Vol. 14 / No. 7 / August 2015 Submit Your Next Paper to an ASBMB Journal! When you submit a paper to an ASBMB ASBMB journal special features: journal, you can expect: • Customized eTOC alerts • Thorough, constructive reviews by scientists • Explore the Editorial Board • Affordable publication charges (*FREE color) • Meet new Associate Editors • Peer reviewed papers published the day of • Read Collections including: Reflections, acceptance Minireviews and Thematic Series *ASBMB has eliminated color figure fees for Regular ASBMB www.asbmb.org/publications members publishing as corresponding authors. CONTENTS NEWS FEATURES PERSPECTIVES 2 18 40 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE MEET PATRICK SUNG MEMORIES OF HURRICANE KATRINA: Welcome Aboard! 10 YEARS LATER 21 3 IN CONVERSATION NEWS FROM THE HILL WITH RAYMOND CYPESS A step toward sustainability 5 25 MEMBER UPDATE INSIDE THIS SPECIAL 7 SECTION IN MEMORIAM 41 Introduction 42 "Part of the fabric of our existence" 43 "(S)eeing total darkness on the other side” 9 44 “I never was politically active before.” NEWS 45 “Institutions need to involve scientists" The protective breast 45 “More undergraduates ... than before" 10 46 JOURNAL NEWS ESSAY 10 New function for eHsp90 Fishing in life and the lab 11 Sphingolipid structural variants 12 Super-fast spins hurt lipoproteins 13 Tabor award winner 47 14 Better wine through better yeast hybrids GENERATIONS 15 The Achilles' heel of the MERS virus Nature or nurture? 16 26 Getting over the Ph.D. hump 48 LIPID NEWS 29 Is a master's degree right HOBBIES What's in your dimer? for you? 48 Q&A with Hal White 30 Finding the right graduate 50 ACDC: What's in the name? 14 program 32 Senior scientists share their 51 mistakes OUTREACH 33 Tips for myIDP users and their mentors 51 Resolving major issues with major selection 35 Recap: ASBMB grant-writing workshop 47 36 Teaching science in a creative way 38 Picking a postdoctoral position AUGUST 2015 ASBMB TODAY 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Welcome aboard! By Steven McKnight OFFICERS COUNCIL MEMBERS Steven McKnight Squire J. Booker President Karen G. Fleming Gregory Gatto Jr. Natalie Ahn Rachel Green he American Society for Bio- to generously share their time, talents President-Elect Susan Marqusee chemistry and Molecular Biology and attention with ASBMB. We Jared Rutter Karen Allen T election returns are just in, and are a society of scientists serving the Secretary Brenda Schulman our society is delighted to welcome a fields of biochemistry and molecular Michael Summers Toni Antalis new group of leaders: biology. We care about many things, Treasurer ASBMB TODAY EDITORIAL • President-elect: Natalie Ahn of the including education, the preservation ADVISORY BOARD University of Colorado Boulder of scientific rigor in our fields and EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Charles Brenner • Treasurer: Toni Antalis of the the importance of helping build and Squire Booker Chair Wei Yang Michael Bradley University of Maryland School of sustain an enterprise that is driven by Co-chairs, 2016 Annual Floyd “Ski” Chilton Medicine merit and totally committed to a fair Meeting Program Cristy Gelling • Council members: Committee Peter J. Kennelly Susan Marqusee and open playing field. Peter J. Kennelly Rajini Rao of the University of California, Berke- I close by affirming my delight Chair, Education and Yolanda Sanchez ley, Rachel Green of Johns Hopkins in the prospects of working with Professional Development Shiladitya Sengupta University School of Medicine, and President-elect Natalie Ahn over the Committee Carol Shoulders Wayne Fairbrother of Genentech next few years. Natalie and I have de- Daniel Raben Chair, Meetings Committee ASBMB TODAY • Nominating Committee members: cided to join forces in organizing the Angela Hopp Takita Felder Sumter Amy Rosenzweig of Northwestern 2017 annual meeting of the ASBMB, Executive Editor, Chair, Minority Affairs [email protected] University and Joan Broderick of and we have already worked together Committee Lauren Dockett Montana State University for the past two years on the ASBMB Thomas Baldwin Managing Editor, • Publications Committee mem- Council. All of us who are associated Chair, Outreach Committee [email protected] bers: Michael Yaffee of the Massachu- with our society shoulder the vital Wes Sundquist Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay Chair, Public Affairs Chief Science Correspondent, setts Institute of Technology and En- responsibility of championing the Advisory Committee [email protected] rique De La Cruz of Yale University fields of biochemistry and molecular Blake Hill Valery Masterson • Public Affairs Advisory Commit- Designer, biology so that successive generations Chair, Publications tee members: Committee [email