
Each year, undergraduates from biochemistry labs travel with Department of Biochemistry faculty to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) annual meeting to participate in its poster contest. Keeping with tradition, the students were successful and brought home many awards from the 2017 meeting April 22-26.
“Overall our students represented the department extremely well,” says professor Mike Cox, who organizes the trip and travels with the students. “I had a lot of great comments from the judges about our students. These are terrific young people, and it...

Faculty from the Department of Biochemistry are leading two projects that recently earned UW2020: WARF Discovery Initiative awards, in addition to numerous other department faculty being collaborators on many projects.
Professor Julie Mitchell is the principal investigator on “An Adaptive Computational Pipeline to Accelerate Drug Discovery,” and professor Robert Landick is heading “Bringing the Cryo-electron Microscopy Revolution to UW–Madison.”

Dave Pagliarini, associate professor of biochemistry and lead investigator of metabolism for the Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is being recognized for major early-career achievement by The Protein Society.
Pagliarini will receive one of the society’s eight distinct achievement awards during its 31st Annual Symposium in Montreal in July. The Protein Society is the premier international organization dedicated to supporting protein research.
"This award is a special one for me,” says Pagliarini. “While my group likes to blend multiple...

There are many processes that take place in cells that are essential for life. Two of these, transcription and translation, allow the genetic information stored in DNA to be deciphered into the proteins that form all living things, from bacteria to humans to plants.
Scientists have known for half a century that these two processes are coupled in bacteria, but only now have they finally had a look at the structure that makes this possible. In a paper published in Science today [April 13], biochemists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for...

The term “rhino” is derived from the Greek word for “nose.” Hence, human rhinoviruses are those responsible for the common cold and some can even pose a serious threat to those with asthma.
In a recent review article on the cover of the Journal of Virology, biochemistry professor Ann Palmenberg summarizes hers and others’ research on the viruses that cause the common cold and specifically can harm those with asthma.

Bacteria, like humans and animals, must eat. Sometimes, they consume a pollutant in the environment that humans want to get rid of, a process called bioremediation. Investigating the enzymes used by bacteria to carry out that process is important for scientists to understand and possibly improve on these powerful reactions. However, until now, having a snapshot of one of these important enzymes in action has eluded science.

Recognized for her networking and mentoring experience, biochemistry professor Judith Kimble is attending the Young Investigator Meeting in India March 6-10 to lend advice to young scientists in the country.
The meeting features young faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, as well as senior scientists, heads of institutes, and representatives from funding agencies. Kimble is one of three scientists from outside of India invited to attend. She will speak about her research and mentoring advice.

The Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison took Danielle Lohman all the way to Manila, Philippines to work in science diplomacy. Lohman, a student in the Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB), has received funding through fellowships from BTP and the National Science Foundation during her graduate career.

The community of microorganisms that resides in the gut, known as the microbiome, has been shown to work in tandem with the genes of a host organism to regulate insulin secretion, a key variable in the onset of the metabolic disease diabetes.
That is the primary finding of a study published Feb. 14 in the journal Cell Reports by a team led by University of Wisconsin–Madison Alan Attie of the Department of Biochemistry and Federico Rey of the Department of Bacteriology. The new report describes experiments in mice showing how genetic variation in a host animal shapes the microbiome...

Technology is becoming more and more important for the study of biochemistry. Powerful computer programs can help researchers make three-dimensional models of molecules or analyze their data to create easy-to-understand plots. In the Department of Biochemistry, senior scientist Jean-Yves Sgro is bringing hands-on workshops to students, staff, and faculty so they can learn these valuable skills.

The Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry are pleased to invite you to register for the 38th Steenbock Symposium on June 22-June 25, 2017. The registration deadline is May 14, with the early registration deadline falling on March 30.
The symposium’s theme, “Protein Trafficking in the Secretory Pathway,” will bring together researchers from the United States, as well as from Europe and Canada, to discuss and explore this important biochemical pathway. The symposium will take place on campus in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Building.

Human messenger RNA — the intermediate step between DNA and protein — is a bit like a choose-your-own-adventure book. Any book contains chapters arranged to tell a story. However, in a choose-your-own adventure, random chapters can be removed and the remaining sections stitched together in different combinations — and all of these new combinations tell a new story.

Ronald Raines, the Henry Lardy Professor of Biochemistry, earned two national awards over the holiday. He was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and also received the Vincent du Vigneaud Award from the American Peptide Society (APS).

Science students, like those majoring in biochemistry, aren’t just tucked away in research labs. They also participate in making their college a better and more welcoming place for current and potential students. Gina Luu and Ryan Rebernick, both biochemistry undergraduates, are serving as College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) Ambassadors for the 2016-17 academic year.
CALS Ambassadors serve as a bridge between current students and incoming and prospective students. They serve as CALS-focused tour guides for interested students coming to check out the college. They also...

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed a novel strategy to reprogram cells from one type to another in a more efficient and less biased manner than previous methods.
The ability to convert cells from one type to another holds great promise for engineering cells and tissues for therapeutic application, and the new Wisconsin study could help speed research and bring the technology to the clinic faster.