IUSM Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Join today for the Thesis Defense of Michael Liesen, PhD Candidate in the labof Dr. Jonah Vilseck! 1:30PM in MS 326!

Congratulations to Dr. Ron Wek, who was named a Fellow of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology! asbmb.org/asbmb-today/pe…

Today we welcome Dr. Wei Qiu to our BMBP seminar! Dr. Qiu, Professor of Cancer Biology and Surgical Research at Loyola University, will present on “The role of ABL Kinases in liver Pathogenesis”. 4pm, MS B26, Cookies and Coffee Provided

Join us for our student-invited speaker Dr. Vincent Tagliabracci, an HHMI investigator from UT Southwestern. Dr. Tagliabracci will speak on "Expanding the Kinome" today at 4pm, MS B26. Cookies and coffee provided!

BMBP seminar welcomes Dr. Anish Thomas today from the NCI! Dr. Thomas will talk about his work "Decoding tumor heterogeneity and plasticity: from patients to mechanisms". MS B26, 4pm, Cookies and Coffee provided!

Today for Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Pharmacology seminar we welcome Dr. Patrick Sheets, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. He will speak on Reverse engineering the organization of supraspinal pain circuits in mice'. 4pm, MS B26, with Cookies and Coffee!

Join us today for Biochemistry Seminar! We look forward to hearing from Dr. Jennifer Heemstra, Chair of the Department of Chemsitry at the University of Washington. Dr. Heemstra will speak on “A Chemical Biology Toolbox for Probing A-to-I RNA Editing". 4pm, MS B26.

2/2: The research was led by Ricardo Cordova, a recent graduate of the Biochemstry Department, and investigators Dr. Kirk Staschke and Ron Wek, among others. @kirkstaschke

New paper alert! doi.org/10.1158/0008-5… 1/2: This exciting work recently published in Cancer Research uncovers how caloric restriction impacts androgen receptor translation and boosts prostate tumor sensitivity to Enzalutamide.

Join us today for Biochemistry seminar! We welcome Dr. Jacob Durrant from the University of Pittsburgh, speaking on "From Molecules to Medicines: A Wed-Centric Approach to Small- Molecule Ligand Identification and Optimization". 4pm, MS B26

Noah Sommers, PhD student in the Biochemistry Department, presented his research on GCN2 in prostate cancer progression at the American Association for Cancer Research!

We are trhilled to welcome Dr. Angela Gronenboen, UPMC Rosalind Franklin Professor, Chair and Distinguished Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She will speak on "The awesome power of fluorine NMR-from drugs to cells". 3/3 4pm MSB26

Join us today for Biochem seminar! We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Richard Carpenter from Indiana University Bloomington, who will speak on his research studying "Emerging Roles for HSF1 in Breast Cancer". 4pm, MS B26, Coffee and Cookies Provided!

2/2: Human Asparagine Synthetase (ASNS), an amidotransferase essential for asparagine biosynthesis, plays a role in cancer progression and neural development. This study, leveraging Glacios Cryo-EM at IUSM and MD simulations, uncovered a key residue critical to ASNS's mechanism.

1/2: Publication Announcement! In a new manuscript published in Nature Communications, Dr. Yuichiro Takagi @LabTakagi and collaborators used Cryo-EM to reveal the catalytic mechanism of Human Asparagine Synthetase (ASNS): nature.com/articles/s4146…

4pm, MS B26, cookies and coffee provided.

Join us today for the Student-Invited Speaker! Dr. Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology, Oncology and Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will present research on Early Dissemination and Cancer Cell Dormancy: Rethinking Metastasis Biology

Coordination between ISR and p53 may be crucial for prostate cancer cells to survive chemotherapies, thus targeting the ISR may promote cell death of p53-negative tumors. Congratulations to Dr. Cordova, Noah Sommers, Drs. Staschke and Wek, and all the co-authors who contributed!

In this work, Dr. Cordova and colleagues showed that activation of the ISR, particularly through the kinase GCN2, is required for prostate cancer cell survival and tumor growth. Inhibition of GCN2 limited cell growth, but also induced tumor senescence through p53 signaling.

New publication from the laboratories of Drs.Kirk Staschke and Ron Wek, featured on the cover of Science Signaling! science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…