From Dean Platz regarding Microbiology Chair:
Dear Colleagues:
I am delighted to announce that Tina Henkin has accepted the call of her colleagues to serve as the next Chair of the Department of Microbiology effective July 1, 2009. Tina is one of the most distinguished and accomplished scientists at The Ohio State University and I am confident that she will be a superb department chair and lead a strong department to even greater distinction. I would be remiss in not thanking John Reeve for an incredible 24 years of service as Chair of Microbiology. John deserves much credit for building an extremely strong program and leaves a fantastic legacy.
Additionally, Dr. Henkin was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in recognition of her research on riboswitch RNAs.
AAAS Election
Congratulations go to John Reeve for his Election as a Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.
Graduate associate teaching awards:
Two microbiology graduate teaching associates, Anice Sabag-Daigle and Jessica Spears, were awarded Graduate Associate Teaching Awards during spring 2009. The GATA award is Ohio State’s highest form of recognition for graduate teaching associates, and it recognizes GTAs who exhibit exceptional teaching. GATA winners receive a $1500 honorarium from the Graduate School. Pictures of Jess and Anice receiving their awards can be viewed by clicking this link.
Research
Highlights
Mike Ibba
Research in Dr. Ibba’s lab revealed the key role of two proteins in antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria. These findings illustrate how the bacterial cells adapt to new environmental conditions and lay a foundation for development of drug therapies that could target bacterial resistance at its cellular source. This work was published in PNAS http://www.pnas.org/content/105/12/4667 and highlighted on-line http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080225213430.htm
Hua Wang
The rapid emergence of antibiotic resistant (ART) bacteria is becoming a major public health threat. Dr. Wang and colleagues found that ART non-pathogenic and “beneficial” bacteria were highly prevalent in conventional food products, and the food chain has become a significant community-based avenue transmitting AR to humans. http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/health/food+may+be+spreading+superbugs/533442
Dr. Hua Wang was selected as a lecturer (2008-2010) by the American Society for Microbiology Branch Lectureship (ASMBL, formerly Waksman Foundation) program http://www.asm.org/Membership/index.asp?bid=16064
Juan Alfonzo
Dr. Alfonzo’s lab discovered the first example of nuclear tRNA editing, and showed that the enzyme involved in adenosine deamination is also involved in cytidine deamination - the first and only example of a multi-specific deaminase. This work was published in PNAS http://www.pnas.org/content/104/19/7821
Dr. Alfonzo’s lab also reported the first case of tRNA import into mammalian mitochondria, suggesting a universally conserved import pathway in mitochondria-containing eukaryotes. This work was published in PNAS http://www.pnas.org/content/105/27/9186 and highlighted in a number of popular science articles: http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?name=37794574, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080624110949.htm.
Dr. Alfonzo has been selected as the Chair for RNA editing Gordon Conference (2009)
Kurt Fredrick
Dr. Fredrick’s lab studies the mechanism and regulation of ribosome translocation, focusing on the role of elusive hybrid states in EF-G-dependent translocation. In their recent work, Walker et al. used rRNA substitutions predicted to inhibit either the P/P-to-P/E transition or the A/A-to-A/P transition to monitor movement of tRNA with respect to both ribosome subunits. This analysis allowed the authors to advance a kinetic model of translocation published in PNAS http://www.pnas.org/content/105/27/9192
To study how the ribosome maintains its reading frame, Dr. Fredrick’s constructed a strain of E. coli in which the ribosomes have a mutated 30S E site. This mutation suppresses both +1 and -1 frameshifts in vivo yet fails to suppress nonsense and missense mutations, suggesting that it does not generally influence aminoacyl-tRNA selection or release factor function. This work is currently in press at RNA.
Irina Artsimovitch
Dr. Artsimovitch’s lab reported a new mechanism by which a virulence regulator RfaH activates expression of its target genes. RfaH binds to bacterial RNA polymerase and “insulates” the enzyme from proteins that cause it to stall prematurely, thereby enabling complete synthesis of long poly-cistronic RNAs operons. This work was published in PNAS http://www.pnas.org/content/105/3/865
Recently, Dr. Artsimovitch’s lab studied myxopyronin, a promising natural product that inhibits transcription in a broad range of bacteria. This study revealed the binding site and the inhibitory mechanism of the antibiotic, and suggested that transcription initiation proceeds through a common intermediate in bacteria and humans alike. This work was published in Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature07510.html and highlighted by OSU press http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/switch2.htm
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