News and Events from and for the Division of Science, Brandeis University
Dorothee Kern (center) with students in her Brandeis lab. (Image: Mike Lovett)
The Fall 2019 issue of Brandeis Magazine features a cover story on Professor of Biochemistry and HHMI Investigator Dorothee Kern. The article describes Kern’s trajectory from her youth and education in the former East Germany to her current research and teaching at Brandeis to her co-founding of Relay Therapeutics, a Cambridge company pioneering new approaches to anti-cancer drug discovery.
With a new alumni symposium in the morning and a poster session filling three floors of the Science Center atrium in the afternoon, this year’s SciFest IX set a new standard for Brandeis Science’s annual celebration of undergraduate research.
Since 2011, a poster session featuring the results from ongoing projects belonging to undergraduates doing science research has been the high point of summer in the Division of Science at Brandeis. This year, for the first time, we invited Brandeis alumni scientists to speak in a morning symposium entitled “A Celebration of Brandeis’ Undergraduate Science Education”, including:
Students and faculty in the audience were treated to a history of Brandeis and reflections on many of the Brandeis professors and courses that set them on their career path and whose influence persists to the present in how they approach their science, and on lessons they learned that continue to guide their work.
I truly enjoyed your talk. As someone relatively new to @Brandeis it was wonderful to be transported to a different, yet familiar, time and learn about the history of our institution through your eyes. Thank you! https://t.co/tFvnJMjvS1
— Marcelle Soares-Santos (@msoares_santos) August 10, 2019
After lunch in the campus center, the crowd climbed up to the Shapiro Science Center for the poster session. 123 students presented 117 posters on topics from high-energy physics to biomaterials and from quantum chemistry to fruit fly behavior. As President Ron Liebowitz noted in an email to the Science community after the event:
The energy in Shapiro during the poster session was electric. The students’ confidence and excitement over sharing their research can only give us great optimism about the future: they are “all in” when it comes to doing basic research, but also seeing how such research can be applied in the name of helping others.
Many of the posters can be found in the hallway in Gerstenzang – look for them when classes start again in a few weeks!
credit: Heratch Ekmekjian
Jeff Gelles, the Aron and Imre Tauber Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was among the more than 200 outstanding individuals that were elected to the Academy in 2019 and announced on April 17.
The Gelles lab studies “little engines” or the nanometer-sized machines made of protein, RNA, and DNA molecules that carry out the essential processes in living cells. The lab uses single-molecule light microscopy methods to study the functional mechanisms of these macromolecular complexes in cytoskeletal function, transcription and transcription regulation, and RNA processing.
Founded in 17890, the Academy recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals in academia, the arts, business, government, and public affairs.
Read more: Amacad.org, BrandeisNow
Since its construction at the heart of the Brandeis campus, the Volen National Center for Complex Systems has been a key focal point of the Brandeis campus. The structure was dedicated on October 20, 1994 and has served as a gateway to the Brandeis Science Complex for the past 25 years. Planning for the construction of the building began in 1989 with funding from the federal government. Additional funding from the government and donations from benefactors followed. The total cost of construction was over $31 million.
The Center’s primary focus is the study of one of the most complex of complex systems – the human brain and mind. When the Volen Center was formed in 1989, its mission statement was “to advance our understanding of cognitive processes, perceptions, neuroscience, and the development and application of parallel computer systems.” As part of this mission, a retreat was first held in May 1989. This retreat has evolved into the annual Volen Retreat. True to the collaborative focus of the Center, the Volen Retreat includes talks from multiple disciplines of Brandeis faculty. Thanks to the M. R. Bauer Foundation, a lecture series and week-long Distinguished Lecturer Visitors series brings scientists from all over the world to the Brandeis campus to talk about their research and interact with faculty, postdocs and graduate students.
The bricks and mortar of the Volen Center provided essential office and lab space. In addition to the building, new Brandeis faculty became a part of the Volen Center. Leslie Griffith joined the Center in September 1992. Susan Birren followed in July 1993 and Jordan Pollack in September 1994. Faculty and labs of Computer Science, Linguistics, Biochemistry and Neuroscience moved into the completed structure in May 1994.
What has been impact of the Volen Center? Barbara Wrightson, who was the Program Project Coordinator during the Volen construction and is now the Director of Budget and Planning in the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, said that “the Volen Center helped to nurture the fabulous growth of the neuroscience program at Brandeis.” Additionally, shortly after moving into Volen, the Computer Science department experienced a boom in enrollment. The department saw its enrollment double in the decade after the Center opened.
The Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) is excited to announce this year’s SPROUT awards competition! SPROUT was created to help you bring your scientific research and entrepreneurial ambitions to life by providing seed funding and training to make your innovation a reality.
“It’s not just about the funding. It’s about all the opportunities that arise from participating in SPROUT” – Michael Rosbash, 2018 SPROUT PI
OTL, with support from the Office of the Provost & the Hassenfeld Family Innovation Center, will award up to a total of $100,000 divided among the most promising proposals seeking funding for lab-based innovations that require bench research, lab space and/or lab equipment. All members of the Brandeis science community, including faculty, staff and students, are invited to submit an abstract for the 2019 round of funding. The preliminary application for abstract submission is now online. These pre-applications must be received prior to 11pm on March 8th, 2019.
In the past, successful SPROUT applications have come from all departments in the sciences including Biology, Biochemistry, Physics, and Chemistry. Past candidates have proposed projects ranging from early-stage research and development to patent-ready projects. Many undergraduates, graduates, staff and faculty have all pitched various projects from Vaccines Targeting HIV Sugars (Krauss Lab) to an Assay Kit for RNA-binding Protein Target (Rosbash Lab).
Have questions? OTL is offering 20 minute appointment slots the week of February 28 at our office in Bernstein-Marcus, room 140. Sign up here.
Congratulations to Jeff Gelles, Aron and Imre Tauber Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. He will receive the 2019 Kazuhito Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics from the Biophysical Society (BPS). He will be honored at the Society’s 63rd Annual Meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center on March 5, 2019, during the annual Awards Symposium.
The award, named for Professor Kazuhiko Kinosita, seeks to advance cross-disciplinary research and cultivate an appreciation of single-molecule studies. BPS President Angela Gronenborn, University of Pittsburgh, said “Jeff has conducted single-molecule studies at the highest level and continues to spark interests in engaging others in single-molecule studies.” (BPS Press Release)
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