Vol. 18 / No. 5 / May 2019 HARMONIZING LIPIDOMICS CONTENTS NEWS FEATURES PERSPECTIVES 2 26 43 EDITOR’S NOTE HARMONIZING LIPIDOMICS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Working knowledge Researchers strive to agree on what ASBMB webinar offers financial advice they’re measuring 3 44 NEWS FROM THE HILL 40 PUBLIC AFFAIRS Advocates visit Capitol Hill MEET KARIN MUSIER–FORSYTH What we learned from the ATP At Ohio State, the JBC associate editor and tRNA trailblazer uses ASBMB resources as 4 teaching tools for grad students 46 MEMBER UPDATE ESSAY 7 26 Of mice and scientists RETROSPECTIVE 48 Mary Jane Osborn (1927 – 2019) HILL DAY 10 IN REMEMBRANCE 43 11 LIPID NEWS Lipid regulation of mitochondria 12 A YEAR OF (BIO) CHEMICAL ELEMENTS For May, it’s in your bones: 46 calcium and phosphorus 13 40 JOURNAL NEWS 13 Bacterial drug synergies hide in plain sight 15 The mystery of metformin 17 How to catch ovarian cancer when it’s curable 18 JLR celebrates diamond jubilee 48 with special reviews 20 From the journals 24 SCIENCE NEWS Circulating oxysterol levels MAY 2019 ASBMB TODAY 1 EDITOR’S NOTE THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Working knowledge By Comfort Dorn OFFICERS COUNCIL MEMBERS Gerald Hart Squire J. Booker President Victoria J. DeRose ore than 30 years ago, I was chemistry and molecular biology. Blake Hill employed as the parish admin- As an undergrad, grad student Jennifer DuBois Audrey Lamb Secretary James M. Ntambi Mistrator of a church, a huge, and (maybe) postdoc, you’ve learned Toni M. Antalis Celia A. Shiffer crumbling building in an underserved a whole lot about science. But how Treasurer Takita Felder Sumter area of Washington, D.C. The parish much were you taught about having a Kelly Ten-Hagen JoAnn Trejo ethos was to make maximum use career as a scientist? More to the point, EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS of the building by opening it up to how much were you not taught? How Robert S. Haltiwanger ASBMB TODAY EDITORIAL neighborhood service providers. much knowledge did you have to pick Carla Koehler ADVISORY BOARD Co-chairs, 2020 Annual I was in my early 30s, a young up outside the lab — about choosing Rajini Rao Meeting Program Committee Chair mother with a degree in liberal arts a career path, finding a job, starting a Cheryl Bailey Floyd “Ski” Chilton and a vague interest in improving the lab, or managing a budget and Chair, Education and Henrik Dohlman world. My boss, the rector, was about personnel? Professional Development Peter J. Kennelly Committee Beronda Montgomery 10 years older, one of the first women You’ve probably learned a lot from Daniel Raben A. Maureen Rouhi ordained as a priest in the Episcopal your experience, which is, as they say, Chair, Meetings Committee Melissa Vaught Church. The parish staff was bare the best teacher. Would you be will- Sonia Flores Binks W. Wattenberg bones and the budget small. ing to share some of that hard-won Chair, Minority Affairs Committee ASBMB TODAY One dank winter afternoon, the knowledge? Susannna Greer Angela Hopp heat stopped working. Complaining The August issue of ASBMB Today Chair, Public Outreach Executive Editor phone calls came from the preschool traditionally is given over to the vast Committee [email protected] Comfort Dorn and free clinic upstairs. Our resident topic of careers. It’s an opportunity for Matthew S. Gentry Managing Editor custodian (referred to in Anglican- society members to pool their collec- Chair, Public Affairs [email protected] Advisory Committee speak as a sexton) was AWOL, so the tive wisdom and help each other with John Arnst rector and I made our way into the the stuff they really need to know. Sandra Weller Science Writer Chair, Publications [email protected] bowels of the church basement to the Every career has its McDonald & Committee Laurel Oldach furnace, an ancient behemoth squat- Miller valves. We’d like to hear about Lila M. Gierasch Science Writter ting in a dark corner. It required the yours. Maybe you want to write an Editor-in-chief, JBC [email protected] Ed Marklin regular draining of something called essay. Maybe you just have a few words A. L. Burlingame Web Editor a McDonald & Miller valve, a bit of of wisdom. Either way, drop me a line Editor, MCP [email protected] Nicholas O. Davidson Allison Frick maintenance that had gone neglected. at [email protected]. Deadline for the Editor-in-chief, JLR Media Specialist We wrestled the valve open and, as August issue is June 3. Kerry-Anne Rye [email protected] steaming rusty water gushed into a Barbara Gordon Editor-in-chief, JLR bucket (and onto our shoes), the rector Executive Director Comfort Dorn (cdorn@ [email protected] sighed and gave me a deadpan look. asbmb.org) is the managing “Another thing they didn’t teach me editor of ASBMB Today. Follow