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April 9, 2019

Dr. Natalia Korotkova, research assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, led a team of investigators who have identified a new potential target for a Group A Streptococcus vaccine.

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April 5, 2019

This months reading takes a decidedly nautical turn. L. David Marquet's "Turn this ship around!"

Find it here!

This is a rollicking tale of pirates and treasure and...

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April 3, 2019

This is episode two of tool time. As promised, this one is about todo lists. And the related tool, reminders. As with all these things, it doesn’t matter whether you use electronic or paper forms. What’s important is that you find what works for you. And experience that sense of satisfaction you get from crossing items off a todo list.

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April 3, 2019
Next up on my recommended reading list is Robert I.
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April 3, 2019

In addition to the one on useful reading, you’re going to get another monthly post from me. This is the first. I’m going to blather on about some tools you might find useful or should definitely be using. As with the suggested readings, feel free to ignore.

Calendars:

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April 3, 2019

Each month I am going to suggest reading (mostly non-science related) that I think you might find useful or at least interesting. These will typically be books I’ve read at some point. When possible, I’ll stick to books you can get at the Lexington Public Library. Note that these are just suggestions - feel free to ignore them! If you find any of these useful, let me know.

First up is a book called “Deep Work” by Cal Newport.

Find it here!

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March 27, 2019
Please join us in congratulating Caroline Smith (a member of Jessica Blackburn's lab), who has been appointed to a 3-year term on the Associate Member Council (AMC) for the American Association of Cancer Research! (AACR) The Associate Member Council serves as the leadership body of the associate members of the American Association of Cancer Research. AACR is the world's largest cancer organization, with over 13,000 associate members.
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February 6, 2019

This month, our department published the following 6 publications!

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January 9, 2019

Our Department wishes to congratulate Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf for being featured in an article from NIEHS!  

Fondufe-Mittendorf was recognized in the article for her work in epigenetics, which is the study of mechanisms in cancer development. More specifically, epigenetics describes the study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. 

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November 21, 2018

Researchers at the University of Kentucky have discovered new biological processes by which mutations in the FUS gene cause neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

FUS is a DNA and RNA binding protein that resides predominantly in the nucleus and appears to play a role in DNA repair and RNA metabolism. In contrast, ALS-related mutations cause the protein to accumulate in the cytoplasm, which can contribute to inclusion bodies – the pathological hallmarks of disease – and neurotoxicity.

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November 13, 2018

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced that University of Kentucky's Matthew Gentry has received the Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship.

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October 3, 2018

Alex Helman, who recently succeeded in the defense of her dissertation, has accepted a full-time position with the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine (CWSEM) where she will be working on a project on the retention of women in science. 

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July 31, 2018


Dr. M. Paul Murphy, a faculty member within the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry and the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, contributed his thoughts on the “amyloid hypothesis” in the July 25, 2018 issue of Nature.

The amyloid hypothesis states that the accumulation of amyloid-βin the brain is the main cause of Alzheimer’s. This is primarily based on the correlation between clumps of amyloid-β in the brain and the neurodegenerative processes observed in Alzheimer’s disease.

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July 21, 2018

Ten researchers from institutions across the U.S. have been selected to participate in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Advocacy Training Program, a rigorous six-month program aiming to produce the next generation of science advocates. Among those chosen is Aria Byrd, a doctoral candidate in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and researcher in the Fillmore Brainson Lab. 

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July 19, 2018

According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (http://www.brimr.org/default.htm), with just under $11,000,000 in NIH research funding, the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry is ranked 19th among biochemistry departments in medical schools in the United States.

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July 18, 2018

We are now offering a single domain antibody (Nanobody®) production service. Nanobodies, in contrast to conventional antibodies which are made up of two heavy and two light chains with a molecular weight of ~150,000, are composed of only heavy chains. The heavy chain nanobody domains can be isolated as a small 15,000 Da single domain antibody, which retains the high affinity of conventional antibodies. Due to their small size nanobodies can be expressed in E. coli and their cDNAs manipulated in a variety of ways.

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April 18, 2018

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a hot topic of late as soldiers return from the battlefield and football players from the gridiron with debilitating injuries.

To date, treatment for TBI has been limited because the underlying mechanisms that cause brain damage are still poorly understood. Recently, however, science has shown increased interest in exploring ways to prompt the brain to heal itself after injury, or perhaps even protect itself as the injury occurs.

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January 29, 2018

The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship(VACE), part of the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics, announced that one of its Fall 2017 Bootcamp teams, OptiMol Enzymes, has been accepted into the Clean Energy Trust Competition in Chicago, on Feb. 8, 2018. 

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December 20, 2017

When Alex Helman began her search for a doctoral program that would allow her to further her knowledge of neuroscience and conduct research on Alzheimer’s disease, she was surprised to add the University of Kentucky to her list.

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October 6, 2017

 University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center Researcher Jessica Blackburn has earned a prestigious National Institutes of Health's New Innovator Award, a grant totaling $1.5 million over five years to fund pediatric cancer research.

Blackburn, an assistant professor in the UK Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, runs a basic science laboratory using zebrafish as an animal model. This new award will specifically fund research to find causes of leukemia relapse in three ways: