Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology

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October 2023

Archives for October 2023

laboratory experiment

A simple way to boost plant growth and stress tolerance

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In order to feed an increasing population under more stressful conditions and with less arable land we must increase plant vigor. The Binder lab recently showed that transiently treating germinating seedlings with ethylene boosts photosynthesis and metabolism to increase both growth and stress tolerance. Eric

Brenya, a postdoc in the Binder lab, made the initial observations leading to this research and is the lead author. Esha Dutta, a GST graduate student, as well as several other graduate students from BCMB were involved and this work was a collaborative effort with Dan Roberts. These findings appeared in an article entitled Ethylene-mediated metabolic priming increases photosynthesis and metabolism to enhance plant growth and stress tolerance in PNAS-Nexus.The Binder and Bruce labs have received NSF funding to explore the mechanisms for these effects.

students and a professor in a lab

Lamichhane Lab Publishes in JBC

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Recent studies from the Lamichhane Lab have revealed the dynamics of the extracellular domain (ECD) of the glucagon receptor (GCGR). The work published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) employed single-molecule molecule fluorescence microscopy to demonstrate that the glucagon-bound ECD of the GCGR is dynamic, which was not explored previously. Glucagon is a hormone produced by the pancreas and plays a key role in regulating blood glucose levels, and the GCGR is an important target for treating type 2 diabetes. The first author of the publication is Dr. Ting Liu (former postdoc), and co-authors include a graduate student (Susmiat Khanal) and an undergraduate student Gillian Hertslet.

