Category Archives: Biochemistry

Removing the excess moisture from the ribs before cooking will do a few things. Even if your ribs are marinating, it is advised to pat them dry to help prior to cooking. According to the Kitchn, using paper towels to pat the meat dry increases the contact the meat has with the pan or grill and reduces the amount of steam created while cooking. This steam will, in turn, stop the meat from browning properly. Without it though, ribs will be able to create a delicious crust, adding additional flavors and aromas, due to the Maillard reaction.

Joseph Provost, a chemistry and biochemistry professor at the University of San Diego, told The Washington Post thatmeat should be as dry as possible before cooking so that the energy created by the heat can go straight to the food instead of evaporating moisture. This science holds true for ribs. Amazing Ribs notes to always ensure meat is dry before cooking for this very reason. Not only do they have to be pat dry before, but marinating and basting can also prevent the ribs from browning.

So, next time you're cooking up some ribs, be sure to grab a kitchen towel or a roll of paper towels; you don't want to forget this important step for the ultimate flavor.

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Why You Should Pat Ribs Dry Before Cooking Them - Tasting Table

McGill has bestowed internal recognition awards on three cohorts of McGill professors. Nine senior scholars received James McGill Professor (JMP) awards. Thirteen tenure-track assistant or associate professors received William Dawson Scholar (WDS) awards, five for a second five-year term. Eleven scholars became Distinguished James McGill Professors (DJMP)McGills highest honourawarded to late-career scholars whose work exemplifies excellence and international leadership.

McGill is home to outstanding scholars doing excellent research on some of the worlds greatest challenges. Each year, I am honoured to congratulate the winners of the WDS, JMP and DJMP awards and to spotlight the research leadership of these highly accomplished individuals, said Christopher Manfredi, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic). My sincere congratulations to all the honourees.

Among those who received the Distinguished James McGill Professor award are Dr. Louise Pilote of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Gregory Dudek of the Faculty of Science. A leader in womens cardiovascular health research, Dr. Pilote was recently appointed as Deputy Director of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). Professor Dudek is a globally recognized expert in AI and robotics who serves as vice-president of research at Samsung Electronics and leads the Samsung AI Center Montral, which recently doubled the size of its state-of-the-art facility and increased its team of research scientists.

The James McGill Professor awardees in 2022 include Bioresource Engineering Professor Valrie Orsat, an internationally-recognized expert in the development of functional foods, also known as nutraceuticals, in efforts to address global food security and safety challenges. Last year she received an Engineering and Physical Sciences Suffrage Science award for research excellence and for her role as a mentor for women entering the field. Another JMP awardee is Martin Schmeing, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, who in 2020 co-led the team that developed a McGill-made version of the RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test for COVID-19, the gold standard for identifying infections. The team produced over 15,000 tests for use by the MUHC testing facility and then set an ambitious goal to provide millions of RT-PCR tests to the Canadian government.

The William Dawson Scholar(WDS) award recognizes a scholar developing into an outstanding and original researcher who is poised to become an internationally recognized leader in their field. Among the newly appointed WDS awardees is Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey whose first monograph, Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America, published this year, stems from his doctoral dissertation which won Yale Universitys Edwin M. Small Prize for outstanding contribution to U.S. history, Sylvia Ardyn Boone Prize for African American Studies, the Canadian Studies Prize, and the Willard Woody Brittain, Jr. Award. The book situates fundamental questions of twentieth-century U.S. historyimmigration, civil rights, racial identity, radicalism, surveillance and state powerwithin a North American diasporic frame.

Both the JMP and WDS awards come with an annual salary supplement and an annual research allowance not exceeding $25,000. The Distinguished James McGill Professor award provides for a $10,000 academic stipend or a $15,000 research grant allowance. DJMPs have held James McGill Professorships for two seven-year terms while maintaining an outstanding research record, or have held a Canada Research Chairs (Tier 1) for two seven-year terms. DJMP awardees hold the distinction until retirement, and those granted Emeritus status retain the title.

