[News & Announcements]

The[CATALYST]

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Summer 2019 Volume VI, Issue II

Evan Kerr, in Roberta’s lab, has received an F31 fellowship. There are currently 6 F31’s in HSC, with 4 being in Biochemistry. Please join us in congratulating Evan!

• • • • • •

Steve Frisch did a presentation about EMT, Anoikis and Cancer at Washington and Jefferson College, Department of Biochemistry, on Monday, May 9. The course, “Senior Seminar on the Biochemistry of Cancer", was coordinated by Dr. Candy deBerry, who also co-ordinates summer undergrad research internships conducted at multiple institutions including WVU.

• • • • • •

Recent changes in departmental space, Mike Ruppert has moved into to Mary Wimmer’s old office, Jun Liu moved into the old stu-dent office, Mike Gunther moved to Dave’s old office, and Steve Frisch is now located in Mike Gunther’s old office.

• • • • • •

We have new cork boards for the halls to update the look of the hallway. Please take a moment to look around at the various labs posters and content on the new boards.

• • • • • •

Our Graduate Student Appreciation event was held on 4/16/2019. We had a great turnout for both the departmental celebration with food from local restaurants, and also at Black Bear Burritos for drinks after work.

• • • • • •

We have instituted a couple new events to foster camaraderie and fellowship in the department. Please join us for Birthday Celebra-tions on the 1st Monday of each month at noon in Wirtz Conference Room, and now every 3rd Friday of each month for Coffee & Bagels also in the Wirtz Conference Room.

• • • • • •

The Biochemistry Retreat took place at Stonewall Resort on Wednesday May 15th and Thursday May 16th.

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"The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win - you pass the test." ~ Jocko Willink

Sherrie Rice April 4 Jianhai Du Apr 20 Emily Sechrest April 27 Naira Margaryan April 28 Bradley Webb April 30 Kristina Marinak May 11 Thamaraiselvi Saravanan May 11 Roberta Leonardi May 15 Lana Yoho May 24 Mike Gunther May 26 Qiang Ma May 31 Fatimah Matalkah May 31 Skye Hickling June 4 Elena Pugacheva June 5 Saravanan Kolandaivelu June 10 Mark Tseytlin June 19 David McDonnell June 23 Knox VanDyke June 23

Inside This Issue News & Announcements ……………………………………..……....……..1 Upcoming Birthdays ……………………….……...………………...………..1 News & Announcements Cont’d.……………………..……..……..……. 2 Recent Publications ….….…..……………………………....…………..…… 3 Recent Publications Cont’d….….…..…………………....…………..….… 4 Great Lakes Breast Cancer Research Symposium ….……..…...… 4 2019 Outreach: Fairmont State & Shepherd University ..……... 5 2019 Summer Research Fellowship: Sarah Starcovic ..……….... 5 Alumni Spotlight: Indrani Talukdar, Ph.D. ……...….……...….……. 6 The Spotlight: Steve Frisch, Ph.D. ……...………………..……...………. 7 2019 Biochemistry Faculty Retreat …………………….…...…...….… 8 Coffee Break: Sudoku………………………………………….……...……… 9 Coffee Break: Word Search………………………………..……...……… 10 Coffee Break: Crossword ………………………………...….….......……. 11 Upcoming Events………………………...………………….…………….…. 12

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[News & Announcements Continued]

Emily Minor, a graduate student in Dr. V. Rajendran’s lab, defended her dissertation entitled “Can the colon be targeted to treat iron deficiency anemia” on Aril 30, 2019.

• • • • • •

Stephanie Shumar defended her disserta-tion entitled, “Determining the Role of Nudt7 in the Regulation of Cellular CoA Levels and Metabolism” on Tuesday, March 12, 2019.

• • • • ••

Evan Kerr, Graduate Student in Leonardi Lab, published a First Author Paper enti-tled: “Nudt8 is a novel CoA diphosphohy-drolase that resides in the mitochon-dria."

• • • • • •

Stephanie Shumar, Post-Doc in Leonardi Lab, published a First Author Paper enti-tled: “Overexpression of Nudt7 decreases bile acid levels and peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation in the liver."

• • • • • •

The Department hosted the 2019 Outreach event during the week of Spring break for

Undergraduate Students from Fairmont State and Shepherd Universities on March 11-15, 2019.

• • • • • •

The Great Lakes Breast Cancer Research Symposium took place on May 6-4, 2019 in Columbus Ohio. The Symposium high-lighted ongoing studies in biological mech-anisms, management and prevention of breast cancer. Various Researchers shared their exciting work in hopes of fostering future collaborations.

