News
Yejing Ge receives the Procter & Gamble Award
Yejing Ge, a graduate student in Jie Chen Lab, is the recipient of the
2012 Procter & Gamble Graduate Student Research Award. This $2,000 award
is established by the Procter & Gamble Company to recognize research
accomplishments by a doctoral student in the School of Molecular and
Cellular Biology or the School of Integrative Biology.
Posted
May 13, 2012
Tyler Moran selected as the 2011 recipient of the Molecular Endocrinology Student Author Award
Tyler Moran, Ph.D., who completed his thesis in the lab of Assistant Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Lori Raetzman, was selected as the 2011 recipient of the Molecular Endocrinology Student Author Award. This award was for the publication "Numb deletion in POMC expressing cells impairs pituitary intermediate lobe cell adhesion, progenitor cell localization, and neuro-intermediate lobe boundary formation" in Molecular Endocrinology.
The Endocrine Society presents a yearly award to outstanding first authored papers in Molecular Endocrinology and Endocrinology, the flagship journals of the Endocrine society. The award will be presented at ENDO 2012, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Houston, Texas. Tyler is currently a fourth year medical student at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign College of Medicine.
Read the award-winning paper online.
Posted
May 10, 2012
Phosphodiesterases coordinate cAMP propagation induced by two stimulatory G protein-coupled receptors in hearts
Inflammation is a well-known independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and heart failure. Anti-inflammation drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen show significant benefits for patients in preventing cardiovascular diseases. However, how inflammation contributes to development of these diseases is still largely unknown.
Prostaglandin E is a major proinflammatory factor whose level is elevated in the blood and myocardium. In a new study in PNAS, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Kevin Xiang and colleagues determine whether inflammatory factor prostaglandin E2-induced signaling directly modulates adrenergic stimulation of cardiac contractility by adrenolines. Their study reveals that prostaglandin E2 can directly impair the adrenergic regulation of myocardium contraction via an elegant intracellular interaction. These studies provide a novel understanding of how inflammatory factor prostaglandin E directly affects heart function, and contributes to the development of heart diseases. Since most non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID, including ibuprofen) reduce the levels of prostaglandin E2 by inhibiting an enzyme Cox2, this study may also explain how these anti-inflammatory drugs could help prevent cardiac diseases.
According to Professor Xiang, "This study really pinpoints the action of inflammation on the function of animal hearts, which provides a direction on how we access the impact of inflammation on heart function, and illuminates potentially new strategies in preventing and treating heart failure in patients."
PNAS
Posted
April 09, 2012
Rachel Smith-Bolton Receives Carver Charitable Trust Award
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Rachel Smith-Bolton has been awarded the highly competitive 3-year Carver Young Investigator Award. The award pays $300,000 over three years.
Posted
April 03, 2012
Mutations that stabilize the open state of the Erwinia chrisanthemi ligand-gated ion channel fail to change the conformation of the pore domain in crystals
Corresponding author Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Claudio Grosman, Associate Professor of Biochemistry Satish Nair, and colleagues have published new work in PNAS.
PNAS
Posted
April 02, 2012
Team discovers how bacteria resist a 'Trojan horse' antibiotic
A new study led by Associate Professor of Biochemistry Satish Nair describes how bacteria use a previously unknown means to defeat an antibiotic. The researchers found that the bacteria have modified a common “housekeeping” enzyme in a way that enables the enzyme to recognize and disarm the antibiotic.
"Structure and function of a serine carboxypeptidase adapted for degradation of the protein synthesis antibiotic microcin C7" appears in PNAS.
PNAS, University News Bureau
Posted
March 20, 2012
Molecular Determinants of Scouting Behavior in Honey Bees
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Gene Robinson and colleagues have published "Molecular Determinants of Scouting Behavior in Honey Bees" in Science.
From the abstract: "Little is known about the molecular basis of differences in behavior among individuals. Here we report consistent novelty-seeking behavior, across different contexts, among honey bees in their tendency to scout for food sources and nest sites, and we reveal some of the molecular underpinnings of this behavior relative to foragers that do not scout."
Science, Cornell Chronicle
Posted
March 14, 2012
Msx Homeobox Genes Critically Regulate Embryo Implantation
During implantation, various tissue compartments within the uterus, including epithelium and stroma, undergo sequential proliferation and differentiation as the embryo attaches to the uterus and invades into the maternal tissue. There is only limited understanding of the molecular signaling pathways that interconnect these tissue compartments to achieve a functional state of the uterus conducive to implantation. A new study published in PLOS Genetics by co-corresponding authors Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Milan Bagchi and Professor of Comparative Biosciences Indrani Bagchi reveals that a unique signaling network regulated by the homeobox transcription factors MSX1 and MSX2 in the mouse uterus critically controls female fertility.
PLOS Genetics
Posted
February 28, 2012
Team Discovers Microbes Speciating
Not that long ago in a hot spring in Kamchatka, Russia, two groups of genetically indistinguishable microbes parted ways. They began evolving into different species – despite the fact that they still encountered one another in their acidic, boiling habitat and even exchanged some genes from time to time, researchers report. This is the first example of what the researchers call sympatric speciation in a microorganism.