The 2022 DJMP, JMP and WDS cohort:

Distinguished James McGill Professors 11 honourees:

James McGill Professors 9 honourees:

William Dawson Scholar 13 honourees:

A current listing of all DJMP, JMP and WDS awardees:

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Provost honours 33 professors with Distinguished awards - McGill Reporter - McGill Reporter

With roots in science and technology, Suveen Sahib, co-founder and CEO of K18, has been able to crack the code behind the science of hair. For Sahib, an understanding of the biology of hair was the missing component in the hair-care industry.

I took a deep dive into trying to understand the biophysics and biochemistry of hair to learn that what looks like a fiber is actually one of the most sophisticated biological composites. And, the solutions to our caring for a hair do not lie outside of hair, [but instead] they lie inside of hair, Sahib said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast.

After launching in the middle of the pandemic in Dec. 2020, K18 hit $75 million in sales in 2021 with just one consumer-facing product. This year, the company projects it will garner more than $100 million in sales. Though K18s strategic TikTok marketing strategy, which has included partnering with top beauty influencers Mikayla Nogueira and Brad Mondo, is partly to thank for its buzzy debut, Sahib credits the brands tried-and-tested bio-tech formula as the main driver of its success.

We launched it at the height of a pandemic and decided to go with a global launch in 50-plus countries. It was the most brutal way of testing the product. [We wanted to make sure] that it worked literally across every hair type, every generation and every [hair-care] service, Sahib said. Thats where it delivered on its promise. Stylists loved it because they could use it in every service, no matter what hair type. It saved them time, and it made [customers] routine much simpler in a post-pandemic world.

Below are additional highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

Launching a hair-care brand in the salon[K18] could have been launched as part of Aquis, but there were two fundamental things. The architecture of both the products was very different. Also, the distribution footprints were different. Acquis [is] a retail product. To build K18, it needed to go to the salon channel. For a product thats already existing out there in retail [Aquis], you cant just bring [it] to the salon. The salon community loves to start and run with a product, and stylists would be the biggest drivers and provenance of K18. Thats what drove the decision of making [K18] a separate brand and giving it its own personality and its own relevance, which would work with the stylists, rather than simply launching it as an extension of Aquis.

A hero product for both the consumer and the salonK18 is different because K18 is a progressive, experienced product, like retinol. Retinal does not work if you use it once; [you have to keep using it, and it will] continue to improve your skin texture over a period of time. Thats the case with K18. We created two products: One is a salon-only product that is used before chemical service, which is called the K18 Hair Repair Molecular Mist. Then once the chemical service is done, then they follow it up with the K18 mask. Because the K18 mask is progressive, you take that mask experience home, and this is how it works.

I dont see it as a tug-of-war between the two; I see it as one integrated world. Your own stylist is where you get all your information from, and your stylist understands your hair better than anyone else. In the past, the biggest of the hair-care brands globally whether its Krastase, Olaplex or Redkin all sprang up from the salon space and created offerings which extended to the salon experience at home. Thats how we also see K18: building it up in the salons, getting the love of the pro stylists across the globe and making sure that they not only just love the product, but also that the product simplifies their life in the salon. If its not simplifying this life in the salon, it has no value. And then leveraging some of their love to build up our franchise with the community, which is essentially their community.

How K18 sets itself apart[K18 is all] about [testing] new molecules, just like whats happening in the pharma industry. Its also about creating a path to a more sustainable way that drives the future of the cosmetic industry. Essentially, we see biotech as future-proofing beauty. No. 2 is biocompatibility and No. 3 is sustainability. Biotech essentially takes all the plants and animals out of the equation, because what it harnesses is whats most abundant in the world; its harnessing bacteria to become protein factories. In the next 10 years, we see biotech essentially replacing all cosmetic chemistry not just in hair care, but across all of beauty. K18 is playing a pioneering and leading role in that evolution.

