BCMP SCIENCE NEWS:
1) DR. GEORGE DALEY will be presented with the American
Philosophical Society's 2006 Judson Daland Prize in a ceremony in San
Francisco on Nov. 10. Dr. Daley's work focuses on disease processes
and the improvement of therapeutics using stem cell biology.
Specifically, he investigates hematopoietic tissue, germ cell
specification and genomic imprint maintenance, and the mechanisms that
lead to therapy-resistant leukemia. The Daland Prize recognizes
outstanding achievement in patient-oriented clinical research and
includes a $20,000 award.
NOTICES
2) We still have copies of the BCMP Group Photo from this summer
available for $12 apiece. See Eric Galloway in C-213b if you would
like to buy one.
3) This year’s BCMP retreat will occur November 5-7 at the
Mountain View Grand Hotel in New Hampshire. If you have not yet
registered and would like to do so, contact Judy Spognardi (judy_spognardi@hms.harvard.edu).
WELCOME:
4) XIANMING DENG (Gray lab) did his undergrad study at Xiamen
University, China, receiving a B.S in Chemistry. He received a Ph.D.
in Organic Chemistry, at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Chinese Academy of Sciences. There he did synthetic methodology
studies for highly stereoselective synthesis of three member rings
(cyclopropanes, aziridines, epoxides) via ylide route. He is currently
pursuing his first postdoc in the lab of Dr. Nathanael S. Gray, in
which he focuses on the design and synthesis Tyrosine kinase inhibitor.
5) JULI UNTERNAEHRER (Daley lab) obtained her BS in Physical
Therapy from Loma Linda University (CA) and worked in the clinic for 10
years before returning to graduate school at Yale. She completed her
Ph.D. in Cell Biology in Ira Mellman’s lab in 2004, working on the role
and characteristics of surface MHC II in dendritic cells and the
interactions between antigen presenting cells and CD4+ T cells in the
initiation of an immune process. She started her postdoc in the
laboratory of George Daley at Children’s Hospital in July, and plans to
study the cell biology of early embryo development and the role of
E-cadherin in compaction and early cell fate choices.
6) FRAUKE GREIL (Ahmad lab) did her undergrad at the University of
Potsdam, Germany and the University of Sydney, Australia. She received
her M.S. from the University of Potsdam and the Max Planck Institute
for Plant Physiology, Germany, where she cloned and studied novel
calcium transporters in root nodules of the model legume Lotus
japonicus in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Udvardi. She subsequently
joined the University of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Cancer Institute
for her PhD studies on the genome wide mapping and functional
characterization of chromatin proteins in Drosophila melanogaster under
the supervision of Dr. Bas van Steensel. She has just started her
first postdoc in the lab of Dr. Kami Ahmad, where she will study
histone deposition and function.
7) JAY A. READ (Walsh lab) did his undergrad at the former
Okanagan University College (now University of British Columbia -
Okanagan). He was awarded a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the
University of British Columbia under the supervision of Prof. Martin E.
Tanner. He studied the mechanism of ADP-L-glycero-D-manno-heptose
6-epimerase, an enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of
lipopolysaccharide in Gram-negative bacteria.
8) CHANDRASEKHAR V. MIDUTURU (Gray Lab) obtained his undergraduate and masters
degrees in Chemistry from the University of Madras, India and the
Indian Institute of Technology, India respectively. He received his
Ph.D. in Chemistry under the direction of Prof. Scott K. Silverman at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he performed
research on using double-standed DNA constraints that control
macromolecular conformation. He joined the Gray lab at DFCI/HMS in
August 2006.
9) SABINE SCHMITT (Daley lab)
10) JOSEPH MELLOR (Roth lab)
11) COURTNEY HAVENS (Walter lab) did her undergraduate work at
University of Maryland, College Park, receiving a BS in Cell Molecular
Biology and Genetics. Before graduate school she studied the cellular
effects microtubule inhibitors in Leishmania at Walter Reed Army
Institute of Research with Dr. Karl Werbovetz. She received a Ph.D. in
Biomedical Sciences, at University of California, San Diego where she
studied cell cycle regulation of late G1 phase by reactive oxygen
species and the anaphase-promoting complex with Dr. Steven F. Dowdy.
She is currently pursuing her first postdoc in the lab of Dr. Johannes
Walter where she is studying the mechanism of PCNA-dependent Cdt1
destruction in S phase.
12) MATTHEW CALL (Chou lab) did his undergraduate work at Trinity
University in San Antonio, TX, where he received a B.S. in Biological
Sciences. Matt recently completed his Ph.D. work in Immunology here at
Harvard Medical School (DMS), where he worked in the laboratory of Kai
W. Wucherpfennig in the Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS at the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His thesis work focused on the molecular
mechanisms of immune receptor assembly through intramembrane
protein-protein interactions. Matt recently joined the Chou lab for
his first post-doc where he will apply solution NMR techniques to study
the structure and function of membrane-embedded cellular receptors.
13) ADAM CASTORENO (Eggert lab) did his undergrad at New Mexico State
University, receiving a B.S. in Biology. He did his Ph.D. in
Biochemistry in the laboratory of Axel Nohturfft in the MCB Department
at Harvard University. There, he studied the regulation of membrane
biogenesis. He is currently a postdoc in the lab of Dr. Ulrike Eggert,
developing an image-based screen to identify small molecules that
target the Rho pathway.
14) YONGMUN CHOI (Gray)