Posted on August 9th, 2009 by karel
We’ve been off-line for a while, and now we’ve moved into the new version of WordPress supported by the campus IT folks. It should now be relatively easy for labs to post themselves to this blogs.
What have we missed? Well, for one, Michael Rosbash and Jeff Hall are getting the Gruber Neuroscience Prize, together with Michael Young (Rockefeller U), for their work on genetics of circadian rhythms.
I’ll post some more of the “backdated” news when I get a chance. Feel free to ask for an account so you can do it yourself…
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Posted on March 20th, 2009 by karel
The winners of the 38th Lewis S. Rosentiel Award for Distinguished Word in Basic Medical Science are John Gurdon (U. Cambridge, England), Irving Weissman (Stanford Univ.), and Shinya Yamanaka (Kyoto Univ. and UCSF), for their pioneering work in the field of stem cell research. The Rosenstiel Award Lectures will be held on Wed, March 26, 2009, starting at 3 pm in Gerstenzang 123.
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Posted on March 19th, 2009 by karel
Brandeis is proud of its tradition of undergraduates working in science labs, alongside grad students, staff and postdocs. This work often leads to publications in the primary scientific literature (see list of undergraduate publications).
The most recent of these, by Nicholas Hornstein and collaborators in the Griffith lab, appears in the Journal of Visualized Experiments. This new journal focuses on using streaming video to provide access to high quality demonstrations of lab procedures (in this case, demonstrating dissection technique for doing neurophysiology in Drosophila larvae).
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Posted on March 18th, 2009 by karel
A postdoctoral position is immediately available in the laboratory of Dr. Nicastro at Brandeis University to study the functional organization of cilia and flagella using molecular genetic approaches.
Our lab has in the past mainly been focused on high-resolution structural studies of these highly conserved organelles and defects in mutants, as well as the cytoskeleton and molecular motor in general. One of our long-term goals is to better understand ciliary diseases and identify therapeutic targets. Recently we have expanded our expertise in biochemistry and we are now seeking to complement our highly interactive team with an expert in genetics.
Applicants should have a PhD degree, a strong background in molecular biology/genetic techniques, and an edge for technology development. Responsibilities will include the establishment of a new model organism optimized for reverse genetics to target complexes in cilia and flagella. Familiarity with RNAi and one of the following model organisms is a plus, but not required: Chlamydomonas or Tetrahymena or Planaria. The candidate should be team-oriented and have excellent oral and written communication skills.
The position is available April 1st for up to three years with the possibility of extension. Interested candidates should send an application, including a CV, areas of expertise and interest, publications list, and names and contact information for 3 references to:
Dr. Daniela Nicastro
MS 029
Rosenstiel Center
Brandeis University
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02454, USA.
The Nicastro Lab is located in the well-equipped and vibrant Biology Department of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts (eight miles west of Boston). Brandeis has a state-of-the-art electron microscopy facility, a newly implemented facility for Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy and an extensive computational facility. Life Science Research is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary at Brandeis, and offers excellent opportunities for scientific interaction on campus and other scientific institutions in the Boston area. Brandeis University is committed to diversity and equality in education and employment.
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Posted on February 28th, 2009 by karel
No, this isn’t a Russian short story.
Lead authors postdoc alum Sebastian Kadener and Mol Cell Biol graduate student Joe Rodriguez and their coworkers used tiling arrays to look for targets of the enzyme Drosha in a “Genome-wide identification of targets of the drosha–pasha/DGCR8 complex”, a paper recently published in the journal RNA. Drosha is a type III RNAse that is involved in the processing of miRNAs. This paper demonstrates for first time that this enzyme is not only involved in miRNA processing, but can also process mRNAs. Interestingly, the best example of an mRNA processed by Drosha is the mRNA that encodes another miRNA processing enzyme, the protein Pasha. As this is a partner of Drosha (the two proteins work together), the findings suggest that there is a feedback loop that controls the abundance of the miRNA processing machinery and probably the abundance of miRNAs themselves.
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Posted on February 26th, 2009 by karel
The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society is in Boston this coming weekend (Feb 28 – Mar 4, 2009). As usual, a strong contingent of Brandeis researchers will be presenting at the meeting. A list of Brandeis related posters is available if you want to catch up with your colleagues at the meeting, or use the itinerary planner online.
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Posted on February 25th, 2009 by karel
Prof. Leslie Leinwand from the University of Colorado at Boulder will be at Brandeis on Feb 25, 2009 to give a lecture in the Heart Research Series sponsored by the Dan Getz Endowed Fund for Heart Disease Research. Her lecture, entitled Modification of the Heart: Lessons Learned from Mice and Pythons, will be given at 4 pm in Gerstenzang 121.
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Posted on February 25th, 2009 by karel
Members of the Hedstrom lab have cooked up a new structural model for inosine-5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), see below:
Edible model of IMPDH
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Posted on February 12th, 2009 by karel
ant and treehopper (photo by Dan Perlman)
Ok, most Brandeis students don’t get to sail around the world in a wooden boat. On the other hand, over the last several years, Dan Perlman’s Field Biology classes have produced some very nice field guides about Brandeis and its environs. In honor of Darwin’s birthday, we present:
Field Biology Electronic Field Guides
Categories include: Animals; Trees; Edible, Medicinal, and Useful Plants; Wildflowers; Fungi; Galls
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Posted on February 11th, 2009 by karel
Thursday, February 12 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth.
I don’t think the sciences have anything planned, but our friends from the humanities do:
Darwin’s Doubles: Evolution, Art, and the Politics of Representation.
1:00pm to 3:30pm at the Rose Art Museum.
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