News
William Metcalf Appointed As G. William Arends Professor
Department of Microbiology Professor Bill Metcalf has been appointed to the G. William Arends Professorship in Life Sciences for his accomplishments in research, education, and service.
Arends was a member of the 1939 graduating class in the University of Illinois College of Medicine. This endowed professorship, established by G. William and Clair Mae Arends, recognizes extraordinary research achievement.
A formal investiture service will be held early in the Fall 2013 semester.
Posted
May 08, 2013
New Technology Helps Detect Epigenetic Changes Important to Disease
Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Ann M. Nardulli and colleagues at the University of Illinois and the Mayo Clinic have created a new technique for identifying methylated DNA, a modification to our genetic material that has been shown to correlate with the disease severity and metastasis ability of various types of cancers.
Genetics has been a hot topic among biologists since Watson and Crick first discovered the structure of DNA, the molecule that encodes the information in all living things. As important as the DNA itself is, scientists are now finding that the study of epigenetics, a word that literally means “on top of genetics” and refers to additional chemical modifications to DNA, may give us clues to the causes of human diseases.
Methylation, the addition of a –CH3 group to a molecule, is one of the most highly characterized epigenetic modifications. The addition of this little group has been shown to cause changes in gene expression, and often contributes to the induction and development of certain diseases like cancer.
While the analysis of these methylation patterns may point to novel ways to diagnose and treat these diseases, the current techniques for these analyses are labor intensive and require large sample volumes of DNA for accuracy.
The researchers have now developed a single-molecule test for DNA methylation using a synthetic membrane with a hole in it, known as a nanopore, which lets only one molecule pass through it to be identified. DNA is negatively charged and is able to pass through a nanopore due to charge differences on either side of the membrane. The side of the membrane that the DNA begins on is negatively charged, which repels the similarly-charged DNA, while the side that the DNA is supposed to go to is positively charged, which attracts the DNA through the nanopore. This movement creates a characteristic electrical current reading.
The scientists were able to label methylated DNA bases with a protein called MBD1 which binds to these modified bases, while leaving unmethylated DNA bases unlabeled. Because DNA bound to the MBD1 protein has a larger diameter than the nanopore’s diameter, it will not migrate through the pore, creating a different electrical current reading than that shown when the non-methylated, unlabeled DNA passes through the nanopore. This allows scientists to differentiate non-methylated and methylated DNA simply by measuring the electrical current.
While more research and development of this test is necessary to refine the process, the future clinical applications for this technology will be invaluable. Scientists may soon be able to quantify and map the locations of the MBD-1 proteins bound to target DNA molecules, providing more information and a detection method for diseases that have a characteristic methylation pattern.
The paper, “Detection and Quantification of Methylation in DNA using Solid-State Nanopores,” appears in Scientific Reports.
Read more about the Mayo-Illinois Alliance.
Posted
March 28, 2013
William Bruce, Caroline Johnson, and Keith Whitlock selected for Mayo Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
William Bruce, Caroline Johnson, and Keith Whitlock, outstanding students from the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB), have been selected for three of the five slots specifically reserved for University of Illinois students in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program at the Mayo Clinic.
According to Bryan A. White, Director of the Mayo Clinic/University of Illinois Strategic Alliance for Technology-Based Healthcare, "This is a prestigious fellowship and a wonderful opportunity for these students to build their skills as young scientists. The SURF Program awards a $5,000 stipend to each student to cover living expenses while they carry out a research project at the Mayo Clinic."
Read more about the Mayo Illinois Alliance.
Posted
January 24, 2013
Elena Zelin receives an American Heart Postdoctoral Fellowship
Dr. Elena Zelin, a postdoctorate fellow in Brian Freeman's laboratory, is a recipient of an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship. This 2 year award is established by the American Heart Association to recognize research accomplishments by outstanding post-doctorates and provide support to continue their studies on cardiovascular and stroke research.
Posted
December 13, 2012
The unanticipated complexity of the selectivity-filter glutamates of nicotinic receptors
In a new finding published in Nature Chemical Biology, Research Scientist Gisela Cymes and Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Biophysics, and Neuroscience Claudio Grosman applied single-molecule electrophysiology to elucidate the properties of the ring of acidic side chains that catalyzes the flow of cations through the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor channel. In contrast to what had been assumed for almost 25 years, Cymes and Grosman found that only two of the four glutamates in the selectivity filter of the muscle-type receptor contribute to the single-channel conductance, and that side-chain torsional flexibility and the properties of the microenvironment have a previously unrecognized role on ion permeation. As the authors put it, "This study reveals that the catalytic ring of acidic side chains forms a system of much higher complexity than could be anticipated from this channel's extremely simple conductance behavior. Indeed, not only the protonation state but also the location along the long axis of the pore and the conformation of these side chains seem to be key determinants of the cation-conduction free-energy profile".
Read the paper online in Nature Chemical Biology
Posted
October 21, 2012
Michelle Wegscheid Receives ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowship
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has selected Michelle Wegscheid, a senior in the Specialized Curriculum in Biochemistry, as a 2012 award recipient of the ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
This fellowship is aimed at highly competitive students who wish to pursue graduate careers (Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.) in microbiology. Fellows have the opportunity to conduct full time summer research at their institution with an ASM mentor and present their research results at the 113th ASM General Meeting in Denver, CO if their abstract is accepted.
Each fellow receives up to a $4,000 stipend, a two-year ASM student membership, and
funding for travel expenses to the ASM Presentation Institute and 113th ASM General
Meeting.
This year, one hundred twenty-two applications were received and fifty-six were awarded.