Faculty Publications in Academic Year 2021-2022

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  1.   Amankwaa B, Schoborg T, and Labrador M (2021) Drosophila insulator proteins form in-vivo liquid-liquid phase separating condensates. Life Science Alliance. Jul 19;5(12):e202201536. doi: 10.26508/lsa.202201536. PMID: 35853678 
  2.   Apte MS and Joshi AS. Membrane curvature, lipids, and cytoskeleton: Recipe for nascent lipid droplet formation. Bioessays. (2022) Jul 13; e2200038
  3.   Bensing, B, Stubbs H, Agarwal R, Yamakawa I, Luong K, Solakyildirim K, Yu H, Hadadianpour A, Castro A, Fialkowski, K, Morrison K, Wawrzak Z, Chen X, Lebrilla C, Baudry J, Smith JC, Sullam P, Iverson T. (2022) Origins of glycan selectivity in streptococcal Siglec-like adhesins suggest mechanisms of receptor adaptation. Nature Communications 13(1):2753, doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30509-y.
  4.   Bogati B, N Wadsworth, F Barrera, EM Fozo. (2022) Improved Growth of Escherichia coli in Aminoglycoside Antibiotics by the zor-orz Toxin-Antitoxin System. Journal of Bacteriology 204 (1), e00407-21
  5.   Brady NT, S Qian, J Nguyen, HM O’Neill, BD Bruce (2022) Small angle neutron scattering and lipidomic analysis of a native, trimeric PSI-SMALP from a thermophilic cyanobacteria. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Bioenergetics 1863 (7), 148596
  6.   Campbell BF, Hercyk BS, Williams AR; Miguel ES; Young HG; Das ME (2022) Cdc42 GTPase activating proteins Rga4 and Rga6 coordinate septum synthesis and membrane trafficking at the division plane during cytokinesis. Traffic. DOI: 10.1111/tra.12864
  7.   Das P, Shen T, McCord RP (2022) Characterizing the variation in chromosome structure ensembles in the context of the nuclear microenvironment. PLoS Computational Biology 18: e1010392
  8.   Davis MM, R Lamichhane, BD Bruce (2021) Elucidating protein translocon dynamics with single-molecule precision. Trends in Cell Biology 31 (7), 569-583
  9.   DeGennaro, D., Urquidi Camacho, R. A., Zhang, L., Shpak, E.D. (2022) Initiation of aboveground organ primordia depends on combined action of auxin, ERECTA family genes, and PINOID. Plant Physiology, kiac288
  10.   Doppler D, MT Rabbani, R Letrun, J Cruz Villarreal, DH Kim, S Gandhi, …Bruce BD … Ros A. (2022) Co-flow injection for serial crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers. Journal of Applied Crystallography 55 (1)
  11.   Fernandez E, Lohry D, Dompreh B, T Shen (2022) Allostery and dynamics in nuclear hormone receptor transactivation FEBS OPEN BIO 12, 248-249
  12.   Glaser J, Sedova A, Galanie S, Kneller D, Davidson R, Maradzike, E, Del Galdo S, Labbe A, Hsu D, Agarwal R, Bykov D, Tharrington A, Parks J, Smith D, Daidone I, Coates L, Kovalevsky A, Smith JC. (2022) Hit Expansion of a Noncovalent SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibitor. ACS Publications. ACS Pharmacol. Transl.Sci. 2022, 5, 4, 255-265. doi:10.1021/acsptsci.200026.
  13.   Golloshi R, Playter C, Freeman TF, Das P, Raines TI, Garretson JH, Thurston D, McCord RP (2022) Constricted migration is associated with stable 3D genome structure differences in cancer cells. EMBO Reports: e52149
  14.   Gray ALH, Sawaya MR, Acharyya D, Lou J, Edington E, Best MD, Prosser RA, Eisenberg D, Do TD (2022) Atomic View of an Amyloid Dodecamer Exhibiting Selective Cellular Toxic Vulnerability in Acute Brain Slices. Prot. Sci. 2022:1-12. 
  15.   Gumbart JC, Ferreira JL, Hwang H, Hazel AJ, Parks JM, Smith JC, Zgurskaya HI, Bebby M. (2021) Lpp positions peptidoglycan an the AcrA-TolC interface in the AcrAB-TolC multidrug efflux pump. Biophysical Journal 120, no.18:3973-3982.
  16.   Hintzen JCJ, Ma H, Deng H, Witecka A, Andersen SB, Drozak J, Guo H, Qian P, Li H, Mecinović, J (2022). Histidine methyltransferase SETD3 methylates structurally diverse histidine mimics in actin. Protein Science, 31(5). doi:10.1002/pro.4305
