California State University, Long Beach ▪ Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Volume VI Issue I September 2013

Bonding Students to Chemistry & Biochemistry

Editor-in-Chief: Jacqueline Dominguez ▪ Co-Editor-in-Chief: Brandon Graham

Staff: Dagoberto B. Ramos, Briana Nickol, Hannah Pham Website: http://chemistry.csulb.edu/thebeaker.html ▪ Facebook: facebook.com/thebeakercsulb

▪ E-Mail: thebeakercsulb@gmail.com

The Beaker Volume VI Issue I

Event Announcements By: Dagoberto B. Ramos

University Deadlines: ••9/16: Deadline to add courses with no $10 missed

deadline fee

•9/16: Deadline to file for CR/NC or audit grade

options with no $10 missed deadline fee

•9/16: Deadline to file for credit by examination

•9/23: Final deadline to add courses with $10

missed deadline fee

•9/23: Last day to enroll in Open University

Seminar Series:

•9/11: Irene Chen, UC Santa Barbara. “Evolution of

RNA During the Origin of Life.” Host: Schwans

•9/18: Michael Pirrung, UC Riverside. “Medicinal

Chemistry of Natural Proteasome-Inhibiting

Anticancer Agents.” Host: Schramm

•9/25: David Mobley, UC Irvine. “Calculating binding

free energies from molecular simulations: Blind

predictions, model binding sites, and automated

planning.” Host: Sorin

All seminars take place in HSCI-100 from 4pm-5pm

Career Development Center:

•9/11 @ 12pm: So Tell Me About Yourself: Your 60

Second Soundbite

•9/12 @ 2pm: How to Find Scholarships

•9/16 @ 12pm: Employer Presentation: Hispanic

Association of Colleges and Universities

•9/16 @ 2pm: Letters of Recommendation

•9/17 @ 12pm: Applying to Graduate School

•9/18 @ 1pm: Writing the Personal Statement

•9/19 @1pm: Prepare for the Job Fair

•9/23 @ 1pm: Resume Writing for STEM Majors

•9/24 @ 12pm: Interviewing Tools and Techniques

•9/25 @ 2pm: Prepare for the Job Fair

•9/26 @ 12pm: 2013 STEM Job Fair (University Student

Union)

All events take place in the Career Development Center:

BH 250, unless stated otherwise

SAACS:

•9/6 @ 5pm: First SAACS meeting. Location

LA-5. Pizza party; for details, email

csulbchemclub@gmail.com

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SAS Center:

•9/17 @ 2pm: Science Education Credential

Information Session

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The Beaker Volume VI Issue I

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Douglas McAbee By: Hannah Pham Editors: Jacqueline Dominguez, Briana Nickol

Dr. Douglas McAbee grew up in the small town of Yakima, Washington. He called himself a European mongrel, coming from backgrounds of Irish, British, Welsh, and Spanish. He knew he wanted to work in some form of life science since the ripe age of 8 or 9 years old. He was fascinated by biology and that interest grew as he became older. He completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry/biology at Point Loma in San Diego.

Dr. McAbee went straight to the doctoral program of cell biology and anatomy at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas, where he would soon find out that weather-wise, “Dallas is on a planet much closer to the sun!” He worked under Fred Grinnell in a lab where he was involved in extracellular matrix proteins, how cells interacted with them, and the complexities of tissue remodeling, especially in wound healing. Dr. McAbee met his wife Cristy, an attorney, in Texas and was in the process of getting married so he decided to stay and do his post-doc in Texas with Paul Weigel at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He got his first academic appointment teaching cell biology in the biology department at University of Notre Dame and remained there for several years.

He came back to southern California in 1997. He was the first professor to be hired in the department after an 8 year hiring freeze by the university. He developed a graduate class in membrane biochemistry, which he teaches once every 3 years (CHEM 548). He served as department chair from fall 2002 – fall 2008, but was glad to resume full-time teaching and research afterwards. He served as advisor for the biochemistry graduate program for 3 years, then became the undergraduate advisor in fall 2012. Out of all those activities, teaching is probably his favorite in terms of figuring out good ways of imparting information in an engaging way that gets people to enjoy the subject since, “Biochemistry has a hell of a lot of information”. He teaches CHEM 361, 441A/B, 443, 448, and 548. CHEM 441B is his favorite course to teach. He enjoyed making 361 (technical writing class) fun with his Powerpoints because, as he said, “When you’re talking about grammar, the boring potential is just enormous when you’re doing that with a bunch of science geeks!”