in seminary.” her on Twitter @cdorn56. Which brings me to careers in bio- For information on advertising, contact Pharmaceutical Media Inc. at 212-904-0374 or [email protected]. Corrections In an article about Angela Gronenborn on page 29 of the April issue the first sentence in the fifth paragraph should read, “In 1988, Gronenborn joined the National Institutes of Health where, alongside Marius Clore and Adriaan Bax, she started to work on HIV, supported by the HIV-targeted www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday antiviral program.” PRINT ISSN 2372-0409 In an article about JLR junior associate editors on page 15 of the April is- Articles published in ASBMB Today reflect solely the authors’ views and not sue, Gissette Reyes–Soffer’s name was misspelled and Stephen Young should the official positions of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology or the institutions with which the authors are affiliated. Mentions of have been listed as Brandon Davies’ mentor. products or services are not endorsements. 2 ASBMB TODAY MAY 2019 NEWS FROM THE HILL Advocates visit Capitol Hill By Benjamin Corb wenty undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students joined Tmembers of the Public Affairs Ad- visory Committee and public affairs staff to participate in the American Society for Biochemistry and Mo- lecular Biology’s annual Hill Day on March 28, visiting their elected representatives to discuss Congress’ continued support for biomedical research. Although President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2020 called for 5 percent cuts to all science funding agencies in the government, the advocates were heartened by the warm reception they received. Martha Cyert, associate chair of biology at Stanford University, said, “It was encouraging to hear staffers share their support for my science and their understanding of the importance of basic research in helping to discover treatments for diseases. They really COURTESY OF CALLAN FRYE seem to get it.” Callan Frye, a graduate student at the Medical University of South Carolina, shows his enthusiasm for The agenda for this year’s Hill Day advocacy at the ASBMB’s 2019 Hill Day. For more photos, turn to page 48. advocates focused largely on ask- ing for increases in funding at the This year’s advocates came from Gentry has been a member of the National Institutes of Health, the 24 states and conducted 83 meet- PAAC for five years and is a Hill Day National Science Foundation and ings over the course of their day on veteran. For some, like Alex Black- the Department of Energy’s Office the Hill. The student participants, burn, a Ph.D. student at the Univer- of Science. But the discussions with selected from a pool of applicants by sity of Idaho, this Hill Day was their lawmakers and their staffs extended the ASBMB’s public affairs staff, ar- first taste of advocacy. to issues beyond funding, indicating a rived in Washington, D.C., the night “This was a very positive, very fun Congress that has a nuanced under- before Hill Day for a crash course in experience,” Blackburn said. “I got to standing of and curiosity about how being an advocate. PAAC members meet really great people on both sides science works. stayed through the following day for of the aisle. When I get back to Idaho, Kristine Deibler, a postdoc from meetings with NIH and NSF leaders. I look forward to telling my col- the University of Washington, was “This Hill Day experience is among leagues that they should consider get- surprised by some of the topics. “My the most rewarding opportunities that ting involved themselves. I definitely senator’s staff was very direct and ASBMB (offers) for its members,” would love to do this again.” interested in hearing about my per- said Matt Gentry from the University spectives related to the issue of sexual of Kentucky, the outgoing PAAC Benjamin Corb (bcorb@ harassment in science,” Deibler said. chair. “ASBMB isn’t the only scientific asbmb.org) is director of public “I was so encouraged to see Congress society that holds events like this, but affairs at the ASBMB. Follow him on Twitter @bwcorb. paying such close attention to this in my experience the organization and very serious issue.” staff put on the best show by far.” MAY 2019 ASBMB TODAY 3 MEMBER UPDATE Member update By Erik Chaulk Bruns named focuses on understanding protein In 2009, she joined the Program in modifications involved in cell signal- Systems Immunology and Infectious Mr. Homecoming ing as well as absolute quantification Disease Research, now the Laboratory Professor of chemistry Kerry Bruns of molecular representation and of Immune System Biology, at the has received the Southwestern Univer- interaction. NIAID. sity 2018 Mr. Homecoming Award. After obtain- Presented by the university’s ing her Ph.D.