Congratulations, Bethany! (12/12/17): Bethany Huot is the 2017 Hans Kende award recipient. This award is given in recognition of the best dissertation in plant science at MSU within the previous two years. You can read more on the PRL website here.
New Publication from the He Lab! (posted 11/27/17): Congratulations to Bethany Huot, Danve Castroverde and André Velásquez from the He Lab on their new publication in Nature Communications. Check it out along with other publications from TPC members on our Publications page. Our study has been promoted by MSU in various ways, including an article by MSU Today, a video put together by the PRL, and an episode on the MSU FoodFix podcast! See below for links to the various stories.
MSU Today – Fighting plant disease at warm temperatures keeps food on the table
Contact(s): Layne Cameron, Bethany Huot, Sheng Yang He
“In this scenario, Bethany Huot, MSU cell and molecular biology graduate program alumna and the study’s lead author, wanted to find out if plants’ defense system was compromised or was pathogens’ virulence enhanced?” Want the answer? Read the full MSU Today article here.
FoodFix Podcast –
PRL –
The PRL article is here. Also, check out the YouTube video put together by Igor Houwat (PRL Communications Coordinator) with help from Adam Seroka and Danve Castroverde.
https://youtu.be/iLfo-FrKD5s
Sheng Yang He & Gregg Howe “Most Highly Cited Researchers”! Two of our former TPC PIs have been honored with the designation of highly cited researcher for the third year in a row. Congratulations to them and the many lab members who contributed to the important work in their labs. You can read more on MSU Research page here.
Isaac Osei-Bonsu Earns Poster Award! Isaac was one of the participants in this summer’s “Conference Prep Series” at The Pub Club, and we are happy to share the news that Isaac produced a poster that earned an award at the “2017 ‘Feed the Future’ Legume Innovation Lab (LIL) conference.” We enjoyed having Issac with us, and want to congratulate him on his success! (KramerLand should be proud) For more on Isaac & his award winning work you can access the PDF of his presentation here (provided by the Legume Innovation Lab) and also see Igor Houwats’s story on the MSU/PRL website: “Grad student Isaac Osei-Bonsu wins conference award“
Job Posting at Penn State: The Plant Pathology & Environmental Microbiology department at Penn State has a fixed-term job opening for an Online & Short Course Instructor. They are looking for “an Instructor who will work collaboratively with faculty, Cooperative Extension, and a curriculum committee to optimize, envision, create and teach cutting-edge on-line courses. The position will be 70% Curriculum creation and development, and 30% Teaching.” Click here for more information.
TPCOnTheRoad! Miranda Haus (Day Lab) is heading to the International Botanical Congress (IBC) in Shenzhen, China where she will present two talks. We look forward to sharing in her experience via Twitter at #TPCOnTheRoad.
TPC Founder Bethany Huot & TPC Alum Brian Kvitko Published in Springer Protocols – Methods in Molecular Biology. “Measuring bacterial effector translocation into plant cells,” Chapter 33. Find full text here.
New Publication from collaboration of two TPC Labs, The Howe Lab & The He Lab: “Regulation of growth–defense balance by the JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN (JAZ)-MYC transcriptional module” published in New Phytologist. Click here for full text.
- The plant hormone jasmonate (JA) promotes the degradation of JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN (JAZ) proteins to relieve repression on diverse transcription factors (TFs) that execute JA responses. However, little is known about how combinatorial complexity among JAZ–TF interactions maintains control over myriad aspects of growth, development, reproduction, and immunity.
- We used loss-of-function mutations to define epistatic interactions within the core JA signaling pathway and to investigate the contribution of MYC TFs to JA responses in Arabidopsis thaliana.
- Constitutive JA signaling in a jaz quintuple mutant (jazQ) was largely eliminated by mutations that block JA synthesis or perception. Comparison of jazQ and a jazQ myc2 myc3 myc4 octuple mutant validated known functions of MYC2/3/4 in root growth, chlorophyll degradation, and susceptibility to the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. We found that MYC TFs also control both the enhanced resistance of jazQ leaves to insect herbivory and restricted leaf growth of jazQ. Epistatic transcriptional profiles mirrored these phenotypes and further showed that triterpenoid biosynthetic and glucosinolate catabolic genes are up-regulated in jazQ independently of MYC TFs.
