2014

UNC researchers link gene to increased dendritic spines – a signpost of autism

By deleting the NrCAM gene, scientists have found a potential way to cut back on the neural connections implicated in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Sancar lab finds final pieces to the circadian clock puzzle

Sixteen years after scientists found the genes that control the circadian clock in all cells, the lab of UNC’s Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, discovered the mechanisms responsible for keeping the clock in sync.

Welcome reception for our 2014 entering class

The Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics holds a reception on August 11th to welcome in our new graduate students.

Grad Student Stephani Page receives Diane Harris award

Congratulations to Stephani Page who received the 2014 Diane Harris Leadership Award for her exemplary public service as doctoral student in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

Strahl Lab publishes in Genes and Development

Congratulations to the Strahl Lab for their recent article “Catalysis-dependent stabilization of Bre1 fine-tunes Histone H2B ubiquitylation to regulation gene transcription” that was published in the August 1, 2014 issue of Genes and Development.

A fitness bottleneck in HIV-1 transmission

Congratulations to the Swanstrom lab that published an article titled “A fitness bottleneck in HIV-1 transmission” in the July 11, 2014 issue of Science.

Daniel Isom receives a 2014 UNC Pagano Award for a best first-author postdoctoral pape

Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Isom a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Henrick Dohlman’s lab who is one of the recipients this year of a Joseph S. Pagano award

The Ras Tracker

For more than 20 years, Sharon Campbell, PhD, has been studying Ras, a protein implicated in 30 percent of all cancers. Now she’s on the hunt for alternative ways to shut the protein down.

Meet the new student representatives for 2014-2015

Amy Howard (biophysics student) has joined Cassandra Hayne (biochemistry student) as the new student representative for the department.

Postdoc Erin Shanle authors a review in Nature Methods.

Congratulations to Erin Shanle, a postdoc in the Strahl Lab, on her review in Nature Methods.

UNC Center for Structural Biology Names New Co-Directors

Michael Miley, PhD and Ashutosh Tripathy, PhD announced as the new co-directors for the UNC Center for Structural Biology (CSB). CSB has also launched a brand new website.

Postdoc Yacine Boulaftali receives UNC Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence

Congratulations to Dr. Yacine Boulaftali in the Bergmeier lab who received a 2014 UNC Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence.

Research Associate Sook-Kyung Lee awarded R21 grant from NIAID

Congratulations to Research Associate Sook-Kyung Lee from the Swanstrom Lab who received a R21 grant from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Sharon Campbell receives Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award

Congratulations to Dr. Sharon Campbell, Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics, who is the recipient of the 2014 Hyman L. Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award.

Postdoc Thomas Freeman now a lecturer in UNC Chemistry

Congratulations to Thomas Freeman on his new position as a lecturer with the UNC Chemistry Department

Grants manager Rhonda receives a promotion

After 16 years of dedicated service to the Department, Rhonda is leaving for a promotion with OSR.

Viva la futbol!

Dr. Aziz Sancar enjoying the games last week with several others.

Alum News

Updates from our department alum

Grad Student Jon Leano receives his PhD

Jon successfully defended his dissertation and received his PhD on July 1, 2014.

Silvia Ramos joins the Department

We welcome Dr. Silvia Ramos who has just joined the lab of Dr. Bill Marzluff as a new research faculty member in the Department.

Postdoc Dileep Varma accepts faculty position at Northwestern

Congratulations to Dr. Dileep Varma on his new tenure-track faculty position with the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Postdoc Shobhan Gaddameedhi accepts faculty position at Washington State

Congratulatons to Dr. Shobhan Gaddameedhi on his new Assistant Professor position with the Department of Experimental and Systems Pharmacology at Washington State University.

EpiCypher co-founded by Brian Strahl is moving to Chapel Hill

Drs. Brian Strahl, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UNC-Chapel Hill along with Or Gozani, Associate Professor at Stanford, and Mark Bedford, Professor of Molecular Carcinogenesis at the University of Texas are the scientific founders of EpiCypher, a company that develops and manufactures novel products and tools for epigenetics and chromatin biology research. As of earlier this month, the operations have been moved from Texas to UNC-Chapel Hill campus.

