Inter-Collegiate Collaboration Develops New Tool for Image Analysis
The Nebenführ lab has developed a fully automated analysis pipeline to extract quantitative measures from fluorescently labeled actin networks for detecting differences in actin organization between cells. By teaming up with the Abel group in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, they were able to demonstrate the robust nature of the extracted parameters, as documented in their recent publication in Molecular Biology of the Cell.
Undergraduate Research Initiative Welcomes Students With Hearing Loss
by Amy Beth Miller
About three dozen students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) have conducted research in recent years through the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Professor Gladys Alexandre has been working with DHH students since 2016, and the effort has expanded to other labs.
“We have training and mentoring for all advisors, and this helps promote the Deaf culture in the hearing community and better prepare diverse scientists to host these underrepresented individuals,” said Alexandre, now BCMB department head. “We are helping the campus to become more welcoming to DHH students.”
Recruiting
Alexandre was director of the Program for Excellence and Equity in Research (PEER), which focuses on recruiting and training underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. “There are many pools of talents that have not been fully tapped for the benefits of our society, and in my case, research, DHH students represent such an overlooked pool of talents,” she said.
The director of the UT Center on Deafness, David Smith, connected Alexandre with colleagues from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology (NTID/RIT), where she started recruiting undergraduate students as a pilot. Since then, BCMB Professors Tessa (Burch-Smith) Calhoun, Liz Howell, and Dan Roberts also have hosted students from NTID during the summer.
Data from those experiences helped BCMB receive its first National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) award in 2019 under Roberts, who is now retired. Professor Elena Shpak received a 2023 NSF REU award to continue BCMB’s efforts through summer 2026.
Alexandre also has budgeted funding from her own NSF awards to train DHH students in research every summer.
One of the first graduate students Alexandre recruited from NTID/RIT was Amie Fornah Sankoh, whose PhD from BCMB in 2023 made her the first deaf Black woman to earn a STEM doctorate in the United States, according to Chemistry World.
BCMB also recruits DHH students through colleagues at Gallaudet and other universities, plus it is on an NSF REU site that prospective students can consult to find research opportunities.
Rethinking communication
Alexandre did not have previous experience with a person who has hearing loss but said communicating was not as challenging as she anticipated. “It simply needs to slow down and to be as clear as possible,” she said. “We use writing, a few ASL [American Sign Language] signs we know, [PowerPoint] captions, and ASL interpreters to communicate.”
“Being flexible and open-minded goes a long way to effectively communicate with DHH individuals,” she said. “This is also not a heterogenous group: Some students sign, some don’t, some can lip-read, many can’t.”
Each lab’s principal investigator and in-lab mentor—a graduate student or post-doctoral researcher—completes online training through Project Access (For Educators) on understanding hearing loss and improving communication. “We then have a meeting where we discuss expectations and how to set up the projects for success,” Alexandre said. “We specifically discuss what worked and didn’t work so that we can improve every year.”
“We also ask that the lab writes detailed protocols and provide them in advance and then demonstrate them,” she said, noting that advance access is critical for the students who are deaf or hard of hearing to have time to become familiar with the material.
“As long as I am funded, I will continue this effort,” Alexandre said. “It is transformative for all involved, and it definitely enhances communication between the lab members. Taking the time to explain difficult concepts using a variety of approaches is incredibly effective, but it takes a lot more time.”
She noted that clearer nonverbal communication also benefits individuals who are not deaf but may have difficulty hearing.
BCMB’s efforts to improve diversity and create a welcoming community are receiving recognition. Alexandre received the 2019 American Society for Microbiology William A. Hinton Award for the Advancement of a Diverse Community of Microbiologists and a 2022 NTID Co-op and Career Center Outstanding Employer Partner Award.
Cheryl Hodge Retires after 45 Years at UT
by Amy Beth Miller
Cheryl Hodge laughed when she received her first paycheck from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1979. “The silly thing said that I would be eligible for retirement in the year 2021,” she said, and that date was so far in the future she couldn’t imagine it.
Hodge stayed even longer, retiring at the end of June as an administrative specialist in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB).
She started in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, going on to work in the School of Art and in Human Resources as well.
“It is great that her 45-year career at UT allowed her to connect to people and programs as she served the university,” said Beauvais Lyons, divisional dean for arts and humanities and Chancellor’s Professor of Art. “The School of Art faculty and staff adored Cheryl during the decade she worked with us.”
‘Everything changes’
When Hodge started her career, parking on the UT campus was $5 a quarter and she used a manual typewriter. She recalls with excitement when she received an IBM Selectric typewriter, which allowed her to change fonts.
“Everything changes all the time,” she said of working at the university, and she had shown the flexibility to keep up. Hodge took advantage of training through UT and the International Association of Administrative Professionals, also serving in the leadership of the Knoxville chapter.
