittany anyway! spaniels, are doing well. Just this summer we My duties as Chair nished repairs and renovations on our home of the Institute keep on Friar Lane due to a direct hit by an F3 me plenty busy writing, tornado. We were lucky as neither our family budgeting, organizing, nor anybody else in the neighborhood was reporting, and listening hurt by that June twister – nonetheless, three to faculty and the Vice- houses right next to us were destroyed. We Chancellor. It couldn’t were home at the time that the warning sirens be done without help sounded o at midnight and barely had time from our Bock Labs to duck for cover in the basement! To this Director, Kim Voss, who day, the dogs hide under the bed whenever keeps the virologists and the wind picks up! Our britts continue to molecular biologists provide welcomed entertainment and a here in the building
are already beginning to leave the lab! We Masters’ degree in May 2016 and has since have set up very nice lab space next to the moved on to the Center for Open Science. Wildonger lab (the -donger in Hodonger) Maggie Rodgers is the rst of the “tri- and all the microscopes are up and running, snRNPs” to earn her Ph.D. in December collecting data, and being used by a number 2016 and will soon begin a postdoc with of scientists across campus. is relieved Sarah Woodson at Johns Hopkins. Maggie Aaron immensely… Our tri-lab collaboration thinks she may be U6, but if she’s the rst to with Dave Brow and Sam Butcher continues leave does that mean she’s U4? to be strong and rewarding, while the lab cat e other tri-snRNPs (Tucker Carrocci Hoskins lab and dog (Louise and Agatha) keep Aaron and Josh Larson) are busy at the moment Greetings from the Hoskins Lab! A lot busy. nishing up experiments and writing papers has changed since the last newsletter when e biggest news is that Hoskins Lab in preparation for graduating in early 2017. I was just starting up the lab. e lab is up graduate students have been set loose upon Tucker has done a tremendous amount of and running and the rst graduate students the world! Alex DeHaven received his work exploring the functions of the U2 63 proteins SF3b1 and Prp5 in splicing, while Htet have gone on into graduate school work on U2 snRNA dynamics that was Josh’s detailed single molecule experiments in biophysics at UT Southwestern and begun by Alex before moving on to other on U1 have provided new insights into how Harvard, respectively. Josh Paulson is back projects. splicing factors work together to promote in the Hoskins Lab as our lab manager (or In addition to Josh Paulson, Dr. Chris spliceosome assembly. Expect to hear about Mr. Manager) and is pretty much essential DeCiantis joined the Hoskins Lab as a sta their further adventures in the next update. for keeping us up and running. scientist and is in charge of the microscopes Sarah Hansen and Ian Norden are each Former postdocs Sandy Tretbar and in the post tri-snRNPs era. Chris, his wife, making great strides with their graduate Jiacui Xu have each secured positions in and two children came to Wisconsin work. Sarah is nishing up her biophysical their home countries. Sandy is now a postdoc from North Carolina, but luckily Chris is characterization of U1/RNA interactions on a habilitation track at Martin Luther originally from upstate New York and is while Ian recently installed a microinjection University Halle-Wittenberg while Jiacui is familiar with cold weather. system on the departmental STORM now in the Department of Biotechnology at’s all for this dispatch. If you are in microscope and is pioneering single molecule at Jilin University. Xin Chen joined the lab the neighborhood, stop by, say hello, let’s imaging of snRNAs in human cells. brie y as a postdoc aer earning his Ph.D. catch up. On the undergraduate front, current from Dave Brow’s lab members David Beier, Arthur Clark, lab. Xin worked on Nikolai Grabowski, Hannah Mast, Jack some Mango-RNA McCann, and Hannah Poe are keeping us related projects in all busy. Former undergrad Nate Jakowski collaboration with is now working in Florida as a pharmacist, Peter Unrau before and Megan Waibel is currently in pharmacy leaving for a postdoc school. Ross Laurent will soon be Dr. Ross at Northwestern and is currently at UW’s School of Medicine. University in the Brexton Turner and Matt Ashton are both Bao lab. Earlier this taking some time o before medical school, year, Dr. Clarisse while Leon Sun and George Luo have both van der Feltz joined entered MD/Ph.D. programs at Boston the Hoskins lab University and Case Western, respectively. from Brandeis as Doug Zoerner is in medical school at U. a postdoc and is Kentucky, and both Sean Rodgers and Zaw nishing up some
Prasad was in the Cellular and Molecular Mohantey and several undergraduates Pathology Graduate Program and has now Emma Doenier, Drew Fenlason, Tyler returned to complete the MD portion of Hansen, Allie Hentschell, Hannah Karp, his MD/Ph.D. program. And nally, Aaron Andy Krawczyk, Sarah Jayawardene and Kershner, a CMB student who nished Cecilia Lei. his Ph.D. in 2011 but stayed in the lab for Despite this eux, the lab is still a lively a few years as a Research Specialist, has now place. Some are still with us, including moved on to a postdoctoral position at postdoc Scott Aoki; IPiB students Heaji Shin Stanford University. and Kim Haupt and our amazing permanent Kimble lab Several postdocs completed their training sta Sarah Crittenden, Jadwiga Forster, e Kimble lab has seen its usual ux and moved on to faculty positions: Dr. Kyle Anne Helsley-Marchbanks and Peggy Kroll over the past few years. Friend is now an Assistant Professor at Connor. And others have joined, including ree IPiB students completed their Washington and Lee University; Dr. Amy three IPiB students Brandon Taylor, Tina Ph.D.s and moved on to postdoctoral Groth is an Assistant Professor at Eastern Lynch and Brian Carrick, a joint student positions: Elena Sorokin is now at Stanford Connecticut State University; Dr. Hannah with Professor Wickens; two Genetics University; Dan Noble is at Bristol Squibb; Seidel is an Assistant Professor at Eastern students Sarah Robinson and Alex Murphy; and Douglas Porter, a joint student with Michigan University; Dr. Erika Sorensen- and a postdoctoral fellow ChangHwan Lee. Prof. Wickens, is at Stanford. In addition, Kamakian is an Assistant Professor at Undergraduates currently in the lab include two MD/Ph.D. students nished the Ph.D. Wabash University IN. Sindhu Battula, Jon Doenier, Tim Guthrie part of their program: Clint Morgan was And others have both joined and gone and Kim Law. an IPiB student, has nished his medical from the lab in this interval, including Please stop by to say hello and get caught training and moved on to a residency in post-baccaulearate researchers Marco Ortiz up if you are in the neighborhood!! General Surgery at UW-Madison; Aman and Anne Ryan, research specialist Ipsita 64 more recently was with the Great Lakes renewable resource and lower NMRFAM’s Bioenergy Research Center. Another operating expenses considerably. Many retiree was Eldon Ulrich. John and Eldon familiar faces are still at NMRFAM rst published together in 1975 when pursuing their special skills and planning Eldon was a graduate student at Purdue. publications: Milo Westler on spin ey collaborated together continuously ideographs, Gabriel Cornilescu on oriented thereaer, except for the few years when molecules large and small for structure Eldon worked in industry. Eldon with John determinations from RDC measurements, was co-founder of BMRB, and Eldon served Dave Aceti on ligand screening, Marco Markley lab as BMRB’s director for many years until his Tonelli on virtuoso NMR applications to Greetings from the Markley laboratory. retirement. Pedro Romero has ably taken collaborative projects, Maria Nesterova on Many changes have transpired since the over as BMRB director, but, fortunately, expanding the NMRFAM-BMRB small last Newsletter message. We survived the Eldon still comes around as an invaluable molecule database, Woonghee Lee on clianger competitive grant renewals for asset to the project. ree postdocs have NMR soware development, and Ronnie both the National Magnetic Resonance moved on to new pursuits: Jameson Bothe Frederick on protein production and Facility at Madison (NMRFAM) and to Merck, Jaime Stark to law school and labeling par excellence. Mark Anderson BioMagResBank (BMRB). And over the patent law, and Vincent Chen back to keeps NMRFAM instrumentation going past year, we have been winding down Duke University. Reid Alderson, who was and Dmitri Maziuk straddles NMRFAM two large projects with John as the PI a very productive undergrad, received a and BMRB, keeping our computer systems and John Primm as Project Manager: the fellowship for a year at Oxford University operational. Zsolt Zolnai is the PI on an Mitochondrial Proteome Project (part of the followed by graduate studies with Ad NIH grant that funds his Sesame LIMS NIH Protein Structure Initiative), which Bax at the NIH. A new postdoc, Fariba project; he continues to work from his partnered our group and that of Dave Fathi, joined the lab bringing experience apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Pagliarini with the large protein structural in metabolomics. Paulo Cobra, who spent genomics facility led by Guy Montelione a year in the lab on a graduate student BMRB at Rutgers, and the Accelerated Renewable fellowship from the Brazilian government, Pedro Romero’s sta at BMRB includes Energy Project (funded by USDA Biomass has returned as a postdoc. Hesam Dashti, an able new addition, Assistant Scientist Research and Development Initiative), who completed his Ph.D. in the Biophysics Kumaran Baskaran, senior programmer which has involved UW groups from Ag Program, is staying on as a very creative Honggao Yan, and Jon Wedell, who & Applied Economics, Computer Science, postdoc. Finally, Hamid Eghbania is started with BMRB as an undergraduate, Biological Systems Engineering, Space back as an Associate Scientist in charge of continued working for BMRB part-time Science & Engineering, UW-Extension, soware development. while traveling