Category Archives: Biochemistry

Mark Johnston, a professor and chair of the department of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

William R. Ward, an institute scientist in the planetary science directorate at Southwest Research Institute, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Ted Warner, president and owner of Connecting Point Greeley, was inducted into the IT Hall of Fame at the CompTIA annual meeting for outstanding contributions/service to the information technology channel.

Bureau of Land Management announced the appointment of Deborah Rawhouser as the associate state director for the agency's Arizona State Office. Rawhouser is currently based in Lakewood.

Eric Nesbitt of The Nesbitt Group at Keller Williams Park Meadows was recently appointed by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to serve on the board of directors of the Denver Housing Authority.

Shawna Topor was named vice president of marketing for Beaver Creek-based East West Partners.

Colorado Housing and Finance Authority appointed James Hahn of JMH Consulting LLC as its board chair for the 2012-2013 term.

Charisse McAuliffe has been named managing director for the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at Colorado State University.

Catalyst Lending Inc. named Kevin Yamane president.

Mercedes-Benz of Littleton hired Darren Hollingsworth to lead the dealership's service department.

View original post here:
People on the move, 5/1

Contrasting modern and historic architecture details are pictured in this view of the newly constructed Biochemical Sciences Building, at left, and the renovated Biochemistry Buildings brick exterior. Photo: Jeff Miller

The Biochemistry complex located next to Henry Mall looks a lot different than decades ago. But you wouldnt necessarily know that at first glance.

While the outside of the buildings looks similar to when they were first constructed, the interiors have been given state-of-the-art makeovers.

Theyve done a beautiful job in restoring the older parts and integrating the newer parts. I really think its remarkable, says Betty Craig, Biochemistry chair.

Planning started long ago on the $112 million project, and it had once been discussed that some of the old historical buildings would become history, torn down to make way for new structures.

A glass panel, at right, reflects a mirror view of a man descending a sunlight-filled staircase at the Biochemical Sciences Building. The graphic design featured on the exterior glass of the foyer, created by artist Norie Sato as part of Wisconsins Percent for Art program, incorporates a pattern abstracted from biochemical language that describes parts of DNA structure.

Photo: Jeff Miller

That didnt happen.

More here:
Biochemistry complex blends old with new

Public release date: 30-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Leanne Yohemas lmyohema@ucalgary.ca 403-220-7722 University of Calgary

Hans Vogel, a professor in the biological sciences department, is the guest editor of a special issue of the journal Biochemistry and Cell Biology that focuses on lactoferrin, an important iron-binding protein with many health benefits.

"Some people describe this protein as the 'Swiss army knife' of the human host defense system," says Vogel. "We now know that lactoferrin has many functions in innate immunity and that it plays a role in protecting us from bacterial, viral, fungal, and protozoal infections. It can even protect us from some forms of cancer."

Lactoferrinwhich is secreted into human milk, blood and other biofluidshas attracted a lot of interest from academics and industry. Furthermore, Vogel says it's likely the only protein that garners its own regular scientific conference. Researchers are starting to use lactoferrin as a potential therapeutic protein, one that can be taken orally instead of injected like other proteins.

"Lactoferrin is quite an unusual protein that has many effects on health," Vogel says. "It is also used as a general health-promoting substance, and in Japan it is added to infant formula."

The June issue of the journal includes 27 peer reviewed papers from leading international researchers on topics including the role of lactoferrin on small intestinal growth and development during early life, use of bovine lactoferrin to inhibit influenza and how the protein may prevent some preterm deliveries.

The protein may also have an important role in wound healing, says Vogel. "We've been working in this area for about 15 years and it's cool to see how the whole field slowly progresses, and you start to see more and more interesting applications. It is particularly exiting to see that clinical trials are now going on in the infectious disease area and in cancer."

Vogel says being a guest editor was a lot of work and a lot of fun. He also wrote an introductory article for the special issue that provides an overview of the current status of research into the protein. Read the open access article: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.1139/o2012-016

###

Read more here:
Protein heals wounds, boosts immunity and protects from cancer

This is an illustration of the researchers' target protein crystal. Credit: Christopher MacDermaid, University of Pennsylvania

Protein design is technique that is increasingly valuable to a variety of fields, from biochemistry to therapeutics to materials engineering. University of Pennsylvania chemists have taken this kind of design a step further; using computational methods, they have created the first custom-designed protein crystal.

Picking an ambitious design target with challenging features, the researchers' success bodes well for the technique's use in better understanding proteins' makeup or using their self-assembling properties in making new materials with unique properties.

