Upcoming Symposium

• Structure-Function of Membrane Proteins
  (Chair, Cynthia V. Stauffacher)
  Keynote Speaker, Professor William Weis, Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University, School of Medicine.
  "Structures of the beta2-adrenergic receptor"
  
  • Michael Rossmann, Department of Biological Sciences
    “Structure and function of membranes that envelope many viruses”
  • Jue Chen, Department of Biological Sciences
    “Crystal Structure of the E. coli Maltose Transporter”
  • Bill Cramer, Department of Biological Sciences
    “Structure Strategies for Transfer of Large Molecules across Membranes”
  
  
• Membrane Receptors and Signaling
  (Chair, David Nichols and Chris Staiger)
  Keynote Speaker, Professor Richard Anderson, Department of Pharmacology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
  "PIP Kinases and Phosphoinositide Signaling"
  
  • Phil Low, Department of Chemistry
    “Folate-targeted therapeutics for cancer and inflammation”
  • Marietta Harrison, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
    “Signaling from Golgi Membranes in T Cells”
  • R. Claudio Aguilar, Department of Biological Sciences
    “Signaling functions of the endocytic machinery”
  
  
• Membrane Transport and Intracellular Trafficking
  (Chair, Christina Hrycyna)
  Keynote Speaker, Professor Dr. Robert Tampe, Institute of Biochemistry, Biocenter of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany.
  "Structure and Function of TAP, the Transporter Associated with Antigen
  Processing"
  
  • Amy Davidson, Department of Chemistry
    “Using EPR to Detect Conformational Changes in the Maltose Transporter”
  • Angus Murphy, Dept. of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture, "The membrane-anchored M1.10 protease APM1 characterises an IRAP-like endosomal compartment in Arabidopsis"
  • Eric Barker, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
    “Exploration of Drug Binding Sites on the Antidepressant- and Cocaine-Sensitive Serotonin Transporter”
  
  
• Emerging Applications of Membrane Technologies
  (Chair, John Morgan)
  Keynote Speaker, Professor Horst Vogel, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Institut de Science Biomoléculaire, Lausanne, Switzerland.
  "Investigating Cellular Signaling at the Nanometer and Attoliter scale"
  
  • David Thompson, Dept. of Chemistry
    "Development of a Supported Membrane Sensor for the Detection of Isoprenylcarboxylmethyl transferase Activity"
  • Ken Ritchie, Dept of Physics
    "Single Molecule Imaging of the Dynamic Structure of Membranes in Living Cells"
  • Ji-xin Cheng, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
    "Imaging Membrane by CARS microscopy: from domains in supported bilayer to demyelination in multiple sclerosis"
  
  

Upcoming Events

• Structural/Membrane Biology Seminars
  Lilly 1-117 (check room listing) at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays

• Department of Biological Sciences, 2008 Seminar Series
  MJIS 1001 at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesdays
  
  

Honors Recently Received

Jue Chen, Associate Prof. of Biological Sciences, Center member in the specific areas of Active Transport, Membrane Protein Structure, Membrane Fusion, Protein Import, and Viruses has been named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She is one of 56 members nation-wide in the new class of HHMI investigators.

Recent Activities of Faculty

W. A. Cramer, Dept. of Biological Sciences

• International Biophysics Congress, Long Beach CA, February 2-6, co-chaired the mini-symposium on Structure-Function of Oxidative Pathway Proteins, and Platform Session on Membrane Proteins, and presented a talk in the latter session on “The outer membrane translocon for nuclease colicins: higher resolution structure of the OmpF porin.”
  
  
• Eminent Scholar Lecture: "The hetero-oligomeric energy transducing membrane protein complexes, cytochromes bc1 and b6f of respiration and photosynthesis", Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, March 7, 2008.
  
  
• "Defining the Outer Membrane Translocon of the Nuclease Colicins" seminar at the Dept of Physiology & Biophysics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, March 20, 2008-03-19.
  
  
• Lecture on "A bioinformatics analysis contributes to an improved cyanobacterial source for structure-function studies of the b6f complex." European Science Foundation Symposium on "Molecular Bioenergetics of Cyanobacteria: Towards a Systems Biology Level of Understanding." San Feliu de Guixiols, Spain, March 29-April 3, 2008
  
  
• “Properties of the prosthetic groups unique to cytochrome b6f complexes,” session on Photosynthetic Electron Transport, Gordon Conference on Biochemical Aspects of Photosynthesis, June 22-27, Mt. Holyoke College, So. Hadley, MA.
  
  
• “Crystal Structures of the OmpF Porin: Function in a Colicin Translocon,” FASEB Summer Research Conference on “Molecular Biophysics of Cellular Membranes,” July 20-25, Vermont Academy, Saxton’s River, Vermont.
  
  

• "Structure and Mechanism of the Maltose (ABC) Transporter from E. coli", NIH; Membrane Protein Interest Group, Bethesda, Maryland, December 2007.
  
