Research Enterprise Newsletter - November 2007: Faculty News
Kennedy Center investigator appointed to NIH Brain Disorders study section
James S. Sutcliffe, Ph.D., associate professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator, has been appointed as a member of the Developmental Brain Disorders Study Section for the NIH Center for Scientific Review. Members are invited to serve based on demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other scientific activities, achievements, and honors.
Forster quoted by BBC on constructing life forms in the lab
Vanderbilt Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Anthony Forster was quoted in an October 19 news story from the BBC on the race to create synthetic life "from scratch" in the lab. "There has been a fair amount of talk about how you might synthesize self replication and life in a test tube, but nobody really had a detailed plan for it," Forster told the international news service. Forster, along with George Church from Harvard Medical School, has created a blueprint for a synthetic cell, defining the 151 genes that they believe are needed to create life. The team is now in the process of using the blueprint to begin to piece together its prototype cell. For the complete story, go to news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7041353.stm.
Ritchie speaks on gene analysis, receives U01 funding
Dr. Marylyn Ritchie gave a talk at the Environmental Cancer Risk Nutrition and Individual Susceptibility workshop in Venice, Italy, on October 12. She spoke on her MDR (Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction) analytical method, with examples for Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS). Her talk was titled "After GWAS: an exercise in problem solving: Methodological issues in the analysis of gene-gene, gene-environment interactions." Dr. Ritchie is also involved in two of the five recently awarded NIH U01s for linking electronic medical records and genetic data (one from Vanderbilt and another from the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation).
Center for Human Genetics Research trainees present at genetics meeting
Faculty, postdocs, and trainees from Vanderbilt's Center for Human Genetics Research made five platform presentations at the American Society for Human Genetics meeting in San Diego in late October. The presentations represented the top 10% of all submitted abstracts. Four of these talks were presented by students and postdocs of the CHGR.
Center for Structural Biology members lecture in Australia, Taiwan
Terry Lybrand gave an invited lecture titled "Cyclooxygenase reaction mechanism and ligand binding studies using quantum and molecular mechanics simulations" at the 2007 Australian Molecular Modeling Symposium in Melbourne, Australia. Lybrand is a professor of Chemistry and Pharmacology and a member of the Center for Structural Biology. Two other Center members gave invited lectures at the 16th Triennial Conference for the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Kenting, Taiwan, held from October 4 -19, 2007. Professor of Biochemistry Chuck Sanders spoke on "Structural Biophysical Basis for Modulation of Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels by KCNE1." Walter Chazin, the Chancellor's Professor of Biochemistry & Physics and Director of the Center for Structural Biology spoke on "Application of NMR and Scattering Experiments to Characterize Large Modular Proteins."