the world, and is back full- along with two Wisconsin companies and time. BMRB, which, along with RCSB a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin. e NMRFAM PDB, PDBe, and PDBj, is a branch of the goal of the rst project was to determine We are delighted with the successful Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB), structures of mitochondrial proteins and recruitment of Associate Prof. Katie hosted the annual meeting of the Advisory discover their functions. e second project Henzler-Wildman to the Biochemistry Committee of the wwPDB in Madison, on is aimed at sustainable solutions to dairy Department as a co-investigator of October 12, 2016. is meeting brought manure management and optimal use of NMRFAM along with co-PIs Sam together structural biologists from the US, its agricultural nutritive components. Our Butcher and John. Katie is helping us UK, Japan, India, and New Zealand. investigations of the bits of biochemical transition NMRFAM into the areas of machinery and their mechanisms in the membrane proteins and solid-state NMR. NMRbox steps leading to the biosynthesis of iron- Her start-up funds enabled the upgrades Sta members of BMRB and sulfur proteins in mitochondria continue of a Varian 600 and the Varian 900 MHz NMRFAM (Hamid Eghbalnia, Hesam to yield surprising results from the e orts spectrometer to Bruker consoles and probes Dashti, Jon Wedell) are involved with this of Kai Cai, Ronnie Frederick, and Marco o ering new capabilities, including higher new NIH-funded project, whose PI is Je Tonelli. We have submitted an NIH R01 sensitivity solution NMR (including 19F) Hoch from UConn. e goals of NMRbox application that we hope will enable us to and state-of-the-art solid-state NMR. e are to make soware packages used in ramp this project back up next summer. wide-bore 400 MHz NMR spectrometer, NMR spectroscopy more available, more the rst one John purchased upon moving interoperable, and more persistent. Goings and comings. to UW-Madison, reached the end of its Rita Hannah, our wonderful Project operational lifetime and was ceremoniously News from former lab members Assistant for many years, retired at the end decommissioned. We have secured funding Jin Hae Kim, following a postdoc of 2015. We were fortunate in recruiting for a helium recovery, puri cation, and in Germany, has moved to a position at Lai Bergeman as Rita’s replacement; liquefaction system for NMRFAM that Samsung Labs in Korea. Lai worked with John in the Center for is being ordered and will be installed in Eukaryotic Structural Genomics and 2017. is system will conserve this non- 65 degree in May 2015, wrapping up his work as a live-in aide in Madison, and plans to on the role of stearoyl-CoA desaturase-2 in complete an accelerated master’s program adipose tissue biology. He is now teaching in nursing in the fall of 2017. chemistry and biology at Polytechnic High Ahmed Aljohani is a h year graduate School in Fort Worth, TX. His mentorship student in endocrinology and reproductive extends beyond the classroom, as he is also physiology. Ahmed’s research focuses on coaching the high school baseball team. the e ects of hepatic SCD1 de ciency Visiting graduate student Fang Ding on systemic glucose metabolism. Last joined our lab for a year and characterized year, Ahmed was joined by Biochemistry Ntambi lab primary adipocyte cell lines derived from undergraduate student, Abe Bonneville. Greetings from the Ntambi lab. Since SCD mouse models. She is now a research Laura Bond is a sixth year biochemistry our last letter, we have said goodbye to assistant at the Suzhou Institute of Systems graduate student. She is investigating how several great lab members. ree graduate Medicine in Suzhou, China. heat production in brown adipose tissue students and two undergraduates are Postdoctoral fellow Chang-An Guo regulates fatty acid metabolism in liver and still carrying on the Ntambi lab tradition joined our group in 2013 and worked white adipose tissue. Laura also worked and delving further into the regulation with visiting scientist Linjie Wang and with undergraduate Alina Zdechlik to and physiological functions of fatty acid undergraduate Eva Shelton to determine determine that brain-speci c deletion of desaturation. the di erent roles of SCD1 and SCD2 in SCD1 in uences lipid homeostasis in the Maggie Burhans defended in adipocyte di erentiation. Chang is now liver. Alina graduated in May 2016 and December 2013. Her research elucidated a Scientist at Omniox in San Carlos, CA. is now a rst year biochemistry graduate the di erential metabolic e ects of the Linjie has returned to his home institution, student at the University of Minnesota. hepatic monounsaturated fatty acids, oleate Sichuan Agricultural University, in Dr. Ntambi is still actively involved and palmitoleate. She is now a postdoctoral Chengdu, Sichuan, China, where he is a in the Uganda Program and the Village fellow at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research professor of animal genetics and breeding. Health Project. rough these programs, Center in Seattle, WA. In her position in Sabrina Dumas is a h year nutritional UW students work alongside community Mario Kratz’ research group, she studies sciences graduate student studying the members to support sustainable nutrition adipose tissue in ammation in humans. mysterious skin-speci c SCD1 knockout and agricultural programs in Lweza, Maggie’s undergraduate students have also mice. Sabrina is interested in how bile acid Uganda. He was awarded the Wisconsin le the lab and are both pursuing careers metabolism and immune cell in ltration Without Borders Peter Bosscher Award in healthcare. Nick Friedlander is a rst help protect the skin-SCD1-/- mice from for his commitment to the Village Health year pharmacy student at UW–Madison, weight gain on an obesogenic diet. Sabrina Project. and Kristin Harrington is a rst-year MD/ worked with undergraduate student Please stop by our lab in the 4th oor of Ph.D. student at Emory University. Robbie Boehmer, who graduated in Biochemistry Laboratories to say hello. Lucas O’Neill graduated with a master’s December 2015. Robbie is now working
are tiny metabolic “machines” inside our by virtue of the metabolic signatures that cells responsible for converting the food we result when they are genetically ablated. eat into a common energy currency for use 2. Establishing how Coenzyme Q is throughout our bodies. When mitochondria made. Coenzyme Q (CoQ) is an essential fail to function properly, some ~250 component of mitochondria’s main diseases can result. A major bottleneck in engine—oxidative phosphorylation. CoQ understanding – and ultimately in treating was discovered right here in Madison in the – these diseases is de ning functions for late 1950s in the laboratory of David Green; the hundreds of mitochondrial “parts” however, many steps of its biosynthesis Pagliarini lab (proteins) that malfunction in each disease. remain unclear. Danielle Lohman, Andrew Hello again from the Pagliarini Lab, Recently, we have published articles that Reidenbach, and Jon Stefely led recent which is now located in the Morgridge make use of leading edge technologies papers published in PNAS and Molecular Institute for Research just down the street to systematically de ne these functions. Cell (x2) that highlight new functions of from the DeLuca Biochemistry Complex. Brendan Floyd and Mike Veling, along proteins in the CoQ biosynthesis pathway, We have had a busy and productive few years with collaborators from Josh Coon’s group, thereby building on this UW-Madison building upon Madison’s rich history in led a Molecular Cell study that identi ed legacy. metabolic biochemistry and mitochondrial functions for proteins by identifying other 3. Determining how mitochondria are biology. In particular, our group has proteins that they interact with physically. made and regulated. Most mitochondrial continued to focus on three general areas: Jon Stefely, also in collaboration with the diseases are extremely dicult to treat 1. De ning functions for orphan Coon group, led a Nature Biotechnology because there is no e ective way to repair mitochondrial proteins. Mitochondria study that likewise de ned protein functions the disrupted processes. Our group is
66 exploring new therapeutic angles by de ning with many people coming and going. Five and undergraduates (Jessica Bowden, Mike the pathways and processes that regulate graduate students successfully defended Drahnak, Katie Jeddeloh, Jacob Sokol, and mitochondrial function and biogenesis. their Ph.D. theses: Amelia Nestler (nee Lainy von Bank) have joined the laboratory Jarred Rensvold, in collaboration with Still) moved to Oregon to become a since the last newsletter! I look forward to John Denu’s group, led a study on the Consulting Project Manager at Northwest featuring their awards and accomplishments transcriptional and epigenetic regulation Green Chemistry; Josh Carson is now next time around. Finally, in September of of mitochondrial production published in a Licensing Associate at WARF; Jarred 2015, our entire group recently moved to JBC. Xiao Guo and Natalie Niemi led a Cell Rensvold remained with the laboratory as the Morgridge Institute for Research where Reports study that identi ed new functions of an Assistant Scientist, and Brendan Floyd & I also direct the new Morgridge Metabolism a phosphatase that regulated mitochondrial Jon Stefely are continuing the MD portions eme. metabolism by dephosphorylation select of their MD/Ph.D. program. On the We hope to continue reporting exciting proteins in the matrix. other side, no fewer than 12 new postdocs new stories from each of our research We are fortunate that our work has been (Mateusz Manicki), graduate students themes in the next Newsletters. In the recognized by a number of honors and (Mike Veling, Zack Kemmerer, Kyle meantime, check out our lab website (www. awards. ese include three new Hilldale Robinson, Nate Murray, Edrees Rashan, pagliarinilab.org) for the latest news and awardees (Isabel Johnson, Matt Stefely, and and Jon Schmitz), sta (Rahul Gupta), publications! Mike Drahnak), two new NSF graduate fellowships (for Danielle Lohman and Mike Veling), and three UW Distinguished Graduate Fellowships (for Jarred Rensvold, Andrew Reidenbach, and Brendan Floyd), among others. I (Dave) was fortunate to be recognized by a UW-Madison Vilas Associates Award, a CALS Pound Research award, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which included a visit to the White House to meet President Obama! Finally, in a notable non-science competition, graduate student Zack “Science Ninja” Kemmerer led a three-person UW-Madison team that won the inaugural Team Ninja Warrior: College Madness tournament, beating out Georgia, UCLA, and MIT in the nals! Coming and Goings: e lab has changed quite a bit in the past few years,