Grad Student Ivan Sabath receives his PhD

Ivan successfully defended his dissertation and received his PhD on June 23, 2014.

Dohlman lab publishes in Molecular Cell

In the June 19, 2014 edition of Molecular Cell, the Dohlman lab publishes a paper “Cellular Noise Suppression by the Regulator of G Protein Signaling Sst2.”

Joseph Pearson from the Crews lab publishes in Developmental Biology

Congrats to Joseph Pearson for publishing a first author paper in Developmental Biology. His article “Enhancer diversity and the control of a simple pattern of Drosophila CNS midline cell expression” was available online ahead of print on May 20, 2014.

Brian Strahl receives NIH and NSF grants to study gene expression.

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Strahl, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics for receiving grants from the NIH and NSF

Xiong lab publishes back to back articles in Molecular Cell

Two studies from the Xiong lab (Li et al., 2014 and Yan et al., 2014) in Molecular Cell show that CUL7, OBSL1, and CCDC8, all mutated in 3M short stature syndrome, form a centrosomal complex that regulates CUL9 and its substrate Survivin to link mitosis to cell survival.

Meet our 2014 entering students!

Learn more about our new entering class of students and help us welcome them to the department.

UNC researchers pinpoint new role for enzyme in DNA repair, kidney cancer

The discovery, from the lab of Brian Strahl, PhD, offers insights for the creation of better, more targeted therapies for various forms of cancer.

Increased mucins pinned to worsening cystic fibrosis symptoms

The discovery from UNC School of Medicine researchers overturns a controversial research study and offers a path for creating and testing CF treatments

Grad student Karen Plevock secures funds from ASCB and NCBC

Congratulations to Karen Plevock, graduate student from Biochemistry and Biophysics, who partnered with Rebecca Adikes, Vincent Boudreau, and Carlos Patiño-Descovich (Biology Department UNC), and Kaelyn Sumigray (post-doctoral fellow in Cell Biology at Duke) for securing funding for the organization of The Triangle Cytoskeleton meeting.

UNC researchers develop insights into protein linked to cell movement

Campbell Lab published an article in Structure that proposes a new model for understanding how these proteins bind together to facilitate cell movement.

Saskia Neher receives a grant from the American Heart Association

Congratulations to Dr. Saskia Neher, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics for receiving a beginning grant in aid from the American Heart Association.

Greg Wang selected as a Kimmel Scholar in cancer research.

Congratulations to Greg Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics for his selection as a 2014 Sidney Kimmel Foundation Scholar in cancer research.

Alum David Puett has published a new book on “Cancer Bioinformatics”

Dr. David Puett along with Drs. Ying Xu and Juan Cui have published a new book that provides a framework for computational researchers studying the basics of cancer through comparative analyses of online data.

Aravind Asokan receives a CNIHR award from the NIH

Congratulations to Aravind Asokan, Assistant Professor in Genetics and Joint in Biochemistry & Biophysics for receiving a Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research award from the NIH.

Greg Wang receives grant from Gabrielle’s Angels

Greg Wang receives a grant from Gabrielle’s Angels to study “Novel Approaches to Target PRC2 Enzymatic Complexes for the Treatment of Hematopoietic Malignancies”

Grad Student Cassandra Hayne receives a Merchant Scholarship Award

Congratulations to Cassandra Hayne who received a Merchant Scholarship Award from her alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa.

Grad Student Justin Black named as a Graduate School Leadership Development Scholar

Congratulations to Justin Black who was named as a Graduate School Leadership Development Scholar by the UNC Graduate School.

Brian Strahl Promoted to Full Professor

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Strahl who was promoted to full professor effective April 25, 2014.

Grad Student Yunus Annayev receives his PhD!

Yunus successfully defended his dissertation and received his PhD on April 17th, 2014

Greg Wang receives an ASH Scholar Award

Congratulations to Greg Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics who is the recipient of an American Society of Hematology Scholar Award.

Barry Lentz inducted as an honorary member of the Frank Porter Graham Honor Society

Congratulations to Barry Lentz who was inducted into the Frank Porter Honor Society.

Swanstrom elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology

Congratulations to Dr. Ron Swanstrom, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics for his selection as a 2014 American Academy of Microbiology Fellow.

