FACULTY NEWS

Irina I. Serysheva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, BMB, was one of 5 prominent scientists in the cryo-EM field recently interviewed by the journal “The Scientist”. CryoEM is a form of electron microscopy that produces sub-nanometer-resolution 3D structures from 2D images of flash-frozen samples of macromolecules.

A paper published by Dr. Ann-Bin Shyu in EMBO Journal ("Messenger RNA regulation: to translate or to degrade") was one of the 10 most-read/downloaded papers online in September, 2008.

The annual BMB Spring Retreat was held at Camp Allen on March 9 & 10. As in the past years, we gathered during the Monday and Tuesdayto discuss science, network with our peers and play. Such a high level of active participation, for four consecutive years, by program members bespeaks our commitment to excel and provide the best training environment. Congratualtions to all who participated and presented. A list of the competition winners can be found on the retreat page.

STUDENT NEWS

Congratulations to Roxanna Irani, an M.D./Ph.D. student in Dr. Xia's lab, for receiving the new Jess Hay Endowment for Chancellor's Graduate Student Research Fellowship for her work on efforts to better understand a condition known as pre-eclampsia that threatens the lives of expectant women and their unborn children. Read more about this highly competitive award and Roxanna's project.

Several BMB students have recently received awards. These include

· This year’s Dean’s Research Awards( sponsored by the Medical School/Graduate School Education Committee) were awarded to Jennifer Gonzalez (Jayaraman lab), Roxanna Irani (Xia lab) and Yang Zhou (Blackburn lab). This highly competitive award will be presented in a ceremony in min-September.

· Anu Rambhadran (Jayaraman Laboratory) and Xi Mo (Li laboratory) won second and third place respectively at the Gulf Coast Consortium for Membrane Biology Poster Session. This was a highly competitive poster session where students and postdocs were judged together.
· Kari Brewer (Chun Li laboratory) received the 2008-2009 Andrew Sowell and Wade Huggins Scholarship in Cancer Research.
· Mesias Pedroza (Blackburn laboratory) was awarded an inaugural Gigli Family Scholarship from the GSBS. This is a competitive fellowship that is awarded to students that exhibit exceptional promise as young biomedical researchers.
· Roxanna Irani (M.D.,Ph.D. Student Xia) was awarded the 2009 Harry S. and Isabel C. Cameron Foundation Fellowship from the GSBS.
· Jennifer Gonzalez (Jayaraman laboratory) received the 2008-09 City Federation of Women’s Clubs Endowed Scholarship in the Biomedical Sciences administered through the GSBS.

Mesias Pedroza, a graduate student in Mike Blackburn's laboratory, has received a Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship from the National Research Council. Congratulations, Mesias, on receiving this highly competitive fellowship.

Daniel J. Schneider, a graduate student in Mike Blackburn's laboratory, was recently awarded a fellowship by the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences at the Health Science Center. This competitive fellowship provides a stipend, travel support, and supply money to conduct his Ph.D. project entitled "Role of osteopontin and adenosine signaling in chronic pulmonary disease."