His current research focuses on iron-binding proteins, primarily on lactoferrin, which is a type of transferrin (a family of iron-binding proteins). Lactoferrin sequesters iron and an anti-microbial agent. His interest is in the blood form of lactoferrin, where it comes from, and where it goes. When studying the endocytosis of lactoferrin by liver cells, his lab discovered that lactoferrin was internalized by the asialoglycoprotein receptor (aka, the galactosyl receptor) in a manner that requires the lectin activity of the receptor but is independent of lactoferrin’s glycan structures. He concluded a protein element on lactoferrin was mimicking a carbohydrate to the point where it can mediate high-affinity binding to this receptor. He is trying to identify which protein elements on lactoferrin are responsible for its binding to this receptor. He is also identified several serum proteins that bind lactoferrin, which may modulate its activity while in the circulation. More recently, he is studying the liver proteome changes that come with acute iron overload. He currently has no research students but would be willing to accept new students if they were supported through a research funded program, like MARC.

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Fun Facts:

• Dr. McAbee is known for his colorful, flashy, and personalized sneakers. It all began because he was tired of wearing boring shoes! He had some of them personalized with “CHEM 441A” or “CHEM 441B” or “McAbee Allele”. Dr. McAbee also started the infamous CHEM 443 biochemistry lab personalized t-shirts that are made exclusively for the students in the lab class each semester. Last fall’s t-shirts was themed as a 1960’s horror movie poster “Lab of the Damned”, while last spring’s t-shirt announced a new drug “Biocodin” that former CHEM 443 would take to recover from “TTBS: totally traumatic biochemistry syndrome”. Beware of its many undesirable side effects (e.g., delusions of competence)!

• Wife Cristy teaches third grade. Daughter Kate, 24, is in grad school at Idaho State in biogeochemistry MS program. Son Keith, 21, is an English major at CSU Fullerton and wants to teach high school English and creative writing.

• Favorite sport is Golf (addicted; 7 handicapper) and Basketball

• Favorite TV shows – Eureka, The Big Bang Theory

• Music – Classical, alternative, jazz, choral music (even sings at his church choir!)

• Has a cat named Sam (age 19!)

• Favorite lab equipment – In terms of pure sophistication and power… MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer!

• Favorite superhero – Tony Stark! Why?

He’s incredibly wealthy and has an incredibly dry sense of humor

• Coolest protein that he would

want to be – Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases: amazing enzymes, “Their job is absolutely indispensable”.

• If he wasn’t a scientist, and had the ability, he’d be a musician of some sort. Maybe play the guitar like Jeff Beck.

• Hardest class as an undergrad – Calculus

• Most boring class as an undergrad – Sociology

• Hardest class in medical school – Physiology

Picture above: Soon-to-be-released blockbuster R-rated horror movie about the chemistry department, "Lab of the Damned!": Dr. Douglas McAbee (played by John Malkovich) takes over the CHEM 443 lab!

The Beaker Volume VI Issue I

Chemistry for Today’s World By: Briana Nickol

Genome sequencing

On September 4, 2013, the National Genome Research Institute held a meeting to discuss sequencing for newborns and its implications. As of today, newborn screenings are a mandatory exercise performed in hospitals that require the newborn to be screened for approximately 28 to 57 medical disorders; depending on the state requirements. These disorders include congenital hypothyroidism, galactosemia and phenylketonuria, all of which are federally required tests of all states for newborns. These disorders are treatable if caught early, which is why such tests are usually necessary and often requested. Such tests they say, could help us “better understand even the disorder that we already screened for…and find ways to improve therapies for them (Alan Guttmacher,pg 4).”