(collaborating with Jim Gern and Yury was (solicited) and published in the Annual Bochkov) comparing and contrasting these Reviews of Virology. e article has a lot of isolates with the deep knowledgebase from history from the early years, science stories the rhinovirus A&B. It took us two years and name dropping. ose of you from to learn to grow RV-C in the lab, but last the olden days (especially Biochemies) fall, Marchel delivered the rst small batch might nd it amusing to learn how much to Michael Rossmann at Purdue, and his the graduate program and the Department structure wizards achieved 10 Å resolution have changed… all for the better! Marchel by cryoEM tomography, in just 36 hrs! e and Kelly are ne, and send warm wishes Palmenberg lab full structure was published this spring (2.8 to our alumni around the world, as does Palmenberg is chugging on! Last year, Å), and it’s eye-popping in its beauty and Roland Rueckert who still stops in having accomplished most of what was ever unique new features. ere is so much new occasionally when he isn’t tending his worth doing with this virus, we put to bed biology in this arena that we are sure to be forests in Rhinelander. e ASV meeting the nal EMCV projects aer Holly Basta, working here for a while. Ann’s health is will return to Madison in June of 2017, Valjean Bacot-Davis, Ryan Perry and currently OK (been in remission for 5 years, and it would be a great opportunity for an Jessica Ciomperlik nished their theses. yeah!) so it’s likely the lab will continue for informal reunion. Ann, Marchel Hill and Kelly Watters are perhaps the next 4-5 years before wrapping Please keep in touch. now working full-time on rhinovirus C, it all up. is past fall, Ann’s autobiography 67 Cyp27b1 and Cyp24a1. In addition, we have University Biotechnology Center using our also explored the regulation of the genes for CRISPR/Cas9 methods and target RNAs RANKL, Mmp13, Opg, as well as the gene fully recapitulated in vivo the activities for broblast growth factor 23 (Fgf23). It has governing this gene’s regulation in vitro. His been surprising to discover how increasingly current research e orts are directed towards complex the regulation of these genes has understanding the mechanisms that govern turned out to be. An extremely important the regulation of key renal genes involved in facet of our work has been the application of the metabolism of vitamin D. Signi cantly, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing methods to the Mark has also been invited to speak at several Pike lab study of not only gene regulation in cells but key scienti c meeting in both the bone and Members of the Pike Lab have been active of genomic sites in the mouse in vivo. is vitamin D elds. during the past few years. Given our interest technique has rapidly decreased the time Nancy A. Benkusky. Nancy is an in gene regulation, which is an integral required to delete an enhancer in the mouse Assistant Researcher, and has provided key component of our e orts to understand genome and as such has enabled the direct technical support for Dr. Meyer as well as for the molecular actions of the vitamin D study of regulatory function of speci c genes all other members of the Pike Lab. Nancy has hormone, the emergence of new genome- in vivo. is approach has revealed details of provided the technical skills that have been wide techniques to study this process that is gene regulation that are unique to speci c crucial for the creation of virtually all of our central to cellular function has been nothing genes such as the Vdr, Rankl, and others, ChIP methods as well as for the preparation short of revolutionary. In brief, we adopted and has provided new insight into the tissue- of all ChIP-seq libraries that continue to the techniques of ChIP-seq analysis in cell speci c regulation of genes not available in be sequenced at the Biotechnology Center. culture, and subsequently in tissues derived vitro. Perhaps the most profound outcome Nancy is also fully versed in the isolation from mice and other organisms to explore the of the application of techniques described and qPCR analysis of RNAs from mouse genome-wide principles of vitamin D action above is that the molecular mechanisms tissues, and it is safe to say that she as well both in vitro and in vivo. ese techniques of gene regulation can now be explored as others have performed literally thousands have allowed us to con rm previous ndings, entirely in vivo at a level of detail that was of analyses of gene expression by these rede ne the nature of emerging principles once limited only to that in cell culture. methods. Nancy has collaborated most and to discover new features essential to the We look forward to further technological recently with Mark Meyer in our e orts to regulation of gene expression by the vitamin advancements that will not only provide understand the mechanisms through which D hormone. Perhaps the most interesting new insights, but further illuminate our the renal genes responsible for producing of these ndings is the observation that understanding of vitamin D action. and then degrading the vitamin D hormone the bulk of the regulatory regions of genes are regulated in vivo. Surprisingly, despite for not only vitamin D action but of other Key Individuals in the Pike Lab key e orts in the 1970’s, the mechanisms transcription factor mediated actions are Mark B. Meyer, Ph.D. Mark Meyer through which these regulatory events occur located within introns and within intergenic is an Associate Scientist in the laboratory, have remained unknown until now. regions frequently many kilobases from and represents a central player in not only Seong Min Lee, Ph.D. Seong Min Lee gene promoters. e implications of this the laboratory infrastructure, but in the is an Assistant Scientist in the laboratory, discovery are many. Another observation is conductance of scienti c projects of strong and has focused his work of several years the dynamic nature of the regulatory sites relevance to our overall research objectives. on understanding the regulation of the that mediate the activity of genes. ese Dr. Meyer has formed the basis for our VDR gene. is work makes use of both the regions are highlighted epigenetically, and genome-wide e orts using ChIP-seq analysis genome-wide techniques we have employed their presence or absence is controlled and was instrumental in the application as well as those involving genome editing. during development, di erentiation, and of CRISPR/Cas9 methods to our overall Using these techniques, Seong Min has disease. us, target genes for vitamin D research. His past e orts have focused on been able to de ne key regulatory elements and the vitamin D receptor (VDR) are not the impact of bone cell di erentiation within the VDR gene that mediates its only cell-type speci c but cell-state speci c on the cistromes for the master bone cell regulation by hormones such as PTH as well. ese ndings have revealed that regulators RUNX2 and C/EBPβ and on and its autoregulation by 1,25(OH)2D3. genes represent a dynamic and temporally the molecular consequence of this cellular Identi cation of these regulatory regions dependent moving target for regulation by process on gene regulation by vitamin D. emerged only as a result of the application hormones that include 1,25(OH)2D3. Mark has also focused on the regulation of ChIP-seq analysis. Having identi ed the Embedded within the genome-wide data of Mmp13, a gene that is regulated by transcriptional and regulatory domains of sets, however, have been multiple genes that multiple hormones including the vitamin D the mouse VDR gene, Seong Min has been have been of primary interest to us for many hormone. Using ChIP-seq, CRISPR/Cas9 able to rescue the biological phenotype of the years. Importantly, with the advent of the and other techniques in cells in culture, Vdr -null mouse with large DNA segments above techniques we have been able to explore he has uncovered unique mechanisms containing either the mouse or human VDR many of these genes including those involved through which this gene is regulated by genes, thus humanizing the mouse. In so in the vitamin D system such as the VDR and these hormones. Indeed, deletion of one of doing, he has been able to explore mutant more recently the vitamin D metabolic genes these regulatory regions in the mouse at the forms of the human VDR and to create a 68 mouse model of the human syndrome of is currently focused on understanding in Madison. Finally, Erin Riley has moved hereditary vitamin D resistant rickets. Seong the regulation of the new phosphaturic to a technical position at Northwestern Min has been also involved in developing in hormone FGF23, whose physiological and University in Chicago where she is current vivo ChIP analysis of mouse tissues including pathophysiological actions may well eclipse employed as a Research Assistant to further those from the intestine and kidney to those of the parathyroid hormone. her skills as an animal researcher. explore mechanisms linked to the tissue- Mitchell Ritzinger is currently an Several Biochemistry undergraduate speci c expression of genes; these analyses undergraduate Biochemistry student in the students have competed their degrees and have been extended to the application of in laboratory who plans to conduct Honor have moved on. Tori Osinski was accepted vivo ChIP-seq analysis. Current e orts are Student esis studies in 2017. in the Department