MCB Features
Undergraduate Experience in Faculty Labs
In 2001 Heather Vlamakis coauthored a paper detailing the spread of antibiotic resistance among bacteria in the human body. It was one of the first publications to show that bacteria can share antibiotic resistance genes in natural settings, and Vlamakis did her work as an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois.
Vlamakis’s story is just one example of undergraduates performing groundbreaking research in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Published Date: April 22, 2009
Maria Spies Recieves HHMI Early Career Scientist Award
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Maria Spies has been selected to receive a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Early Career Scientist Award.
The award aims to provide generous funding to the most promising early career scientists in the country. According to HHMI, “The new program is aimed at researchers who have run their own labs for two to six years and are now at a critical point in establishing their own vibrant, independent research programs.” (Read full story)
Published Date: March 26, 2009
An Emerging Field for a Rising Professor
Assistant Professor of Microbiology Carin Vanderpool, never predicted she would be in the position she is today.
After only two years at the University of Illinois she has created a lab from the ground up, been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and made great strides with small RNAs—a newly developing area of research in cellular regulation.
As a successful new faculty member, Vanderpool seems to have chosen her career wisely, but she wasn’t always sure that academia was the right path. (Read full story)
Published Date: January 5, 2009
21st Annual CMB-MB Symposium
The Cell and Molecular Biology & Molecular Biophysics (CMB-MB) Training Grant Program celebrated its 21st annual research symposium this past week. The program encourages graduate students to explore interdisciplinary research including genetics, physiology, biophysics, and microbiology.
Faculty in eleven departments advise students in the program, including 25 professors from all four departments in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Over 85 graduate students participated in the symposium by presenting their research through detailed posters (pictured), and six students were chosen to give talks highlighting their work.
Dr. Dianne K. Newman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave the keynote lecture.
Published Date: November 21, 2008
Roger Adams Lab and Burrill Hall Renovation
Roger Adams Laboratory and Burrill Hall are undergoing $12 million renovations to improve energy efficiency and upgrade their interiors. Once construction is finished, researchers will benefit from modern laboratory spaces and increased safety.
The third and fourth floors of Roger Adams Laboratory are being completely overhauled to make way for new office space and state-of-the-art labs for professors in the Department of Biochemistry. This $7.6 million, 18,030 square foot renovation project began in May of this year, and is expected to be completed by the end of February 2009.
Published Date: October 14, 2008
From Students to Scientists
“I still remember the picture I took of my first electrophoresis gel,” said Andrew Smith, a senior in MCB. “I still have it.”
Smith was not conducting research in a faculty lab when he ran his first gel, nor was he working as a biotechnology intern. He was attending his introductory, sophomore-year MCB laboratory course.
Teaching lab specialist Elizabeth Blinstrup explained that while lectures and discussions cover topics in depth, “Lab courses elevate a student’s know-how from ‘I get this’ to ‘I’ve done this.’”
Published Date: July 24, 2008
MCB Selected for New 'Scope
With the support of a major grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology has been selected as one of only a dozen laboratories worldwide to receive a prototype OMX Applied Precision microscopy system.
The microscope will deliver 3D images of cells at high speed under low light conditions ideal for live cell imaging. The acquisition of the “structured illumination deconvolution light microscopy system” marks a major step forward in optical microscopy imaging technology for both the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the campus.
Read the whole story...
Published Date: June 19, 2008
Professor Phillip A. Newmark
On May 27th, Phillip A. Newmark, an associate professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB), was named a 2008 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. With this award Dr. Newmark joins a select group of 56 biomedical scientists chosen from among 1,070 applications submitted in a nationwide competition.
The Maryland-based Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), a private philanthropy dedicated to supporting biomedical research and science education, is committing more than $600 million to support new research conducted by the 56 investigators in their first term of appointment.
Published Date: May 28, 2008