Alumni Jan Sumerel dicusses MakerBot and future of 3D printing

Chapelboro.com features an article on MakerBot, a company that wants to develop “3D Printing that everyone can use.”

David Allison awarded a fellowship from Debbie’s Dream Foundation

Congratulations to David Allison, postdoctoral fellow in the Greg Wang lab who is the recipient of a fellowship from Debbie’s Dream Foundation.

Lentz and Majumder podcast about FRET

Lentz Lab members create a podcast for the Biochemical Journal to discuss their recent paper “Phosphatidylserine and FVa regulate FXa structure”

Rui Lu receives a Lymphoma Research Foundation Award

Congratulations to Rui Lu, postdoctoral fellow in the Greg Wang lab who is a recipient of a Lymphoma Research Foundation Award.

Grad Student Adam Roberts receives his PhD!

Adam successfully defended his dissertation and received his PhD on March 31, 2014.

Grad Student Jamie Campbell receives her PhD!

Jamie successfully defended her dissertation and received her PhD on March 27, 2014.

Wolfgang Bergmeier becomes associate professor with tenure.

Congratulations to Wolfgang Bergmeier, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics who received tenure as a UNC faculty effective March 1, 2014.

Mary Sue Coleman named to Board of Directors of Kavli Foundation

Congratulations to department alum, Mary Sue Coleman who was named as a new board of director for the Kavli Foundation

UNC scientists reveal how cells destroy RNA, a key to understanding disease

Findings from the lab of William Marzluff, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics provides insight into how genetic diseases, such as various cancers, develop in the body.

Grad Student Gauri Dixit receives her PhD!

Gauri successfully defended her dissertation and received her PhD on March 5, 2014.

Swanstrom named Charles J. Postelle Distinguished Professor

Congratulations to Ron Swanstrom, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics who was named the Charles J. Postelle Distinguished Professor effective March 1, 2014.

Dokholyan named Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor

Congratulations to Nikolay Dokholyan, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics who was named a Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor effective March 1, 2014.

Sancar lab manuscript selected as “Paper of the Week” by JBC

The paper titled “Mechanism of Photosignaling by Drosophila Cryptochrome: Role of the Redox Status of the Flavin Chromophore” appears in the February 21, 2014 print edition of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Vaziri and Janzen receive NIH grant to make chemotherapy drugs more effective

A team led by Cyrus Vaziri and William Janzen at UNC have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health for research that could help make chemotherapy drugs more effective.

Scott Rothbart receives a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award

Congratulations to Dr. Scott Rothbart, postdoctoral fellow in the Strahl lab who received a K99 award from NCI effective February 1, 2014.

Brian Strahl featured in a video about the history of epigenetics.

Brian Strahl, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics is featured in a video about the history of epigenetics in GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News). The video titled, Epigenetics: A Timeline, spans 130 years of research.

Wolfgang Bergmeier earns American Heart Association award!

Congratulations to Wolfgang Bergmeier who received an AHA award to study the role of blood platelets in inflammation and injury.

Hermans & Lentz author new book “Equilibria and Kinetics of Biological Macromolecules”

Drs. Jan Hermans and Barry Lentz have published a new textbook that progressively builds a deep understanding of macromolecular behavior.

A powerful technique to further understanding of RNA

In a paper published by JACS, Qi Zhang, an assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and his team have revealed his newest weapon – a powerful technique to visualize the shape and motion of RNA at the atomic level using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).

Marsha “Lynn” Ray receives “Staff of the Year Award”.

The Staff Recognition Program was established in 2013 to annually recognize a staff member for their outstanding achievement and service in the department. Nominations are made with the following criteria in mind: teamwork, creativity and innovation, positive attitude, enthusiasm, productivity, flexibility and leadership. Congratulations to Lynn Ray as the inaugural honoree!

Our rank as 4th nationally in NIH funding holds in 2013!

In keeping with last year’s ranking, the Department continues to rank fourth among all Biochemistry departments in the US.

Sharon Campbell organizes the ASBMB Special Symposia Series to be held July 2014

Learn more about the event “Translating the Biophysics of Molecular Switches: Signaling Mechanisms and Inhibition of Ras and Rho GTPases”