Dr. Chris Gamblin (associate professor) is the recipient of a K-INBRE bridge grant entitled "Biochemical and in vivo determinants of tau toxicity." The goal of this project is to take advantage of the mechanistic strengths of biochemical studies to pinpoint the form of tau that causes neurons to stop functioning normally and eventually die. The outcomes of this study will be combined with the use of fruit flies as a fast, cheap model system in future studies. These studies will help us design better therapies for Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Liang Xu (associate professor) is the recipient of a K-INBRE bridge grant entitled "Nanovectors targeting pancreatic cancer stem cells." The goal of this project is to develop novel nanoparticle delivery systems for targeting cancer stem cells.

On April 17, the University of Kansas Provost's Office and Office of Research and Graduate Studies awarded Leading Light Awards recognizing principle investigators who received external awards of $1 million or more and active during FY2011. Fourteen faculty members in Molecular Biosciences were among the awardees: Yoshiaki Azuma, David Davido, Roberto De Guzman, Scott Hefty, Wompil Im, Audrey Lamb, Erik Lundquist, Stuart Macdonald, Kristi Neufeld, Berl Oakley, Jim Orr, Liang Tang, Robert Ward, and Ilya Vasker.

Dr. Rebecca Marquez (postdoctoral fellow, Xu lab) is the recipient of a K-INBRE postdoctoral fellowship entitled "microRNA Scaffolds for increased miRNA processing efficiency in cancer cells." The goal of this project is to investigate the miRNA structure and function in cancer and provide insights in developing miRNA-based molecular cancer therapy.

Dr. Maged Zeineldin (postdoctoral fellow, Neufeld lab) is the recipient of a K-INBRE postdoctoral fellowship entitled "Chemoprevention of inflammation-mediated colon cancer with novel activator of heat shock response." The goal of this project is to test the hypothesis that a novel compound developed by collaborator Dr. Brian Blagg (Department of Medicinal Chemistry) reduces tumor burden in a mouse model of chronic colitis by inhibiting inflammation.

Sonia Hall (graduate student, Ward lab) was awarded an NSF GK-12 Fellowship through the KU Center for Science Education for 2012-2013 academic year. Sonia will work with middle school science teachers in the Kansas City or Topeka area to develop science curricula and research experiences.

Jose Olucha (graduate student, Lamb lab) is the 2012 recipient of the Philip and Marjorie Newmark Award for biochemistry research for his project and presentation entitled "Structure of ornithine hydroxylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa."

Pierce O'Neil (undergraduate, Davido lab) has been awarded a 2012 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Undergraduate Research Fellowship. His summer research project supported by ASM is entitled "Effects of Interferon Beta on the Transactivation Activity of Wild-Type and N-Terminal Truncation Mutant Forms of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Infected Cell Protein 0". This award also includes an ASM membership and travel funds for Pierce to present his results at the 2013 ASM Conference.

More News

Dr. Audrey Lamb (associate professor) gave a presentation entitled "Two structures of an N-Hydroxylating Flavoprotein Monooxgenase: the Ornithine Hydroxylase (PvdA) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa" in the chemistry department of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, on April 6.

Dr. Kristi Neufeld (associate professor) gave a presentation entitled "Mouse model reveals roles for nuclear APC in regulation of Wnt signaling, proliferation, inflammation, and tumor suppression" in the University of Kansas Cancer Center Seminar Series, KUMC, Kansas City, Kansas on April 24.

Sonia Hall (graduate student, Ward lab) presented a talk entitled "Macroglobulin complement related is a secreted core septate junction protein whose localization is mediated through the transmembrane protein Neuroglian" at the 53rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Chicago, Illinois, March 7-11.

Abby Dotson (graduate student, Benedict lab) successfully defended her Doctoral dissertation entitled "Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in T cell differentiation and as a target for peptide therapy of type 1 diabetes" on April 10th.

Courtney Gdowski (graduate student, Benedict lab) successfully defended her Masters thesis entitled "Interaction of ICAM-1 with LFA-1: intercellular signaling and implication in type 1 diabetes" on April 12.

More Presentations

April

Ahuja M, Chiang YM, Chang SL, Praseuth MB, Entwistle R, Sanchez JF, Lo HC, Yeh HH, Oakley BR, Wang CC. Illuminating the diversity of aromatic polyketide synthases in Aspergillus nidulans. J Am Chem Soc
[Epub ahead of print]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22510154

Cheng X, Im W. NMR observable-based structure refinement of DAP12-NKG2C activating immunoreceptor complex in explicit membranes. Biophys J 102: L27-9.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22500771

Kim T, Lee KU, Morris P, Pastor RW, Andersen OS, Im W. Influence of hydrophobic mismatch on structures and dynamics of gramicidin a and lipid bilayers. Biophys J 102: 1551-60.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22500755

O'Bryhim BE, Radel J, Macdonald SJ, Symons RC. The genetic control of avascular area in mouse oxygen-induced retinopathy. Molecular Vision 2012; 18: 377-89.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22355249

Park S, Kim T, Im W. Transmembrane helix assembly by window exchange umbrella sampling. Phys Rev Lett 108: 108102.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22463457

Sanchez JF, Entwistle R, Corcoran D, Oakley BR, Wang CC. Identification and molecular genetic analysis of the cichorine cluster in Aspergillus nidulans. In press: Med Chem Comm Available on line.
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/
2012/md/c2md20055d

More Publications


The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression and genetic information in the University’s programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, IOA@ku.edu, 1246 W. Campus Road, Room 153A, Lawrence, KS, 66045, (785)864-6414, 711 TTY.