  17.   Hintzen JCJ, Ma H, Deng H, Witecka A, Andersen SB, Drozak J, Guo H, Qian P, Li H, Mecinović, J (2022). Histidine methyltransferase SETD3 methylates structurally diverse histidine mimics in actin. Protein Science, 31(5). doi:10.1002/pro.4305
  18.   J Liu, HME Willems, EA Sansevere, S Allert, KS Barker, DJ Lowes, … Barrera FN, ….Peters BM. (2021)A variant ECE1 allele contributes to reduced pathogenicity of Candida albicans during vulvovaginal candidiasis. PLoS pathogens 17 (9), e1009884
  19.   Joshi AS. Peroxisomal membrane contact sites in yeasts. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. (2021). November 19; 9:735031.
  20.   Kumar P, J Lynch, B Song, H Ling, F Barrera, K Kisslinger, H Zhang, … (2022) Light–matter coupling in large-area van der Waals superlattices. Nature nanotechnology 17 (2), 182-189
  21.   Leus I, Weeks J, Bonifay V, Shen Y, Yang L, Cooper C, Nash D, Duerfeldt A, Smith JC, Parks J, Rybenkov V, Zgurskaya H. (2022) Property space mapping of Pseudomonas aeruginosa permeability to small molecules. Scientific Reports Sci Rep 12, 8220 doi:10.1038/s41598-022-12376-1.
  22.   Li J, Xie JF, Godec A, Weninger K, Liu C, Smith JC, Hong L. (2022) Non-ergodicity of a globular protein extending beyond its functional timescale. Chemical Science Issue 33, 2022 doi:10.1039/D2SC03069A.
  23.   Liang L, Wang YY, Bhagia S, Sethuraman V, Yang Z, Meng X, Bryant N, Petridis L, Smith JC, Pingali S, Gallego N, Pu Y, Evans B, O’Neill H, Davison B, Ragauskas A. (2022) Chemical and Morphological Structure of Transgenic Switchgrass Organosolv Lignin Extracted by Ethanol, Tetrahydrofuran, and y-Valerolactone Pretreatments. ACS Publications ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2022, 10, 28, 9041-9052 doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c00948.
  24.   Liu SH, Xiao Z, Mishra S, Mitchell J, Smith JC, Quarles D, Petridis L. (2022) Identification of Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 Signaling via In Silico Hot Spot Prediction and Molecular Docking to a-Klotho. ACS Publications J.Chem. Inf. Model. 2022, 62, 15, 3627-3637 doi:10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00633.
  25.   Lohry D, Stevens T, Shen T, Fernandez E. (2021) Interactions Between Intrinsically Disordered Domains of Nuclear Receptors and DNA Studied with Single-Molecule Optical Tweezers, Computational Simulations, and Cell Assays. FASEB JOURNAL 35
  26.   Lokdarshi, A. and von Arnim, A.G. (2022). Review: Emerging roles of the signaling network of the protein kinase GCN2 in the plant stress response. Plant Science 320:111280.  doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2022.111280. PMC pre ID” NIHMS 1800014″
  27.   Lokdarshi, A., von Arnim, A.G., and Akuoko, T.K. (2022). Modulation of GCN2 activity under excess light stress by osmoprotectants and amino acids. Plant Signaling & Behavior (in press). https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2022.2115747 .
  28.   Lou J, JA Schuster, FN Barrera, MD Best  (2022) ATP-Responsive Liposomes via Screening of Lipid Switches Designed to Undergo Conformational Changes upon Binding Phosphorylated Metabolites. Journal of the American Chemical Society 144 (8), 3746-3756
  29.   McAdam S. A. M., Chater C.C., Shpak E.D., Raissig, M.T., Dow G. J. (2021) Linking Stomatal Development and Physiology: From Stomatal Models to Non-Model Species and Crops. Frontiers in Plant Science 12, 2094
  30.   McCord RP, Taipale M, Teichmann S, Vorhees R, Wan Y, Dekker C, Sanjana NE. (2022) Voices on technology: The molecular biologists’ ever-expanding toy box. Molecular Cell. 82(2):221-226. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2021.12.025.
  31.   McCord RP, Xu Y, Li H, Das P, San Martin R (2022) SnapShot: Chromosome organization. Molecular Cell 82: 2350-2350 e2351
