Message from the Chair, Justin Nodwell.
Hello all,
I hope that your returns (partial or otherwise) to lab work have gone as smoothly as possible. None of the ‘new normal’ is perfect and there are some nagging problems that are still being worked on at our various locations. But I think we all agree that it is good and necessary to have this work going again.
In the mean time here […]
Our esteemed colleague Lewis Kay has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for his remarkable work on multidimensional NMR.
http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2020-nas-election.html
This is an enormous accomplishment and a rarity for scientists outside the United States (or inside the United States for that matter).
Yesterday the Department had its first ever online student seminar. Nick Ostan from the Moraes lab presented his work on Lactoferin, LbpA and LbpB. This was followed by Richard Liu from the Kahr lab who spoke to us about structural studies on VPS16B and VPS33B. Despite a few technical difficulties, it was a success by all accounts.
Message from the Chair:
The Advisory Committee to the Chair (ACC) is now meeting on a weekly basis to discuss how to manage various student needs during this disruption.
The Department is purchasing an institutional subscription that will allow multiple, simultaneous Zoom meetings. Until then I encourage faculty to sign up individually and use this platform for lab meetings as Zoom is offering its services for free. Please contact Ayesha Glover if […]
Alex Palazzo was awarded a 2019-2020 Faculty of Medicine Graduate Teaching Award for Mid-Career Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentorship.
Professor Palazzo was one of two recipients honoured with the faculty teaching award in this category, to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions to graduate education. Candidates are nominated by their Graduate Unit through a student (or recent graduate) – initiated process and the awards are adjudicated by the Faculty of […]
A new paper in the latest issue of Science describes how the bacterial-sensing proteins, NOD1/2, are recruited to the membranes of our gut cells for them to function to initiate a proper immune response. This involves the addition of a lipid, palmitoyl, to NOD1/2 by the palmitoyl-transferase ZDHHC5. Importantly variants of NOD2 that are associated with Crohn’s disease are unable to be palmitoylated. This work involved an international collaboration […]
Professor G. Angus McQuibban has just been awarded a $2.3-million Genome Canada grant.
The GAPP grant in a partnership with Cyclica and Rosetta Therapeutics (founded by Professors Angus McQuibban and Peter Lewis) will support drug discovery related to treating people with the long-term neurodegenerative diseases and will involve the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. (full story here)
Dario De Vecchis, a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Antreas Kalli at Leeds, University, in a collaborative project with Reinhart Reithmeier used molecular dynamics simulations to build the first atomic scale model of the red cell anion exchanger in a complex lipid bilayer that mimics the native membrane. This work appeared in the latest edition of the Biophyisical Journal. The modelling revealed the dynamic nature […]
Researchers from the Emil Pai Lab in collaboration with the Miller Lab (Depts. of Chemistry and Physics, University of Toronto) have pieced together a time-lapse movie revealing all the major steps during the catalytic cycle of an enzyme. This study, published in Science, is the most detailed depiction of such a process to date.
The communication between the protein units is accomplished via a water-network somewhat akin to a […]
The 2019 Biochemistry Retreat was a huge success. Members of the department spent September 4th to the 6th up at Geneva Park where they heard talks from students, postdocs, faculty and invited speakers. In the midst of all this, department members partook in a scavenger hunt, fireside singing and other group activities. the department also distributed awards to its trainees for their accomplishments.
Here are some highlights:
Sarah Kronheim from the […]
In the latest issue of Science the Forman-Kay lab demonstrate that as proteins transition from the bulk solution to a phase separated condensate in a test tube, this regulates their ability to affect translation and deadenylation in the same manner observed in the cell. Partitioning of components of the translational machinery away from the mRNA can block translation while the unique condensate environment can activate deadenylation.
A previous dogma […]
Professor Lewis Kay was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from UBC, Okanagan campus, for his “pioneering research in biochemistry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy” at the 2019 Spring Convocation. Congratulations!