- Our study highlights the utility of genetic epistasis to unravel the complexities of JAZ–TF interactions and demonstrates that MYC TFs exert master control over a JAZ-repressible transcriptional hierarchy that governs growth–defense balance.
New Job Search Resource:
New! neuvoo: is a free job search aggregator that indexes jobs directly from companies’ career websites, placement agencies and job boards. They have over 20.000.000 jobs indexed and more than 5 million jobs across the United States, making them the largest job database in the world at the moment. You can search using another region, city, state, industry, etc., and find all relevant jobs. They are present globally, showing jobs from 64 countries in all five continents. There’s also a free ‘take-home’ (after-tax) salary calculator on neuvoo.com and the list of jobs is always being updated. Click on “Job Hunting” under the Resource tab for link.
Big Questions in Microbiology (posted 05/23/17): Sheng Yang He recently had an article entitled “Back to the Disease Triangle” featured in Cell Voices. Congratulations, Sheng Yang!
New Publications by TPC members! (posted 04/25/17): Check out The Publications page to see new papers published by our TPC members. Congratulations to all!
Congratulations to Gregg Howe (posted 04/24/17): One of our TPC PIs, Gregg Howe, has recently been awarded both the Innovation Center Award from MSU and a Fellow of ASPB award. Check out the research led by Marcelo Campos, a former PhD student in his lab, that resulted in a discovery of plants that can both grow and defend. You can also read about it on the PRL’s website. Innovation of the Year | MSU Innovation Center
Fascination of Plants day (posted 04/04/17): This year the MSU plant research community is coming together to participate in Fascination of Plants Day. To get more information on how you can participate, contact Anso Bohrer (bohreras@msu.edu).
MSU Graduate School Workshops (posted 04/04/17): April workshops available through the Graduate School include topics such as time management, writing, and teaching. Registration is required! Click here for more details.
Congratulations to Amy! (posted 03/21/17): Congratulations to Amy Baetsen-Young (Day Lab) on her recent provisional patent for her nano technology. This is a huge accomplishment!
New Publication from TPC! (posted 03/21/17): Congratulations to André Velásquez and Bethany Huot from the He Lab on their new publication in New Phytologist. Check it out along with other publications from TPC members on our Publications page.
New Resources! (posted 03/21/17): Kyaw Aung and Miranda Haus recently shared their Reflections & Projections on strategically managing their postdocs to achieve their long-term career goals. We have added some of the resources they shared to our Career Prep page. Look for the resources labeled “New.”
Apply to be a FAST fellow today! (02/07/17): The Future Academic Scholars in Teaching (FAST) program offered by the MSU Graduate School and directed by Dr. Rique Campa, a Mug Club’r and Associate Dean of the Graduate School, is an incredible opportunity to learn and implement scholarly teaching. Applications are due March 20, 2017. To find out more, including how to apply, click here.
Upcoming Workshops to Develop Diverse Skills (02/07/17): Click here to check out these upcoming workshops offered by the MSU Career Center, the MSU Graduate School and the MSU Office of the Vice President of Research and Graduate Studies. There are specific opportunities for Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students and Post docs, so be sure to read all the way down the page to find the ones most relevant to you. Some of these are coming soon and require registration, so don’t delay!
New Publications by TPC members (01/18/17): Check out The Publications page for new papers by Bing Zhang & Masaki Shimono (Day lab), Kyaw (Joe) Aung & Xiufang Xin (He lab) and Li Zhang (He lab). Congratulations to all!
Sheril Kirshenbaum joins The Mug Club (01/24/17): This week at The Pub Club, we have our first Mug Club guest of the semester, Sheril Kirshenbaum. Sheril will help us practice our skill in clearly communicating the Big Ideas of our research. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to Fill the Void in your science communication skills!
Congratulations, Marcelo! (12/12/16): Marcelo Campos is the 2016 Hans Kende award recipient. This award is given in recognition of the best dissertation in plant science, and awardees are selected from the previous two years. You can read more on the PRL website here.
