Kansas State University

Recent Department Achievements

Faculty Achievements

• Anna Zolkiewska has received a four-year $1.245 million grant from the National Cancer Institute -- at the National Institutes of Health -- to study a promising breast cancer marker called ADAM12. The grant is titled "ADAM12 in breast tumor initiating cells." Press Release
• John Tomich had Science Daily publish an article from Communications and Marketing, “Newly Discovered Molecule Could Deliver Drugs to Treat Diseases,” on Tomich's research.

Student Awards and Scholarships

• Obdulia Covarrubias (undergraduate) named a 2013 McNair Scholar
• Jenny Barriga (undergraduate, Bossman) awarded a 2013 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.
• Prashant Wani (graduate, Roelofs) 1st place in the Biological Sciences division poster competition for his presentation of "Chaperone mediated assembly of Proteasome: Constructing the destruction", at the 2013 K-State Research Forum on March 27.
• Sarah Duhachek-Muggy (graduate, Zokiewska) 1st place for her poster presentation, "An essential role of metalloprotease-disintegrin ADAM12 in triple-negative breast cancer", during the 2012 University of Kansas Cancer Center Research Symposium held at KUMC on November 8, 2012. Collaborators: Hui Li, Yue Qi, and Anna Zolkiewska
• Adriana Avila Flores (graduate, Tomich) and Yue Qi (graduate, Zolkiewska) received the 2011-2012 Excellence in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Teaching Award from the department.
• Xiangming Li (graduate, Wangemann) received the 2011-2012 Excellence in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Research Award from the department.

Presentations

June

• John Tomich presented a keynote address, "Bending Nature s Rules of Self-Assembly to Build New Structures from the Same Peptide Sequence" at Bio_Interfaces Conference in Medellin, Columbia on June 4-8, 2013.
• Luz Adriana Avila Flores (graduate, Tomich) presented an oral presentation "Complexes Formed Using a Range of Peptide-DNA Ratios Fold into Varied Structures with Different Transfection Efficiencies" at Bio_Interfaces Conference in Medellin, Columbia on June 4-8, 2013.

May

• Jianhan Chen presented a seminar, "Simulation of Disordered Protein States" at NIST Center for Neutron Research on May 13, 2013.
• Anna Zolkiewska gave an oral presentation,"ADAM12 is a breast cancer stem cell-associated gene" at the Gordon Research Conference on "Matrix Metalloproteinases" at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort in Lucca (Barga) Italy from May 19-24, 2013.

April

• Jianhan Chen presented an invited talk, "Multi-scale simulation of membrane insertion and self-assembly of helical peptides" at the 245th American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans, LA on April 10, 2013.
• John Tomich presented a talk, “Branched Amphipathic Peptides that Self-Assemble into Ordered Bilayer Vesicles”, at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans, LA, April 7-11, 2013.
• John Tomich presented an invited platform talk, “Peptide Nanovesicles: A Potential Cellular Delivery System”, at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans, LA, April 7-11, 2013.
• Om Prakash presented an invited talk, “Understanding Molecular Function of Antimicrobial Peptide and Viral Protease- An NMR Study” in the Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS on April 11, 2013.
• Om Prakash presented an invited seminar, “Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR) studies of Antimicrobial Peptide and Norovirus Protease” in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Pittsburgh State University, Pittsburgh, KS on April 12, 2013.
• John Tomich presented an invited talk, “From Channel Forming Peptide to Vesicle Forming Peptide: How Inventions Emerge from Basic Research” at the Departments of Biology and Chemistry, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS, on April 23, 2013.