of Biochemistry at the focused on understanding of the regulation University of Virginia in 2015 in pursuit of speci c genes in unique vitamin D target Former Members of the Pike Laboratory of her Ph.D. Allison Danielson was tissues such as the parathyroid gland. Seong Since the last newsletter, several accepted into the College of Osteopathy in Min received a Trainee Travel Award for the members of the laboratory have completed Minneapolis, MN in 2015. She obtained 18th Workshop on Vitamin D held in 2015 their studies and moved to new positions several co-authorships with Melda Onal in the city of Del in Belgium. to advance their careers. Hillary St. John on papers that were published during her Melda Onal, Ph.D. Melda is currently a completed her studies on the impact of stay. Jon Markert was an honors student Research Associate in the Pike Lab. She has osteoblast di erentiation to the terminally in the Pike lab and was accepted into focused on understanding the regulation of di erentiated osteocyte, earning her Ph.D. the Department of Biochemistry at the the RANKL gene in the in vivo setting of the in 2015, and has taken a research position University of Colorado at Boulder in the fall mouse. RANKL is a highly complex gene at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Boston, of 2016 in pursuit of his Ph.D. He will also whose product serves multiple biological MA. She is using her CRISPR/Cas9 skills to be a coauthor on several papers with Melda roles and its regulation is equally complex explore the role of mutations in the syndrome Onal and Mark Meyer for his contributions as well. Melda created a series of mouse of Cystic brosis. Sohel Shamsuzzaman, to their work. strains that contain individual deletions B.S., M.S., received his Ph.D. in 2016 of each of the key enhancers that were from the Department of Biochemistry and Summary identi ed by ChIP-seq and other methods, has returned to a faculty position in the As a laboratory leader, I consider it a and has focused over the last few years in Biochemistry Department at the University privilege to have worked or to continue to characterizing the regulatory and biological of Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sohel work with the talented individuals named consequence of these deletions on the mouse explored the role of vitamin D in a mouse above, who have made this laboratory a phenotype. e e ects of these deletions model of atherosclerosis and discovered a powerhouse for quality vitamin D research. con rmed virtually all of the observations new role of RANKL in the calci cation of As a complete “data junkie,” their collegiality that we had made through in vitro studies, this diseased tissue. Alex Carlson received with each other and with me and their hard but extended our understanding of RANKL his Ph.D. in 2016 from the Program in work and e orts have made it a joy for me to gene regulation at the tissue level enormously. Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology here come to work every single day. e University In short, these studies have revealed on campus. Alex evaluated the mechanisms of Wisconsin-Madison and the Department developmental, age-related, cell-type through which the gene Cyp24a1 was of Biochemistry here in Madison are to be speci c and hormone-speci c features of the regulated by the vitamin D hormone in vitro commended for the quality institutions that individual enhancers that govern RANKL and in vivo. Alex also discovered a novel they represent. expression in vivo. ese results could only enhancer that controls the expression of be obtained through in vivo studies. Melda Fgf23. He is currently employed at Epic here
In a May 2016 ceremony at the Kohl Center, Jim Vasta, Trish Hoang, Robert Newberry, and Kristen Andersen of the Raines lab received their Ph.D. degrees alongside Bill Rutter, who received an honorary doctor of science degree (see story on page 21). Bill was a postdoctorate with Henry Lardy at the Institute for Enzyme Research. In turn, Ron was a postdoctorate with Bill and now serves as the Henry Lardy Professor of Biochemistry.
69 with collaborations with the University now undergoing scaled-up agricultural of North Texas (UNT) and a Plant testing due to its novel mechanism of Journal article showing its essential role action. in Medicago truncatula – in some plant • Visualizing ligni cation in plants. species, it appears to be less crucial. Developed both uorescent and click- • Lignins om novel hydroxycinnamyl based monolignol derivatives for alcohols. Discovered, with collaborators providing insight into ligni cation in again from UNT, lignins entirely derived plants (and stunning pictures). from non-canonical new monomers • New paradigm. Ushered in a new Ralph lab ca eyl alcohol or 5-hydroxyconiferyl era of ‘designer lignins’ with a review Research alcohol. Both result in almost on the topic in Current Opinion in e last few years have been pretty homogeneous linear unbranched Biotechnology. exciting (and maybe just a little out of polymers in the usually ‘messy’ Yes, all these and more were in just the last control) in the Ralph lab, where students, combinatorial radical coupling process 3 years! We have also been lucky enough postdocs, and researchers are involved in – papers in the Plant Journal and Plant to have 5 of our articles featured as cover a range of oen collaborative studies on Cell. articles – see the graphic. plant cell wall biochemistry. Although • Novel hydroxycinnamaldehydes-derived work devoted to developing new methods, lignins. Discovered, with collaborators at Departures discovering genes and elucidating pathways, Purdue U., ways to make lignins entirely Fachuang Lu, who has been in the and just plain old good science, gets from hydroxycinnamaldehydes (instead group for nearly a quarter of a century (!!) sidelined by such an exercise, we suspect of the monolignols – hydroxycinnamyl now has a Director’s position at Guangzhou that among the most exciting and impactful alcohols), published in Plant Cell. is University, in China. We miss him, but he are the following, in no particular order… followed the discovery, with collaborators continues to collaborate and visits twice a • Zip-lignins. We nally succeeded in at UNT, of a healthy Medicago CAD year to work in the lab and keep his hand implementing, with collaborators at MSU mutant that had a lignin 95%-derived in with synthesis and method development. and UBC, in Arabidopsis and Poplar, from hydroxycinnamaldehydes! Liping Wei (known to us as Lily Summer) and published in Science, an idea from • New lignin monomers. Discovered, completed her MSc. Wu Lan and Kate the group (originally at the U.S. Dairy with collaborators in Spain, that various Helmich graduated with their Ph.D. Forage Research Center) to use an exotic plants utilize the avone tricin in their degrees and moved on to bigger and better gene, FMT, to engineer the biosynthesis ligni cation – a series of 4 papers in things. Postdocs/scientists: Alden Volker of monolignol ferulate conjugates xylem- Plant Physiology and the Plant Journal. got a nice job aer not being with us for speci cally into the plant. is ultimately Tricin is the rst phenolic from outside so long, Ali Azarpira moved to a position results in inserting readily cleavable ester the lignin pathway to be shown to be in California, Yuki Tobimatsu is now bonds into the backbone of the lignin incorporated into the polymer; we are on a Professor at Kyoto University, Japan polymer (‘Zip-lignins’), making lignin’s the trail of more – stay tuned! where his career is rocketing o , and Jorge removal in processing for pulp and paper • Rescuing dwar ng. Discovered, in a Rencoret is back at INRAS in Seville, Spain or for sacchari cation to sugars and liquid study led by collaborators at Purdue – we sure miss these wonderful researchers/ fuels, considerably more facile and less and published in Nature, a new way, colleagues/friends. energy demanding. With sensitive new disruption of certain ‘mediator’ genes, methods developed to unambiguously to recover the growth and viability of Arrivals determine that monolignol ferulates transgenic plants containing lignin We’ve been fortunate to have been joined had been used in ligni cation, we then derived solely from the usually minor by scientists Steve Karlen and Yukiko discovered, and published in Science p-coumaryl alcohol. Tsuji, postdocs Rebecca Smith, Fengxia Ad ances, that Nature was already doing • High-yield conversion of lignin Yue, and Justin Mobley (and, brie y, Li this in some natural plants! Engineering to monomers. Developed, with Shuai), and Ph.D. student Yanding Li, a related PMT gene from grasses into collaborators in Switzerland and and Matt Regner is back with us. A host dicots also improved their processability published in Science, a way to stabilize of wonderful undergrads help liven up the (as published in Plant Physiology and the lignin structures during acid hydrolysis lab – Eric, Allison, Joshua, Justin, Minty, Plant Journal). such that near-theoretical yields of RJ, Evan, and Stephanie. We’ve also been • Gene discovery. Discovered and lignin monomers were obtained upon honored to host Fulbright Fellow Mathish authenticated new genes in a pathway hydrogenolysis; a record 78% monomer Nambiar-Veetil from India, and Professor that was already thought to be fully yield was obtained from special transgenic Xueming Zhang (China). Visiting Ph.D. understood. With collaborators in poplars. students included Jinze Dou (Finland), Belgium, we reported in Science on the • New antifungal. Discovered and Fabio Carvajal and Paulo Castro (Chile), new lignin monomer pathway gene published in PNAS a rather potent new Brett Diehl (Penn. State), Anders Jensen CSE (which was also featured on the natural antifungal compound derived (Denmark), Yang Lin (UCSB), Rebecca cover of that issue), and followed it up from grass cell wall components that is Smith (UBC), and Heather Free (NZ). 70 Social news ere have been babies galore to members of the group – we were starting to worry about the water in the building’s bubblers! No, seriously, it is so great when such wonderful people have kids.