Her first responsibility at UT was secretarial, and then she began working with graduate student records. “I was in charge of making sure they were all getting the classes they needed, and keeping all their records; and that was all on paper in filing cabinets, long before computers,” she explained.
“I’m still very close friends with quite a few of those kids—they’re not kids,” she said with a laugh, noting they are about five years older than she is.
From there she went to the School of Art, working with hundreds of applications for each of the handful of graduate school positions, another role she loved.
Leaving her mark
While in the School of Art she became a member of a UT Employee Relations Committee (ERC). “I got really involved in the fact that this was a place where employees could voice their concerns, could ask for things they felt the university needed,” she explained.
That led to her next position, as principal secretary in UT Human Resources, working with five ERCs and the retirees’ association. “It got to a point in the mid-90s where practically everyone on campus knew my name,” she said. “I loved my years there.”
She also left a visible impact, the traffic signal at the intersection of Pat Sumitt Drive and Volunteer Drive. After several accidents at the intersection, Hodge put the proposed signal on every committee meeting agenda for more than six years, and she went to Knoxville City Council meetings to advocate for it.
Now every time they go to a play at the Clarence Brown Theatre, Hodge points and tells her husband, Roy, “See my light!”
What’s next?
When her position in the HR office was eliminated, Hodge found a new family of coworkers in BCMB.
“She has a love for working with people and helping people,” said BCMB Business Manager LaShel Stevens. “She has a very caring heart.”
Hodge said while her work has been fulfilling, “in every place I’ve been, it’s the people who have kept me.”
“Loyalty is important,” Hodge said. “Getting into a spot that means something to you and staying is important.”
After 45 years as a UT employee, Hodge has a clear definition of what being a Volunteer means to her: “someone with a servant’s heart, someone who wants to see the people around them succeed, who wants to make sure that the folks that they work for and with—and even see around—are getting what they need.”
“It means going above and beyond whatever you’re expected to do, to do what needs to be done,” Hodge said.
She has told people that her plan for retirement is “to sit on a pillow and eat bonbons,” but she won’t laze around long. She and her husband, who retired from the UT treasurer’s office in 2005, plan to volunteer at an animal shelter, travel, and take in the sights of Knoxville.
Cheryl also hopes to return to acting in community theatre productions and hiking Mt. LeConte, if she regains the memory and energy that have been lagging since she had COVID.
While she won’t be working on campus this fall, one tradition will continue. She and Roy plan to be selling candy apples this September at the Tennessee Valley Fair, where they first met.
Jianbin Wang Team Publishes on Chromosome Dynamics in Nematodes
by Randall Brown
Assistant Professor Jianbin Wang and his lab team in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology focus their studies on the mechanism and function of programmed DNA elimination (PDE).
PDE is a process that violates the paradigm of genome integrity, selectively removing genetic material from the genome. However, hundreds of thousands of diverse species undergo PDE, suggesting that it must have evolutionary benefits.
Wang and colleagues published their most recent findings about PDE in Current Biology this May in an article titled “Chromosome fusion and programmed DNA elimination shape karyotypes of nematodes.” Their findings provide a biological explanation of the different numbers and sizes of chromosomes in various nematodes (roundworms), many of which are parasites of humans and other veterinary animals—enhancing our understanding of genome changes and the potential functions of PDE in these important parasites.
“Maintenance of genomes is essential for the survival and propagation of species,” said Wang. “We found that PDE is an ancient mechanism of genome dynamics—possibly one that was harnessed to sculpt genomes during evolution. PDE may also have been adapted as a way to regulate the expression of genes during reproduction, as many genes and regulatory elements are deleted, permanently silencing them in the somatic cells.”
In the new research, the team looked specifically at nematode karyotypes (a full set of chromosomes) by assembling the full genomes using high throughput sequencing methods and comparing many genomes from diverse nematodes through bioinformatic analysis.
“Chromosome fusion will lead to fewer germline chromosomes,” said Ryan Simmons, a post-doctoral researcher and lead author of the paper for the Wang Lab. “This could benefit the organisms since having fewer numbers of chromosomes may reduce errors generated during meiosis.”
An error such as mis-segregation of the chromosomes can lead to aneuploidy (abnormal number of chromosomes) and other abnormalities, so chromosome fusion can reduce the number of gametes that are not usable. This provides benefits for the overall survival and reproduction of the organism.
In contrast, a benefit of PDE could be to split fused chromosomes in the germline—cells that carry genetic information from one generation to the next—to many smaller chromosomes in the somatic cells.
“Even though these fused chromosomes may be beneficial to meiosis, they may cause problems in gene expression and regulation in the somatic cells and thus need to be removed,” said Simmons. “Thus, nematodes with PDE and chromosome fusions seem to have taken advantage of both the fused germline chromosomes and split somatic chromosomes.”
To learn more about the function of PDE, the Wang Lab looks to create mutant nematodes that do not experience the process.