  32.   Melchionna MV, Gullett JM, Bouveret E, Shrestha HK, Abraham PE, Hettich RL, Alexandre G (2022) Bacterial Homologs of Progestin and AdipoQ Receptors (PAQRs) Affect Membrane Energetics Homeostasis but Not Fluidity. J. Bacteriol. 204(4):e0058321. doi: 10.1128/jb.00583-21.
  33.   Miller G, Ellis J, Sarangarajan R, Parikh A, Rodrigues L, Bruce C, Chand N, Smith S, Richardson K, Vazquez R, Kiebish M, Haneesh C, Granger E, Holtz J, Hinkle J, Narain N, Goodpaster B, Smith JC, Lupu D. (2022) Hypothesis-Agnostic Network-Based Analysis of Real-World Data Suggest Ondansetron is Associated with Lower COVID-19 Any Cause Mortality. Drugs – Real World Outcomes 9, 359-375 doi:10.1007/s40801-022-00303-9.
  34.   Perez I, Berndt S, Agarwal R, Castro A, Vishnivetskiy SA, Smith JC, Sanders CR, Gurevich VV, Iverson TM. (2022) A model for the signal initiation complex between arrestin-3 and the Src family kinase Fgr. Journal of Molecular Biology 434, no. 2: 167400.
  35.   Rajeshwar R, Smith JC. (2022) Structural patterns in class 1 major histocompatibility complex-restricted nonamer peptide binding to T-cell receptors. Proteins Volume 901, Issue 9, p 1645-1654, doi:10.1002/prot.26343.
  36.   Ren WS, Rahman A, Jiang KB, Deng, H, Zhao, YY, Zhang, WJ, Liu K, Qian P, Guo, H. (2022). Unraveling the Origins of Changing Product Specificity Properties of Arginine Methyltransferase PRMT7 by the E181D and E181D/Q329AMutations through QM/MM MD and Free-Energy Simulations. J Chem Theory Comput, 18(4), 2631-2641. doi:10.1021/acs.jctc.1c01219
  37.   Ren WS, Rahman A, Jiang KB, Deng, H, Zhao, YY, Zhang, WJ, Liu K, Qian P, Guo, H. (2022). Unraveling the Origins of Changing Product Specificity Properties of Arginine Methyltransferase PRMT7 by the E181D and E181D/Q329AMutations through QM/MM MD and Free-Energy Simulations. J Chem Theory Comput, 18(4), 2631-2641. doi:10.1021/acs.jctc.1c01219
  38.   Rich Robinson J, Russell A, Mancinin E, Das M. (2021)  Cdc42 reactivation at growth sites is regulated by local cell-cycle-dependent loss of its GTPase-activating protein Rga4 in fission yeast. Journal of Cell Science 134 (19), jcs259291
  39.   S Field, WC Conner, DM Roberts (2021) Arabidopsis calmodulin-like 38 regulates hypoxia-induced autophagy of suppressor of gene silencing 3 bodies. Frontiers in plant science, 1872
  40.   San Martin R, Das P, Dos Reis Marques R, Xu Y, Roberts JM, Sanders JT, Golloshi R, McCord RP. (2022) Chromosome compartmentalization alterations in prostate cancer cell lines model disease progression. Journal of Cell Biology. 221(2):e202104108. doi: 10.1083/jcb.202104108. Epub 2021 Dec 10. PMID: 34889941
  41.   Sanders JT*, Golloshi R*, Das P, Xu Y, Terry PH, Nash DG, Dekker J, McCord RP. (2022) Loops, topologically associating domains, compartments, and territories are elastic and robust to dramatic nuclear volume swelling. Scientific Reports. 2022 12(1):4721. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-08602-5.
  42.   Semchonok DA, J Mondal, CJ Cooper, K Schlum, M Li, M Amin, … Bruce BD. (2022) Cryo-EM structure of a tetrameric photosystem I from Chroococcidiopsis TS-821, a thermophilic, unicellular, non-heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium. Plant communications 3 (1), 100248
  43.   Simmons, James R., Ran An, Bright Amankwaa, Shannon Zayac, Justin Kemp, Mariano Labrador (2022) Phosphorylated Histone variant γH2Av is associated with Chromatin Insulators in Drosophila. Plos Genetics, Accepted for publication
  44.   Sobe RC, Gilbert C, Vo L, Alexandre G, Scharf BE (2022) FliL and its paralog MotF have distinct roles in the stator activity of the Sinorhizobium meliloti flagellar motor. Mol Microbiol. 2022 Jul 8. doi: 10.1111/mmi.14964. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35808893.