Most of the Sept 2016 group in our lab at the Wisconsin Energy Institute. Journal cover articles from 2013-2016 (below).
Ru (Chem) is a postdoc at the University of studying initial interaction between E. coli Minnesota-Twin Cities. Raashi Sreenivasan RNAP and promoter DNA fragment in (Biophys) is a postdoc in the Department the transcription initiation process using of Physiology and Pharmacology at the uorescent techniques. Both are successfully Oregon Health & Science University. mentoring many undergraduates in Rituparna Sengupta (Biophys) completed their research. Kevin recently joined our her Ph.D. followed by a short postdoc here, laboratory to do research on transcription and is currently with her husband in Saint initiation in vitro and in vivo, including Paul, MN, exploring non-academic research a collaborative project with the Raman Record lab opportunities. laboratory. Tom and the group are thriving in Dr. Kate Henderson joined our lab Our lab hosted two CAPES wonderful space in the almost-new in 2015 aer obtaining a Ph.D. in bio- Postdoctoral Fellows from Brazil. Rogério Biochemical Sciences Building, and research inorganic chemistry from Mississippi State C. Sassonia from Universidade Federal is going well. We hope that all of you reading University. She was recently awarded a de Tocantins, Palmas, visited in 2012-13 this are thriving also, and hope to hear from Ruth Kirschstein National Research Service to study Hofmeister salt e ects on DNA you. Award (NIH postdoctoral fellowship) for helix formation. André Luiz Galo from São her research in transcription initiation. Paulo State University, São Paulo, visited in Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Current graduate students are Xian 2015-16 to study e ects of sugars on DNA Researchers Cheng (Biophys), Munish Chhabra stability by isothermal titration calorimetry. Since 2012, ve graduate students from (Biophys) and Kevin Lauterjung (Biophys). our lab have earned Ph.D. degrees. D. Xian, in her fourth year and with a thesis Undergraduates Benjamin Knowles (IPiB) is a postdoc at to write, is working on the thermodynamic One of the major goals of our lab is University of Texas Southwestern Medical analysis of small solute interactions with the training of undergrads to become the Center. Emily Guinn (Chem) is a NIH biopolymer functional groups in water. next generation of scientists. In any given postdoctoral fellow at the California Her initial rst-author paper was recently semester we have about 15 to 20 undergrads Institute for uantitative Biosciences, published in Biophysical Journal, and more doing research with us. Congratulations to University of California-Berkeley. Emily are on the way. Munish, in his third year, is all of our graduating seniors going on to 71 graduate school, medical school, or starting from individual functional groups. He is annual Biophysical Society Conference in careers! greatly missed! Los Angeles. Cristen, Lindsey, Munish, and In 2015 we hosted undergrad Khorana Irina Shkel’s exceptional skills in Kate presented posters at the Phage Meeting Scholar Priya Chittur from Anna computational analysis continue to be here at UW-Madison. Kate and Munish University in India, now in grad school at invaluable for our research team, and she presented posters, and Xian gave a talk in Cal Tech. is summer (2017) Khorana has co-authored several of the dozen papers the 2016 Gibbs Conference in Illinois. Ritu Scholar Rahul Vivek from Bharathidasan our lab has published since 2012. Aer presented a poster and gave short talks on her University will visit our laboratory. completing her undergrad degree in 2014, research at both the FASEB Protein Folding ree laboratory undergraduates were Mikaela Poulos became a research intern in the Cell Conference in Vermont (2016) honored by their selection for overseas and lab manager, in addition to performing and Proteins Gordon Research Conference internships in 2016. rough the S.N. Bose RNAP research. Aer a year with us, in New Hampshire (2015). Ritu and Xian program, Cristen Molzahn did a semester Mikaela moved to New York to begin presented posters at the Gibbs Conference of research on prion proteins in Bangalore, her career at Electro Fiber Technologies. on Biothermodynamics in Illinois (2015). India. Kai Cimperman did summer Completing her undergrad degree in 2015, Ritu also presented a poster at the Annual research at Oxford University in England Emily Zytkiewicz then became lab manager Biophysical Society Conference in San through the UW SCORE Program, and as well as continuing her solutes research. Francisco (2014). Undergraduate Lindsey Runyu Hong did summer research at Previous undergraduate researcher and Felth participated in the international EMBL in Heidelburg, Germany through intern Si (Cece) Wang is now a medical ASBMB conference as part of the group led the UW Super-G Program. Kai and Runyu student at Northwestern. by Mike Cox, and received an Honorable both received Hilldale Research Fellowships ree recent graduates who did Mention award in the Undergraduate Poster for this academic year for their senior thesis undergraduate research in our laboratory Competition in DNA, RNA, chromosomes research, Lulu Callies and Yao Yao received stayed on for a gap year in 2016-17 as and gene regulation. Chemistry awards for summer research, research interns while applying to graduate and Joe Kra was awarded a Biochemistry programs. Cristen Molzahn and Lindsey Grants and Equipment scholarship for summer research. High Felth are working with Kate Henderson e lab is supported by a recently- school student Austin Frings (Tom’s to determine how the stability of the RNA acquired NIH MIRA award, consolidating grandson) joined us over the summer to do polymerase-promoter DNA complex a ects our previous separate grants. We’ve recently research. transcription initiation. Sherry Cheng is acquired a new Rapid uench Flow leading the e ort to characterize solute- apparatus (Kin-Tek) for fast kinetic studies Research Scientists, Associates, solute interactions by solubility assays. All of transcription initiation and a freezing Specialists and Interns three interns are gaining valuable teaching point depression osmometer to complement Mike Capp, long-time researcher experience mentoring undergraduates and the vapor pressure osmometers and allow and laboratory manager, retired in 2015. serving as teaching assistants for Tom’s us to study solute-solute interactions at Mike’s many very signi cant contributions biophysical chemistry course. di erent temperatures. included his development and application Check out our website at biochem.wisc. of methods to quantify solute-solute Meetings and Travel edu/labs/record for more information or to interactions in water, and dissect these Kate, Munish, Raashi, and Xian contact us. interactions into free energy contributions presented posters at the 2015 and 2016
respect to my lab, although I have been on radicals in solution with an electronically campus for over three decades, it is only in generated plasma to study protein the most recent decades, i.e., the lab's adult conformation. All of these experiments stage, that I have been in the Department of utilize tandem mass spectrometers, Biochemistry. Our most recent discoveries which have been the workhorse for my are in three areas: (1) identifying a growth lab's studies over the past ten years. Two factor receptor kinase and its peptide ligand additional projects that aren't directly that in plants is fundamental to how cells related to the above core work include (i) regulate their rates of cell expansion, (2) using our mass spectrometers to identify, Sussman lab deciphering the molecular mechanism by out of 1000's of blood proteins, a handful WHAT? Since it has been a number of which the primary active transport protein that are diagnostic biomarkers to predict years since my lab last contributed to the at the cell surface of plants and fungi, i.e., colon cancer and (ii) using next generation newsletter, I need to bring you up to date the 100,000 dalton plasma membrane sequencers to sequence the genome of on quite a bit of new things and thus, please proton pump (H+-ATPase), is regulated the strong voltage electric eel and other forgive the verbosity. Many organisms by growth factors and hormones, and (3) electric sh, as well as direct proteomic go through two stages of development, a using a newly invented instrument that measurements with mass spectrometers, to juvenile phase and an adult stage. With creates microsecond bursts of hydroxyl identify the proteins that nature has used to 72 convert muscle cells into electrocytes, the tandem mass spectrometers to understand amino acids or nucleotides that has been unique cell type of electric organs. We were how radiation