The research was conducted by professor Jeffrey G. Saven, postdoctoral fellow Christopher J. Lanci and graduate student Christopher M. MacDermaid, all of the Department of Chemistry in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences. Also contributing to the work were Seung-gu Kang and Xi Yang, formerly of the chemistry department, and Rudresh Acharya, Benjamin North, X. Jade Qiu and William F. DeGrado, formerly of Penn's Perelman School of Medicine's Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

The team's research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Proteins are folded strings of molecular building blocks known as amino acids; their different functions are determined by their sequences of amino acids and the shapes they take when folded. As proteins are involved in most biological processes, determining sequences and structures is crucial to many scientific undertakings, such as understanding disease mechanisms or designing drugs to disrupt them.

To determine protein structures, scientists use crystals, which consist of many copies of a single protein lined up and stacked together. By irradiating the crystal with powerful X-rays, they can measure the way the light diffracts off the atoms and piece together the protein's overall three-dimensional shape and composition. Most proteins don't naturally crystalize, however, and making crystals of sufficient quality to do diffraction studies is a hit-or-miss process that can take years of painstaking work.

Protein crystals are also attractive as a nano-scale building material, as their properties, particularly their exterior surfaces, are highly customizable. However, bioengineers run into the same hurdles as crystallographers; making a protein crystal with a particular structure is a complex, hard-to-predict task.

"People have designed crystals out of smaller, much less complex molecules than proteins, but protein design is much more subtle," Saven said. "It's a complicated symphony of intermolecular interactions."

As accounting for these many interactions is one of the principal challenges behind designing a protein crystal, the researchers selected a complicated, honeycomb-shaped target to show their process could be widely applied.

Link:
Researchers create first custom designed protein crystal

GLASSBORO Though Nikita Iltchenko is a biochemistry major, on Friday he showed off a computer science-based design a flying robot for Rowan Universitys 15th Annual STEM Student Research Symposium.

As part of an independent study program with three other students math major Eva Guido, biology major Nick Persicketti and computer science major Tara Crittenden Iltchenko worked with computer science professor Jennifer Kay to learn about programming robots. Though the group started off working with rover robots, when they attended a conference in North Carolina and saw a professors flying robot, the students knew they had to make their own.

After a couple of weeks, we had convinced the computer science department to generously buy us this robot, said Iltchenko, 21, of Harrison Township. And then we began trying to get it to follow tags. Now, were trying to get it to follow two tags at the same time. If it can center itself between the two tags, it could go through a hula hoop or a tunnel. This robot can also recognize blobs or any items of a certain color, so our ultimate goal is to get it to recognize objects in the environment and react to them.

Guido, 22, of Cape May Courthouse, said shes happy with the progress the group has made so far.

When we first got the robot, we had to figure it all out from the most basic commands, she said. Right now were focused on getting it through that hula hoop, and then well take it a step further. As a math major, this is rewarding because I actually get to see it work.

Persicketti, 19, of West Deptford Township, said the project with the flying robot will be ongoing.

Every time we finish one task, well find something better that we want it to do, he said.

Kay said she thinks the robot is a really cool application of computer science and was excited to work with students from different backgrounds.

Once you have the right tools and bring in motivated people, its impressive what they can do in a semester, she said. Its a great project for a computer scientist or any smart scientist.

Across the room, biology major Samantha Musumeci explained the reproductive capabilities of the pea aphid.

Read this article:
Rowan University STEM Student Research Symposium featured budding engineers, chemists, biologists and more

The Castle High School biochemistry class received a grant from the Alcoa Foundation for a water testing community service project. Students used testing kits to test different community water samples and visited the testing laboratory and treatment plant to see how the process works.

We learned on the East Wastewater Treatment Plant site visit that prior to the Clean Water Act, the primary treatment process of effluent water was generally disinfected and sent to the river by municipalities and industries. Now, the minimum treatment required before discharge is secondary. This has resulted in significant improvement in the quality of the water in the Ohio River. The improvement created by secondary treatment has been extremely beneficial, both to the environment and community of the Evansville area.

We were especially intrigued by the utilization of biological treatments to break down the waste into a useful form. The advancement of technology and biological understanding that has influenced this highly efficient method of water treatment is truly remarkable. During the tour of the treatment plant we learned of many of the crucial chemical processes involved in water treatment and waste management; we now have a much greater understanding and appreciation of things that too often are taken for granted.

We would like to thank the Alcoa Foundation (who awarded us the grant for the project) and the Evansville Utility for providing this opportunity for educational enrichment. The practical, hands on learning of the water testing kits (used in a lab activity prior to visits) in combination with the thorough tours of the laboratory and treatment plant were very beneficial and greatly appreciated.

This Community Comment was submitted by Chris Bauer, Sammie Dillman, Jacob Tilmon, Austin Vaughn, Sarah Wagmeister and Lauren Wahle.

Continued here:
COMMUNITY COMMENT: Castle biochemistry class says thanks for lab tour