News

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 … Read more

The McCord lab recently published a SnapShot about chromosome organization in the prestigious journal Molecular Cell. BCMB graduate student Heng Li and postdoctoral researcher Rebeca San Martin are coauthors.

From the outside,  it seems that plants are not moving around, but on the inside of their cells is a remarkable level of activity. For example, the nucleus of root hair cells, finger-like projections of the root epidermis, moves towards the tip as the cell grows. It has long been assumed that this movement is … Read more

Hannah Lee, a BCMB major conducting research in the Krishnan lab, was one of two students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, awarded a 2022 Goldwater Scholarship.  Hannah is studying how the brain adapts to Rett Syndrome.  She is also collaborating with Cary Staples, a professor in graphic design, to develop new ways to visualize … Read more

At the recent annual meeting in Philadelphia of ASBMB (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Fran Barrera co-organized with Matthias Buck (Case Western Reserve University) for the second year in a row a session consisting of a Protein Interest Group, on the topic of Membrane proteins. Interest groups bring together a diverse audience. The … Read more

Tian Hong’s research group recently published an article, Nonmodular oscillator and switch based on RNA decay drive regeneration of multimodal gene expression, in Nucleic Acids Research. Using mathematical models, the team found that common reaction networks of RNAs can generate sustained oscillation without explicit feedback loops. The network structure is directly applicable to nearly half … Read more

Logan Dunn, a graduate student in the Krishnan Lab, was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship based on his data related to MECP2 expression. This fellowship will support his research for the next several years.

Dan Roberts was awarded the Disability Champion Award by Student Disabilities Services (SDS) for his commitment to creating an inclusive culture as director of the BCMB summer REU program for deaf/hard-of-hearing undergraduates. SDS established this student-nominated annual award for faculty and staff who work to create and practice a culture of inclusivity.  The award was … Read more

The lab of Rachel McCord has published Loops, topologically associating domains, compartments, and territories are elastic and robust to dramatic nuclear volume swelling in Scientific Reports focused on what happens to chromosome contacts during low salt nucleus swelling. This project involved many students including former BCMB graduate students Jacob Sanders and Rosela Golloshi.

This week, the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization announced the 65 young researchers that were chosen for a long-term postdoctoral fellowship. One of them is Pushan Bag, PhD student in Stefan Jansson’s group at Umeå Plant Science Centre, Umeå University. He plans to use the grant to join Professor Barry Bruce’s group at the … Read more

The lab of Dr. Fran Barrera in a collaboration led by the Best lab in the chemistry department has published ATP-Responsive Liposomes via Screening of Lipid Switches Designed to Undergo Conformational Changes upon Binding Phosphorylated Metabolites in the prestigious journal, Journal of the American Chemical Society. Experiments conducted by GST graduate student, Jennifer Schuster in … Read more

The laboratory of Dr. Mariano Labrador recently published A Drosophila insulator interacting protein suppresses enhancer-blocking function and modulates replication timing in the journal Gene.  This article provides links between specific insulator protein complexes and cell cycle progression and involved the research of several former BCMB graduate students- Emily Stow, Ryan Simmons (now a postdoc with … Read more

On February 19th Francisco Barrera chaired the Membrane Structure and Function subgroup at the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society held in San Francisco. This is one of the largest subgroups of the Biophysical Society, with 650 members from all over the world. The picture shows the ceremony where Dr. Barrera presented the Thomas E. … Read more

The Wang lab has published an article, Small RNA pathways in the nematode Ascaris in the absence of piRNAs, in the journal Nature Communications. It describes the diversity and plasticity of small RNA pathways in the parasitic nematode Ascaris. Specifically, the paper describes the dynamics of Ascaris Argonautes and their small RNAs throughout spermatogenesis in … Read more

The Roberts lab has published an article, Aquaporin family lactic acid channel NIP2;1 promotes plant survival under low oxygen stress in Arabidopsis, in a focus issue on transport and signaling in the journal Plant Physiology. It describes the essential function of a lactic acid channel, NIP2;1, for the survival of Arabidopsis to low oxygen stress … Read more