  45.   Stow EC, An R, Simmons JR, Schoborg TA, Davenport NM and Labrador M. (2022) A Drosophila Insulator Interacting Protein Suppresses Enhancer-Blocking Function and Modulates Replication Timing. Gene doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146208. Epub 2022 Jan 29. PMID: 35092858.
  46.   Tatikonda R, Saharay M, Smith JC, Krishnan M. (2021) Correlated Response of Protein Side Chain Fluctuations and Conformational Entropy to Ligand Binding. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 125(34):9641-9651.
  47.   Teodor AH, LB Thal, S Vijayakumar, M Chan, G Little, BD Bruce. (2021) Photosystem I integrated into mesoporous microspheres has enhanced stability and photoactivity in biohybrid solar cells. Materials Today Bio 11, 100122
  48.   Teodor AH, S Monge, D Aguilar, A Tames, R Nunez, E Gonzalez, …  Bruce BD. (2022) PEDOT-Carbon Nanotube Counter Electrodes and Bipyridine Cobalt (II/III) Mediators as Universally Compatible Components in Bio-Sensitized Solar Cells Using Photosystem I. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23 (7), 3865
  49.   Thakur, N, Wei, S, Lamichhane, R, Eddy, MT. (2022) Production of Human A2AAR in Lipid Nanodiscs for 19F-NMR and Single-Molecule Fluorescence Spectroscopy. STAR Protocol, 3, 1-32.
  50.   Wei, S, Thakur, N, Ray, AP, Beining, J, Obeng, S, McCurdy, CR, McMahon, LR, Gutiérrez-de-Terán, H, Eddy, MT, and Lamichhane, R (2021) Slow conformational dynamics of the human A2A adenosine receptor are temporally ordered. Structure, 30, 329-337.
  51.   Xiao Z, Liu J, Liu SH, Petridis L, Cai C, Cao L, Wang G, Chin A, Cleveland J, Ikedionwu O, Carrick J, Smith JC, Quarles L. (2022) Novel small molecule FGF23 inhibitors increase serum phosphate and improve skeletal abnormalities in Hyp Mice. Molecular Pharmacology Molpharm-ar-2001-000471, doi:10.1124/molpharm.121.000471.
  52.   Xu Y, Begoli E, McCord RP (2022) sciCAN: Single-cell chromatin accessibility and gene expression data integration via Cycle-consistent Adversarial Network. npj Systems Biology and Applications.
  53.   Xu Y, Das P, McCord RP. (2021) SMILE: Mutual Information Learning for Integration of Single Cell Omics Data. Bioinformatics. Oct 8;btab706. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab706. Online ahead of print.
  54.   Xu Y, McCord RP (2022) Diagonal integration of multimodal single-cell data: potential pitfalls and paths forward. Nature Communications 13: 3505
  55.   Yaw A, Glass JD, Prosser RA, Caldwell HK (2022) Paternal Cocaine Alters Social Interactions and Oxytocin Receptor Density in First Generation Male Offspring. Neuroscience 485: 65-77. 
  56.   Zagoskin M, Wang J: Programmed DNA elimination: silencing genes and repetitive sequences in somatic cells. Biochem Soc Trans 2021, 49 (5): 1891–1903. https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20190951
  57.   Zagoskin MV*, Wang J*#, Neff AT, Veronezi GMB, Davis RE#: Small RNA pathways in the nematode Ascaris in the absence of piRNAs. Nature Communications. 2022, 13:837. (*co-first authors; # corresponding authors). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28482-7
  58.   Zhao YY, Deng H, Rahman A, Xu XL, Qian P, Guo, H. (2022). Computational Study of Methionine Methylation Process Catalyzed by SETD3. Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences. doi:10.1007/s12539-022-00516-0
  59.   Zhao YY, Deng H, Rahman A, Xu XL, Qian P, Guo, H. (2022). Computational Study of Methionine Methylation Process Catalyzed by SETD3. Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences. doi:10.1007/s12539-022-00516-0
  60. ZG Beamer, P Routray, WG Choi, MK Spangler, A Lokdarshi, DM Roberts (2021) Aquaporin family lactic acid channel NIP2; 1 promotes plant survival under low oxygen stress in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 187 (4), 2262-2278