March

• Timothy Durrett presented a talk, “Using a novel acyltransferase to alter the physical properties of plant triacylglycerols for targeted applications”, at the Plant Bio-Industrial Oils Workshop, Saskatoon, Canada in March 6-7, 2013.
• Phillip E. Klebba presented a seminar, "Mechanism of TonB action in the transport of Ferric Enterobactin", at the University of Sao Paulo, Department of Chemistry in March 20, 2013.
• Cruz, J.C., Pfromm, P.H., Szoszkiewicz, R., Tomich, J.M., Rezac, M.E., “Biophysical Engineering View of Fumed Silica-Based Nanobiocatalysts: Structure-Activity Relationships Demystified”, at The Colombia-US Workshop on Nanotechnology for Energy and Medical Applications, March 11-13, 2013.
• Salete Newton presented a seminar, “The Enigmas of Ferric Enterobactin Transport through E.coli FepA”, at the University of Sao Paulo, Department of Chemistry in March 2013.
• Phillip E. Klebba presented a seminar, "Mechanism of TonB action in the transport of Ferric Enterobactin", at the University of Sao Paulo, Department of Chemistry in March 20, 2013.
• Michael Kanost presented an invited talk "Genes required for cuticle structure and sclerotization in Tribolium" iBeetle Symposium "New Horizons in Molecular Zoology," Göttingen, Germany.
• Michael Kanost presented an invited talk "Antimicrobial peptides in Manduca sexta, a lepidopteran insect model system". Workshop on Antimicrobial Peptides and their Evolution, Rauischholzhausen, Germany.
• Michael Kanost presented an invited talk "Initial insights from the Manduca sexta genome sequence." German Society for General and Applied Entomology, Annual Meeting, Göttingen, Germany.
• Michael Kanost presented an invited lecture "Regulation of serine protease cascades in immune responses of Manduca sexta," Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
• Michael Kanost presented an invited lecture "Insect cuticle as a model biomaterial." University of Osnabrück, Department of Animal Physiology, Osnabrück, Germany.

Reseach and Exhibitions

May

• Lucia F. Zacchi, Hui-Chuan Wu, Samantha L. Bell, Linda Millen, Adrienne W. Paton, James C. Paton, Philip J. Thomas, Michal Zolkiewski, and Jeffrey L. Brodsky, "A complicated acquaintance: the multiple roles of BiP/Grp78 on the biogenesis and turnover of TorsinA, a AAA+ ATPase associated with the neurological disease Dystonia". A poster presented at the conference "The Multitasking Endoplasmic Reticulum in Health and Disease", May 1–4, 2013, Airlie Center, Warrenton, VA.
• Sara Duhachek Muggy (graduate, Zolkiewska) presented a poster, "Alternative mRNA splicing in the region corresponding to the pro-domain of ADAM12-L generates two protein isoforms with distinct properties and intracellular localization" at the Gordon Research Conference on "Matrix Metalloproteinases" at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort in Lucca (Barga) Italy from May 19-24, 2013.
• Jinjie Liu, Kathleen McGlew, Timothy Durrett, Kurt Thelen, Mike Pollard and John Ohlrogge, "Producing a New Type of Reduced Viscosity Oil in a Transgenic Crop: Moving from Lab to Field". A poster presented at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Retreat, South Bend, IN on May 21-23, 2013.
• Rebecca Breuer, Tam Tran-Nguyen, Ragothaman Avanasi, Lucas Parreiras, Alex La Reau, Haibo Li, Yaoping Zhang, Timothy Durrett and Trey Sato, "Conversion of AFEX-Pretreated Corn Stover Hydrolysate into Plant Oils by Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae". A poster presented at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Retreat, South Bend, IN on May 21-23, 2013.

April

• Jamilah Watkins (undergraduate, Kanost) presented a poster, "Identification of a serine proteinase inhibitor from the Kunitz family in the plasma of an insect, Manduca sexta”, at the Developing Scholars Student Research Symposium on April 22, 2013.
• Larry Rodriguez (undergraduate, Kanost) presented a poster, "A proteomic analysis of molting fluid from the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta", at the Developing Scholars Student Research Symposium on April 22, 2013.
• Lorne Jordan (graduate, Klebba) presented a poster, “Observation of TonB Motion Using Fluorescence Anisotropy”, at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, April 20-24, 2013.
• Yan Shipelskiy (graduate, Klebba) presented a poster, “Biochemistry and Immunology of Gram-Positive Bacterial Heme-Acquisition Systems”, at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, April 20-24, 2013.