Congratulations, Xin et al!!! (11/29/16): Xiufang Xin, Kinya Nomura, Kyaw (Joe) Aung & Andre Velasquez (He lab) have recently published a paper in Nature describing the role of Pst DC3000 bacterial effectors, HopM1 and AvrE, in establishing an “aqueous apoplast,” which is necessary for disease. To read the full article, click here. To read Xiufang’s blog post on the story behind the story, click here.
Congratulations, Dr. Bethany Huot!!! (11/22/16): Dr. Bethany Huot (He lab) successfully defended her Dissertation on November 21, 2016. Congratulations, Bethany!
Grad Course on Teaching College Science (11/15/16): ISE 870 Teaching College Science is a 2 credit course that introduces participants to the theory and practice of student-centered college teaching. Participants will be able to use an understanding of how people learn, the basics of curriculum design, and a range of teaching and assessment strategies and instructional technology to plan for, teach, and analyze effective science teaching. This course can be a component of the Certification in Teaching College Science and Mathematics, or could be taken as a one-off for a student that wants to enhance their competence in instruction. Students can contact Joyce Parker ( parker@cns.msu.edu ) for further information.
Congratulations, Dr. Li Zhang!!! (11/10/16): Dr. Li Zhang (He lab) successfully defended her Dissertation on November 9, 2016. Congratulations, Li!
ASPB Travel Awards for Plant Biology 2017 (11/08/16): Applications are open for the ASPB 2017 Women’s Young Investigator Travel Award to attend Plant Biology 2017 which will be held this year in Honolulu, Hawaii from June 24-28, 2017. Applications for this award are due by December 14, 2016. For more information, click here.
Chris J Leaver Fellowship for Early Career Scientists (11/08/16): The John Innes Center is offering “a 5-year Fellowship aimed at individuals wanting to start their own research group, and includes a Project Leader salary, funding for a post-doc, and considerable additional resources provided by the Centre.” Applications are due by November 30, 2016. For more information, click here.
Fill the Void (11/08/16): The MSU Grad School offers many workshops and seminars to help you develop skills like Time Management, Writing and Teaching. Click here for workshops available Nov 2016. Registration is required for some of these, so don’t delay!
Joe Aung Awarded “Pathway to Independence” (10/31/16): Joe Aung (He lab) is a 2016 recipient of the NIH “Pathway to Independence” Award. You can read about Joe’s award, background and future research plans on the Plant Research Laboratory’s website here.
Opportunities to Grow your COM (10/25/16): Make that three opportunities to Grow your COM posted this week that need your attention in the next couple of days should you wish to participate.
Opportunity #1: Graduate Student Writing Groups, sponsored by the Graduate School. Click here for more information. Your response needed by Wednesday, October 26.
Opportunity #2: PLB/COGs-sponsored Chili Cook-off. Click here for more information. Your response needed by Thursday, October 27.
Opportunity #3: ASM Teaching Fellow program. Click here for more information. Your application needed by Wednesday, November 2.
10/17/16 – The COM has added another “tool” to the Resources/Job Hunting page of The Hub! As pointed out in our recent post “Tools and Their Uses” a tool unused is guaranteed to produce nothing, so be sure to take a look.
AcademicJobsOnline: is a full service online faculty recruiting site for academic institutions worldwide in all disciplines and areas. We offer unique solutions tailored specially for the academic communities’ unique needs. Our system was developed by people working directly in the higher education and it has been used/improved by HR professionals, faculty search committee members, job applicants and reference writers for many years.
BIJC back in swing (10/11/16): The Biotic Interactions Journal Club (BIJC) is older than most of us here and is a great way for early career scientists to hone their critical thinking skills. If you are new to the 4th floor or just looking for a good journal club on this topic, contact Xiufang Xin (He lab) or Ian Major (Howe lab) to get added to the email list.
Brad Day’s Promotion Seminar! (10/03/16): Brad Day is up for promotion to full professor. As part of the promotion process, he will be giving a special seminar this Thursday. For details, see the calendar event here.
ASM Teaching Resources (10/03/16): The American Society of Microbiology (ASM) is offering an online course for graduate students and post docs to guide you in the skill of curriculum design and student engagement. The Application deadline for this year’s course is November 2, 2016. For more details, click here.