The idea of sympatric speciation (one lineage diverging into two or more species with no physical or mechanical barriers keeping them apart) is controversial and tricky to prove, especially in microbes, said Assistant Professor of Microbiology Rachel Whitaker, who led the study, "Patterns of Gene Flow Define Species of Thermophilic Archaea," published today in PLOS Biology.
University News Bureau, PLOS Biology
Posted
February 22, 2012
Cancer Research Forum and Poster Prize Competition
All faculty, fellows, students and investigators are invited to present
posters on cancer-related research in basic, clinical, and translational
areas of investigation.
The forum will be held
March 6, 2012,
at UIC Student Center West, 2nd Floor, 828 S. Wolcott, Chicago.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Benita S. Katzenellenbogen, Swanlund Professor
of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and Cell and Developmental Biology.
Six prizes of $500 each will be awarded.
Abstract submission/registration deadline: February 20, 2012.
The forum is open to all. There will be bus service to Chicago if enough people are
interested.
Cancer Research Forum Website
Posted
February 01, 2012
Phylogeny and beyond: Scientific, historical, and conceptual significance of the first tree of life
A fundamental breakthrough in
biological science occurred in
1977, and most biologists did
not notice: a paper by Professor of Microbiology Carl Woese that compared sequence snippets derived from small subunit rRNAs of different
organisms.
A robust retrospective of the 1977 paper in PNAS explores the accomplishments of Woese, including the research that led up to it, and its significant consequences in the biological sciences.
PNAS Classic Article, PNAS Classic Article - Classic Perspective
Posted
January 31, 2012
Attack or retreat? Circuit links hunger and pursuit in sea slug brain
In a new study, Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Rhanor Gillette reports on a circuit in the brain of the sea slug Pleurobranchaea. The study appears in the journal Current Biology.
University News Bureau, Current Biology
Posted
January 31, 2012
Building up actin at adherens junctions
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology William Brieher and Vivan Tang have published "α-Actinin-4/FSGS1 is required for Arp2/3-dependent actin assembly at the adherens junction" in the Journal of Cell Biology.
The paper was highlighted by the journal in its "In Focus" section.
JCB Highlight, JCB Full Text
Posted
January 18, 2012
Lori Raetzman Selected to Present Anita Payne Lecture
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience Lori Raetzman has been selected to present the Anita Payne New Perspectives in Reproductive Biology Lecture at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR). The award is funded by the SSR Anita Payne Endowment Fund and features a plenary lecture at the SSR Annual Meeting by a promising junior investigator.
According to Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Milan Bagchi, "This is indeed a special honor for an outstanding junior faculty in the School and our Reproductive Sciences Program."
Posted
December 13, 2011
Editorial Calls for Carl Woese to be Awarded Nobel Prize
Nature Reviews Microbiology has published an editorial lauding the contributions of Crafoord Prize recipient Professor of Microbiology Carl Woese.
The editorial states, "It is time that the tremendous contribution made by Carl Woese to microbiology, medicine and biology as a whole is rewarded by the Nobel committee."
Nature Reviews Microbiology, University News Bureau
Posted
October 03, 2011
Phillip Newmark and Milan Bagchi Appointed as Romano Scholars
Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Milan Bagchi, and Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Phillip Newmark, have each been appointed as a Richard and Margaret Romano Professorial Scholar. The appointment is for a three-year term and will provide a discretionary fund of $25,000 per annum to support scholarly activities.
The award is given to key leaders in Liberal Arts and Sciences for their remarkable accomplishments in research and academic activities, recognizing outstanding research and efforts in support of building excellence on campus.
Posted
September 21, 2011
3rd Illinois Symposium on Reproductive Sciences
The 3rd Illinois Symposium on Reproductive Sciences (ISRS) will be held at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Monday, October 10, 2011. The venue of the meeting is the I-Hotel Conference Center. The organizing committee is composed of faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students drawn from the School of MCB, College of Veterinary Medicine and College of ACES. We are expecting approximately 200 scientists from Illinois and adjoining states to attend the meeting this year.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will host this rotating annual statewide symposium for the first time. It provides an opportunity to celebrate our strong research and educational heritage, and to foster the exchange of scientific information in the reproductive sciences and women's health-related research. It will also facilitate the career development of the next generation of Illinois reproductive scientists and help establish a promising future for reproductive sciences research in the state of Illinois. We hope to leverage our collective institutional strengths to maintain Illinois in a preeminent nationwide position in this critical research field.
The great importance of this annual meeting is the opportunity it affords for interaction between faculty and trainees at several Illinois institutions, including The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, The University of Illinois, Chicago, and Northwestern University. Pioneers in reproductive sciences, including Andy Nalbandov and Jack Gorski, did groundbreaking discoveries at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and made this institution a forefront center in reproductive sciences. A new generation of scientists has taken up this mantle, succeeding at obtaining a significant fraction of research funded by the NIH and at generating highly respected research programs, including the "Center for Research in Reproduction and Infertility" and "Botanical Research Center".