The lab of Barry Bruce published a paper, Cryo-EM structure of a tetrameric photosystem I from Chroococcidiopsis, a thermophilic, unicellular, non-heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium, in the journal Plant Communications. Results from this study provide insights into the evolution of PSI as well as how the tetrameric complex forms and functions. This was a multi-lab and multinational effort … Read more

The Lamichhane lab published Slow conformational dynamics of the human A2A adenosine receptor are temporally ordered in the journal Structure. Using single-molecule fluorescence they observed the dynamic properties of the A2A adenosine receptor and uncovered a transition state conformation. The first author is BCMB graduate student Shushu Wei.    

A postdoctoral position is available starting January 1, 2022 to study the regulation of free-living nitrogen fixation with bacterial chemotaxis signaling in the soil bacterium Azospirillum brasilense.  The research will be conducted in the Alexandre lab that is located in the new Ken and Blaire Mossman Building on the campus of the University of Tennessee, … Read more

The Fall 2021 BCMB newsletter is published and can be viewed as HTML or pdf.

Professor Barry Bruce has been invited to give the keynote address at the 47th Annual Midwest/Southeast Photosynthesis Meeting to be held online 22-24 October. He will talk about his labs research on the structure and evolution of photosystem I.  The program and more information about the meeting can be found online.    

Some time in the next week or two UT will see the blooming of an Amorphophalus titanum, commonly known as the corpse flower. This flower, native to Sumatra, produces the largest unbranched inflorescence of any plant species and attracts pollinators by releasing an odor similar to a rotting corpse. While blooming it also raises its … Read more

It is with sadness that we announce Tessa Burch-Smith has taken a new job at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis. A going away potluck was held for her. She starts her new job in August. We will miss her and wish her all the best at her new home.  

Emeritus BCMB Professor, Dr. Ranjan Ganguly, pledges the Ranjan and Nivedita Ganguly BCMB Scholarship Fund to benefit BCMB graduate students. The new scholarship will recognize graduate students pursuing an interest in molecular and genetic research, while showing excellence in academic endeavors, productive research scholarship, and outstanding professional promise.

Keerthi Krishnan just published two papers. One, where she is corresponding author, is entitled Systematic analysis of goal-related movement sequences during maternal behaviour in a female mouse model for Rett syndrome and was published in the European Journal of Neuroscience. Parker Stevenson, an undergrad in the lab, is first author and Billy Lau, postdoc, is … Read more

Dr. Rajan Lamichhane was awarded a MIRA (Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award) from NIH entitled Conformational Dynamics of G Protein-Coupled Receptors at the Single-Molecule Level. These grants provide investigators with flexibility to follow up on interesting results to make important breakthroughs. In this project he will be mapping the energy landscapes of G protein coupled receptors. … Read more

Amit Joshi, a new assistant professor in BCMB, just published an article in the journal Molecular Biology of the Cell. This article, Multiple C2 domain–containing transmembrane proteins promote lipid droplet biogenesis and growth at specialized endoplasmic reticulum subdomains , was featured on the cover of the journal.

Members of Tian Hong’s research group at BCMB and their collaborators from Jun-An Chen’s lab at Academia Sinica, Taipei uncovered a new feedback mechanism that drives robust cell differentiation. This feedback mechanism is hidden in elementary reaction networks of RNA molecules, and likely widespread in biology. The team found that this feedback mechanism underlies cell … Read more

Several BCMB undergraduates won Division of Natural Sciences College of Arts & Sciences Awards of Excellence at the 2021 Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA). Congratulations to Justin Brueggeman (Nefenführ lab), Midnight Carrol (Roberts lab), Hanna Lee (Krishnan lab), Morgan Strong (Burch-Smith lab), Abdullah Salim, Lindsey Tucker, and John Torreverde (von Arnim lab).

Albrecht von Arnim was recognized at the 2021 Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA) with a Faculty Research Mentor Award. Congratulations!      