March

• Tam Tran-Nguyen (graduate, Durrett) and Timothy P. Durrett presented a poster, "Elucidating the structural features that define substrate specificity and activity of Euonymus alatus Diacylglycerol Acetyltransferase (EaDAcT)", at the 18th Annual K-State Research Forum, Manhattan, KS on March 27, 2013.

Publications

May

• Zhang, W., and Chen, J. (2013), Efficiency of adaptive temperature-based replica exchange for sampling large-scale protein conformational transitions, J. Chem. Theory Comput. (in press)
• Suwanchaichinda, C., Ochieng, R., Zhuang, S., and Kanost, M.R. (2013) Manduca sexta serpin-7, a putative regulator of hemolymph prophenoloxidase activation.Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 43:555-561.
• Zhang, T., Kedzierska-Mieszkowska, S., Liu, H., Cheng, C., Ganta, R. R. and Zolkiewski, M. (2013) Aggregate-reactivation activity of the molecular chaperone ClpB from Ehrlichia chaffeensis”, PLoS ONE 8(5): e62454
• Park, S., Li, X., Kim, H. M., Singh, C. R., Tian, G., Hoyt, M. A., Lovell, S., Battaile, K. P., Zolkiewski, M., Coffino, P., Roelofs, J., Cheng, Y., and Finley, D. (2013) Reconfiguration of the proteasome during chaperone-mediated assembly, Nature 497, 512–516.
• Jordan, L.D., Zhou, Y., Smallwood, C.R., Lill, Y., Ritchie, K.P., Yip, W.T., Newton, S.M. and Klebba, P.E. (2013) Energy-dependent motion of TonB in the Gram-negative bacterial inner membrane. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. In press.

March/April

• Sanjaya, Miller, R., Durrett, T.P., Kosma, D.K., Lydic, T.A., Muthan, B., Koo, A.J., Bukhman, Y.V., Reid, G.E., Howe, G.A., Ohlrogge, J., and Benning, C. (2013) Altered Lipid Composition and Enhanced Nutritional Value of Arabidopsis Leaves Following Introduction of an Algal Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase 2. The Plant Cell 35:667
• McDowell, C., Chen, J., and Chen, J. (2013), Potential Conformational Heterogeneity of p53 bound to S100B(betabeta), J. Mol. Biol. 425, 999-1010.

February

• Takahashi, D., Hiromasa, Y.; Kim, Y., Anbanandam, Yao, X; A. Chang, K. and Prakash, O. (2013). Structural and dynamics characterization of norovirus protease. Protein Science. 22: 347-357.

January

• Dai, H., Hiromasa, Y., Takahashi, D., Vandervelde, D., Fabrick, J.A., Kanost, M.R. and Krishnamoorthi, R. (2013) An initial event in insect innate immune response: Structural and biological studies of interactions between β-1,3-glucan and the N-terminal domain of β-1,3-glucan recognition protein. Biochemistry 52:161-170.

Travel awards

June

• Luz Adriana Avila Flores (graduate, Tomich) received the Hageman Graduate Student Travel Scholarship to present an oral presentation "Complexes Formed Using a Range of Peptide-DNA Ratios Fold into Varied Structures with Different Transfection Efficiencies" at Bio_Interfaces Conference in Medellin, Columbia on June 4-8, 2013.

May

• Sara Duhachek Muggy (graduate, Zolkiewska) received the Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research, University of Kansas Cancer Center, and Hageman Graduate Travel Scholarship awards for travel to the Gordon Research Conference on "Matrix Metalloproteinases" in Lucca (Barga), Italy from May 19-24 to present her poster "Alternative mRNA splicing in the region corresponding to the pro-domain of ADAM12-L generates two protein isoforms with distinct properties and intracellular localization".

April

• Yan Shipelskiy (graduate, Klebba) received the Hageman Graduate Travel Scholarship to present a poster, “Biochemistry and Immunology of Gram-Positive Bacterial Heme-Acquisition Systems”, at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, April 20-24, 2013.
• Lorne Jordan (graduate, Klebba) received the ASBMB travel award to present a poster, “Observation of TonB Motion Using Fluorescence Anisotropy”, at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, April 20-24, 2013.