News
John Patrick Cleary Receives Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award for Biology, 2018/2019
MCBB Ph.D. student, John Patrick Cleary, of the Cheng lab was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Fellow of the Year Award for Biology (2018/2019). Patrick has served for the past two years as a teaching fellow in Biology, including for BI 108 (Biology 2) and BI 203 (Cell Biology), both cornerstone requirements in our curriculum. More recently, he has taught in BB 522 (Molecular Biology Laboratory), a highly interactive upper-level hands-on course. Patrick’s efforts over the past two years have contributed greatly to the success of the teaching mission of the Department of Biology and he received high praise from his teaching advisor for Cell Biology, Dr. Uwe Beffert, as well as from student evaluations. To quote one particularly enthusiastic student, he is a “very cool guy, and a tremendous TF. Keep on doing what you are doing!”
Dr. Ji-Xin Cheng’s Research Featured in BU Research
Read the full article in BU Research.
Dr. Kathleen Morgan to Receive Evans Center Excellent Research Collaborator Award
From Sargent College News:
The Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research selected Kathleen Morgan, PhD, as a 2018 recipient of the Evans Center IBR Excellent Research Collaborator Award. Morgan is a professor in the Department of Health Sciences, programs in Human Physiology.
Read the full article: http://www.bu.edu/sargent/professor-kathleen-morgan-to-receive-evans-center-excellent-research-collaborator-award/
Dr. Allyson Sgro Receives Grant to Study One of the National Science Foundation’s Big 10 Ideas
Assistant Professor Allyson Sgro (BME) has been awarded a two-year $150,000 grant under the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) 10 Big Ideas program to elucidate how cells work together to form groups.
Read the full article in BME News.
MCBB Faculty in Engineering Awarded $1.5M DOE Grant
Three ENG researchers, Assistant Professor Mary Dunlop (BME), Assistant Professor Wilson Wong (BME), and Professor Ji-Xin Cheng (ECE, BME, Chemistry, Physics), were awarded a three-year, $1.5M Department of Energy (DOE) grant to develop technology to better understand and measure the synthesis of biofuels in living cells.
Read the full article in BME News
Dr. Christine Cheng Awarded National Institute On Drug Abuse Grant
Department of Biology Assistant Professor Christine Cheng and Assistant Dean of Boston University School of Medicine and Associate Professor (BUMC) Andrew Henderson received a three-year, $2.9 million R61 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health to study the effect of opioid use disorder on HIV latent reservoirs and immune dysfunction.
Dr. Juan Fuxman Bass Receives Outstanding Investigator Award from NIH
Assistant Professor Juan Fuxman Bass has received a 5-year $2.1 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health to study the transcriptional regulation of immune genes and explore how this regulation is perturbed by viral agents.
“This grant provides the lab with a lot of freedom to explore novel research avenues,” said Dr. Fuxman Bass, Assistant Professor of Biology.
The MIRA is a grant that provides support for the research program in an early stage investigator’s laboratory. This grant aims to increase the stability of funding, which could enhance the investigator’s ability to take on ambitious scientific projects and approach problems more creatively.
Dr. Karen Allen Featured in C&EN
From BU Chemistry News:Professor Karen Allen‘s work with Dr. Barbara Imperiali of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and their research groups work on the 2.7-Å-resolution crystal structure of a phosphoglycosyl transferase called PglC were featured in C&EN Structural Biology on May 23rd, 2018.
As Co-PI on a National Institute of Health grant, Dr. Allen and Dr. Imperiali’s work on PglC has allowed them to uncover the enzyme’s unique mechanism, which permits hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules to interact without ever having to leave their natural environments.
Sarah Yunes Receives Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award for Biology, 2017/2018
MCBB Ph.D. candidate, Sarah Yunes, of the Hansen lab was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Fellow of the Year for Biology, academic year 2017/2018. Sarah has served for eight semesters as a teaching fellow in Biology, including for BI 107 and 108 (Biology 1 and 2), two of the largest and broadest introductory courses on campus, and for BB 522 (Molecular Biology Laboratory), a highly interactive upper-level hands-on course.
Her evaluations from students emphasize the clarity of her explanations and offer feedback such as “passionate about teaching” and “supportive and engaging.” In sum, Sarah’s efforts over the last several years have contributed greatly to the success of the teaching mission of the Department of Biology. In the words of her teaching mentors Dr. Spilios and Dr. Gilmore, “her service to the department is unparalleled.”
Beyond her teaching accomplishments, Sarah’s own research, focused on the role of the transcription factor LSF and its role in cell cycle control and oncogene addiction in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), emphasizes novel and exciting approaches to precisely manipulate LSF activity at specific points during the cell cycle, and is oriented toward identifying the mechanism underlying HCC “addiction” to LSF, since blocking LSF function blocks the carcinoma progression. Ultimately, Sarah’s work will contribute to novel therapies to combat this type of cancer.
Dr. Catherine Klapperich’s Research Featured in BU Research
Read the full article in BU Research