July 2017 Issue PUBLICATIONS Chen, H., T.J. Giese, B.L. Golden and D.M. York. 2017. Divalent metal ion activation of a guanine general base in the hammerhead ribozyme: Insights from molecular simulations. Biochemistry. 56: 2985-2994. Li, Z., J. Li, Y. Kong, S. Yan, N. Ahmad and X. Liu. 2017. Plk1 phosphorylation of Mre11 antagonizes the DNA damage response. Cancer Res. 77: 3169-3180. Shao, C., Z. Li, N. Ahmad and X. Liu. 2017. Regulation of PTEN degradation and NEDD4-1 E3 ligase activity by Numb. Cell Cycle. 16: 957-967.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION Humaira Gowher received an award from the American Heart Association for a proposal entitled “Control of antiangiogenic gene expression by Vezf1-mediated Pol II pausing”. The total amount is $231,000, and the project period for this award is 07/01/2017 – 06/30/2020. Jeremy Lohman and Barb Golden (Co-PI) were awarded a Young Investigator Award from the Showalter Trust for a proposal entitled “Catching fatty acid biosynthetic enzymes in the act with a non-natural amino acid”. The total amount of the award is $75,000, and the project period for this grant is 07/01/2017 – 06/30/2018. Sujith Puthiyaveetil was awarded a Young Investigator Award from the Showalter Trust for a proposal entitled “The structural basis of a Serin/Threonin-type kinase activity in the chloroplast sensor kinase”. The total amount of the award is $71,520, and the project period for this grant is 07/01/2017 – 06/30/2018.

NEW FACES

Der-Shyang (Leo) Kao joined Andy Tao's lab as a PULSe student in May 2017. Leo is originally from Taipei, Taiwan where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from National Taiwan University. He enjoys playing badminton, table tennis, and wallyball in his free time.

DEPARTMENT NEWS Dr. Susanne Baldermann, a Junior-Professor for Analytical Food Chemistry of Secondary Plant Metabolites, University of Potsdam, Germany and Research group leader for Food Chemistry and Human Nutrition at the Leibniz-Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, visited Natalia Dudareva’s lab from June 4 – 25 to work on plant volatiles. Below is a photo of Dr. Baldermann working on GC-MS.

SAYING GOODBYE Nicole Hjortland left the Mesecar lab on May 31. Nicole accepted a position as a medical writer for Articulate Science in Atlanta, Georgia where she will be part of a scientific team that prepares materials for launching new pharmaceutical therapies and communicates the results of clinical trials for a varied audience. We wish her the best in her new endeavor.

GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS

Sebastian Paez joined Andy Tao’s lab as a PULSe student in May 2017. Sebastian is originally from Bogota, Colombia where he received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the National University of Colombia. In his spare time he enjoys rock climbing, cycling, cooking and watching movies.

Congratulations to Chen Shao (Liu lab) for passing his thesis defense on June 27.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT NEWS Nine students are participating in the NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program that began on May 22 and runs until July 28. The 10-week program provides advanced training in the manipulation and analysis of proteins for undergraduate students. It facilitates deep understanding of experimental laboratory research, insights into protein biochemistry and contemplation of the broader context of research. First Row Current University Lab Assignment Anne Heintzelman Northwest Missouri State University Chapple lab Liz Rosario-Alicea Universidad de Puerto Rico en Humacao Searle lab (Biological Sciences) Alycia Perez-Johnson Claflin University Gowher lab Second Row Zach Iezzi Allegheny College Tran lab Phyllicia Hemphill Tennessee State University Weake lab Nehemiah Harris Louisburg College (Junior College) Lohman lab Third Row Amanda Clack University of Tennessee Knoxville Mesecar lab Henry Richburg Eastern Kentucky University Ogas lab Brice Hurling-Spears Hampton University Gowher lab

Undergraduates in Our Department This Summer We have a number of students working in the Department this summer. Their photographs are below, along with descriptions of the programs in which they are participating.

