News
During Indigenous Peoples’ Month, the UK College of Medicine is highlighting historical figures who paved the way for an equitable future in medicine.
Jessica Blackburn, PhD, associate professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry, wanted to make her undergraduate students feel welcome at the start of the fall semester. As the daughter of a teacher, her instinct was to gift each undergraduate student a binder with supplies.
For the second consecutive year, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine has received the 2022 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.
The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) is proud to announce the fourth annual 5-Minute Fast Track Research Competition finalists. These undergraduates competed in the competition’s preliminary round and were selected as Top 10 finalists to present their research during the final round 5-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct.
To enable the University of Kentucky College of Medicine to succeed in its mission for a healthier Kentucky, leadership must prioritize the wellness and well-being of faculty, staff, and learners. Lisa Williams, MSSA, is serving in the college’s new leadership position, associate dean for wellness and well-being, to help us excel in this goal.
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.