New Publication from the Howe Lab! (09/26/16): The Howe lab has a new publication in Nature Communications: “Rewiring of jasmonate and phytochrome B signalling uncouples plant growth-defense tradeoffs,” which has been added to The Publications page. The paper has been highlighted on both MSU Today and the PRL website. Congratulations to our TPC members, Marcelo (alum) & Ian (current member).
Registration for the 2016 PBHS now Open! (09/26/16): For the full 2016 schedule, visit the PBHS website. or visit The Pub Club Event Calendar. Click here to register by October 17th.
CIRTL Resources (09/14/16): The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) has many resources available for those looking to learn and develop the practice of scholarly teaching and learning. Click here for a list of upcoming events, free online courses, webcasts (CIRTLCasts), and online journal clubs (CIRTL Reads).
Congratulations to Kyaw Aung! (09/12/16): Kyaw (Joe) Aung (He lab) was recently awarded a NIH K99 career award. Congratulations, Joe!
TPC Alum Update (09/12/16): Alyssa Burkhardt (former PhD student, Day lab) is currently a USDA-funded post doc working for Frank Martin “investigating strawberry pathogens with the goal of developing improved diagnostics for detecting strawberry-specific isolates.” Because Alyssa’s long term career goal is “to become a professor at a teaching-intensive university in which I can use my research experience to guide my teaching and design projects for undergraduates,” she recently began teaching as an adjunct professor at Hartnell Community College. Alyssa is strategically managing her career by actively continuing to develop both her research and her teaching skills. To read more about Alyssa, check out her LinkedIn profile here.
Check out The Earlham Institute (08/16/16): Mary Williams shared this on Plantae. This looks like an amazing place to do research. They actually have a full time Training & Development manager who helps students put together and maintain Personal & Professional Development plans. Skills they emphasize? Science communication and research critique. Want to know more? Watch the video and check out the site: http://www.earlham.ac.uk/
Pathways to Scientific Teaching Seminar (08/15/16): This seminar course is offered by Diane Ebert-May and is open to graduate students and post docs. This is a great training opportunity for anyone pursuing a career involving teaching. For more information, click here.
New Teaching Resource Added! (08/15/16): Teaching Tools in Plant Biology is a resource provided ASPB and The Plant Cell that is curated by Mary Williams. You can check it out by clicking on the Teaching Tools logo on the “Teaching” page under “Resources.”
Post doc position in Mike Blatt’s lab (08/15/16): There is a 3-year post doc position open in Mike Blatt’s lab to work on SAUR proteins and guard cell membrane transport. Check out the lab website here. Closing date for applications is Sept 4th. See the job ad here: Blatt Lab Post doc position.
Igor Houwat visits The Pub Club (08/15/16): This Friday, Aug 19th, at The Pub Club we will have the PRL Communications Coordinator, Igor Houwat, coming to meet with us. Hope to see you there.
Welcome to new He lab members (08/11/16): Danve Castroverde and Tariq Aftab have recently joined the He lab. Danve is here as a post doc and Tariq will be with us for 10 months as a visiting scholar. Please be sure to introduce yourselves and welcome them to the floor.
Farewell to He lab members (08/11/16): Rongzhi Chen and Caleigh Griffin will be departing the He lab this week. Rongzhi has been here as a visiting scholar and will be returning to China. We also said good-bye to Yongfu Qiu, another visiting scholar from China, this past month. Caleigh will be going to vet school here at MSU, so we may still see her around.
Congratulations, Adam! (08/04/16): Adam Seroka (He lab) has been awarded a Plant Biotechnology Health and Sustainability Fellowship. To see the announcement on the PRL website, click here.
Careers Beyond The Bench Workshop (06/25/16): ASBMB is putting on a Careers Workshop in Baltimore, MD this August. The application deadline to attend is July 31, 2016. Here is a brief description:
Careers Beyond the Bench is a three-day workshop for graduate students and postdocs who are committed to pursing a non-research-based career. Participants will receive one-to-one mentoring from Ph.D. holders in their field of interest, along with training in preparing for a career shift, specific application documents for positions of interest to them, interview technique, elevator pitches, developing a career plan, and building a persuasive resume.