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K18 co-founder Suveen Sahib on 'driving the future of the cosmetic industry' - Glossy

image:Researchers from Japan used a peptide-based pharmacophore to identify a potent molecule that binds to and inhibits the bacterial Shiga toxin, Stx2a. Results suggest that the novel compound #6 may be an effective therapeutic agent against enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) infections. view more

Credit: Image credit: Prof. Kiyotaka Nishikawa from Doshisha University, JapanImage link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15316-1

A strain of E. coli bacteria called enterohemorrhagicE. coli(EHEC) is known to cause several gastrointestinal disorders, which include bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, by damaging the intestinal lining. When accompanied with fatal systemic complications, it can even cause acute renal failure in children. The EHEC exerts these deadly effects by producing the Shiga toxin (Stx), of which the Stx2a subtype is particularly virulent and deadly. Compounds that can inhibit these toxins are, therefore, desirable as potential therapeutics against EHEC infections.

To this end, a group of scientists from Japan led by Professor Kiyotaka Nishikawa from Doshisha University has recently discovered a molecule that inhibits Stx2a toxicity by binding to its A-subunit - the part of the toxin responsible for its lethality.

The catalytic A-subunit of Stx2a toxin inhibits protein synthesis and its inhibition could be crucial for slowing EHEC pathogenesis, says Prof. Nishikawa, explaining their motivation behind the study, which waspublished inScientific Reports. The same group had earlier developed an inhibitory molecule that can bind to the B-subunit of Shiga toxin and reduce its toxicity.

Professor Nishikawa and his colleagues, including Assistant Professor Miho Watanabe-Takahashi of Doshisha University, Dr. Miki Senda and Dr. Toshiya Senda of the Institute of Materials Structure Science at High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), and Dr. Kentaro Shimizu of the University of Tokyo, among others, identified the potent compound from a database with over 7,400,000 molecules.

To do this, the researchers had to first identify the basic 3D arrangement of molecules (the peptide motif) that can occupy the catalytic cavity in the A-subunit. In a stroke of luck, they stumbled upon a synthetic molecule with a high affinity for A-subunit. This molecule, a peptide called MMA-mono, helped identify the compound that could bind to the A-subunit of Shiga toxin by serving as a template.

The researchers next outlined the molecular and electronic structure that a possible inhibitory compound must have using structural analysis and X-ray crystallography. These features of a potential inhibitor, known as a pharmacophore, was then confirmed using molecular dynamics simulations.

Finally, they screened a chemical database for compounds that resembled the pharmacophore and identified nine candidates using docking simulations. Of these, a compound identified as compound #6 showed effective binding to the A-subunit of Stx2a.

Further, in vitro cytotoxicity assays using Vero cells showed that compound #6 significantly reduced the destruction of cells caused by Stx2a. Additionally, mice models treated with a lethal dose of Stx2a and compound #6 survived longer than those injected with only Stx2a.

Prof. Nishikawa is optimistic about the future applications of this study. On being asked how the compound might work in the infected cells, he explains, The hydrophobicity of compound #6 may facilitate penetration through the cell envelope, allowing it to inhibit the toxin present in the cells. We believe that it holds promise as a novel therapeutic agent for treating EHEC infections.

The team has even suggested that their studied pharmacophore could help design more inhibitors for similar toxins, such as the bioterrorism agent ricin, whose catalytic region has a structure similar to that of Stx.

We can certainly expect some new developments in the treatment of intestinal diseases caused by bacteria!

About Assistant Professor Miho Watanabe-Takahashi from Doshisha University, JapanDr. Miho Watanabe-Takahashi is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Life and Medical Sciences in the Department of Medical Life Systems at Doshisha University. She received her Ph.D. from Hoshi University, Japan, in 2006. She works primarily in Life Sciences and Pharmacology with a focus on health and biochemistry. She has 24 peer-reviewed publications in reputed journals and holds several industrial property rights. Her major research interests include Shiga toxin, Endoplasmic Reticulum, Golgi Complex and Pleckstrin Homology Domain.

About Professor Kiyotaka Nishikawa from Doshisha University, JapanDr. Kiyotaka Nishikawa is a Professor at the Faculty of Life and Medical Sciences in the Department of Medical Life Systems at Doshisha University. He received his Ph.D. from The University of Tokyo, Japan in 1989. He works primarily in Life Sciences and Pharmacology with a focus on health and biochemistry. He has more than 33 years of experience as a researcher and has 56 publications in peer-reviewed international journals. He also holds several industrial property rights.