Alumni Updates – 2022

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Jodan Roach, a former undergraduate researcher in the lab of Engin Serpersu (Professor Emeritus, BCMB), received a Ruth L. Kirschtein NRSA Fellowship (F30) from the National Cancer Institute to support his MD/PhD at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Bijoyita Roy, a former grad student in the lab of Albrecht von Arnim, was featured in an interview highlighting women in science.

Postdoc and Student Achievements – 2022

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Logan Dunn, a graduate student in the Krishnan lab, was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from NSF which will fund his research for 3 years.

Bethany Campbell, a graduate student in the Das lab, was awarded an Alexander Hollaender Fellowship from the Division of Biology.

Graduate students, Jyotirmoy Mondal and Udodirim Onwubiko were each given the Chancellor’s Extraordinary Professional Promise Award.

Hannah Lee, an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Keerthi Krishnan, was awarded a 2022 Goldwater Scholarship.

Several BCMB undergraduates won Division of Natural Sciences College of Arts & Sciences Awards at the Spring 2022 Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA). Congratulations to: Lauren Donnelly (Binder lab), Anthony Rios (Lamichhane Lab), Beyza Kartal and Alexandra McBryar (Krishnan Lab).

BCMB graduates in the Chancellor’s Honors Program in 2022 are: Radha Awasthi, Elizabeth Baker, William Baker, Lexi Bales, Mollybeth Blackwell, Bailey Bohannon, Cole Bozeman, Mia Buono, Sara Burnette, Elizabeth Calfee, Alexis Culver, John Dekbar, Lauren Donnelly, Kylie Duckworth, Madeline Edmiston, Jill Grant, Aruha Khan, Simone Li, Connor Long, Zachary Loyd, Skylar Maguire,  Allison Mathews, Sophia, McDuffee, Mary Park, Delaney Thurston, Gwyneth Walker, Abigail Wells

Jenna Demeter was a 2022 BCMB graduate in the Haslam Scholars Program.

Justin Brueggeman was the 2022 Outstanding Graduate for BCMB.

Lauren Donnelly was recognized with the Chancellor’s Extraordinary Academic Achievement undergraduate award.

Faculty Achievements – 2022

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Dan Roberts was awarded the Disability Champion Award by Student Disabilities services for his commitment to creating an inclusive culture as director of the BCMB summer REU program for Deaf/hard-of-hearing undergraduates.

Francisco Barrera chaired the Membrane Structure and Function subgroup at the 2022 annual Biophysical Society meeting in San Francisco and he co-organized a session on membrane proteins at the annual meeting in Philadelphia of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Amit Joshi was awarded a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health.

Department News – 2022

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Congratulations to the 2021-2022 MS and PhD graduates: Zach Beamer, Maddison Melchionna, Jyotirmoy Mondal, Udodirim Onwubiko, Madison Rost,  Chris Turpin,  

Maitreyi Das has left BCMB to take a new faculty position at Boston College.

Faculty Spotlight – 2022

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Amit Joshi began his interest in the formation and function of organelles during his doctorate at Wayne State University that continued through his postdocs. Joshi’s doctoral research focused on understanding the role of cardiolipin, a mitochondria specific phospholipid, on the function of mitochondria. 

“I got interested in this research because I was fascinated by this special phospholipid that could affect the function of the mitochondria, commonly known as the ‘powerhouse of the cell’. I was immediately attracted by these dynamic and fascinating organelles.” 

Following this, he did his post-doctoral training in the Prinz lab at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and the Cohen lab at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. During this time he discovered a novel family of proteins that generate localized membrane curvature responsible for formation of new organelles such as peroxisomes and lipid droplets. His lab in BCMB continues this research. 

