If you’ve ever tried to untangle a pair of earbuds, you’ll understand how loops and cords can get twisted up. DNA can get tangled in the same way, and in some cases, has to be cut and reconnected to resolve the knots. Now a team of mathematicians, biologists and computer scientists has unraveled how E. coli bacteria can unlink tangled DNA by a local reconnection process. The math behind the research, recently published in Scientific Reports, could have implications far beyond biology.
Assistant Professor Sean Collins, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, has received a $1.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health to advance the development of “smart” immune cells for therapies to treat cancer and other diseases. The five-year NIH Director’s New Innovator Award aims to provide new insight into how to engineer immune cells to control their recruitment and response to tumors.
The College of Biological Sciences Faculty Teaching Award has two recipients for the 2016-2017 year. Luca Comai, professor of plant biology, and Michele Igo, professor and vice chair of microbiology and molecular genetics, are recognized for their excellence in teaching through enthusiasm and effectiveness of instruction, application of technology and innovation in the classroom, and mentorship and motivation of students.
Distinguished Professor Michael Savageau, who holds dual appointments in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in the College of Biological Sciences and the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
For the first time scientists have been able to watch individual steps in the replication of a single DNA molecule, with some surprising findings. For one thing, there’s a lot more randomness at work than has been thought.
“It’s a different way of thinking about replication that raises new questions,” said Stephen Kowalczykowski, distinguished professor in microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of California, Davis, and at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. The work is published June 15 in the journal Cell with co-authors James Graham, postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis, and Kenneth Marians, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Assistant Professor Sean Collins, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, has received a prestigious, two-year $200,000 award that will help advance the use of immune cells for cancer therapies. The Kimmel Scholar Award is given to 15 of the nation’s most promising young researchers leading the fight against cancer.
JaRue Manning recently received the Distinguished Emeritus Award for 2017. But, in his case, let’s call it the “Double” Distinguished Emeritus Award. For, he not only continues to teach microbiology, the field in which he took emeritus status in 2008, but also has educated himself in another discipline, viticulture and enology.
Where would we be without meiosis and recombination? For a start, none of us sexually reproducing organisms would be here, because that’s how sperm and eggs are made. And when meiosis doesn’t work properly, it can lead to infertility, miscarriage, birth defects and developmental disorders. Neil Hunter’s laboratory at the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences is teasing out the complex details of how meiosis works.
A University of California, Davis, microbiologist who studies how a parasitic amoeba kills cells has been named as a 2016 Pew scholar in the biomedical sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The scholarship program provides funding to outstanding young scholars working to advance human health.
Neil Hunter, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics in the College of Biological Sciences, has been elected as a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group of the American Society for Microbiology, which is the world's oldest and largest life-science organization.