A recent Trends in Biotechnology article, Putting Photosystem I to Work: Truly Green Energy, by Alexandra Teodor (GST graduate student) and Barry Bruce  was selected for a special issue- Trends Collection on Light– from Cell Press. This collection of articles explores light in both basic research and applications in bioengineering.  

Dr. Ansul Lokdarshi, postdoc in the von Arnim and Burch-Smith labs (and former grad student in the Roberts lab), will be leaving August 1 to start his new job as Assistant Professor of Plant Biology in the Department of Biology at Valdosta State U. in Georgia. Congratulations Ansul!  

Dr. Fran Barrera was awarded a MIRA (Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award) from NIH. These grants provide investigators with flexibility to follow up on interesting results to make important breakthroughs.    

Bijoyita Roy, an alumna of BCMB who did her doctorate research in the von Arnim lab, was recently featured in an on-line interview about COVID-19 vaccine development. After graduating in 2010, Dr. Roy did a postdoc at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and then worked for several biotech companies. She is currently a senior … Read more

In a study conducted at Stanford University, three current BCMB faculty (Barry Bruce, Jeremy Smith, Albrecht von Arnim) were found to be in the top 2% of scientists in the world based on their research citations. More about this can be found at UT News.

Each year, Dean Theresa Lee and members of her cabinet, with help from department heads, recognize faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences for their excellence in teaching, research and creative activity, and lifetime achievements.  Due to the ongoing pandemic, however, we were unable to host the annual awards banquet in-person. Each faculty member … Read more

Jacob Sanders, a student in the McCord Lab, is one of the authors on a new paper published at Nature Communications on the effects of X-ray irradiation on 3D chromosome folding. The project began as a collaboration with ORISE scientist Adayabalam Balajee. Researchers found that when X-rays damage the DNA inside human cells, chromosome folding changes … Read more

Priyojit Das, in collaboration with Tongye Shen and Rachel Patton McCord, published “Inferring chromosome radial organization from Hi‑C data” in BMC Bioinformatics. Researchers describe new ways to computationally predict the positions of chromosomes inside the human nucleus using genome wide chromosome contact data (Hi-C).  The 3D positions of chromosomes can change in important ways during … Read more

Nate Brady, a graduate student in Barry Bruce’s lab, was featured in an interview at Teknovation.biz about the company he started in March 2020 called LEAPh Biosystems LLC. The acronym stands for Light Energy Applied Photosynthetic and the initial focus of the company will be on developing reliable and sustainable biophotovolatic devices. For more about … Read more

Brandon Reagan from the Burch-Smith lab will present an MPMI (Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions) virtual seminar Viruses Reveal the Secrets of Plasmodesmal Cell Biology on 4 August 2020. His presentation will focus on a recent review he and Dr. Burch-Smith co-authored for a Focus Issue on the Cell Biology of Plant-Virus Interactions. Congratulations! More information about … Read more

What do Chancellor Donde Plowman, plastic soda bottles, and COVID-19 have in common? They each play a part in the elaborate pooled saliva testing underway for the fall semester to help keep UT students, faculty, and staff safe during the pandemic. UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Microbiology and Civil and Environmental Engineering Frank … Read more

It takes a tremendous amount of computing power to simulate all the components and behaviors of viruses and cells. Thomas Splettstoesser scistyle.com, CC BY-ND Jeremy Smith, University of Tennessee In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams, the haughty supercomputer Deep Thought is asked whether he can find the answer to the ultimate … Read more

The Krishnan lab published their first paper this week with data completely collected at UT Knoxville. The effort was led by Dr. Billy Lau, an experienced postdoctoral scientist, and included significant contributions from Ms. Dana Layo, a BCMB graduate student and nine other undergraduate students. Many of these students were supported by research assistantships through … Read more

The Burch-Smith lab had a busy week last week, with two papers published. One was led by former postdoc Elena Ganusova and current graduate student Brandon Reagan, and included important contributions from other graduate students and undergraduate researchers in the lab. Dr. Burch-Smith and her graduate student Jessica Fernandez also published in a collaboration with … Read more

Ola Noras, a graduate student in the von Arnim lab, was awarded a Fullbright Study/Research Award. Ola just defended her Master’s research and this award will allow her to go to Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland to work with Dr. Artur Jarmolowski on heat and drought resistant barley.