“My lab is interested in investigating molecular mechanisms of peroxisome and lipid droplet biogenesis at specialized sites in the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Both of these organelles play crucial roles in cellular function because they are required for lipid homeostasis,” Joshi said. “As a cell biologist, my approach towards science is, ‘see it to believe it’. To do that, we use a high-resolution confocal microscope that allows us to see finer details at higher magnification inside of a living cell which are stained with a variety of fluorescent proteins targeting organelles. With the development of fantastic microscopes that continue to improve in resolution, I think it’s a great time to be a cell biologist.” 

Students in his lab utilize a combination of genetic, biochemical, and cell biological techniques to answer fundamental biology questions. 

“It is always great when students admire the dynamic cell structures live in action using high-resolution microscopy for the first time.” 

Joshi’s research has medical implications since defects in the formation and function of these organelles leads to neurodegenerative diseases such as Zellweger syndrome, and metabolic disorders such as lipodystrophy, obesity and diabetes. A major goal of his research is to uncover the protein complexes and membrane lipids that might be required specifically for formation of peroxisomes and lipid droplets from the ER membrane and financial support for this was recently received as a NIH MIRA award. 

Joshi joined BCMB in January 2021 and teaches BCMB 311: Advanced Cell Biology and BCMB 607: Journal Club in Cell and Molecular Biology. He also co-taught a BCMB 615 seminar series focused on cell architecture as a theme where students had a terrific opportunity to discuss the research with the leading experts in the field of cell biology. In his spare time he loves watching movies, traveling, and photography.

Plant Development is Complex and Interesting

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Alex Overholt became interested in biology, especially plant biology from an early age. 

“My parents and grandparents exposed me to science throughout my entire childhood. I got to go on a national geographic dinosaur dig in Utah and travel across Costa Rica thanks to my grandparents, and I always had a love for the complexity and diversity of the nature around me. When I was in high school, my grandfather (who is a gastroenterologist) gave me the opportunity to help at his office and conduct research on photodynamic therapy for the treatment of Barrett’s Esophagus. Even though I originally joined BCMB with the intent of following in my grandfather’s footsteps, the medical field was not for me. I also spent a bunch of time in the woods (I hiked 500 miles of Appalachian Trail alone) and worked as a landscaper for two years, and I always loved plants and flowers. This is why I decided to pursue plant biology instead of medicine.”

Overholt is from Knoxville and was an undergraduate at UT Knoxville who carried out his undergraduate research in the Shpak lab. He started off simply washing dishes and plating seeds, but eventually he began to carry out more complex tasks like GUS staining of EPFL reporters in the meristem followed by sectioning, RT-PCR, and confocal microscopy experiments. 

“My experience with BCMB at UT Knoxville as an undergraduate was great, and this convinced me that this would be a good place to continue my education,” said Overholt, who joined the BCMB graduate program in fall 2018 and joined the Shpak lab after several rotations. 

“When I chose to join the Shpak lab as an undergraduate, I had a year left before I was set to graduate, and my advisor said I needed to get involved with research if I wanted to go to graduate school. I looked through the topics of the plant research professors and chose Shpak’s lab because of her heavy focus on plant development. At the time I didn’t really understand the research topic, but I was interested in the stomata development pathway on her information page. I quickly became very interested in the EPFL genes while working with former grad student, Pawel Kosentka. I was so interested that I was determined to go to graduate school studying these genes with the hope of identifying a novel downstream target of the less studied EPFL genes. Even though my research of ovule initiation in Arabidopsis is narrowly focused, the possibility of learning more about the function of ERf signaling could affect our  understanding of these processes in a large proportion of plants.” 

Regarding joining BCMB, he says “I think the BCMB program has a great set of knowledgeable and motivated professors that lead the program. The educational experience is extremely valuable and fully prepares one to enter the fields of BCMB. The research professors also study a diverse set of research topics, and this gives incoming students many options when deciding what area to pursue for their career.” 

When not working in the lab, Overholt takes advantage of the many outdoor recreational activities near Knoxville such as hiking, identifying mushrooms, and fly fishing as well as continuing a lifelong interest in writing music and playing guitar.