• • • • • •

Dr. Du's lab is being funded by Retinal Re-search Foundation. The mission of the Retina Research Foundation is to reduce retinal blindness worldwide by funding programs in research and education. Dr. Du's Lab received a Pilot Grant on nutri-

tional therapy for retinal degeneration.

• • • • • •

Sarah Starcovic, one of the 2019 Depart-ment of Biochemistry Outreach partici-pants, from Fairmont State University was awarded the 2019 Summer Research Fel-lowship.

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[Recent Publications]

Zhao H, Martin E, Matalkah F, Shah N, Ivanov A, Ruppert JM, Lockman PR, Agazie YM. "Conditional knockout of

SHP2 in ErbB2 transgenic mice or inhibition in HER2-amplified breast cancer cell lines blocks oncogene ex-

pression and tumorigenesis." Oncogene. 6459 Mar;78 (57):667 9-2290. doi: 10.1038/s41388-018-0574-8. Epub

2018 Nov 22. PMID: 30467378

MacFawn I, Wilson H, Selth LA, Leighton I, Serebriiskii I, Bleackley RC, Elzamzamy O, Farris J, Pifer PM, Richer J,

Frisch SM. "Grainyhead-like-2 confers NK-sensitivity through interactions with epigenetic modifiers." Mol Im-

munol. 2019 Jan;105:137-149. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2018.11.006. Epub 2018 Nov 30. PMID: 30508726

Petrisko TJ, Konat GW. "Peripheral viral challenge exacerbates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis."

Brain Dis. 2019 Apr;34(2):675-679. doi: 10.1007/s11011-019-0383-y. Epub 2019 Jan 14. PMID: 30637619

Brachet C, Kozhemyakina E, Boros E, Heinrichs C, Balikova I, Soblet J, Smits G, Vilain C, Mathers PH. "Truncating

RAX mutations: anophthalmia, hypopituitarism, diabetes insipidus and cleft palate in mice and men." J Clin

Endocrinol Metab. 2019 Feb 27. pii: jc.2018-02316. doi: 10.1210/jc.2018-02316. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:

30811539

Wilson HE, Rhodes KK, Rodriguez D, Chahal I, Stanton DA, Bohlen J, Davis M, Infante AM, Hazard-Jenkins H, Klinke

DJ, Pugacheva EN, Pistilli EE. “Human Breast Cancer Xenograft Model Implicates Peroxisome Proliferator-

activated Receptor Signaling as Driver of Cancer-induced Muscle Fatigue." Clin Cancer Res. 6459 Apr 5;69

(7):2336-2347. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-1565. Epub 2018 Dec 17. PMID: 30559167

Sarkar P, Saha T, Sheikh IA, Chakraborty S, Aoun J, Chakrabarti MK, Rajendran VM, Ameen NA, Dutta S, Hoque KM.

"Zinc ameliorates intestinal barrier dysfunctions in shigellosis by reinstating claudin-2 and -4 on the mem-

branes." Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 6459 Feb 5;756 (6):G669 -G246. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00092.2018.

Epub 2018 Nov 8. PMID: 30406698

Hayes KE, Batsomboon P, Chen WC, Johnson BD, Becker A, Eschrich S, Yang Y, Robart AR, Dudley GB, Geldenhuys WJ,

Hazlehurst LA. “Inhibition of the FAD containing ER oxidoreductin 1 (Ero1) protein by EN-460 as a strategy for

treatment of multiple myeloma." Bioorg Med Chem. 6459 Apr 59;67 (8 ):587 9 -1488. doi: 10.1016/

j.bmc.2019.02.016. Epub 2019 Feb 10. PMID: 30850265

Geldenhuys WJ, Skolik R, Konkle ME, Menze MA, Long TE, Robart AR. "Binding of thiazolidinediones to the endo-

plasmic reticulum protein nutrient-deprivation autophagy factor-1." Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 6459 Apr 5;69

(7):901-904. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2019.01.041. Epub 2019 Feb 1. PMID: 30770154

Margaryan NV, Hazard-Jenkins H, Salkeni MA, Smolkin MB, Coad JA, Wen S, Seftor EA, Seftor REB, Hendrix MJC. “The

Stem Cell Phenotype of Aggressive Breast Cancer Cells." Cancers (Basel). 6459 Mar 8 ;55(7). pii: E784. doi:

10.3390/cancers11030340. PMID: 30857267

Thibaudeau TA, Smith DM. “A Practical Review of Proteasome Pharmacology." Pharmacol Rev. 6459 Apr;7 5

(2):170-197. doi: 10.1124/pr.117.015370. Review. PMID: 30867233

Sato-Akaba H, Tseytlin M. “Development of an L-band rapid scan EPR digital console." J Magn Reson. 6459 May

10;304:42-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jmr.2019.05.003. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31100585

Markwell SM, Ammer AG, Interval ET, Allen JL, Papenberg BW, Hames RA, Castan o JE, Schafer DA, Weed SA.