covalently modi es the done previously in my lab and others. e particularly fortunate to have two widely proteome of E. coli. It is also pleasing to biological 'pull' for Jamison's work is the read papers published in the journal Science note, in this age of 'translational' emphasis, fact that all of the bacteria, fungi and plant in 2014, one describing our discovery that we were able to obtain federal funding cells in the rhizosphere (i.e., the soil where of the ligand for a plant growth factor for completely basic research using the best plant roots live) are communicating with receptor kinase and the role of the ligand/ possible model system (E. coli) rather than short oligosaccharides of glucosamine. kinase pair in plant development, and the being forced to work in an organism that Plants secrete chitinases which degrade other on electric sh. You might ask what has greater translational bene t but poorer chitin found only in insect exoskeletons connection is there between plant plasma prospects for revealing basic mechanisms. and fungal cell walls, and when they detect membrane bioenergetics and electric sh? oligoglucosamine (using oligosaccharide In fact, there is a clear one since both use WHO? Now for information on who binding plasma membrane receptor high voltages, although in di erent ways, has been doing what. Sussman's Ph.D. kinases), they know that a pathogen is to survive. Plants use a proton pump with students of late are all actively continuing around and they marshal their defenses a stoichiometry of one proton per ATP, their education aer their Ph.D.s by to kill or outlive those pathogens. On while animals use a sodium pump that performing their postdocs in top mass the other hand, symbiotic relationships pumps three sodium ions per ATP. is spectrometry labs. is includes Ed Huttlin between plants and 'friendly' microbes means that the plant enzyme has a reversal and Rachel Rodriguez going to Steve Gygi's and fungi (e.g., nitrogen xing bacteria or potential of ca. 450 mv, while the animal lab at Harvard for their postdoctoral work mycorrhizal fungi) can occur only because one is only 150 mv, which in turn means and Kelly Stecker, a more recent graduate, these friendly cells secrete modi ed that plants can generate much higher going to the mass spec lab of Al Heck at the glucosamine oligosaccharides that the transmembrane potentials than animals (in University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. plant detects with specialized plasma excess of 250 mv with plants, less than 150 Ben Minko , another recent mass spec membrane receptor kinases di erent from mv in animals). e electric eel's electrocyte expert, is a glutton for punishment since the pathogen ones and tell the plant that plasma membrane is unique because it has an he is staying in the Sussman lab as a the microbe or fungus is a friend, not a foe. asymmetric distribution of sodium pumps postdoc for several more years pursuing So, in essence, oligoglucosamine derivatives and channels at the two ends of the cell, some fascinating new mass spec based are the 'internet' of the soil, and our and, because of this, it generates a transient technologies for identifying changes in understanding of their speci c roles and transcellular potential that has enough three dimensional structure/conformation possible use to improve agriculture is sorely power to kill any predator or prey that it of proteins even within a mixture limited by our lack of understanding of wishes. So on the one hand we have sessile containing a complex proteome. Current the e ect of chemical substitutions in the plants with their huge transmembrane Sussmanites include Heather Burch, the glucosamine moiety. potential, and the strong voltage electric chief technician and lab 'enforcer,' ve Postdoctoral scientist Melanie Ivancic eel with its huge transcellular potential. postdoctoral scientists Jamison Wolfer, Pei is continuing work she began in the Both are examples of nature's complexity Liu, Benjamin Minko , Melanie Ivancic Sussman lab as an IPiB Ph.D. student on as well as its commonalities on how the and Miyoshi Haruta and two senior the discovery of a handful of proteins in plasma membrane provides essential life Ph.D. students, ao Nguyen and Jeremy the blood whose concentration predicts functions. Projects in my lab span wide Volkening. Undergraduates include the onset of colon cancer. In collaboration areas of biology, but one main theme is Amanda Laseke, doing general lab tasks as with colorectal surgeons at UW we have the development and utilization of new well as helping graduate student ao use demonstrated that in a human population genomic technologies to make drill-down, yeast as a heterologous expression system six blood proteins, measured with our mass basic mechanistic discoveries on key for producing the plant plasma membrane spectrometer, can predict the onset of early molecules in the plasma membrane that proton pump, Shanthi Cambala who is stage colon cancer, and, hopefully, may one allow cells to thrive. working with postdoc Miyoshi Haruta and day help eliminate colon cancer. Many of technician Heather Burch in testing the us have friends or relatives that have been HOW? rough the gracious funding e ect of cell permeant synthetic peptides on aicted by colon cancer. Remarkably, of several federal agencies, this past year has root growth and Vilas Gaddameedi, who this disease is nearly completely curable if been an especially productive and enjoyable works closely with postdoc Miyoshi Haruta discovered early enough, and by replacing one for the Sussman lab since everyone in genotyping and analyzing Arabidopsis that scourge of mankind, the colonoscopy, can eat and be clothed because Mike was plants with mutations in protein kinase with a more user-friendly and less invasive successful in renewing and/or procuring growth factor receptors. Jamison Wolfer blood test, Melanie's approach may create a grants from NSF (two), DOE and DOD. is a synthetic organic chemist who is future in which adults may no longer dread While the lab has been successful with NSF using our maskless array synthesizer to reaching the age where colonic invasions by and DOE for many decades, we recently perform combinatorial chemistry by their doctor are required. received funding for a new ve-year $1.9M making hundreds of thousands of di erent grant with Mike Cox as Co-PI, from the polymer sequences from monomeric units WHY? In general, to be creative and Dept. of Defense, to perform research with (e.g., glucosamine derivatives) rather than have fun. But more speci cally, over the 73 past three years we have been turning more Although many of these studies have been structure of nucleic acids. us, we are and more of our attention to developing informative, we are beginning to realize measuring 'solvent accessibility' of the a technology that would answer the that some covalent changes in proteins side chains of proteins, which is caused by question: which of the 30,000 proteins are not necessarily biologically important. the three-dimensional structure making in a cell has had its conformation (three- us, we believe that a method that directly some amino acid side chains reactive to dimensional structure) altered when the measures 3D structural changes in vivo is hydroxyls, while others are buried and cell is perturbed, either chemically (e.g. more likely to be biologically informative. unreactive. Prior to our work, there was adding a hormone) or genetically (e.g., e technique we have recently developed no readily available method that could expressing a transgene)? Current mass spec uses microsecond bursts of hydroxyl reliably measure conformational changes based methods usually study 'dead' proteins, radicals generated in a solution via an in a complex proteome, either in vivo or in and their covalent modi cations. us, we electronically created plasma (the fourth vitro, and we believe this technology we are use phosphorylation or ubiquitination state of matter). is method is called developing will have wide uses, spanning all studies as surrogate indicators of proteins 'footprinting' and resembles a similar aspects of biology. that have had their conformation changed. method used historically to elucidate the
