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JANUARY 2007
Notes from the Chairman’s Desk
Everyone is invited to learn about “Recent Advances in the War Against Viruses” at the Annual Hopkins Biology Symposium to be held on Wednesday, January 17th, in Mudd Auditorium. We are honored to have Joseph Vacca, Executive Director, Medicinal Chemistry, Merck Research Laboratories as our Keynote Speaker. Other invited speakers include Robert Siliciano, Paula Pitha-Rowe, tentatively-Richard Cone, Diane Griffin, Janice Clements, Ru Chih Huang, and Ernesto Freire. The Symposium will begin with coffee at 8:30am and the talks starting at 9 am. All faculty are invited to have lunch with the speakers.
DECEMBER 2006
Notes from the Chairman’s Desk
Hope everyone can make it to the Biology Holiday Party on Monday, Dec. 18 at 4 pm. We will have some special live music by a newly formed trio and great food and drinks, as well as the traditional dessert contest. Drs. Bessman and Schroer will be the celebrity bartenders. Wear your dancing shoes! Note the Special Seminar by Apostolos Georgopoulos on ‘Deciphering the linkages of brain function to cognition and behavior’. It will be held at 3 pm, Dec. 14th, in Mudd Auditorium.
Faculty Congratulations
Michael Edidin has been elected an AAAS Fellow. He will be honored for his “innovative studies leading to understanding of the mobility of membrane proteins, especially those important for the immune response” on February 17th, 2007.
Trina Schroer is highlighted in the KSAS Magazine Online, Fall/Winter 2006 edition, ‘Those who can teach, teach – A Conversation with Trina Schroer, Biology Professor’. To see the article, follow this link: http://krieger.jhu.edu/magazine/fw06/t2.html
Announcements
Correction – Beverly Wendland was also part of the panel on October 26. On October 26 the Department of Biology and Beta Beta Beta, the Undergraduate Biology Honor Society, presented a panel discussion: “Applying to Graduate School in the Biological Sciences.”
The ASCB Education Committee has selected former Fambrough Lab student, A. Malcolm Campbell of Davidson College to receive a ASCB Bruce Alberts Award. For additional information follow this link: http://www.ascb.org/files/0608newsletter.pdf.
NOVEMBER 2006
Notes from the Chairman’s Desk
Congratulations to Andy Fire on receiving the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. Andy shared the prize with Craig Mello, University of Massachusetts, for the discovery of RNA interference. While Andy is now at Stanford, he carried out his prize-winning work while at the Carnegie Institute and with the help of Biology/CMDB graduate students. Andy is still an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Hopkins and is currently mentoring 2 1/2 CMDB students.Andy Fire, Adjunct Professor of Biology who currently has several CMDB graduate students, has won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of RNAi.
Faculty Congratulations
Samer Hattar, Assistant Professor since 2004, has been awarded the David and Lucille Packard Award for his grant titled “Regulation of sleep and cognitive functions by circadian photoentrainment”. Noted in the September Biolog, Haiqing Zhao, was given an Award by the Whitehall Foundation in August 2006. Haiqing, who joined the department in 2002 as an Assistant Professor, received his award for his grant titled “Olfactory adaptation through regulation of CNG ion channels”.
Announcements
On October 26 the Department of Biology and Beta Beta Beta, the Undergraduate Biology Honor Society, presented a panel discussion: “Applying to Graduate School in the Biological Sciences.” The discussion was led by panelists Ashley Bushey, Joel Schildbach, Trina Schroer and Mark Van Doren and included ‘essays and the interview’ - suggestions what to do, GREs, GPAs, what to expect, and how to make an impression.
OCTOBER 2006
Notes from the Chairman’s Desk
I'd like to thank all the faculty members who attended the 1st Biology Undergraduate/Faculty Barbeque on the patio on September 21. Over 150 students attended, enjoyed the great weather and got a new view of Mudd Hall and the faculty. Thanks to Sandy Isteero who organized the event. Thanks also to Barbara Birsit who organized a party on September 13th to thank Allen Shearn for all his efforts as Biology Chair.
On Friday October 13th, we have a special seminar at noon by Brent Graveley, Associate Professor at University of Connecticut, on “Alternative Splicing in Drosophila and miRNA-Mediated Gene Regulation in Planarians”. Brent is a candidate for a new faculty position in Biology.
Faculty Congratulations
Joe Gall, Carnegie Institution staff scientist and Adjunct Professor of Biology has won the 2006 Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science. The citation recognizes that Gall is “a founder of modern cell biology who has made seminal contributions to the field of chromosome structure and function, who invented in situ hybridization, and who has been a long-standing champion of women in science.” http://www.hq.ciw.edu/news_releases/news_2006_0917.html
SEPTEMBER 2006
Notes from the Chairman’s Desk
I’d like to welcome all the incoming graduate students. To everyone - please come and meet them at the barbeque on September 5th.