"Cortactin Phosphorylation by Casein Kinase 2 Regulates Actin-Related Protein 2/3 Complex Activity, Invado-

podia Function, and Tumor Cell Invasion." Mol Cancer Res. 6459 Apr;57 (8):9 8 7 -1001. doi: 10.1158/1541-

7786.MCR-18-0391. Epub 2019 Jan 4. PMID: 30610108

"Science means constantly walking a tightrope between blind faith and curiosity; between expertise and creativity; between bias and openness; between experience and epiphany; be-tween ambition and passion; and between arrogance and conviction - in short, between an old today and a new tomorrow." ~ Heinrich Rohrer

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[Recent Publications Cont’d]

Yam M, Engel AL , Wang Y, Zhu S, Hauer A, Zhang R, Lohner D, Huang J, Dinterman M, Zhao C, Chao JR, Du J. “Proline

mediates metabolic communication between retinal pigment epithelial cells and the retina.” J Biol Chem. 2019.

doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA119.007983 (In Press).

Zhang T, Zhu L, Madigan MC, Liu W, Shen W, Cherepanoff S, Zhou F, Zeng S, Du J, Gillies MC. “Human macular Mül-

ler cells rely more on serine biosynthesis to combat oxidative stress than those from the periphery. “ Elife.

2019;8. pii: e43598. doi: 10.7554/eLife.43598. PMID:31036157

Harmon DB, Mandler K, Sipula I, Dedousis N, Lewis SE, Eckels JT, Du J, Wang Y, Pagano PJ, Ciefuentes-Pagano E, Ho-

manics GE, Van’t Erve TJ, Jurzcak M, O’Doherty RM, Kelley EE. “Hepatic-Specific Ablation or Whole Body Inhibi-

tion of Xanthine Oxidase in Obese Mice Corrects Systemic Hyperuricemia Without Improving the Metabolic Ab-

normalities.” Diabetes, 2019. pii: db181198. doi: 10.2337/db18-1198. PMID: 30936145.

Huang J, Gu S, Chen M, Zhang SJ, Jiang Z, Chen X, Jiang C, Liu G, Radu RA, Sun X, Vollrath D, Du J, Yan B, Zhao C.

“Abnormal mTORC1 signaling leads to retinal pigment epithelium degeneration.” Theranostics. 2019; 9

(4):1170-1180. PMID: 30867823.

Grenell A, Wang Y, Yam M, Swarup A, Dilan TL, Hauer A, Linton JD, Philp NJ, Gregor E, Zhu S, Shi Q, Murphy J, Guan T,

Lohner D, Kolandaivelu S, Ramamurthy V, Goldberg AFX, Hurley JB, Du J. “Loss of MPC1 reprograms retinal me-

tabolism to impair visual function." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Feb 26;116(9):3530-3535. doi: 10.1073/

pnas.1812941116. Epub 2019 Feb 11. PMID: 30808746

Kerr EW, Shumar SA, Leonardi R. "Nudt8 is a novel CoA diphosphohydrolase that resides in the mitochondria."

FEBS Lett. 2019 Apr 19. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13392. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31004344

Shumar SA, Kerr EW, Fagone P, Infante AM, Leonardi R. "Overexpression of Nudt7 decreases bile acid levels and

peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation in the liver." J Lipid Res. 6459 May;6 4(9):5449-1019. doi: 10.1194/

jlr.M092676. Epub 2019 Mar 7.

[2019 Great Lakes Breast Cancer Research Symposium]

The Great Lakes Breast Cancer Research Symposium took place on May 2-4, 2019 in Columbus Ohio. The Symposium highlighted

ongoing studies in biological mechanisms, management and prevention of breast cancer. Various Researchers shared their exciting

work in hopes of fostering future collaborations.

The Department of Biochemistry awarded

a Summer 2019 Research Fellowship to

one of the students who participated in the

Department's 2019 Spring Outreach from

Shepherd and Fairmont State Universities.