Media contact:Organization for Research Initiatives & DevelopmentDoshisha UniversityKyotanabe, Kyoto 610-0394, JAPANE-mailjt-ura@mail.doshisha.ac.jp

Scientific Reports

Experimental study

Animals

A unique peptide-based pharmacophore identifies an inhibitory compound against the A-subunit of Shiga toxin

6-Jul-2022

The authors declare no competing interests.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Newly identified compound binds to Shiga toxin to reduce its toxicity - EurekAlert

Department:Department of BiochemistryFaculty of MedicineDeadline:21 Aug 2022Start date:September 2022 or upon agreementJob type:full-time | part-timeJob field:Science and research | Education and schooling

The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk Universityappoints aselection procedure for the position ofAssistant Professor of the Department of Biochemistryfull-time or part-time

The Department of Biochemistry is an educational and research facility at the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk university. It ensures the teaching of students in theoretical and pre-clinical fields. For more information about us visitourwebsite,FacebookorInstagram.

Description of significant activities:

The requirements are:

We offer:

Start Date:1st September 2022 or upon agreementWorkplace:Bohunice University Campus, Kamenice 753/5,62500Brno,Czech RepublicWorking hours:full-time 40 hours per week, or part-time by agreementType of contract:employment relationship for 1 year with the possibility for extentionin the futureApplication deadline:21st August 2022

How to apply:

Submit your application by the above deadline. Please use the link in the Electronic application section (see below).

Your application must include the following documents:

After successfully submitting your application, you will receive an automatic confirmation by email. We can provide you with more detailed information on phone number 54949 6613 or e-mail vendula.novotna@med.muni.cz.

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Assistant Professor of the Department of Biochemistry job with MASARYK UNIVERSITY | 301365 - Times Higher Education

Description

Applications are invited for a fully-funded Post-Doctoral Associate position in the newly established multidisciplinary group of Prof. Azam Gholami at New York University Abu Dhabi. The appointed candidate will be expected to work on:

We seek a highly qualified candidate with a strong background in protein production and purification with a focus on trans-membrane proteins. The appointed candidate will be expected to be familiar with bacterial protein expression and chromatographic purification techniques. Expertise in the reconstitution of membrane proteins into lipid vesicles/polymersomes and skills in microfluidics and optical microscopy are highly advantageous.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in protein biochemistry or a related field and an excellent track record of original research on the relevant topics. For consideration, applicants need to submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae with full publication list, statement of research accomplishments and interests and contact information for at least three references, all in PDF format. If you have any questions, please email Prof. Azam Gholami atag9141@nyu.edu

This position is not located in the United States and the applicant must be willing to relocate to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The terms of employment are very competitive and include housing and educational subsidies for children. Applications will be accepted immediately and candidates will be considered until the position is filled.

About NYUAD

NYU Abu Dhabi is a degree-granting research university with a fully integrated liberal arts and science undergraduate program in the Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Engineering. NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU New York, and NYU Shanghai, form the backbone of NYUs global network university, an interconnected network of portal campuses and academic centers across six continents that enable seamless international mobility of students and faculty in their pursuit of academic and scholarly activity. This global university represents a transformative shift in higher education, one in which the intellectual and creative endeavors of academia are shaped and examined through an international and multicultural perspective. As a major intellectual hub at the crossroads of the Arab world, NYUAD serves as a center for scholarly thought, advanced research, knowledge creation, and sharing, through its academic, research, and creative activities.

EOE/AA/Minorities/Females/Vet/Disabled/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Employer

UAE Nationals are encouraged to apply

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

For people in the EU, click here for information on your privacy rights under GDPR:www.nyu.edu/it/gdpr

NYU is an equal opportunity employer committed to equity, diversity, and social inclusion.

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Post-Doctoral Associate in the Division of Science, Biochemistry, Dr. Azam Gholami job with NEW YORK UNIVERSITY ABU DHABI | 300813 - Times Higher...