protected] Dorothy Shippen of may inherit the grit and substance we Lauri Pantos Texas A&M University, Martha Cyert inherited from our forbearers. F. Peter Guengerich Manager of Publications Interim editor-in-chief, JBC Technology, [email protected] of Stanford University, Jonathan Herbert Tabor Ciarán Finn Sachs of the University of Minnesota, Steven McKnight (steven. Co-editor, JBC Web Publication Assistant, Richard Page of Miami University [email protected]) [email protected] A. L. Burlingame and Jeremy Berg of the University of is president of the American Editor, MCP Allison Frick Society for Biochemistry and Media Specialist, Pittsburgh Molecular Biology and chairman Edward A. Dennis [email protected] Joseph L. Witztum We are fortunate that all of these of the biochemistry department at the University Barbara Gordon of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Co-editors, JLR Executive Director, active, practicing scientists are willing [email protected] For information on advertising, contact Pharmaceutical CLARIFICATION AND CORRECTION Media Inc. at 212-904-0374 or [email protected]. • The MRI image on the cover of the June/July 2015 issue was courtesy of Weill Cornell Medical College. www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday • The article “All about ELISA” in the June/July PRINT ISSN 2372-0409 2015 issue of ASBMB Today incorrectly stated Articles published in ASBMB Today reflect solely the authors’ views and not the official positions of that Solomon Berson and Rosalyn Yalow used the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular radioactively-labeled antibodies when developing Biology or the institutions with which the authors are affiliated. Mentions of products or services are the radioimmunoassay. Berson and Yalow used not endorsements. radioactively labeled insulin in their assay. ©2015 ASBMB 2 ASBMB TODAY AUGUST 2015 NEWS FROM THE HILL A step toward sustainability By Sarah K. Martin he biomedical research enterprise ductivity and disenfranchising young is unsustainable. A sustainable and minority scientists,” said co- 8 recommendations T research enterprise working at author Wes Sundquist of the Univer- peak efficiency balances available sity of Utah, chairman of the ASBMB to make the scientific funding with workforce size while Public Affairs Advisory Committee. enterprise sustainable continuing to produce breakthroughs “We need to move beyond this.” The that improve the health of all Ameri- National Institutes of Health have cans. Scientific community leaders experienced a nearly 20 percent reduc- 1. The federal government should have stepped forward to discuss how tion of purchasing power in the past make research funding predictable and sustainable. to address a growing workforce in the decade. A 2013 survey of ASBMB midst of dwindling funds. While they members found that 46 percent of 2. The federal government should have expressed many ideas on this respondents laid off or will lay off sci- increase overall research and devel- topic, they have presented no clear entists, and 55 percent have colleagues opment funding with 3 percent of path to implementation. who have lost their jobs or expect to. gross domestic product as an initial To provide clarity to the discussion, Among the consensus recommen- target. members of the American Society for dations, a call for an increase in com- 3. Federal agencies should Biochemistry and Molecular Biology pensation for postdocs to $50,000 per streamline, harmonize or eliminate published a “Perspective” article in the year would reward pretenure scientists burdensome regulations. Proceedings of the National Acad- for their training and the essential 4. Institutions and federal agencies emies of Sciences that outlined a set role they play in the workforce. As an should increase compensation for of consensus recommendations and example of the interconnectedness of postdoctoral scholars with $50,000 implementation plans to move the these recommendations, increasing a year as an initial target. biomedical research enterprise toward compensation for postdocs to align 5. Institutions and federal agencies sustainability (see box). “This paper is with the NIH pay scale also would should cap the amount of federal about action,” said Chris Pickett, lead contract the workforce without the funding trainees can receive in author and ASBMB policy analyst. federal government increasing overall order to reduce graduate student “The community has had the same research and development funding. and postdoc training periods. discussion many times over. We found The article also identifies issues 6. Institutions and federal agencies where the community is in agreement on which the community has yet to should train students and postdocs and suggested concrete plans to begin reach consensus.