The student organizing committee members are from several state institutions, and have worked professionally and effectively together to plan an outstanding meeting. We are very pleased to have almost one hundred abstracts, a record number for this meeting, submitted not only from throughout Illinois but also from several neighboring states.
ISRS
Posted
September 20, 2011
Linking heterochromatin and gene repression
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Supriya Prasanth is corresponding author on "A BEN-domain-containing protein associates with heterochromatin and represses transcription," published in Journal of Cell Science.
Kizhakke M. Sathyan, Zhen Shen, Vidisha Tripathi, and Assistant Professor Kannanganattu V. Prasanth of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology are also authors of the findings.
Journal of Cell Science
Posted
September 15, 2011
James Slauch Recognized as University Scholar
Professor of Microbiology James Slauch has been recognized as a University Scholar. The program recognizes the university’s most talented teachers, scholars and researchers.
Begun in 1985, the program provides $10,000 to each scholar for each of three years to use to enhance his or her academic career. The money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books or other purposes.
According to the University News Bureau, "James M. Slauch, a professor of microbiology, is internationally recognized for his work on Salmonella virulence, a major cause of food-borne illness. His research focuses on the interplay between the human host and bacterium in disease. His work demonstrated, for example, that an enzyme produced by Salmonella is key to enabling the bacterium to evade the immune system, and to actually live in phagocytes in the body. In a second area of impressive impact, Slauch identified the complex process through which bacteria sense that they are in the phagocyte and should start producing virulence proteins."
University News Bureau, News Gazette
Posted
September 15, 2011
James Morrissey and Colleagues profiled in LAS News
Professor of Biochemistry James Morrissey, together with colleagues Associate Professor of Biochemistry Emad Tajkhorshid, and Director of the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology Stephen Sligar, are featured in an article on blood clotting mechanisms in LAS News.
LAS News
Posted
September 06, 2011
Tyrosine phosphorylation enhances RAD52-mediated annealing by modulating its DNA binding
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, and Biophysics and Computational Biology, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist Maria Spies is corresponding author on "Tyrosine phosphorylation enhances RAD52-mediated annealing by modulating its DNA binding," published in The Embo Journal. Masayoshi Honda and Yusuke Okuno of the Department of Biochemistry are among the coauthors.
The Embo Journal
Posted
July 30, 2011
Global Functional Map of the p23 Molecular Chaperone Reveals an Extensive Cellular Network
Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Brian Freeman is corresponding author on "Global Functional Map of the p23 Molecular Chaperone Reveals an Extensive Cellular Network" in Molecular Cell. Frank J. Echtenkamp, Elena Zelin, and Joyce I. Woo of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology are co-authors.
Molecular Cell
Posted
July 23, 2011
James Morrissey Awarded the Biennial Investigator Recognition Award for Contributions to Haemostasis
In recognition of his distinguished record as teacher and researcher, Professor of Biochemistry James Morrissey was awarded the Biennial Investigator Recognition Award for Contributions to Haemostasis from the International Society on Thrombosis & Haemostasis (ISTH).
The award was presented during the biennial Congress of the Society, held this year in Kyoto, Japan.
According to ISTH, "Initiated in 1982, the Biennial Awards for Contributions to Hemostasis recognize individuals who, in the opinion of their co-workers and peers, have made significant contributions to research and education in blood coagulation...
The Nominating Committee for the Biennial Awards is comprised of the Society's Senior Advisory Council, 99 distinguished and internationally recognized experts who have previously served as elected members of the ISTH Scientific and Standardization Committee. Final election of awardees is made by the current members of the SSC."
In a recent publication in the Journal of Biology Chemistry, Professor Morrissey and colleagues identify a molecular process vital to the mechanism of blood clotting.
University News Bureau
Posted
July 23, 2011
Memory regulates microRNAs in Zebra Finch
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology David Clayton and colleagues have published "Song exposure regulates known and novel microRNAs in the zebra finch auditory forebrain" in BioMed Central Genomics.
BioMed Central, University News Bureau
Posted
July 01, 2011
Kannanganattu Prasanth Awarded ACS Research Scholar Grant
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Kannanganattu Prasanth has been awarded a Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society. The Research Scholar Grant is a four-year, $760,000 grant awarded to independent investigators in the first six years of an independent research career or faculty appointment.
American Cancer Society
Posted
June 21, 2011
Kevin Xiang and Jie Chen Published in Nature
Corresponding author Assistant Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Kevin Xiang, lead author Affiliate Professor of Biochemistry Taekjip Ha, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Jie Chen, and colleagues have published "Probing cellular protein complexes using single-molecule pull-down" in Nature. The article was the fourth most-often downloaded article in the month of May 2011, despite having been put online on May 25th.
Nature
Posted
May 31, 2011
Claudio Grosman and Gisela Cymes published in Nature
"Tunable pKa values and the basis of opposite charge selectivities in nicotinic-type receptors," by Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Claudio Grosman and Research Scientist Gisela Cymes, has been published in Nature.
Nature, University News Bureau
Posted
May 24, 2011