May 2012 Issue

Publications

Schoenherr J.A., J.M. Drennan, J.S. Martinez, M.R. Chikka, M.C. Hall, H.C. Chang and J.C. Clemens. 2012. Drosophila activated Cdc42 kinase has an anti-apoptotic function. PLoS Genet. 8: 5.

Kirchmaier, A.L. 2011. Ub-family modifications at the replication fork: Regulating PCNA-interacting components. FEBS Lett. 585: 2920-2928.

Luo, J. and X. Liu. 2012. Polo-like kinase 1, on the rise from cell cycle regulation to prostate cancer development. Protein Cell. 3: 182-197.

Song, B., X.S. Liu and X. Liu. 2012. Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1): an unexpected player in DNA replication. Cell Div. 7: 3.

Zhang, H., B. Bishop, W. Ringenberg, W.M. Muir and J. Ogas. 2012. The CHD3 remodeler PICKLE associates with genes enriched for trimethylation of histone H3 lysine. Plant Physiol. 159: 418-432.

Murray R., D. Bender, K.M. Botham, P.J. Kennelly, V. Rodwell, P.A. Weil, Editors. 2012. Harper's Illustrated Biochemistry, 29th Edition. McGraw-Hill Medical.

Choo, Y.S., G. Vogler, D. Wang, S. Kalvakuri, A. Iliuk, W.A Tao, R. Bodmer and Z. Zhang. 2012. Regulation of parkin and PINK1 by neddylation. Hum. Mol. Genet. 11: 2514-2523.

Xue, L., W.-H., Wang, A. Iliuk, L. Hu, J.A. Galan, S. Yu, M. Hans, R.L. Geahlen and W.A. Tao. 2012. Sensitive kinase assay linked with phosphoproteomics for identifying direct kinase substrates. PNAS. 109: 5615-5620.

Awards and Recognition

Emeritus Professor Klaus Herrmann has been working on hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) for the past five years. This is a procedure that mimics natural coal formation. While natural coal, oil, and gas formation took millions of years, Friderich Bergius showed in the first two decades of the last century that a time lapse procedure can generate coal from biomass in a few hours. For this discovery he earned the Nobel Prize in 1931. In 2006, a paper in Nature dug up the old procedure, because it could be used to help to alleviate the carbon dioxide greenhouse effect.

In 2007, Klaus started to work on HTC, first at a technical university, then in a laboratory in his home town in Germany. In March he published his first paper on the subject, Herrmann, K.M. and Poppe, K.W. 2012. Hydrothermal carbonization, BWK Das Energie Fachmagazin 64, 27-30. When Klaus applied for a grant to the federal government, the office of the Secretary of State of Germany called to ask if he would present his results in the US in a program called Transatlantic Climate Bridge. Klaus was in the US this month presenting talks at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District; the NY City Department of Environmental Protection; the Water Environment Federation in Alexandria, VA; the United States Energy Association and at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in Washington, DC.

Fossil fuels can be obtained from all biomass. Bergius started with wood, but wood is too expensive in Germany to develop a commercially viable process for generation of HTC coal. Klaus uses sludge and the proper disposal of it is rather expensive in Germany because it cannot legally be put on agricultural land. It was his sludge to coal procedure that caught the attention.

Dr. Barbara Golden was awarded an NIH grant in the amount of $126,256 for her project entitled, “Quantitative Imaging for Biochemistry.” (05/15/2012-05/14/2013). The grant will bring a new Typhoon Imager to the Instrumentation Facility in the Department of Biochemistry.

Dr. Jim Clemens was a member of the Purdue zipTrips Team, the winner of the 2012 Purdue Agriculture TEAM Award presented on May 9. The Purdue zipTrips team has developed, delivered, & researched electronic field trips (EFTs) in PK-12 science education since 2007. Assessment results show zipTrips effectively increase students’ interest in science and science careers.

Dr. Vikki Weake from Stowers Inst. for Medical Research will join the department on August 1 as assistant professor.

New Faces

Uma Aryal joined the Hall lab on May 1 as a Research Scientist. Uma is from Gulmi district, Nepal. He received his B.S. in forestry from Chittagong University in Bangladesh; M.S. in biology from Shinshu University in Japan; and Ph.D. in agricultural sciences from Kyushu University in Japan. He comes to us from Richland, Washington, where he has been working for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Biological Separation and Mass Spectrometry group. His research focuses on mass spectrometry based quantitative proteomics and post-translation modification studies. He is married and has two boys aged 7 and 4 years. When he finds time besides lab and family, he enjoys playing volleyball, table tennis, and socializing with people.