Benjamin Anderson SURF

Weake lab

Gabrielle Buck SURF

Dudareva lab

Rochelle Camden SSP

GiHun Choi SSP

Amanda Clack REU

Mesecar lab

Logan Colwell Dilkes lab

Ellen Denning PCCR

Ogas lab

Chrishan Fernando SURF

Tran lab

Abigail Gress SURF

Briggs lab

Nehemiah Harris REU

Lohman lab

Phyllicia Hemphill REU

Weake lab

Anne Heintzelman REU

Chapple lab

Reid Herran SROP

Mesecar lab

Adam Hoehn MASI

Forney lab

Brice Hurling-Spears REU

Gowher lab

Zach Iezzi REU

Tran lab

Seba Kaakeh Chapple lab

Benjamin Kick MASI

Lohman lab

Zian Liu Liu lab

Hailey Lloyd Chapple lab

Sarah McGinness CPIP

Kirchmaier lab

Ramya Modi Forney lab

Sara Monhollen Forney lab

Cordell Miller Kirchmaier lab

Alycia Perez-Johnson REU

Gowher lab

John Petroskey Ogas lab

Ioana Plesca SSP

Henry Richburg REU

Ogas lab

Cecilia Yiu Tran lab

Ashique Zami Chapple lab

Aaron Zych SROP

Mesecar lab

Zach Zelten Ogas lab

Taylor Sabato SURF

Ogas lab

Hana Tambrin SURF

Hall lab

John Whitney SSP

Cole Wunderlich Chapple lab

Colombia Purdue Institute (CPI) was established In October 2010 to cultivate leaders who drive economic prosperity in Colombia, Indiana and the United States through innovation in science, technology, policy and education. Three agreements were signed between Purdue and the Ministry of Education of Colombia, and the second between Purdue, Colciencias, and the Ministry of Education of Colombia and the third between Purdue's College of Engineering and Colfuturo. Cancer Prevention Internship Program (CPIP) is for undergraduate students based on the DURI model and engages undergraduates in cutting edge research combining two or more disciplinary strengths in cancer prevention research. Selected students begin with a full-time summer internship and continue their work with a part-time (6 - 12 hours/week) internship through the following academic year. The Molecular Agriculture Summer Institutes (MASI) were created by Purdue Agriculture’s Office of Academic Programs as part of the Plant Sciences Research and Education Pipeline. They are designed to expose undergraduates and Indiana high school students to the wide-ranging field of plant sciences and STEM fields. The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. The Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) aims to encourage talented undergraduate students from social and economic backgrounds that are underrepresented in research careers to pursue graduate education, and to enhance their preparation for graduate study.

The Summer Science Program (SSP) is a 39-day residential enrichment program designed to challenge and inspire highly gifted high school students (rising seniors) from around the world.

Purdue College of Engineering launched the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program in 2003. The 11-week program is designed to enhance classroom learning, involve undergraduates in real problem solving, and spark interest for research careers in science and engineering. SURF students from engineering, science, and technology disciplines are paired with a professor and one or more graduate student mentors to work on interdisciplinary research projects with practical applications.

GOING THE EXTRA MILE Clint Chapple traveled to Olomouc, Czech Republic to attend the Green for Good IV, Biotechnology of Plant Products conference from June 19 – 22. He gave a talk entitled “The Med5 subunit of mediator is required for metabolic homeostasis in Arabidopsis”. Clint also attended the American Society for Plant Biologists (ASPB) annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii from June 24 – 28. As part of the annual meeting, he attended the editorial board meeting of The Plant Cell, chaired the Metabolic Networks session and gave a talk entitled “Exploring the role of the mediator complex in metabolic regulation”. Natalia Dudareva traveled to the American Society for Plant Biologists (ASPB) annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii from June 24 – 28. Natalia was one of the organizers of the major symposium entitled "The Chemical Dictionary of Plants: Origin and Translation". She also gave a talk at the symposium entitled "Chemical factories of plants: from compound formation to their function". Xiaoqi Liu traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the R21 NCI study section on June 19 – 20. He returned to Washington, D.C. to attend the Tumor Progression and Metastasis study section on June 29 – 30. Xiaoqi and members of his lab, Jack Li, Kandy Zhang and Ricky Wang traveled to Indianapolis to attend the Indiana Basic Urology Research Symposium on June 9. Xiaoqi and Jack gave podium presentations.

