IPiB Students Recognized by National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Revised June 25, 2020
Three students in the Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB) have been recognized by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Professors Katie Henzler-Wildman and Chad Rienstra, co-directors of the National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison (NMRFAM), have been awarded a grant to study coronavirus proteins of direct relevance to COVID-19. The research is funded by a National Science Foundation EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award, and carried out in collaboration with Assistant Professor Robert Kirchdoerfer.
The research will quickly contribute new insights into the structure and function of two important SARS-coronavirus-2 proteins: nsp8 and the membrane protein M. These...
Biochemistry Assistant Professor Judith Simcox has been named a Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Scholar at UW-Madison. The BIRCWH program supports highly-qualified early-career faculty whose research focuses on women’s health or sex and gender differences.
Simcox’s lab uses liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis to characterize lipids and understand their role in metabolic diseases. In particular, Simcox studies lipids as predictive markers for metabolic disease in African American women.
The Department of Biochemistry is pleased to announce its 2020 undergraduate and graduate student departmental awards and fellowships. These awards and fellowships celebrate talented students in the department and are made possible by generous gifts to the department to fund graduate and undergraduate research.
“We are always honored to celebrate and support our best and brightest students. We’re especially happy to spread the good news this year in particular,” said department chair Brian Fox. “These awards highlight the hard work of these students, mentorship of their faculty...
IPiB Announces 2020 Teaching, Mentoring Awards and New GDLC Officers
The Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB) is pleased to continue its commitment to teaching and mentorship by announcing the 2020 graduate student awards that celebrate these important aspects of the program.
Megan Dowdle, from the lab of Michael Sheets, and Harriet Saunders, from the lab of Jill Wildonger, received the 2020 Denton Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring. Josie Mitchell, from the lab of Jill Wildonger, received the 2020 Sigrid Leirmo Memorial Award in...
Microbial communities perform diverse chemical and physical transformations in every environment on Earth. These communities exhibit tremendous spatial and temporal variability. Abiotic (e.g. nutrient, pH) and biotic interactions shape the spatial distribution of microbes in natural environment such as the gut microbiome and plant rhizosphere. However, we do not fully understand how spatial arrangements influence microbial community metabolic activities, diversity or stability, or how to manipulate these spatial and temporal parameters to program community properties.
Biochemistry...
Biochemistry Assistant Professor Judith Simcox is the co-principal investigator on a recently awarded UW2020 Round 6 project. Dudley Lamming, assistant professor of endocrinology, will serve as principal investigator.
Biochemistry professor Alan Attie and Honorary Biochemistry faculty member David Pagliarini are serving as co- investigators on this project.
Are your children tired of coloring bunnies, flowers, or comic characters? Are you seeking a diversion with a scientific bent? Now is your chance to familiarize yourself and your captive youth audience with trimeric spike proteins and other intricacies of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through art.
Thanks to Jean-Yves Sgro, senior scientist in UW–Madison’s Department of Biochemistry, a COVID-19 coloring book is now available. The graphics-ready-to-color were created with ChimeraX, a molecular visualization software and include the entire virus structure, spike proteins, spikes with ACE2...
Chad Rienstra’s scientific career was jumpstarted by four years of undergraduate research, where he developed a broad interest in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and engineering. It’s this commitment to interdisciplinary research and education that he brings to bear years later as he joins the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Biochemistry as a professor.
After his undergraduate experience at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., he attended MIT for graduate school, followed by a postdoc at Columbia University. In 2000 he started at the University of Illinois...
Elizabeth Sumiec and Stella Ma have both been named 2020 Goldwater Scholars.
Goldwater Scholarships support undergraduates in the last two years of their bachelor’s degree programs. A sophomore who is a Goldwater Scholar receives up to $7,500 in each of the next two academic years. A junior who is a Goldwater Scholar receives up to $7,500 for the senior year of study.
University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Biochemistry Professor Samuel Butcher is a recipient of a 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award, an honor given out since 1953 to recognize the university’s finest educators.
Butcher, who earned the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, has taught Biochemistry 501: Introduction to Biochemistry for 19 years. During that time, the course has grown from enrolling 200 students per semester to more than 600 and is now also available during summer session.
“I think teaching is a privilege and the highest impact thing I do,” Butcher...
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Biochemistry has long fostered an inclusive, supportive, healthy, and environmentally conscious community. Two recent staff awards in cultivating wellness and a green office showcase that commitment.
In late 2019, wellness efforts led by payroll and benefits specialist Bre Sinotte, with assistance from program assistant Megan Pierce, resulted in a Light of Well-being Recognition for the department from the UW–Madison Office of Human Resources. Grants and procurement specialist Morgan Wendt, along with Pierce, spearheaded efforts to...
The Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB) — the joint graduate program of the Department of Biochemistry and Department of Biomolecular Chemistry — is full of collaborative faculty. One partnership in particular between the labs of biochemistry professor Michael Cox and biomolecular chemistry professor James Keck goes back nearly two decades. And a new National Institutes of Health grant to study the creation and repair of DNA gaps is further pushing forward their research and opportunities for their students.
The groups — along with Cox’s longtime collaborators at the...
The University of Wisconsin–Madison student chapter of the American Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) invites undergraduate researchers to participate in the Molecules in the Midwest conference on Saturday, March 7.
The conference, which will be held at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery on the UW–Madison campus, will feature a poster competition, guest speakers from leading graduate programs in the biological and chemical sciences, and networking opportunities with graduate students and faculty members.
To continue to improve the student experience, the Departments of Biochemistry and Bacteriology are combining their undergraduate advising services to form the Biochemistry and Microbiology Advising Hub. With support from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), the hub will have a team of four advisors in a new space.
The hub will provide biochemistry and microbiology majors with expanded advising support, including shorter wait times, more flexible drop-in hours, and overall increased access to an academic advisor. It will also build a professional community among the...
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