LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 20, 2022) — A team of University of Kentucky researchers led by College of Engineering Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya, PhD, and his PhD student, Rollie Mills, have developed a medical face mask membrane that can capture and deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on contact.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 1, 2022) — Findings from a new University of Kentucky College of Medicine study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry May 28 may lead to a new treatment against Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 23, 2022) — The Office of Undergraduate Research is honored to announce that 16 undergraduates have been selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Fellowship program.
The Department held its annual retreat on Friday May 13 in the Longship Room at UK’s Kroger Field (the football stadium). The day was kicked off with a presentation by Assistant Professor Houfu Guo on his work on the glycosylation of fibrillar collagen. This was followed by Dr. Chen-Yu Wu, a postdoc in Dr. Becky Dutch’s lab, discussing human metapneumovirus replication and Martha Sim, a graduate student in Dr. Jeremy Wood’s lab, talking about the dysregulation of coagulation in HIV and SARS-CoV-2 infections. After a coffee break Rebecca Norcross, graduate student in Dr.
Congratulations to graduate students Sumati Hasani and Jeffrey (Trace) Jolly for first and second place poster awards at the Markey Cancer Center Research Day!
First Place: Sumati Hasani – “Activation of Drp1 promotes fatty acids-induced metabolic reprogramming to potentiate Wnt signaling in colon cancer
Second Place: Jeffery Jolly – “Impact of post-translational modifications on the stability and function of the oncogenic phosphatase PRL-3
In addition, Sumati gave an oral presentation:
The Department had ten publications listed in PubMed for the months of March and April 2022.
1: Gentry MS, Markussen KH, Donohue KJ. Two Diseases-One Preclinical Treatment Targeting Glycogen Synthesis. Neurotherapeutics. 2022 Apr 22. doi: 10.1007/s13311-022-01240-9. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35460010.
Ramon Sun, PhD, is an assistant professor of neuroscience whose lab focuses on interpreting the molecular events connecting complex carbohydrate metabolism to cellular metabolism, signaling, and physiology.
While his primary appointment is in neuroscience, his work also encompasses molecular and cellular biochemistry and is affiliated with Markey Cancer Center, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, and the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center.
You can learn more about Dr. Sun in the following Q&A.
Many congratulations to Caroline Smith for receiving a prestigious P.E.O. Scholar Award! Caroline is a graduate student in Dr. Jessica Blackburn's group in the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky.
Congratulations to Bobby for successfuly defending his dissertation!
Name, Position, Department, College:
Bobby Murphy, Graduate Research Assistant, Biochemistry Department, College of Medicine
Research Focus:
My research focus has been in characterizing the enzymes needed for polysaccharide utilization in the parasite, Toxoplasma gondii.
What brought you to UK?
The Department had seven publications listed in PubMed for the month of February 2022.
1: Whiteheart SW. Platelet-HIV: interactions and their implications. Platelets. 2022 Feb 17;33(2):208-211. doi: 10.1080/09537104.2021.2019695. Epub 2022 Jan 4. PMID: 35086429; PMCID: PMC8881393.
2: Kim EJ, Kim JS, Lee S, Cheon I, Kim SR, Ko YH, Kang K, Tan X, Kurie JM, Ahn YH. ZEB1-regulated lnc-Nr2f1 promotes the migration and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells. Cancer Lett. 2022 Feb 14;533:215601. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2022.215601. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35176421.
The University of Kentucky College of Medicine invites applications and nominations for the position of chair to lead the highly ranked department of molecular and cellular biochemistry.
Congratulations to Professor Becky Dutch of the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry on her election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology!
The Department had seven publications listed in PubMed for the month of January 2022.
1: Yin H, Jing B, Xu D, Guo W, Sun B, Zhang J, Liao Y, Song H, Wang T, Liu S, Kuang Y, Hu M, Li K, Zhang S, Zhang H, Xu J, Li X, Du J, Wu Y, Wu Y, Wang Q, Yao F, Chin YE, Zhou BP, Deng J. Identification of Active Bronchioalveolar Stem Cells as the Cell-of-Origin in Lung Adenocarcinoma. Cancer Res. 2022 Jan 19:canres.2445.2021. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-2445. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35045987.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 2, 2022) – A team of researchers from the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) is working to identify new proteins that are destructive to the brain. They know that about 25% of individuals, and 50% of individuals with Alzheimer disease, have the genetic mutation APOE ε4 allele — a known risk factor for the disease.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 27, 2022) — The Kentucky Network for Innovation and Commercialization (KYNETIC) has opened its Spring 2022 Cycle 5 round of early-stage commercialization grants.
KYNETIC is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) and part of the national NIH Proof-of-Concept Network.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 20, 2022) — As the University of Kentucky begins another semester during the COVID-19 pandemic, experts from across campus are being called upon to answer the many questions being asked by those on campus and in our communities.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 13, 2022) — The University of Kentucky is participating in a nationwide study that seeks to understand why some people have prolonged symptoms (long COVID) or develop new or returning symptoms after an acute bout of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The Department had eight publications listed in PubMed for the month of December 2021. The contributions of our graduate students are highlighted with bold text.
The Department ended the year with a total of 83 publications!
1: Ostrakhovitch EA, Song ES, Macedo JKA, Gentry MS, Quintero JE, van Horne C, Yamasaki TR. Analysis of circulating metabolites to differentiate Parkinson's disease and essential tremor. Neurosci Lett. 2021 Dec 28:136428. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.136428. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34971771.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2021) — Using new methodology, University of Kentucky researchers have mapped the variations in sugar chains attached to brain proteins from deceased healthy individuals or individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.
Thus far, no effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are available. New approaches to preventing the progression of this devastating neurological disease are desperately needed.
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