Sarah Starcovic, from Fairmont State Uni-

versity, was awarded the fellowship, and is

our 2019 Summer Research Fellow. The

fellowship will run from June 1, 2019 -

August 1, 2019, and Sarah will be joining

Aaron Robart’s Lab during her time here

this summer.

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[2019 Outreach]

[2019 Summer Research Fellowship]

The Biochemistry Department hosted 5 students this spring for our 2019 Outreach Event. The department hosted these undergrad-

uate students during the week of March 11-15, 2019. In attendance were Michael Watcher, Lexi Fritts, Julia Ivey, Payton Jackson, all

from Shepherd University, and Sarah Starcovic from Fairmont State. The students spent the week visiting various labs, taking part

in journal clubs, etc.

"One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, may-hem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening." ~ Jocko Willink

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Assistant Professor WVU Graduate Advisor: Lisa Salati, Ph.D.

Degree/Graduation Year: PhD 2006

Current Position/Title/Location:

Assistant Professor, BITS-Pilani, Goa, India

What have you been up to since you left WVU? Career, family, other life events that you would like to share.

After my graduation from WVU, I did two

post docs from UCSD and Sanford-

Burnham Institute of Medical Research-La

Jolla, California. After completion, I came

back to India and got my current job. I am

in BITS since 2013. Raising my son

Awnnesh (Rijul), now almost 11, teaching

and working hard to establish a research

group.

What do you enjoy most about your cur-rent position, field of study, or your cur-rent life endeavors?

I mostly enjoy interacting with my stu-

dents in the class. Some are extraordinari-

ly brilliant. Recently one got acceptance

from the graduate school of Harvard. In-

stances like this, makes me extremely

proud. Apart from that my son keeps me

busy in every way possible.

What advice would you give to current or incoming graduate students here at WVU?

WVU trains it’s graduate students well.

Take the advantage of that. Be focused and

exploit every opportunity the graduate

school provides.

How did your experience at WVU con-tribute to your professional career?

I learnt molecular biology and different

related techniques, RNA splicing, metabo-

lism, signal transduction, handling animal

models, cell culture hood etc. which I regu-

larly use here in my teaching or research.

WVU remains a major contributor in my

profession. My first experience with re-

search took place here. I would say experi-

ence in WVU made aware about my field of

study, what is expected from a researcher,

how one should prepare herself if she

wants to continue on this road etc. I learnt

during my graduate studies and still try to

follow.

The[Alumni Spotlight]

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The[Spotlight]

"The reasonable man tries to change himself to fit the world. The unreasonable man tries to change the world to fit himself. All progress depends on the unreasonable man”. ~ George Bernard Shaw

The Basics Title: Professor

Lab/Office: 3119

1. What was your very first job. I worked as a Westinghouse “repairman” who didn’t know how to repair anything. My job was to make house calls, listen to stories and drink coffee with the home-owner while the other guy did the repairs. 2. Hands-down favorite movie? A. “My Twentieth Century” (in Hungarian

with subtitles). It’s a fairy tale, kind of. B. “Bullets over Broadway (Woody Allen).

Have to admit, I love “The Princess Bride” too—a side effect of raising a daughter.

3. If you could have dinner with any his-torical figure/world leader/scientist/celebrity, who would it be and why? A. Malcolm Gladwell. He has novel, data-

based insight into almost everything. B. Pat Metheny. We could jam after din-

ner! 4. Any special talents? (e.g. juggling, singing, dancing…) I write guitar tunes-- mostly instrumental jazz-fusiony genre (can’t write lyrics to save my life). 5. Who was your favorite teacher/professor in school and why? A. My high school math teacher, Mr.

Bishop, who would often say “this is intuitively obvious from birth”. I find myself telling my students that, fifty years later.

B. My undergrad research mentor, Rolf Sternglanz (SUNY Stony Brook), and my grad student mentor, Zena Werb (UCSF). Two of the best and most in-spirational scientists I know.

6. Have you ever met anyone famous? Bill Clinton, Amy Tan, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Weinberg, the late Judah Folkman (we were collaborating on a project when he

passed away). 7. What are you thankful for? My wonderful wife and my daughter. 8. What do you think people would be most surprised to know about you? A. I have a 12-year old daughter and

three adult step-children. B. I play in a rock band. 9. When/where did you meet your best friend? In hospital the day I was born—he’s a few months older. He and I are still best friends to this day (he lives in New York, where we grew up). 10. Favorite quote: “The reasonable man tries to change him-self to fit the world. The unreasonable man tries to change the world to fit him-self. All progress depends on the unrea-sonable man”. George Bernard Shaw

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[Biochemistry Retreat 2019]

"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world." ~ Louis Pasteur

The Biochemistry Department hosted a

retreat for Faculty on May 15-16 2019.