For more information, click here.
The Pub Club in the spotlight (06/25/16): This week, Igor Houwat, the new communications coordinator for the PRL, wrote a story on The Pub Club. You can check it out here.
Looking to TA this Fall? (06/20/16): Applications for the Fall 2016 semester TA Tuition Pool are now open. You can find the link here: https://grad.msu.edu/ under “News.” The application deadline is Friday, July 8 at 5 p.m. The GEU will select which students will receive support from the TA tuition pool.
Updated Publications! (06/17/16): The Pub Club publications page has been updated. Check it out here or by going to the menu at the top of the site.
Thesis/Dissertation Formatting and Graduation Requirements Workshop (06/06/16): This one hour workshop is designed for “Plan A” Master’s students and all Doctoral students who intend to graduate within the next two semesters. During this workshop students will receive information regarding the following: How to format their thesis or dissertation correctly, how to successfully submit their thesis or dissertation via ProQuest/UMI and how to successfully complete their degree requirements and receive their diploma. Students are encouraged to review the Graduate School’s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation website at https://grad.msu.edu/etd where current information about formatting and requirements is listed prior to attending the workshop. Date: Friday, June 24, 2016 – Time: 9:00am to 10:00am – Location: 105 S. Kedzie – Click Here to Register
Congratulations, Li! (06/01/16): Li Zhang in the He lab has just received the 2016 Bessey Best Publication Award. Congratulations, Li!
New “Hub Net” Forum (05/30/16): The Hub Net is a new forum page created in response to a mutual desire of our group and Weigel World to continue the interactions initiated during our Skype mini-conference. You can view the forum by clicking on the name (below forums in right hand column of “Hub” page). To participate in this forum, simply register using the “Register” button. As this forum is meant as a tool to promote scientific interactions, please no mattress selling!
Welcome to Jenny Mantyla (05/23/16): Jenny Mantyla is the new lab manager for Gregg Howe’s lab. Be sure to welcome her to the 4th floor when you get a chance.
Spring BBQ Alert! (05/16/16): Maren Friesen is hosting a get-together at her house in East Lansing this Saturday, May 20th. Check out this week’s newsletter for more details and RSVP link!
Li Zhang gets IS-MPMI Travel Award! (05/16/16): Li Zhang of the He lab was awarded a Travel Grant to attend the 2016 IS-MPMI Congress in Portland, Oregon where she will also give a talk to present her research on the scord mutants. Congratulations, Li!
Congratulations to Ellie!!! (05/11/16): Ellie Siler of the Friesen lab is now an official PhD candidate. Congratulations!
Farewell to Katie Wozniak (04/30/16): Katie Wozniak of the Friesen lab is graduating from MSU and will be heading off to graduate school at the University of Michigan. She has done an excellent job coordinating the Python Group and participating in The Pub Club. We will miss you, Katie, and wish you all the best!
Congratulations to Bethany (04/28/16): Bethany Huot of the He lab received a Summer 2016 Dissertation Continuation fellowship from the Graduate School. Congratulations!
Congratulations to Alex!!! (04/26/16): Alex Corrion of the Day lab is now an official PhD candidate. Congratulations!
Publications Added!
Several publications have been added to The Publications page, which is a compilation of papers produced by members of The Pub Club while members of The Pub Club labs. If you are a Pub Club member and have a paper you would like posted, please send the citation information and URL to alphanode@thepubclubhub.org. For other pubs you think our group might find useful, please submit them on The Whiteboard and we will add them to the “Favorite Pubs” page.
World Debut
Check out our famous Professor Sheng Yang He in his breakout role! Where’s Waldo? Can you spot the time point where the Day Lab appears in the video?
Recommended by Sheng Yang He…
Hi all, Jim Collin gave a talk on this discovery in the recent HHMI Science meeting. Sheng Yang
Next Generation: Freeze-Dried Gene Networks
October 23, 2014
|Researchers devise a way to preserve bits of paper containing synthetic gene networks, which can be easily stored and widely distributed. Rehydrated, transcription and translation “come to life.” (read more)