Dr. Mary Bryk and Dr. Gary Kunkel are back it again with coordinating a summer research experience for undergraduates who come from all over the United States. We hope they enjoy their experience and summer here with us at Texas A&M University! Maybe we’ll even get lucky and some will apply to our graduate program… Read More →
Taking the “STING” out of immune dysfunction
The detection of pathogen-derived nucleic acids is a central strategy by which the host senses infection and initiates protective immune responses. Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) is a dsDNA sensor. It catalyzes the synthesis of cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP), which stimulates the induction of type I interferons through the STING–TBK1–IRF-3 signaling axis. However, the precise mechanisms that govern activation of STING by cGAMP and subsequent activation of TBK1 remain unclear. A paper published by Dr. Pingwei Li’s… Read More →
LAUNCH Golden Medal Recipient
Isaac Esparza, senior undergraduate in the Entomology Department specializing in Forensic Investigative Sciences, won a golden medal for completing the LAUNCH undergraduate research scholar program for his research in the Kurouski Lab. Isaac is first author in his paper titled, “Surface-Enhanced Raman Analysis of Underlaying Colorants on Re-dyed Hair” and it was accepted in to… Read More →
Texas Genetics Society Presentation Award
Earlier this month at the Texas Genetics Society 46th Annual Meeting, Donna Iadarola from Dr. Vishal Gohil’s lab, received the Best Graduate Student Platform Presentation Award for her talk titled: Molecular mechanisms underlying mitochondrial phosphatidylethanolamine import. Congratulations Donna!
President’s Excellence Fund Symposium
The President’s Excellence Fund Symposium, took place on Thursday, April 4, which was held in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center. The symposium consisted of presentations given by X-Grant award recipients and poster sessions by T3 award recipients. Four of our faculty were T3 award recipients: Drs. Tatyana Igumenova, Frank Raushel, Jim Sacchettini, and Junjie Zhang…. Read More →
1st Annual Biophysical Society Symposium
The Biophysical Society had their first annual symposium of the year on March 29. Students of different departments ranging from Biochemistry, Chemistry and Engineering, participated in either oral presentations, or poster presentations. Of the six oral presentations, two were from Biochemistry, two from Chemistry and two from Biomedical Engineering, along with one of them being… Read More →
NACADA Regional 7 Conference Winners
NACADA is the National Academic Advising Association and region 7 represents the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas. On Saturday, March 9, the NACADA Regional 7 Conference was held in San Antonio, TX, where both Dr. Mary Bryk and Dr. Carol Vargas were recognized for their hard work as advisors! Dr. Mary… Read More →
The First Awarding of Thomas L. Patterson Fellowship
The first awarding of the Thomas L. Patterson Graduate Fellowship in the President’s Office at Texas A&M University. Left to right: Dr. Jason Gill, Dr. Thomas Patterson, President Michael Young, Adriana Hernandez Morales, Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, Dr. Ry Young, Vice Chancellor and Dean Dr. Patrick Stover. (Photo credit: Division of Marketing & Communications, Texas A&M… Read More →
Work of Graduate Student, Sachin Katti, Featured on Cover of Metallomics
The work of Sachin Katti, a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics (Igumenova lab), was recently featured on the cover of Metallomics (Metallomics. 2018 Sep 19;10(9):1211-1222. doi: 10.1039/c8mt00135a). In this manuscript, the authors report structural, thermodynamic, and kinetic characterization of Pb(II) interactions with the calcium-sensing domain of Synaptotagmin 1. Synaptotagmin 1 is… Read More →
Gohil Lab discovers a potential therapy for disorders of copper metabolism
Exciting new research from the Gohil Lab shows that elesclomol, an investigational anti-cancer drug, can be repurposed for the treatment of copper metabolism disorders. This finding published in a recent issue of PNAS is of high biomedical significance as inherited mutations that prevent copper delivery to a critical mitochondrial enzyme result in fatal infantile disorders… Read More →