in San Francisco. Katie Hurley received joined Becton, Dickinson and Company a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, (Chicago); Dr. Mike Killoran joined moved to Silicon Valley, and is currently Promega (Madison); and Daren Steuart interviewing for positions in pharma. (exploring business markets) returned to Manohary Rajendram received a Ph.D. focus on startup companies. e Gates in Biochemistry, moved to Silicon Valley, Foundation continues to fund this area and is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford of research in our lab, now redirected at University working with KC Huang. [A diagnosing crop viruses. tractor beam in Silicon Valley appears to be 2016 brought several visiting scientists Weibel lab tugging on alumni from our lab.] Biophysics to our lab. Dr. Robert Mitchell (Professor, 2016 has been an exciting year in graduate student Brandon Hoover moved UNIST, South Korea) joined us for his the Weibel lab. Undergraduate students to Regina Murphy’s lab in the Department sabbatical and introduced our lab to several Brice Blahnik, KC Faulkner, Victoria of Chemical Engineering at UW-Madison. new bacteria and areas of research. Drs. Lili Heinrich, Matt Lammers, Brad Maerz, George, Katie, Mano, and Brandon made and Sen Hou from the Polish Academy of Bradley Reynolds, and Kristy Stevlingson seminal discoveries in our lab and we are Sciences spent several months in the lab graduated and moved to positions in thrilled to see them continue on to the next working on a biophysical project studying industry, medical school, and nursing stages in their careers. the interface of bacterial membranes and school. Sophomore Soren Rozema Several postdoctoral fellows moved on peripheral proteins. migrated to Jennifer Golden’s lab in to new positions in 2016: Dr. Linda Hu Katie Brenner’s fertility startup Pharmaceutical Sciences to pursue synthetic (postdoc with Hank Seifert, Northwestern company, bluDiagnostics received national chemistry research and Crystal De Jesus University), Dr. Kelly Schwartz (postdoc attention by receiving several local and spent the summer in our lab and returned with Vatsan Raman, UW-Madison), Dr. national awards and competitions. Another to the University of Puerto Rico where she Jindong Zan (postdoc with Mohamed startup company — Agri Diagnostics — is continuing her undergraduate studies. Donia, Princeton). Dr. Siseon Lee nished spun out of the lab to tackle agricultural We are very proud of the achievements and a postdoc position and returned to South testing. scholarship of Brice, KC, Victoria, Matt, Korea to take a permanent position We had several alumni, friends, and Brad, Bradley, Kristy, Soren, and Crystal with the Korea Research Institute for visitors drop by in 2016 and welcome you and wish them success. Biotechnology and Bioengineering in to visit us when you are back in Madison. Several graduate students completed Daejon. We wish them all the best in their Highlights included lab tours of K-12 their degrees and moved to new new roles and research! students and a group of local boy scouts positions. George Auer received a Ph.D. Our group’s dairy mastitis diagnostics (Boy Scout Troop 101; Glacier’s Edge) who in Biomedical Engineering and joined team moved on to bigger and better visited to learn polymer chemistry. Onward a biotech startup (Emerald Cloud Lab) things in 2016. Kelsey Veserat (BS ’16) and upward in 2017!
74 then moved to the University of Michigan, my lab) were both at the same Gordon where he now is a postdoctoral fellow. Conference at which Melanie (then Cary Valley received his Ph.D. in 2015 at Promega) was an organizer – pretty as well. He had studied the design and amazing, and I am sorry I wasn’t there engineering of proteins based on the PUF myself! protein sca old, and generated a so-called Hugo Medina and Brian Carrick, a “two-handed” model for how PUF proteins joint student with Judith Kimble, are the bind their RNA targets. Aer a stint at youngest folks in the lab, now doing their Pharmaceutical Product Development Ph.D. work. Hugo has hopped over the Wickens lab (PPD) in Middleton (essentially Madison), Prelim hurdle, and Brian is about to face it. It is a delight, on this terribly cold but he has moved to Boston, where he now Both are studying mRNA controls – which crystalline white and blue morning, to works at Sano . I know comes as an enormous surprise – give you an update on the Wickens lab. Shruti (Waghray) Sasaki did and are doing well. Whether you were in the lab yourself, or remarkable work on how mRNAs are Carol Pfe er continues in her in nite know it through collaboration, collusion, repressed during early development, capacity to bear with me, laugh with me, friendship, marriage, or the Ancient pinpointing the key molecules involved keep me on track, recognize the things I Gentleman’s Luge competition, it is good and revealing the unexpected ways they really don’t want to do and to only come in to talk to you again and let you know that work. Ph.D. in hand, she le for her much- to my oce with a sharp weapon when the you always have a home here. loved California – which brought her close deadline is tomorrow. Truly a delight and e comings and goings are many again to family – and there began a post- a gi to my sanity and perspective, and a since the last newsletter. Let us begin with doc at Ionis Pharmaceuticals in San Diego. wonderful symbiosis. those inspired, energetic rst year graduate Among the post-doctoral fellows, Zak students who joined the lab years ago and Cambell le Madison for University of As for me, I think I am much the same, received their Ph.D.s in the last few years…. Texas at Dallas in 2015, where he assumed though of course things are always in ux. Chris Lapointe is the most recent Ph.D. a faculty position and embraced the idea graduate. e bulk of his work concerned that he would no longer need a serious δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίη – RNA regulatory networks, and the coat or winter boots, but would instead You cannot step into the same river development of new ways to identify them. have Rick Perry and airborne moisture twice (Heraclitus) Once we complete his manuscripts still in of quite a di erent, warmer kind than we the hopper – or God forbid, slightly before usually deal with. While here, he made Everything moves, sometimes with – he will be o for a trip to South America. valuable contributions to analyzing RNA- gentle grace and sometimes with an abrupt Aer hiking, relaxing and luxuriating in protein interactions, and he and Aaron jerk. Paint jobs, waistlines, governments, the carefree life, he’ll be going to work at Goldstrohm have since collaborated as kidneys… Yet there is constancy. Judith and Stanford with Jodi Puglisi. independent PI’s on a project concerning I are in the same house, now surrounded by Douglas Porter, a joint student with mammalian Pumilio and Nanos – very Japanese maples and woodland owers, and Judith Kimble, embraced, absorbed and cool! with a few more rooms than some of you created computational methods that Melanie Preston immersed herself in will recall, but we live as ever – setting aside transformed the way we analyze RNA- nucleotidyl transferases which led to several the massive variations as Zach was born, protein interactions. At the same time, new enzyme activities we are pursuing, and grew up, and then exited the scene. Judith he gured out what happens to networks was a great spirit in the group. She took a job and I have traveled a lot and seen fantastic, when you try to redesign the protein at at Promega in early 2016, a company just unforgettable things – most recently the their hub, and characterized key features of outside Madison, and is enjoying life there unimaginably beautiful coral reefs of Raja PUF-RNA networks in yeast and the worm as a Scienti c Instructional Designer. ere Ampat in Indonesia. But the rush of great germline. He now has gone o to Stanford she joins Natascha Buter, who had been a results and the thrill of solving a scienti c – like Chris, and Aaron Kershner and Elena wonderful companion and technician in problem is inimitable and remains, as does Sorokin and Sunnie ompson before him. the lab for many years, and joined Promega the joy of seeing students come of age and ere, Douglas works with Paul Khavari. in 2015, and Brad Hook, an alumnus of grab their project with both hands. In Clearly, Palo Alto has an alluring fragrance. times long ago. Before she le, she and fact, that joy only increases with time. It Daniel Wilinski developed a fascinating Daniel had a successful evolutionary foray has been a long and enduring joy to work story on how RNA regulatory stories are into Neurospora. with and get to know you, and I’d love to rewired during evolution: one protein Alana Doty Beadell, who worked on see you any time. A few of you have actually regulates a battery of RNAs in one species, PUF proteins and their evolution while managed to come by and so I will close with but hands that role o to a di erent protein here, moved to the University of Chicago. my deep appreciation of your visits. All of in another species. Daniel received his By a remarkable coincidence, Shruti you are forever welcome, here where our Ph.D. for that and other work in 2015 and (now in California) and Chris (then in rivers once met.