Dr. Brenda Anne Wilson from University of Illinois is Michelle Wegscheid’s mentor. The
title of the research project is: Development and Characterization of Modular Delivery
Vehicles Based on Diphtheria Toxin and BoNT/A.
Read more at the American Society for Microbiology.
Posted
September 21, 2012
Phillip Newmark named University Scholar
Begun in 1985, the scholars program recognizes faculty excellence on the three
U. of I campuses and 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.
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Phillip Newmark recognized that his discipline’s next frontier would be in the biology of tissue and organ regeneration. He now is recognized as one of the foremost proponents of reviving the use of planaria as a new model organism ideally suited for molecular and genetic analysis of regeneration. Today, a growing number of scientists use the planarian system in their research. He has applied his planarian system to several key problems in regeneration biology, including stem-cell differentiation, and germ-cell specification and differentiation. An increasing number of scientists now are using the planarian system in their work, attesting to the impact of Newmark’s work.
Read the release from the University News Bureau.
Posted
September 11, 2012
A Gain-of-Function Polymorphism Controlling Complex Traits and Fitness in Nature
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Mary Schuler and colleagues have published a new study in Science.
According to Schuler, the finding's importance "lies in the fact that it
spans the spectrum from ecology to molecular biology to biochemistry to
computational modeling. I thinks it's the first time that anyone has mapped
how a plant species has acquired a new biosynthetic ability as it has
adapted to a new location. The fact that it maps to just one residue in a
P450 catalytic site and one more on the protein tail is important in
detailing the evolutionary mechanism operating in this example of
'plant-insect warfare'. Researchers know lots about P450 variants in human
populations and how they impact drug metabolism - but the impact of P450
variations in plants has been unexplored territory (until now)."
Read the full text in Science
Posted
August 30, 2012
Circadian Rhythm of Redox State Regulates Excitability in Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Neurons
Although cellular metabolic (redox) state has long been associated with a housekeeping role, recent research from a team lead by Martha Gillette, and including the Lee Cox and Jonathan Sweedler groups, provides new insights on cellular redox states, linking them to the intrinsic daily (circadian) clock in the brain. In the August 17th issue of Science, T. A. Wang et al. show that redox states in this brain region reflect daily cycles of metabolism. This 24-hour metabolic rhythm regulates the electrical activity of the neurons that comprise the mammalian central circadian clock. Thus, cross talk between energetic and neuronal states enables cellular state to influence brain physiology.
Read the full article in Science.
Read a perspective: "Circadian Time Redoxed."
Read a summary by the University News Bureau.
Posted
August 03, 2012
Labib Rouhana selected to the Summer Leadership Institute
Labib Rouhana, a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Phil Newmark, has been awarded the prestigious Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Labib was 1 of 22 postdoctoral fellows selected by the National Research Council Fellowships Office during the 2012 competition. For the past 50 years the Ford Foundation Fellowship program has increased the diversity of the nation's college and university faculty by supporting promising young candidates.
In addition, Labib recently was selected to participate in the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI). The SLI provides premier training to scientists from underrepresented backgrounds who wish to increase their ability to succeed as institutional and community leaders. This program hosted ten postdoctoral fellows, ten early career scientists, and ten mid-career professionals selected from a pool of approximately 150 participants. The SLI was developed by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Click here for more information on the Ford Foundation Fellowship
or the Summer Leadership Institute
Posted
July 25, 2012
A protease for 'middle-down' proteomics
Cong Wu, a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry, is the first author on "A protease for 'middle-down' proteomics" in Nature Methods. Wu works in the lab of co-author Affiliate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Jonathan Sweedler. Wu's research advisor, corresponding author Neil Kelleher, was Affiliate Professor of Biochemistry before leaving the University last year.
According to Cong Wu, "This work is about a novel rare-cutting protease-based approach to perform proteomics using mass spectrometry. The protease we report produces larger peptides than traditional proteases and provides complementary biological information. It serves as an attractive option for researchers to conduct mass spectrometry-based proteomic studies."
Read the full text online in Nature Methods
Posted
June 25, 2012
James H. Morrissey Appointed Roy and Eva Hong Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Professor of Biochemistry James H. Morrissey has been appointed as the Roy and Eva Hong Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the first endowed position held at the school level. Morrissey is internationally recognized for his translational research program that centers on efforts to understand the regulation and mechanism of blood clotting. He was recently recognized by the International Society on Thrombosis & Hemostasis through receipt of the Biennial Investigator Recognition Award, and received the Alumni Discretionary Award from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences in 2007.
Roy Hong was raised in Danville, Illinois, and graduated from the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois in 1937. He
earned his M.D. degree from the University of Illinois, and met Eva during
this time while she was studying nursing. They formed a partnership and
began a practice together in rural Wisconsin, where their dedication in
providing personal, high quality medical care was renowned. Upon
retirement, Roy and Eva Hong established this professorship in their
name to support a senior faculty member and their translational research
endeavors.
Posted
June 19, 2012
First ASCB Graduate Student/Postdoc-Initiated Minisymposium: Cell Biology of Regeneration
Rachel Roberts-Galbraith, postdoc in Cell and Developmental Biology, is co-chair and co-submitter of "Cell Biology of Regeneration," the winning topic in the competition to organize the 2012 American Society for Cell Biology Graduate Student/Postdoc-Initiated Minisymposium. The minisymposium will be held at the 2012 ASCB Annual Meeting.
Roberts-Galbraith is a postdoc in the lab of Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Phillip Newmark.
Posted
June 17, 2012