The Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) and the Biochemistry and Structural Biology (BSB) programs continue to do well. Erwin London started his ninth year as Director of BSB, while Wali Karzai started his fourth year at the helm of MCB. In the Fall 2015 class, we had 10 new students entering the MCB program and 6 new students entering the BSB program.
The MCSB training grant students for 2015-2016 are MCB students Matthew Elmes, Eric Paulissen, Matthew Simons and Gregory Carbonetti and BSB students Johnna St. Clair and Roger Shek. Andreyah Pope was chosen to be an affiliate of the training grant (a participant in training grant activities but with financial support from other grants). Jinelle Wint and Andreyah Pope were chosen to participate in IMSD-Merge, an NIH funded program for underrepresented minorities. Joe Matarlo (BSB) was awarded a Turner Dissertation Fellowship.
The speaker at this year’s Student Invited Seminar, organized by Neha Puri and Michael Tramantano, was Craig Townsend from Johns Hopkins University. His talk was entitled “Biosynthesis of b-Lactam Antibiotics and the Force of Convergent Evoluntion”.
The MCB program held its annual Second Year Student Symposium in June at the Hilton Garden Inn. Second year students were given their opportunity hone their presentation skills and showcase the research work to their colleagues and MCB program faculty.
The annual MCB-BSB retreat was held in September at the very scenic Lombardi’s on the Sound. Several MCB and BSB faculty were invited to speak and present their work. Speakers included Brian Sheridan, Dave Matus, Mark Bowen, Jiang Chen, and Steve Glynn. All 4th year MCB and BSB students presented their posters, which generated much interest among the attendees. Best poster awards at the retreat were given to Kuan Hu and Anthony Rampello. Matt Elmes, Matt Simons, Greg Carbonetti, and Johnna St. Clair received awards for outstanding service to the MCB and BSB graduate programs.
Both MCB and BSB students attended a symposium on “Life Science Career Choices- Beyond Tenured Track Research” at the campus Hilton Garden Inn. The speakers were Michael Rosconi, Senior Scientist Regeneron Pharmaceutical, Gregory Caputo, Chair Department of Chemistry Rowan University. Paul Meers, Rutgers University, Franklin Abrams, Patent Attorney, Susan Malenbaum, Associate Director at Boehringer Ingelheim, and Juanita Sharpe, Assistant Vice Provost, Virginia Commonwealth University. They discussed their career paths spanning faculty life in a University with an emphasis on teaching, to the biotechnology industry to patent law, to University administration. Students had an opportunity for both questions and extended discussion at a reception after the meeting.
Wali Karzai, MCB Program Director & Erwin London, BSB Program Director