The von Arnim lab recently published two papers with Ansul Lokdarshi, a postdoc in the lab, as either co-first or first author. The first, ErbB-3 BINDING PROTEIN 1 Regulates Translation and Counteracts RETINOBLASTOMA RELATED to Maintain the Root Meristem, was published in the journal Plant Physiology and examines the role of translation in the maintenance … Read more

The Membrane Structure & Function (MSAF) is one of the largest subgroups of the Biophysical Society, with 800 members. MSAF meets during the yearly meeting of the society. Fran Barrera, associate professor of BCMB, has been voted by the members Chair-Elect of the subgroup. The decision was announced during the 2020 meeting of the Biophysical … Read more

More than 1 million people in the U.S. are addicted to cocaine. Orawan Pattarawimonchai/Shutterstock.com Rachel Patton McCord, University of Tennessee and Rebecca A. Prosser, University of Tennessee Have you ever slipped when trying to avoid sugar, quit smoking, or break another habit or addiction? Usually that one piece of cake or one cigarette won’t ruin … Read more

Barry Bruce will be hosting Sree Kavya Penneru as a Khorana Scholar this summer. This program has the goal of fostering exchange between students in India and premier institutions in the United States. It was named in honor of Nobel Prize laureate Har Gobind Khorana who founded this program.

Maitreyi Das, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB), received a $1,273,335 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award for research into spatiotemporal organization of cytokinetic events. Cytokinesis is the final step in cell division, a complex process where a mother cell splits into two … Read more

The 2019 College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Awards banquet took place Thursday, December 5 at the Holiday Inn Downtown. From Diversity Leadership to awards in research, advising, and teaching, the annual awards banquet honors faculty excellence in all areas of the college mission. “As we recognize particularly outstanding faculty this evening, I want to … Read more

The Das lab published a research article in the Journal of Cell Science titled “A novel interplay between GEFs orchestrates Cdc42 activity during cell polarity and cytokinesis in fission yeast”. The article is authored by Brian Hercyk, Julie Rich-Robinson, Ahmad Mitoubsi, Marcus Harrell and Maitreyi Das. The link to the article is here.

Brian Hercyk, a BCMB graduate student, was featured in Journal of Cell Science. The link to the feature article is here. He published a first author research article in the same journal. Brian is a member of the Das lab and he recently defended his thesis. Congratulations Brian!

The Biophysical Society meeting will be held in February 2020 with about 6000 participants expected to attend. Congratulations Gabriel!

BCMB’s Tessa Burch-Smith was featured in a campus news article about NSF Early-Career Award winners. Follow this link to read the article.

The Department of Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville seeks to fill a tenure-track faculty position in the area of Cell Biology at the assistant professor level to begin August 1, 2020. Candidates should be working on fundamental questions of modern cell biology in genetically tractable, established or … Read more

Gladys Alexandre, professor and head of the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular & Molecular Biology (BCMB), received the American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM) William A. Hinton Award for Advancement of a Diverse Community of Microbiologists in September 2019. The award recognizes the outstanding contributions of professors encouraging and training minorities and increasing diversity in microbiology. … Read more

The publication of the Biophysical Society, Biophysical Journal, has selected for a New and Notable commentary the latest paper of the Barrera laboratory: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000634951930623X?via%3Dihub The first authors of the publication were Justin Westerfield and former graduate student Haden Scott. Graduate student Yujie Ye and undergraduate Alayna Cameron were also authors. Last week a second paper … Read more

Udo Onwubiko, a graduate student in the Das lab, won a poster award at the 2019 International Pombe meeting at Barcelona, Spain. The title of the poster was ” Cdc42 GEF, Gef1 regulates Rho1 activation during cytokinesis”.  The award was presented by nobel laureate Paul Nurse. Udo’s research focuses on understanding how different steps during … Read more