  
• "Structure and Mechanism of the Maltose (ABC) transporter from E.Coli", Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, April 2008.
  
  
• Chaired session on “Transporter/Channel Mechanisms,” and presented an invited talk in that session on “Structure and Mechanism of the ABC Maltose Transporter,” FASEB Summer Research Conference on “Molecular Biophysics of Cellular Membranes,” July 20-25, Vermont Academy, Saxton’s River, Vermont.
  
  

• “Folate Receptor-targeted Therapies for Cancer and Inflammation”, at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, February 14, 2008.
  
  
• “Receptor-targeted Therapies for Cancer and Inflammation: Obstacles and Opportunities for Nanotechnology”, at The Future of Nanotechnology for Targeted Drug Delivery conference, Boston, MA, February 25-27, 2008.
  
  
• “Folate Receptor-targeted Therapies for Cancer and Inflammation”, at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, February 28, 2008.
  
  
• “Folate Receptor-Targeted Therapies for Cancer and Inflammation” at the University of Louisville, Louisville, KY., on March 11, 2008.
  
  
• Invited Speaker at the University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, March 25, 2008, “Folate Receptor-Targeted Therapies for Cancer and Inflammation”


• "Folate Receptor-targeted Delivery of siRNA for Treatment of Cancer and Inflammation", Roche Pharmaceuticals, Lyndhurst NJ, April 1, 2008.
  
  
• "Folate Receptor-targeted Therapies and Imaging Agents for Cancer", Dept. of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, April 10, 2008.
  
  
• "Rapid and Accurate Pathogen Identification and Detection", IEEE 2008 International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security, Waltham, MA, May 12, 2008.
  
  
• "Folate Receptor-targeted Therapies for Cancer and Inflammation", Paul Scherer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland, May 20, 2008.
  
  
• "Folate Receptor-targeted Therapies for Cancer and Inflammation", ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, May 21, 2008.
  
  
• "Structure and Function of the Red Cell Membrane", "Single Particle Tracking of Protein Diffusion in the Red Cell Membrane", "Structure and Regulation of a Glycolytic Enzyme Complex on the Red Cell Membrane", University of Verona, Verona, Italy, May 23, 24, 2008.
  
  
• "Folate-targeted Liposomal Therapy for Cancer", 2008 NCI/NSTI Cancer Nanotechnology Symposium, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, June 4, 2008.
  
  
• "Ligand-mediated Targeting of siRNAs and Other Therapeutic Agents to Cancer Tissues and Sites of Inflammation", Therapeutic Opportunities of siRNA and Antigomers, New York Academy of Sciences Meeting, Manhattan, NY, June 10, 2008.
  

• Platform presentation: "RNAi Suppression of Motor Proteins in Drosophila Primary Neurons: Dissection of the Axonal Transport of Mitochondria", 47th annual American Society for Cell Biology meetings, Washington, DC, December 4, 2007.

• Presented a lecture on "PGP19 function is regulated by membrane microdomains in Arabidopsis". Eurpoean Plant Endomembrane Meeting, Oxford, U.K., August, 2007.

• Presented a lecture on "APP1 is a rate limiting component of auxin transport and signalling". University of Zurich, September 2007.

• Presented a lecture on "Delaware Membrane Protein Symposium, Centre for Biomedical Research Excellence", Delaware Biotechnology Institute, October 2007.
  

• Invited seminar. "Probing the functional topography of G protein coupled receptor binding sites" Dept. of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, The Ohio State University Medical Center, March 21, 2008.

• Invited Symposium Talk, "Regulation of Actin Dynamics in Plants", ComBio 2007, Sydney Australia, September 22-26, 2007.

• "Actin Dynamics in Plant Cells", School of Biological Sciences, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, September 28, 2007.

• "Regulation of Actin Dynamics in Plants", Department of Biochemistry and PULSe Plant Biology Seminar Series, Purdue University, October 2, 2007.
  
  
• "Regulation of Actin Dynamics", DOE-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, December 3, 2007.
  

• Invited Seminar: "Molecular and cellular mechanisms of adhesion-mediated neuronal growth cone guidance" at Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, March 7, 2008.


• Invited Seminar: "Molecular and cellular mechanisms of adhesion-mediated neuronal growth cone guidance" at Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, Indiana, February 22, 2008.

• Departmental Colloquium presented at Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, November 16, 2007.

• Invited Lecture presented at the International Drug Delivery Conference in London, England, December 8-11, 2007.
  
  
• "Design, Synthesis and Performance of Novel Lipids for Templated Protein Crystallization & Membrane Protein Based Biosensing" at City College of New York, Department of Chemical Engineering, March 3, 2008.
  
  
• Keynote Lecture, "Vectorial Transplantation of phi29gp10 Connector Protein into C20BAS Liposome Membranes", Particles 2008, May 10-13, 2008.