Beverly Wendland and Mark Van Doren will be the new co-directors of the Graduate Program. Samer Hattar will be the first advisor for Postdoctoral Fellows in Biology.
We are starting the academic year with our first Colloquium, Sept. 6th at 4:30 pm. Michael Edidin will speak on, “The joys of aggregation - ‘Does the immune response understand biophysics?’” and will be followed by refreshments and informal discussions with lab members. Note the new format of the Colloquia (below).
A Special Seminar has been scheduled for Sept. 7th, 4 pm with Melissa Moore, who is a candidate for a senior faculty position in Biology. Melissa is a renowned biochemist who studies RNA splicing and metabolism and has recently ventured into mRNA regulation in neurons. The seminar will be held in Mudd Auditorium. Her seminar is entitled, “An RNA play in two acts: (1) A novel function for the exon junction complex at neuronal synapses and (2) degradation of non-functional ribosomal RNAs in budding yeast”. The seminar will be followed by a Happy Hour. Melissa will also meet for lunch with graduate students and postdocs (Thursday) in the Student and Postdoc Lounge. We have started official mentoring for junior faculty members. The charter Mentors are Drs. Beemon, Corces, Edidin, Hedgecock, and Wendland. In addition, the junior faculty have started their own mentoring group, which meets monthly.
Please note changes to the Colloquia Series: 1- The colloquium will start exactly at 4:30pm, with 5-10 minutes of introductory remarks about the speaker and 50-55 minutes for the talk. The questions period will be open and no limit on the questions will be imposed. 2- A happy hour will be held for the department after the colloquium. Drinks and food will be provided as before but now reserved till after the colloquium is over. Members of the presenter’s lab (including postdocs, graduates, undergraduates, technicians etc.) will be encouraged to bring posters, computers, or any other visual or auditory aids to continue the discussion of what was presented in the colloquium.
Faculty Congratulations
Michael McCaffery, Director of the Integrated Imaging Center, has been promoted to Associate Research Professor. The 8/7 Gazette had an article about the IIC and its move to new, improved quarters in Dunning Hall.
Haiqing Zhao has been given an Award by the Whitehall Foundation.
IIC News
Carl Zeiss MicroImaging, Inc. sponsored an open house for the newly renovated Integrated Imaging Center (IIC) located at Dunning Hall, 1st floor on August 11. See Press Releases - http://www.zeiss.de/us/micro/home.nsf and http://www.jhu.edu/news/home06/aug06/newcell.html
JULY 2006
Mark Teaford, a Professor in the Center for Functional Anatomy & Evolution at the School of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology received The Professors' Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Med School Commencement last month.
JHEM Mail System Migration Last week, email system migration took place. The new mail client setup instructions are at: http://it.jhmi.edu/email/jhem/jhemmigration/clientsetup.html
If you have not done so, please, update incoming and outgoing mail server names in your mail client program, using recommended names specified on the mail client setup instructions
web page. Recommended address for Web client access is now: https://jhem.johnshopkins.edu.
In case of any migration-related problems, please contact:
Andrew Nechkin at (410) 206-9223.
MAY 2006
Our S.U.R.E. (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) Program commences May 29th through August 3rd. We have 5 students participating this summer. Please take time to welcome them and introduce yourself
Gamze Camdere - Bilkent University in Turkey - Wendland Lab
Pelin Uluocak - Bilkent University in Turkey - Koshland Lab
Lauren Pederson-Buck - Oakwood College (Alabama) - Brand Lab
Jaysson Brooks - Oakwood College (Alabama) - Hattar Lab
Arturo Guzman - University of Arizona - Van Doren Lab
- Professor Victor Corces has been awarded an HHMI Professorship. This award will be used to encourage Baltimore high school students to consider careers in scientific research.
- Professor Trina Schroer has been awarded a teaching award from the Krieger School.
APRIL 2006
- The Academic Council has approved Mark Van Doren’s promotion to Associate Professor with tenure. Mark is the first faculty member in this department to be promoted under the new tenure regulations.
- Professor Roseman was recently honored by the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Two of his papers were chosen as classics in biochemistry.
MARCH 2006
- Our two newest faculty members are to be congratulated for receiving prestigious awards. Rejji Kuruvilla received a three-year grant from the Whitehall Foundation. Samer Hattar received a two-year Alfred P. Sloan fellowship.Trina Schroer is to be congratulated for being a finalist for a University Teaching award.
- Michael McCaffery is to be congratulated as the PI of a shared instrumentation grant application that was recently approved by NIH. This will allow the Integrated Imaging Center to purchase a 3I/Zeiss-Stallion dedicated live cell imaging work-station.
FEBRUARY 2006
- Those of you who attended the third annual Homewood Biology Symposium know what an exciting event Professor Moudrianakis organized. Thanks Van. I am sorry that the rest of you missed it.
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