But what if such tests now mandated that infants be screened for all diseases, not just the treatable ones? Those of which at present do not have a viable treatment? Such is one of the many questions that come with full genome screenings for infants in the United States. Others would include subjects related to the psychological stress of the parents knowing their child has such diseases, the privacy of such information, and possible health care cost if health insurance had access to such records. What do the readers have to say about such a matter? Read some of the articles and make an opinion for yourself. http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i36/Newborn-Gene-Screens.html http://www.genome.gov/Multimedia/Audio/Transcript/Newborn_090413.pdf

From Gaming to Multitasking Just about everyone who plays video games will have heard the justifications about

how playing them are beneficial to you in some way. It is useful with multitasking, helping with memory, and strategizing. A recent study from Nature proved this to be true, just not for our age group. A study done in 2010, enlisted young and middle-aged adults to perform computer tasks to help with certain brain functions. While it did to some extent, it was only beneficial by making them better at completing the programs. When the study was done on seniors sometime after, it was apparent that the older generation reaped from the benefits more than their younger counterparts. The findings were published in Nature of September 2013. http://www.nature.com/news/gaming-improves-multitasking-skills-1.13674

Sarin Gas It has been confirmed that Sarin gas was the chemical used on the Syrian people last month on August 21. Sarin gas is an odorless, colorless gas that affects the muscles ability to contract, resulting in asphyxiation, and is considered to be a weapon of mass destruction. Currently U.S. officials are working to detect if there are any impurities that might distinguish the gas as a do-it-yourself recipe, or a military grade version. Find out what has been discovered about the Syrian attacks and why there is so little evidence left for us to investigate. Watch the video to learn more about the gas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3sJEbcT7IE Then read the article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=who-made-the-sarin

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Scholarships By: Jacqueline Dominguez

49er Textbook Scholarship Prize: $500 Description: 1. Must be a student enrolled at CSULB. 2. Must demonstrate a financial need for textbooks. 3. Must write a personal statement (1,000 words or less) answering the following questions: --Please explain why you feel you should receive the 49er Textbook Scholarship. Be sure to include any financial hardship, obstacles or challenges you have faced. --How will this scholarship impact your life? Please describe why you need a scholarship to purchase your textbooks. Deadline: 3/6/14 by 4:00PM For more information: http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/scholarships/search/display.php?sID=641

Career Explorer By: Jacqueline Dominguez

Ever wonder what you can do with your professional science degree? Perhaps become a: Pathologist Tasks:

• Examine microscopic samples to identify diseases or other abnormalities.

• Diagnose diseases or study medical conditions using techniques such as gross pathology, histology, cytology, cytopathology, clinical chemistry, immunology, flow cytometry, and molecular biology.

• Write pathology reports summarizing analyses, results, and conclusions.

• Analyze and interpret results from tests such as microbial or parasite tests, urine analyses, hormonal assays, fine needle aspirations (FNAs), and polymerase chain reactions (PCRs).

• Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in pathology.

• Review cases by analyzing autopsies, laboratory findings, or case investigation reports. Tools used:

• Immunology analyzers — Automated immunoassay analyzers; Chemiluminescent immunoassay analyzers; Fluorescence polarization immunoassay analyzers

• Microtomes — Freezing microtomes; Rotary microtomes; Sliding microtomes; Ultra microtomes • Accounting software — Cerner Millennium ProFit; Healthvision MediAR; TELCOR Billing Information

System; XIFIN • Medical software — MEDITECH Anatomical Pathology; Orchard Software Orchard Harvest LIS;

PathLogix; Wyndgate Technologies ElDorado Donor Education Level:

• Science related master’s or doctoral degree

For more information about this career or others in this field log onto: www.onetonline.org

Chem-tertainment By: Hannah Pham

Name That Element!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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The Beaker Volume VI Issue I

Like us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/thebeakercsulb

ACROSS: 2. The latinized word for the old German word "weissmuth" 6. Occurs in all organic compounds 8. Joke: Why did the noble gas cry? Because all of his friends ____. 9. Song: "_______, knows how to party. We keep it rocking." 11. _____ite, Supermans weakness 12. Spell: iron + lithium + neon

DOWN 1. Thomas Jefferson is the face of this coin 3. An important ingredient in steel 4. Dr. Thach ___, Chemistry Lab Instructor 5. Oui oui, je parle francais 7. Joke: What do you do with dead chemists? 10. In 1798, Louis-Nicholas Vauquelin, a French chemist, discovered that this unknown element was present in emeralds and beryl.