20240912 

Incoming MBSB students attended the welcome ceremony hosted by Graduate Studies at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, on September 5th. Dr. Saleem Khan, Associate Dean for Graduate studies and Academic Affairs, opened the ceremony and welcomed the students. The attendees listened to a variety of presentations, with a key speech focusing on “Biomedical research and the mission of our medical school” delivered by Dr. Anantha Shekhar, Dean of the School of Medicine. The students received University jackets, and finally recited “A Scientist’s Oath”.

Welcome to MBSB!!

https://www.mbsb.pitt.edu/

By MBSB.

20240809

Ari Selzer, a student in the MBSB Program, successfully defended his thesis on August 9th to complete his Ph.D. The title of his presentation and thesis is “Allosteric Modulation of Src-Family Kinases in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Harnessing Natural Mechanisms of Kinase Regulation to Develop Novel Therapeutics”. Ari performed this research under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Smithgall in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His project combined multiple biophysical approaches to better understand small molecule modulation of a cancer-associated kinase, including x-ray crystallography, protein NMR, and hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry. Ari will begin a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Catherine Drennan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/HHMI later this fall and plans to follow a career in academic research.\\

Congratulations, Ari!

Please check the student and faculty websites;

https://www.mbsb.pitt.edu/index.php/site-map/articles/85-students/282-ari-selzer

https://www.mbsb.pitt.edu/index.php/site-map/articles/81-faculty/185-thomas-smithgall

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20240826

Darian Yang, a student in the MBSB Program, successfully defended his thesis on August 26th to complete his Ph.D. The title of his presentation and thesis is “Invisible Protein States and How to View Them: Integrating ¹⁹F NMR and Weighted Ensemble Simulations”. Darian performed this research under the co-supervision of Prof. Angela Gronenborn in the Department of Structural Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Prof. Lillian Chong in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Darian developed force field parameters for fluorinated amino acids and characterized an alternate state of the HIV-1 capsid protein CTD dimer using weighted ensemble simulations and NMR spectroscopy. Combining such experimental and computational approaches is crucial for advancing the boundaries of knowledge within biophysics. Darian will begin a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Prof. Kresten Lindorff-Larson at the University of Copenhagen and plans to continue a career in scientific research.

Congratulations, Darian

Please check the student and faculty websites;
http://www.mbsb.pitt.edu/index.php/site-map/articles/81-faculty/146-lillian-chong
http://www.mbsb.pitt.edu/index.php/site-map/articles/81-faculty/156-angela-gronenborn
http://www.mbsb.pitt.edu/index.php/site-map/articles/85-students/290-darian-yang 

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20231004 

Congratulations to Dr. Deiters!

He received the 2023 Pittsburgh Award of American Chemical Society. Congratulations.

https://pittsburghacs.org/congratulations-to-the-2023-pittsburgh-award-recipient-dr-alexander-deiters/

We do not need to explain his excellent research here, because he just gave a talk in the MBSB seminar on Sep 21. We all enjoyed his talk. A good timing.

Faculty Page

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