The Microbiology Society has awarded the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Prize 2025 to Dr. Nikea Pittman and her colleagues from Black Microbiologists Association for their outstanding contributions in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion within the field.

KC Copper at the Puttery in Charlotte, NC. A place to play putt putt while enjoying a mixed drink or food.

Meet KC Cooper, research technician. Her work is focused on cGAS-like enzymes in prokaryotes and their role in anti-phage defense in the Jenson lab.

text "BCBP Equipment committee awarded $40K for anew autoclave! Leiah Carey and Jesse Arp, equipment committee co-chairs" images of fireworks and photo of Leiah Carey PhD

Special thanks to our Equipment Committee co-chairs: Leiah Carey PhD, Research Associate in the Campbell lab and Jesse Arp, Accountant for all their hard work to get this award for the UNC biochemistry and biophysics department.

We remain one of the most hashtag#NIH-funded hashtag#biochemistry programs in the nation, according to the most recent Blue Ridge Institute rankings. We are proud of all our hashtag#research teams for their hard work and accomplishments! Since our founding in 1935, we are proud to have contributed important scientific advances, and we routinely rank among the top departments in the field. In 2023 we ranked 5th overall for NIH funding and 4th for public institutions.

This study, “A genomic database furnishes minimal functional glycyl-tRNA synthetases homologous to other, designed class II urzymes”, now Online in Nucleic Acids Research journal with open access, was driven by first author Dr. Sourav Kumar Patra. Carter lab previously designed the urzymes but this time we found it from natural source. Which Supports our AI driven study of Urzyme model throughout past many years.

A new study from the lab of Pengda Liu, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics, has identified a new biological function of 2’3’-cGAMP in the control of cell migration and cancer metastasis. This research also provides further insights into statin drugs that block cell migration.

Special recognition to Dr. Brian Kuhlman at UNC, whose work during his postdoc with David Baker contributed to this groundbreaking achievement. Dr. Kuhlman's contributions are referenced in the Nobel Prize documentation, see Ref. #17 is Kuhlman et al. From page 7 Nobel Prize doc. "The breakthrough in computational de novo protein design came in 2003 when David Baker and coworkers published the design and crystallographic validation of a 93-residue α/β-protein named Top7.” read more...

For this Women’s History Month, we would like to honor Mary Ellen Jones, PhD. You may recognize her name from the building that sits on the edge of the UNC Medical Center campus, but Jones is recognized for so much more.

Jack Griffith sitting in front of his electron microscope

Jack Griffith, PhD, whose work focuses on the use of electron microscopy, has been contributing to research at Carolina for 46 years. Read about Jack's research.

Pengda Liu and his lab sitting around a dinner table celebrating after a lab meeting in 2024

The Liu lab consists of a group of young scientists with passion for biomedical research. The goal of Liu lab is to better understand deregulated signaling events in cancer to search for new drug targets and develop new treatment modalities. One focus of the Liu lab is on the ubiquitin/kinase signaling to define cancer type …

Brian Strahl, PhD, was promoted to Associate Dean for Basic Research for UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine on September 1, 2024. He reports to the Vice Dean for Research, Blossom Damania, PhD, and focuses on overseeing the infrastructure, communication and development necessary to bolster the growing research enterprise of the SOM. He has been …

3 professionals shown for the Yang family scholars

Sarah Linnstaedt, PhD, Benjamin Vincent, MD, and Pengda Liu, PhD, were selected as Yang Family Biomedical Scholars in the eighth installment of this annual School of Medicine award. Please join us in celebrating the new class of Yang Scholars at a seminar and reception on August 27 at 9:30 AM in 1131 Bioinformatics Building. Coffee and refreshments will also be available at 9:00 AM.

Tag: Faculty & Lab News

Dr. Nikea Pittman and Colleagues Receive International Recognition: Inaugural EDI Prize 2025 by Microbiology Society

Welcome Research staff KC Cooper to BCBP and Jenson lab

BCBP Equipment Committee Awarded $40K for a new autoclave!

UNC Biochemistry and Biophysics NIH Funding Ranks 4th among Public Universities

New study unveils, a natural evidence of minimal functional aminoacyl tRNA synthetase Urzyme model fetched from genomic database

Liu lab: Researchers Identify New Protein Pathway

2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Honors Work Linked to UNC Scientist: Dr. Brian Kuhlman

Mary Ellen Jones: A Woman of Many Firsts

Dr. Jack Griffith featured in UNC Research

Liu Lab spotlight: recent publications and new grant

Strahl promoted to SOM Associate Dean for Basic Research

UNC School of Medicine Names 2023-24 Yang Family Biomedical Scholars