Kansas State University


Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
141 Chalmers Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6121
785-532-7278 fax
biochem@k-state.edu



Biotechnology Core Facility
206 Burt Hall
785-532-5956
785-532-6297 fax



Biomolecular NMR Facility
37 Chalmers Hall
785-532-2345

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

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 delivered 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
January
  • Om Prakash presented a talk, "NMR Structure and Backbone Dynamics of a Norovirus protease: Implications for substrate binding and catalytic function", at the Frontiers of Biophysics, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics international conference in Mumbai, India on January 16, 2013.
  • Om Prakash served as a judge for the Dr. Ratna Phadke Award given to graduate students by Indian Biophysical Society for best oral presentation at the Frontiers of Biophysics, Biotecnology, and Bioinformatics international conference in Mumbai, India.
  • Tam Tran-Nguyen and Timothy Durrett presented a poster, "Elucidating the structural features that define the substrate specificity and activity of Euonymus alatus Diacylglycerol Acetyltransferase (EaDAcT)", at the 2013 Gordon Research Seminar, "Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism & Function" on January 26-27, 2013.
  • Sunil Bansal and Timmothy Durrett presented a poster, "Understanding the unusual substrate specificity of Euonymus alatus diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (EaDAcT)", at the 2013 Gordon Research Seminar, "Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism & Function" on January 26-27, 2013.
  • Om Prakash presented "NMR in Drug Designing" at the Research & Development Division of TEVA Pharmaceuticals India Ltd., Greater Noida, India on January 29, 2013.
  • Timothy Durrett presented a talk, "Using a novel acetyltransferase to alter the structure of seed storage lipids" at the 2013 Gordon Research Conference, "Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism & Function" on January 31, 2013.

Publications

March/April
  • Sanjaya, Rachel Miller, Timothy P. Durrett, Dylan K. Kosma, Todd A. Lydic, Bagyalakshmi Muthan, Abraham J.K. Koo, Yury V. Bukhman, Gavin E. Reid, Gregg A. Howe, John Ohlrogge, and Christoph Benning. (2013) Altered Lipid Composition and Enhanced Nutritional Value of Arabidopsis Leaves Following Introduction of an Algal Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase 2. The Plant Cell 35:667
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.
November/December
  • An, C., Hiromasa, Y., Lovell, S.W., Zolkiewski, M.,Tomich, J.M., Michel, K. (2012) Biochemical characterization of SRPN6, a malaria parasite invasion marker in mosquitoes. PLoS ONE 7(11): e48689. PMID: 23152794
  • Christen, J.M., Hiromasa, Y., An, C., and Kanost, M.R. (2012) Identification of plasma proteinase complexes with serpin-3 in Manduca sexta. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 42: 946-955.
  • Pi, H., Jones, S., Mercer, L., Meador, J., Caughron, J., Jordan, L., Newton, S., Conway, T., Klebba, P. (2012) "Role of Catecholate Siderophores in Gram-negative Bacterial Colonization of the Mouse Gut." PLoS One. Web.
  • Pope, M., Bukovnik, U., Tomich, J.M., Fleming, S. (2012) Small b2-glycoprotein I peptides protect from ischemia reperfusion injury. J. Immunology 189(10):5047-5056. PMID: 23034168
  • Zhang, T., Ploetz, E. A., Nagy, M., Doyle, S. M., Wickner, S., Smith, P. E. and Zolkiewski, M. (2012) “Flexible connection of the N-terminal domain in ClpB modulates substrate binding and the aggregate reactivation efficiency”, Proteins 80: 2758-68.

Travel awards