The Faculty and Staff discussed various

topics.

We talked about the department and the

culture within. We discussed ways to

build camaraderie and respect, create a

culture of inclusion and openness, time

management, foster communication with-

in our department and also within the

other departments and administration

here at the HSC.

We discussed Research, and how we can

work together to improve and strengthen

our research efforts, stimulate new ideas,

resources we have available to us, ways

to generate revenue to fund our efforts,

and finally, how we can maximize all

these ideas to reach the goal of strength-

ening our research efforts.

Next we discussed Graduate Education,

and the various ways we can improve our

teaching efforts, refine and improve the

curriculum, and assist our students in

exploring various career options.

We feel that the retreat was productive,

and the time discussing these various

topics, setting goals, and laying the

groundwork to implement them, will

benefit our success over the next year

and years to come.

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[Sudoku]

[Word Search]

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Crossword Puzzle answers located on the back page [No L KING…]

[Crossword Puzzle]

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WVU and Morgantown Upcoming Events (June 2019-Through-August 2019)

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[Upcoming Events]

5/29/2019 Botanic Garden Observations: Field Journaling 5:30 PM West Virginia Botanic Garden, 1061 Tyrone Road

5/31/2019 Relay For Life 6:00 PM 122 South High Street, Morgantown, WV, USA

6/1/2019 Spring Gala 6:00 PM WVU Erickson Alumni Center

6/1/2019 2019 Deckers Trail Half Marathon 8:30 AM Masontown, WV, to the riverfront downtown

6/1/2019 WV All Roads Classic Bike Road Race 1 East Walmart Lane, Grafton, WV, USA

6/5/2019 Earth Box Container Gardening 6:30 PM West Virginia Botanic Garden, 1061 Tyrone Road

6/6/2019 Dissertaton Defense for Ashley Brandebura 10:00 AM Room 301 BMRC

6/7/2019 Friday Family Walk 10:00 AM West Virginia Botanic Garden, 1061 Tyrone Road

6/8/2019 Mountaineer Ch. of National Audubon Field Trip 7:30 AM Cheat Lake Park, Bunker Hill Road

6/8-9/2019 Country Roads Pickleball Classic TBD WVU Stud. Rec Center 2001 Rec Center Dr

6/14/2019 Arts Walk 6:00 PM Historic Downtown Morgantown (High St.)

6/22/2019 West Virginia Birthday Celebration Noon - All Day Downtown Morgantown (High Street)

6/30/2019 Fireworks Over Fayette 4:00 - 9:30 PM Uniontown Mall, Uniontown, PA

7/4/2019 WVU Holiday - Independence Day

7/6/2019 Summer Raid 2019, Viking Perf. LLC 9:00 AM 141 Green Bag Road, Morgantown, WV, USA

7/8-12/2019 Steel Drum Camp, BOPARC 7:30 AM 700 East Brockway Avenue, Morgantown, WV

7/12-14/2019 Dirt Rag Dirt Fest WV All Day 450 Big Bear Lake Drive, Bruceton Mills, WV

7/13/2019 New Deal Festival 10:00 AM Arthurdale Heritage, Q Road, Arthurdale, WV

7/20/2019 MedExpress Kids Day 2019 10:00 AM High Street, Morgantown, WV

7/20/2019 Good Neighbor Days 7:00 PM Bruceton Brandonville VFD, Bruceton Mills, WV

7/24/2019 2019 MountainFest Motorcycle Rally All Day Mylan Park, 500 Mylan Park Lane, Morgantown, WV

7/26/2019 2019 Breast Cancer Conference All Day Erickson Alumni Center, Morgantown, WV

7/30/2019 Taylor County WV Fair All Day Fairgrounds, 299 Fair Ground Rd, Grafton, WV

8/11/19 5th Ann. Great Pepperoni Roll Cookoff 2:00 PM Farmer's Market Pavillion, Spruce St., Morgantown

8/13-17/2019 Monongalia County Fair All Day 500 Mylan Park Lane, Morgantown, WV

8/17/2019 CWAAC Festival 12:00 PM Whitemoore Park, Morgantown, WV, USA

8/21/2019 WVU Classes Begin

8/23-25/2019 7th Annual WV Tattoo Expo 12:00 PM Marriott, 2 WaterFront Place, Morgantown, WV

8/30/2019 Adventure Fest Grafton, WV

Check out the Biochemistry Website

For More Events