Andy Mesecar and members of his lab traveled to Kansas City, Missouri to attend the XIVth International Nidovirus Symposium from June 4 – 8. Andy presented a talk entitled “Discovery and development of coronavirus protease inhibitors as potential therapeutics”; Jozlyn Clasman presented a talk entitled “Structure and kinetics of a core MERS papain-like protease with utility for structure-based drug design”; and Kristina Kesely attended as well. Anwesha Sanyal (Mattoo lab) presented a poster entitled "Novel physiological targets of Fic-mediated Adenylylation/AMPylation" at the 38th Steenbock Symposium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from June 22 – 25. Andy Tao and members of his lab traveled to Indianapolis for the American Society Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference on June 4 – 9. Several of his graduate students gave presentations: I-Hsuan (Blair) Chen presented a poster entitled "Phosphoproteins in extracellular vesicles as candidate markers for breast cancer"; Chuan-Chih Hsu gave an oral presentation entitled "The streamlining phosphoproteomics workflow to study plant signaling and its application to tomato phosphoproteomics”; Hillary Andaluz Aguilar presented a poster entitled "Glycoproteomics of breast cancer human plasma extracellular vesicles for biomarker discovery and validation using polymer-based reverse phase glycoprotein array”; Mayank Srivastava presented a poster entitled “A chemical proteomic strategy to unravel the infectious Zika virus entry into host cells”; and Peipei Zhu presented a poster entitled "Proteomic identification of BlK1 direct substrates that mediate the Arabidopsis innate immunity”. Vikki Weake traveled to Indiana University - Purdue University (IUPUI) and presented a talk entitled “Aging photoreceptor neurons: light, stress and transcription” on April 24. She also traveled to Baltimore, Maryland where she presented a poster entitled “Age-related transcription changes in photoreceptor neurons are light-dependent” at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) conference from May 8 – 11. Vikki then traveled to Northwestern University on June 15 to give a talk entitled “Age-related transcription changes in photoreceptor neurons are light-dependent”.

STRICTLY PERSONAL Longtime employee Steve Widger passed away on June 10. Steve worked in Biochemistry for 15 years and retired in 2014. Our condolences go out to his family. Please click on the following link for his obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/jconline/obituary.aspx?n=steven-widger&pid=185792623 Karyn Rodkey’s sons were featured in an article from the Journal & Courier on June 17. To read the article click on the link: http://www.jconline.com/story/sports/high-school/2017/06/17/rossville-falls-state-championship/403326001/

Xiangying (Candy) Mao attended the American Society for Plant Biologists (ASPB) meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 24 – 28. She presented a poster entitled “MED5 and CDK8 play a role in lignin-modification-induced dwarfing in Arabidopsis”. Candy received a travel grant from the ASPB to help support her at the conference.

BIRTHDAYS Hillary Andaluz Aguilar Ben Carter Rui (Gary) Gan Fred Gimble Samantha Lee Joseph Lynch Chen Shao Fengyi Mao UPCOMING EVENTS July 4 – Independence Day (University Holiday) August 5 – Commencement August 18 – Biochemistry Research Retreat August 21 – Fall semester classes begin September 4 – Labor Day (University Holiday)

Biochemistry REU summer students along with Jim Forney, Fred Gimble, Sherry Pogranichniy and graduate students Lama Alabdi, Brandon Anson and Vatsal Purohit (Biology) enjoyed a morning canoe trip down the Tippecanoe River on Saturday, June 17.