Associate Professor in BCMB Fran Barrera has been awarded the Science Alliance Support for Affiliated Research Teams (StART) program grant. The Science Alliance received a total of 17 proposals, and  4 of the proposals were selected for funding. The Barrera lab will be collaborating with Patrick Collier (ORNL), in the project titled “Stimuli-responsive neuromorphic computing”. … Read more

Two professors in BCMB, Brad Binder and Gladys Alexandre, just heard that they were awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation and United States Department of Agriculture to study bacterial ethylene receptors and the effects of ethylene on bacteria. Ethylene is well known as a plant hormone, but it is now clear that many … Read more

Two graduate students in Tessa Burch-Smith’s lab were awarded federal money to carry out their research. Amie Sankoh was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science foundation to study the formation of plasmodesmata.  Jessica Fernandez was given a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in … Read more

Nathan Brady, a BCMB graduate student in the Bruce Lab, won an Outstanding  Speaker award at the 4th SMALP Conference that was held in Utrecht, The Netherlands. This meeting focuses on membrane biochemistry and biophysics as well as developments in polymer chemistry and applications to membrane biology. Nate’s talk focused on his research examining and … Read more

Deepika Nambiar, graduate student in the Howell Lab,  won the audience choice award at the ASBMB Science in a Flash Communication contest held at the ASBMB 2019 meeting in Orlando. The contest had 60 applicants from all over the world with Deepika one of the top 10 chosen for the talk. She was awarded the audience … Read more

Ojee Sharma, an undergraduate in the Howell lab, presented a research talk The Effects of Osmolytes on Ligands Binding to Dihydropteroate Synthase at today’s UT Undergraduate Research Symposium.      

The BCMB department Graduate Student Organization is hosting an evening with NPR Science Correspondant Joe Palca. This will take place 22 April 2019 (Earth Day) at 7 pm. It is free and open to the public. More information can be found at bcmbgso.weebly.com/joepalca. Click here to view a poster for the event.

Nathan Brady, BCMB grad student in the Bruce lab, has been invited to give a talk at the SMALP 2019 meeting in Utrecht, the Netherlands. This meeting focuses on membrane biochemistry and biophysics as well as developments in polymer chemistry and applications to membrane biology. Nate’s talk will focus on the integration of  trimeric photosystem I … Read more

The Das lab’s latest paper Cdc42 GEF, Gef1, through endocytosis organizes F-BAR Cdc15 along the actomyosin ring and promotes concentric furrowing in Journal of Cell Science is featured in a Research Highlight in that journal. The first author is Udo Onwubiko, a BCMB graduate student in the Das lab. The highlight, How Gef1 controls cytokinesis, summarizes their research … Read more

On February 19th, 2019 Assistant Professor Tessa Burch-Smith received an award from UT Teaching & Learning Innovation for Excellence in Inclusive Pedagogy. She was nominated for this award by graduate student Amie Sankoh.  Dr. Burch-Smith also served as a facilitator for a Diversi-Tea on Inclusive Teaching held that same day. More details about Diversi-Tea can … Read more

Several BCMB graduate students recently participated in an outreach activity by serving as judges at the 5th and 6th grade Science Fair at the Episcopal School of Knoxville (ESK) on February 14th, 2019. The judges were Cidney Allen (Binder lab),  Udo Onwubiko (Das lab), Michel Mykins (1st year), Gabriel Fuente (Howell lab), Scott Carlew (Binder lab), and Mohammad … Read more

Kyle Freeman, a BCMB senior and undergraduate researcher in the Burch-Smith lab, presented his work at Posters at the Capitol in Nashville. He was part of a group of 7 UT students who traveled to Nashville for the event. This provided students the opportunity to meet with state representatives and share their research. More about … Read more

On Friday February 22, the BCMB Graduate Student Organization hosted 75 Years of Oak Ridge which featured Ruth Huddleston, a Calutron girl, and Ray Smith, the official Oak Ridge historian. Ruth discussed her work on the Manhattan project. Ray helped to highlight the implications that the Manhattan Project and Y-12 had on the University of Tennessee … Read more

Our very own Tessa Burch-Smith was featured in the Valentine’s Day audiocast today. In this Tessa was interviewed by Andrea Schneibel from Media & Internal Relations at UT about chemicals in flowers and chocolates and how they can affect our brain. To listen to this click here.