Peng Wang is a 1st-year student in the PULSe program and after rotating in four labs, she joined the Chapple lab. Peng is from Hubei, China, and she received her B.S. in the School of Life Sciences at Nanjing University in 2011. In her free time, Peng enjoys reading and playing badminton.

Saying Goodbye

Erica Zbornik (Gimble lab) transferred to the Department of Biology on May 23. She will be working as a Research Assistant for Dr. Seema Mattoo.

Axelrod Lectures

Dr. Dan Tawfik from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Jerusalem, Israel presented this year’s Bernard Axelrod Lectures on April 23 and 24. Tawfik received a B.S. in chemistry and biochemistry and an M.S. in biotechnology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He did his doctoral work at the Weizmann Institute and received Ph.D. in 1995. Tawfik completed two years of postdoctoral research at Cambridge University and the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering (UK). In 2001, he joined the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Sir Charles Clore Prize, the Weizmann Institute’s highest honor for a newly-appointed senior scientist, the Wolgin Prize, and the Haim Weizmann Prize by the City of Tel-Aviv, and EMBO membership.

Undergraduate News

Stacey Dahmen

Laura Henrey Dan Martin Elaine McCarthy

Zulaika Miswan

Betheny Moore

Chemist PhD Student MS Student DVM student Returning to Malaysia

DVM student

Australian Gold, Indianapolis

Horticulture, Purdue University

Entomology, Purdue University

Purdue University

To search for full time employment.

Purdue University

John Nast Chelsea Noffsinger

Allison Shockley

Dahlia Shvets Kirsten Young

Technician III MS student Applying to law school

Applying to Peace Corps

DVM student

Eli Lilly & Company,

Animal Sciences or Comparative

Purdue University

Indianapolis Pathobiology, Purdue University

Undergraduates Gabe Rangel, Kayleigh Nyffeler, Weize Huang , Kim Tyler, and Braden Wenndt all received an undergraduate research scholarship from Agricultural Research at Purdue (ARP) for 2012-13. Each student will receive $2,000 and the lab $500 for research supplies.

Graduate Student News

Kelly Sullivan (Kappock lab) passed her preliminary examination on April 24.

Qianyi Yang (Forney lab) passed her preliminary examination on April 25.

Li Pan (Tao lab) passed his preliminary examination on May 2.

Spring Fling

On May 17, graduate student Emma Ohaeri along with other Tao lab members Keerthi Jayasundera, Li Yang and her fiancé Chang enjoyed a beautiful day of fun and activities at the 2012 Spring Fling, the annual employee appreciation event. An array of events including karaoke, the Fitness Walk, and a vintage car show entertained the 500 attendees that were present on the sunny, Thursday afternoon.

Going the Extra Mile

Dr. Xiaoqi Liu presented a poster entitled, “PLk1 in kinetochore-microtuble attachment” at The Cell Cycle meeting in Cold Spring Harbor, NY on May 15.

Dr. Ann Kirchmaier gave a seminar entitled, “Creating and propagating epigenetic states: histone modifications patterns” and served on the panel for a Faculty Search Workshop at Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, MO on May 21.

Dr. Andy Tao gave a talk entitled, “Integrated proteomic strategies to identify direct kinase substrates” at the University of Washington mass spec symposium, and at the annual ASMS collaborations on May 15.

Strictly Personal

On May 6, 2012 the Nickel team, which includes Emeritus Professor Victor Rodwell's son Eric, won the Team Trials to represent the United States in bridge at the 2nd World Mind Sports Games in Lille, France, August 9-23. The Nickel team already holds four gold and three silver medals in world championship play. In addition to bridge, the Games will include chess, xiang qi (Chinese chess), go, and checkers.

IT Corner by Joe Levell

The internet is a great place, but if you don't know what you are doing it can go horribly wrong. I am often consulted to find out the validity of emails in regards to phishing scams or malware attempts. Everyone in the department does a great job of forwarding anything to me that they consider suspicious. Please continue to do so. This month I would like to give you an additional resource to help you sift through the "river of junk" that the internet or your email can become.

We all have that one person in our life who forwards an unending stream of garbage emails. If you doubt the truthfulness of any item forwarded to you in email then check Snopes.com. This site keeps active watch on stories and scams that are sent to people around the globe. It can be fun reading even if you are not looking for something specific.

Snopes.com Main Page: http://www.snopes.com/

Snopes.com Computer Related Items: http://www.snopes.com/computer/computer.asp

Birthdays

Fumni Adebesin

Aurelie Chuong

Jim Clemens

Hana Hall

Gunter Kohlhaw

Bharat Mankani

Nina Serratore

Nicki Stone

Siwen Wang