MCB Alum Jeehee Youn Elected President of Korean Assoc. of Immunologists

March 19, 2020

Dr. Jeehee Youn, who earned her Ph.D. in Michael Lynes’ laboratory in 1996, was recently elected President of the Korean Association of Immunologists (KAI) for 2021.  She currently serves as vice president of that scientific society.  Dr. Youn is shown here at the far right in a photo of her lab group during a visit by Dr. Lynes to Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea.

Jehee Youn, Hanyag University

MCB Spring 2020 Doctoral Student Travel Fellowship Awards

March 4, 2020

Congratulations to the following MCB graduate students! Kristen Dostie, Rishabh Kejriwal, Virginia King, Amy Thees, Corey Theodore, and Jennifer Podgorski have been awarded a Spring 2020 Doctoral Student Travel Fellowship from the UConn Graduate School.

Internship Opportunity – Biohaven Pharmaceuticals

March 3, 2020

Biohaven Pharmaceuticals is a clinical/commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company located in New Haven, CT that is engaged in developing a portfolio of innovative, late-stage therapeutic candidate molecules that target, neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, including rare disorders. They have new programs that reach into areas including migraine headache, inflammation and neurodegeneration.

Biohaven announcement

Biohaven runs a novel summer internship program for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in the evaluation of new therapeutics and the process of identifying new intellectual property that may have marketplace value. Biohaven will work with the intern to identify an aspect of the drug development process where the student can participate in Biohaven’s work. Applicants should submit a letter of interest, their transcripts, and a resume or C.V. to the department of Molecular and Cell Biology (mcboffice@uconn.edu) for evaluation. Applications are due April 1, 2020.

Dr. Michael Lynes Selected as Fulbright Scholar

February 12, 2020

Dr. Michael Lynes was recently selected to be a Fulbright Scholar and will work at the Center for Diabetes Research, University of Bergen (Norway) for the fall 2020 semester. He was also made a Senior Fellow of the Cell Stress Society International. Dr. Lynes has recently been awarded two new research grants: an NIH phase II STTR grant entitled “Measuring toxicant effects on cellular function in a microarray format” and a sponsored research award from Biohaven Pharmaceuticals to support the ongoing development of a therapeutic monoclonal antibody for chronic inflammation applications entitled “Characterization of UC1MT therapeutic antibody and its derivatives”.

Fake Centromeres Make-and Break-a Chromosome

February 11, 2020

The Mellone Lab was featured in UConn Today - UConn cell biologist Barbara Mellone, her student Jason Palladino, and colleagues report in the cover article of the 10 February issue of Developmental Cell that they were able to make fake centromeres that fooled cells into rearranging their chromosomes.  

 

cover-bugs_Mellone_UConnToday

Fluorescence images of mitotic cells with de novo centromeres from Drosophila melanogaster larval brains. The chromosomes are stained with DAPI (DNA, magenta) and CENP-C antibodies (kinetochore protein, green) and are shown within the outlines of fruit flies. (Courtesy of Barbara Mellone)
Read article in UConn Today
See cover story at Developmental Cell

Five Students Participating in URAP Receive Recognition

January 16, 2020

Five students participating in the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP) submitted abstracts as first authors and one as second author to the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research. This is the largest regional pediatric research meeting in the country.  In addition, three of our students submitted abstracts, two were first authors and one second author, to the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting which is the largest international pediatric research meeting in the world.  These students, who are taking 3100H and 3189H courses, are Monitha Patel, Samantha Seibel, Seda Sahin, Jimmy Terray, Saba Ali, and Leelakrishna Channa.  We look forward to learning about acceptances in the near future.