75 we've uncovered new mechanisms by currently working as a medical scribe and which motors walking along microtubule yoga teacher, and is in the radiography "highways" deliver cargo to where it needs program at St. Catherine University. Post- to be. Ashley Arthur, intrepid rst member doctoral fellow Brian Jenkins joined our of the Wildonger lab and UW-Madison group in early 2013, moving from OHSU alum, authored our rst paper on the in Portland, OR, where he completed his regulation of dynein function during Ph.D. with Dr. Gary Banker, one of the dendrite arborization. We look forward pioneers of the eld of neuronal polarity. this year to publishing several exciting new Brian has been looking into how the post- Wildonger lab stories on microtubule post-translational translational modi cation of microtubules Hello from the Wildonger lab! It's modi cations, kinesin-mediated dendritic regulates transport and neuronal been a wonderful few years since our lab transport, and non-centrosomal nucleation morphogenesis. A founding member of rst started – as they say, time ies like of microtubules in neurons. Team "TMAc" (tubulin/microtubule an arrow, and fruit ies like a banana… Aer writing up her paper, Ashley acetylation), he has a couple great stories in We caught the CRISPR craze early on Arthur headed west to Minnesota to enter the works. Undergraduate Helena Record, and, in collaboration with Drs. Melissa the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental also a Hilldale Fellowship recipient (and Harrison (Biomolecular Chemistry) Biology & Genetics doctoral program daughter of Tom Record), has been working and Kate O'Connor-Giles (Genetics), at the University of Minnesota, Twin closely with Brian to investigate the role of reported the rst use of the CRISPR-Cas9 Cities, where she joined the laboratory microtubule acetylation in neurons. In the system to edit the fruit y genome in May of Dr. Margaret Titus. Ashley is now summers, in addition to working in the lab, 2013 (it took a little over a week for the investigating how the actin cytoskeleton Helena has also been participating in the manuscript to be reviewed and accepted). generates lopodia, and she is also pursuing Mobile Clinics and Healthcare in Uganda Our original Genetics paper has garnered a joint masters degree in Bioinformatics program organized by James Ntambi. over 400 citations in the past three and a and Computational Biology. Back in Research scientist Lindsay Mosher, half years since its publication, and a review Madison and the Wildonger lab, the rst who joined the lab in 2014, pioneered that we wrote on CRISPR for Genes and wave of graduate students to join the lab a protocol for molecular screening for Development has been holding strong in included Sihui Yang (CMB) and Mike CRISPR-induced point mutations in ies the top ve Most Read Articles list for over Kelliher (IPiB). Sihui is delving into and also made signi cant contributions to two years. We've been excited to receive the who, what, when, where and how of several projects in the lab before entering some "popular" press as well: a front-page generating microtubules in neurons that the School of Nursing here at UW. Our news story in the Wisconsin State Journal lack a centrosome, and Mike is motoring newest lab members are graduate student on CRISPR highlighted work done in the along to understand how kinesin activity Harriet Saunders (IPiB) and research Wildonger lab. And we've been thrilled to is regulated to ensure that dendritic cargo scientist Dena Johnson-Schlitz. Harriet be a part of the spread of this transformative is properly delivered to dendrites, not is an alum of the Wickens lab, where she new genome engineering technique on axons. Our rst undergraduate students, followed in the footsteps of her mother. campus, which includes the establishment Jenny Nguyen and Allison Abellaneda, In addition to new lab members, Jill and of a new genome engineering/translational have set a high bar: both were co-authors her husband David McCulley (Pediatrics/ genomics facility in the Biotechnology on papers, both were awarded Hilldale Neonatology at UW) also welcomed a new Center. Fellowships, and Allison also won an family member in May 2014. eir son Cal, Our true loves, however, will always impressive "Best Undergraduate Poster in now two-years old, has already started some be neurons, microtubules, and molecular Cell Biology" prize at the 2015 ASBMB "experiments" in the lab, putting cotton motors. To function properly, neurons meeting. Aer completing her masters balls and water squirt bottles to good rely on getting organelles, vesicles, and degree in Biostatistics at UW-Madison this use. e past few years in the Wildonger macromolecules to the right place at the year Jenny will move to Virginia to join the lab have opened up exciting new avenues right time. Not surprisingly, disrupting this University of Virginia Center of Public of research, and we look forward with neuronal transit system has been linked to Health Genomics as a biostatistician. Aer enthusiasm to what the next few years have a spectrum of human neurodevelopmental graduating in 2014, Allison spent a year in store! and degenerative diseases. Blending genetic, in Barcelona, Spain, before returning to cell biology, and biochemical approaches, her hometown, Minneapolis, where she is
76 Faculty Email & Telephone Numbers
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[email protected] ...... 608-262-2247 77 Donors to Biochemistry Funds in 2013-16 Individuals Professor & Mrs Julius Adler Mr David W Gregg Mr Albert H Nakano Mr omas R Alderson Mr Kurt A A & Mr John C Nielsen Mr Richard Armstrong Professor Sandra K Grunwald Ms Linda J O'Gara Dr Vahe Bandarian Professor Phalguni Gupta Ms Lauren M Olson Dr Wendy A Bedale & Dr & Mrs Glen E Gutzke Ms Susan M Paine & Mr Terry R Paine Mr Duane A Kaufman Professor Linda M Hall Dr & Mrs Walter F Prouty Dr Duane A Benton Dr David E Hamer Professor Frank M Raushel Mr John P Blocher Drs David E & Michelle M Hamer Dr & Mrs George H Reed Dr Roger E Boldt Dr Seth Harkins Professor & Mrs Gregory D Reinhart Dr & Mrs Je rey R Bond Mr Keith F Haviland Mr Zachary A Richards Professor James T Bradley Mr Andrew W He ernon Mr Ted R Riin & Ms Nicole Riin Ms Julie E Brady & Professor Hazel Holden Professor uinton R Rogers Mr James E Brady Dr Robert Y Hsu Dr Cynthia M Rohde Dr Teresa J Broering Dr Cheryl A Janson & Mr William C Rowe & Ms Laura Rowe Dr & Mrs Bruce A Brown Dr Ward W Smith Dr Frederick J Schendel Dr & Mrs George T Bryan Professor Robert P Hausinger & Dr Saul A Schepartz Ms Jennifer W Bulleit & Ms Susan L Kalvonjian Mr Ryan J Schmidt Mr Robert F Bulleit Professor Laura L Kiessling & Mr Richard A Schraufnagel & Professor George E Bunce Professor Ronald T Raines Ms Patricia K Schraufnagel Mr Gregory M Campbell Mr Kevin J Kleinfeld Ms Nancy L Schwenke & Dr Carolyn A Campen Dr Martin F Kovacs Jr Mr Dennis D Schwenke Mr Patrick L Carney & Dr & Mrs Mei-Chang Kuo Dr & Mrs Jon L Seymour Ms Stacey J Carney Professor David O Lambeth Dr James D Shull & Dr Hardy W Chan Mrs Annrita Lardy Ms Sara J Smith-Shull Dr Douglas B Chapman Dr & Mrs Nicholas R Lardy Dr Margaret A Shupnik Dr Carson C Conaway Dr & Mrs Eric S Lightcap Drs David P & Barbara L W Silva Jr Dr Scott T Cooper Ms Jennifer M Loeb Mr Richard B Silverman Dr Eugene H Cordes Dr Arnold S Loo Dr omas J Skatrud Dr John W Cramer Mr Charlie Lor Mrs Elena J Spielman Mr omas J De Laitsch & Dr Robert J Lowe Dr Pari D Spolter Ms Karin L De Laitsch Mr Joseph H Lubin Professor & Mrs Fredrick Stormshak Mr Ruihua Ding Dr & Mrs Paul W Ludden Mr Eric C Swanson Professor Jerry B & Dr Wenjiang Ma Ms Nancy Torbet Dr Carole J Dodgson Professor Frank & Dr Gladys R Maley Dr Je rey A Toretsky Ms Ann M Dolney Professor Margaret R Manatt & Dr & Mrs James J Vavra Dr Alan M Easton Mr Stanley L Manatt Dr Douglas E Vollrath Mr Ray V Foss & Mrs Karen Foss Dr James C Mao Dr & Mrs eodore R Watson Mr Robert M Freidel Dr & Mrs John E Mazuski Dr Robert S Wehbie Dr Frederick G Freitag & Mr Richard C McElroy Dr William W Wells Ms Lynn N Stegner Dr Roger L McMacken Dr Robert M Wohlhueter Professor & Mrs Perry A Frey Ms Rachel M McNally Dr Ming-Chi M Wu Ms Susana Vazquez Garcia Ms Kalie Mix Dr Roy E Wuthier Dr Sandaruwan Geeganage & Mr Michael P Montenero Ms Uzma I Zakai Ms Kristin Johnson Mr John P Morgridge & Professor Maija V Zile Drs Carl W & Linda C Gilbert Ms Tashia F Morgridge Mr Matthew W Zmudka Dr Jonathan T Goldstein Dr Marc A Muskavitch
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