“Although a nematode that fails to fully stop PDE is yet to be established in the lab, we are working on a free-living nematode model on which we have created several mutants that fail to eliminate some portions of the normally eliminated DNA,” said Wang. His team published about this work in 2022, also in Current Biology. “These mutant worms survived, and their phenotypes are currently being evaluated in the lab.”
Meanwhile, the recently published work by Wang’s team has already been highlighted in a commentary on genome organization by colleagues at the Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS, and University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Mother And Daughter Professors Forge A Big Orange Family Legacy
by Randall Brown
Not everyone starts forming career goals as a toddler, but not every toddler spends time visiting their mother’s parasitology lab.
“I would say, ‘I’m going to work in my mother’s lab—that will be my plan,’” said Rachel Patton McCord, now an associate professor in UT’s Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology.
It helped her strong early sense of direction that her mother is Professor Emeritus Sharon Patton, who was the first female faculty member in the UT College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM) and taught at UT for 38 years.
“I started as a professor at UT in 2016, the year after she retired, so it’s almost like handing off the baton,” said McCord. “I don’t know if there are any other mother/daughter professor pairs at UT. It’s not something I necessarily expected to be possible in my life.”
McCord earned her PhD in biophysics at Harvard University and did postdoctoral research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School before looking for a permanent faculty position. She hoped to find one not too far from her family in Knoxville but didn’t know she would become a “second-generation professor” at Rocky Top.
“Finding academic jobs is not trivial, and you very well may not have the opportunity to work at the same place as your parents,” she said. “But the job came available here to do exactly what I do. It was the opportunity to be back in the place where I grew up, going into my mother’s office and watching what she did as a professor.”
Patton joined UTCVM in 1977, during its inaugural year of classes (the college is currently celebrating the 50th anniversary of its official founding).
“The first time parasitology was taught, I was there to help teach it,” said Patton. “When the first students arrived, I arrived with them—the building was still being built.”
She arrived at UT from the University of Kentucky (UK) more prepared than the average new faculty hire—she had her own collection of example parasites, inherited from her recently retired faculty mentor at UK.
“I showed up with all these bottles of worms, which of course the vet school didn’t have at that time,” said Patton. “It helped that we had all these things through the years. I would say that by the time I retired, we had one of the best collections anywhere.”
She also brought a personalized teaching style to her classes, engaging students in a call-and-response style of participation to convey important principles, something she likens to “an old-time gospel meeting.” She also developed a special end-of-class message of encouragement over the years.
“I would tell them, ‘That’s all for today. Remember, I love you,’” said Patton. “When I first said that I didn’t really mean it—I was just saying it, you know? But as time goes by, you really do love them.”
Her teaching impacted many students over the years, including incoming UTCVM Dean Paul Plummer, who had classes with Patton and earned his DVM at UT in 2000. The impression she made on McCord was, of course, the deepest.
“I always saw how much she loved her students and could impact their lives,” said McCord. “I learned to teach by imitating my mother: when I’m talking in class, the tone of voice I use. I practiced until it became something I could do.”
McCord also absorbed knowledge growing up that helps her in her field, even though her specialty is DNA and human genome structure, not parasitology.
“We have a professor just two doors down the hall who is working on parasites, but more related to what I do,” said McCord. “I’m studying DNA structure, he’s studying DNA in parasites, and in collaborating with him I’m suddenly getting to work with things I heard about growing up—all these words are as familiar to me as some people might be with, ‘Oh, my mother’s cooking,’ or ‘my mother’s quilts.’ I’m like, ‘Oh toxoplasmosis, that sounds so familiar.’”
Patton is happy that she helped connect her daughter to the scientific world, and happy to have McCord continue their family’s teaching legacy at UT.
“It feels great,” said Patton. “She’s really a good, careful researcher, and a good teacher. Of course, I’m her mother, so I think she’s talented in all respects. But after she’d done her postdoc work and came to UT—it was overwhelming. It was just wonderful.”
In addition to sharing their family bond through UT academics, both mother and daughter proudly say their “blood runs orange.” McCord recalls hearing the Pride of the Southland Band practicing their Vol walk while working on a grant proposal in her first fall semester back on campus.
“You could hear ‘Rocky Top’ through the window, and without even thinking, I jumped up and ran outside,” she said. “It was amazing how it made me feel inspired to go write my grant better. Like, I will give my all for Tennessee today!”
BCMB is Now Accepting Applications for Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards
Each spring the BCMB department enjoys gathering for a reception that honors our undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff for their excellent work. Thanks to generous donations that have been made to the department, we have been able to offer scholarships and cash awards to our most outstanding majors, staff and faculty members.
Research Experience for Undergrads (REU)
We are now taking application for the BCMB Research Experience for Undergrads (REU) funded by NSF – through March 31, 2024.