The BCMB Graduate Student Organization (BCMB-GSO) is hosting an evening with the Oak Ridge Historian, Ray Smith, and one of the Calutron Girls associated with the war efforts of WWII, Ruth Huddelston. This will take place on Friday, 22 February at 6:30 pm in the New Student Union Autidorium (SU180) at 1502 Cumberland Avenue on the … Read more

It is with sadness that we announce that Dr. Bruce Anderson passed away. Dr. Anderson was one of the four founding faculty members of the UT-Knoxville Biochemistry Department when it launched in 1963. He was a faculty member from 1963-1970. After leaving UT, he became department head at Virginia Tech. He kept that position for … Read more

Dr. Ansul Lokdarshi, a postdoc in the von Arnim lab (and former grad student in the Roberts lab), was given a travel award by the American Society of Plant Biologists to attend the Plant Biology 2019 meeting in San Jose, California. Congratulations Ansul.

Barry Bruce is scheduled to speak at the UT Science Forum on Friday, 5th April at noon-1. His talk, Applied Photosynthesis: Putting Nature to Work, will present information about using components of photosynthesis to generate electricity and hydrogen for clean energy. A Q&A session will follow. This is open to the general public. This is part of … Read more

Lindsey O’Neal (Alexandre Lab) and Scott Carlew (Binder Lab) are representing our department at the  Bacterial Locomotion and Signal Transduction (BLAST) meeting being held in New Orleans this week. Both were invited to give talks at the meeting. Lindsey’s presentation is about her research on the integration of signals controlling chemotaxis of Azosprillum brasilense and … Read more

BCMB graduate students Kate Halter and Justin Westerfield are helping to connect academics with the local biotech industry in Knoxville. As liaisons for the Academic Alliance they organize monthly Beer & Biotech networking events where life science professionals of all sorts can come to meet people and learn about our local biotech environment. Last week they … Read more

Dr. Francisco Barrera has been invited to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2019 and ending December 31, 2024.    

The Bruce lab had a strong presence at the 28th Annual Western Photosynthesis Conference held last week in Friday Harbor, Washington. Truc Le won the best poster award (undergraduate category) for her poster Application of Exogenous Polyamines Attenuate the Effects of Abiotic Stress on Photosynthesis in the Aquatic Monocots,  Lemna minor 370 AND Spirodela polyrhiza 432. Jyotirmoy Mondal, a BCMB graduate … Read more

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville in partnership with CIEE is excited to bring you one step closer to education abroad with the opportunity to receive a FREE U.S. passport (a $145 value). Apply for the chance to receive a free passport and then begin exploring the many ways to use your new passport with a … Read more

Rebecca Shrem, a graduate student in the Jain lab, was selected to give a talk at the Southeastern Magnetic Resonance Conference (SEMRC 2018) to be held this weekend in Clemson, SC.  Her talk, NMR Characterization of the Ligand Dependent Dynamic Changes in Cytochrome P450s, was selected from many abstracts submitted. She also won a travel award from … Read more

After a hiatus of several years, a new transmission electron microscope (TEM) will return to the Advanced Microscopy and Imaging Center. The microscope will allow biologists across all departments on campus to get a high-resolution look at their favorite organism. As an added bonus, this look will not be limited to traditional two-dimensional images, but … Read more

The Tennessee Plant Research Center (TN-PRC) holds a monthly colloquium during the academic year. Scott Carlew (graduate student in the Binder lab) and Brandon Reagan (graduate student in the Burch-Smith Lab) presented their research for the first PRC colloquium of 2018-2019. Both were recipients of the Graduate Student Research Grant Award from the PRC last year. To … Read more