News

Dr. George Georgiou named one of the top 20 translational researchers of 2013

Congratulations to Dr. George Georgiou was listed by Nature Biotechnology one of the top 20 translational researchers of 2013 Link.

Dr. Marvin Hackert elected president of the International Union of Crystallography

Dr. Marvin Hackert was recently elected president of the International Union of Crystallography. The objectives of the union are "...to promote international cooperation in crystallography and to contribute to all aspects of crystallography, to promote international publication of crystallographic research, to facilitate standardization of methods, units, nomenclatures and symbols, and to form a focus for the relations of crystallography to other sciences." Congratulations, Dr. Hackert!

Dr. Yan Jessie Zhang receives Etter award

Congratulations to Dr. Yan Jessie Zhang, an Assistant Professor in MBS, for receiving the Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievement and exceptional potential in crystallographic research demonstrated by a scientist at an early stage of their independent career. One awardee who obtained his/her PhD within the last 12 years is chosen from academia, industry or government laboratories within United States. Dr. Yan Jessie Zhang is invited to present her work in the Annual Meeting of American Crystallographic Association for 2015 in Philadelphia, PA.

First MBS retreat is a huge success

From Bryan Davies and David Stein, co-organizers of the MBS Spring Retreat 2014:

Thanks to everyone for making our Inaugural Molecular Biosciences Retreat a huge success. More than one hundred members of our new department met to share science from the wide range of fields that represent Molecular Biosciences. Our keynote speaker Jeff Dangl gave a great seminar highlighting how an interdisciplinary approach is shedding new light on plants, their microbiome and innate immunity. The student and postdoctoral talks were well received and the poster session went a long way to stimulate conversation between labs.

The winners for best research talk are:

Jacqueline Tabler  (1st Place)  Wallingford Lab

Logan Myler (2nd Place)  Paull Lab

Apollo Stacy  (3rd Place)  Whiteley Lab

The winners for best graduate student poster are:

Kristen Koening (1st Place)  Gross Lab

Poonam Agarwal & Gabriel Wu  (tied for 2nd Place)  Miller Lab & Marcotte Lab (respectively)

The winners for best postdoctoral poster are:

Aimee Wessel  (1st Place)  Whitely Lab

Jodi Connell  (2nd Place)  Whitely Lab

Joe Dekker  (3rd Place)  Tucker Lab

We hope for an even bigger success for our next retreat in the spring of 2015.

Shelley Payne Receives ASM Teaching Award

Congratulations to Dr. Shelley Payne, who was awarded the 2014 Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award from the American Society for Microbiology. In an article highlighting the award in the ASM publication The Microbe, Dr. Payne was recognized for her role as a mentor to many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to have successful scientific careers. The article also noted that Dr. Payne is especially proud that most of these trainees have been women or minorities. Shelley will be presented with her award at the ASM national meeting in May. 

Sara Sawyer receives Omenn Prize

Congratulations to Dr. Sara Sawyer and Dr. Ann Demogines, who received the Omenn Prize for the Best Evolution Paper of 2013. The prize is for their paper appearing in PLOS Biology entitled "Dual Host-Virus Arms Races Shape an Essential Housekeeping Protein.". This study was led by Dr. Ann Demogines, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Sawyer's laboratory and was also featured in the "Editors Choice" section of Science. The award comes with a prize of $5,000 for Dr. Demogines. 

Andy Ellington, Stephen Trent and Marvin Whiteley Elected to the American Academy of Microbiology

Congratulations to Dr. Andy Ellington, Dr. Stephen Trent and Dr. Marvin Whiteley for being elected Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology  http://academy.asm.org/index.php/fellows/68-navigation/fellows/404-new-fellows. As described by the American Society for Microbiology, "Fellows of the Academy are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.

Three MBS Faculty Members Awarded Tenure

Congratulations to Dr. Johann Eberhart, Dr. Adrian Keatinge-Clay and Dr. Sara Sawyer, who have been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, effective September 2014

Register For The First MBS Departmental Retreat

We are pleased to announce that our first MBS Departmental Retreat will be held on April 19th, 2014 at the beautiful Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center here in Austin. We are looking forward to a day of talks and posters from our MBS community and a special keynote presentation by Dr. Jeff Dangl from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Please fill out and return the attached registration form if you are planning to attend. MBS__Retreat_Registration.docx

Best wishes,

Dr. Bryan Davies and Dr. David Stein

Andy Ellington Receives President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award

Congratulations to Dr. Andy Ellington, who received the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award. The President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award recognizes innovative, excellent teaching in undergraduate education in the core curriculum.