Biochemistry

Sanborn Field with corn

June 2, 2020

IPG PhD Students and Postdocs Selected for Webinar Series

Six University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG) PhD students and postdocs have been selected for “Summer CROPS Talks,” a webinar series for plant science researchers. This new series extends from a developing cooperation between the Center for Plant Science Innovation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State and the IPG. The series provides a great opportunity for graduate students and postdocs to engage with their peers at the other institutions. The platform provides an opportunity to share graduate student and postdoc research with the plant science community. The format will be a 20-minute…

Olga Baker smiling.

June 1, 2020

Olga J. Baker

Sep. 15, 2019

Michael Baldwin

Baldwin’s laboratory is focused on understanding how bacterial pathogens cause disease in the human population. In particular, he is studying botulinum neurotoxins, soluble proteins that readily diffuse from the site of infection to alter neuronal cell function with damaging effects on the intoxicated individual. The central theme of his research is to understand the molecular basis of protein translocation, the process by which the toxin catalytic domain is transported across the endosomal membrane bilayer to the cell cytosol. To pursue this goal, he has developed new spectroscopic and biochemical approaches to study the insertion of toxin into the membrane, which…

Lloyd Sumner

Sep. 7, 2019

Lloyd W. Sumner

The research focus of the Sumner lab includes the development of cutting-edge technologies for large-scale biochemical profiling of plant metabolites (i.e. metabolomics) and integrating these with other omics data. These technologies are then applied in a symbiotic manner for plant gene discovery, gene characterization and the elucidation of mechanistic responses to external stimuli; especially related to plant specialized metabolism or plant natural products biosynthesis. Technology enables the biology and the biology drives technology development. Current technology development projects include the development of a sophisticated and integrated ensemble including UHPLC-MS-SPE-NMR for the systematic and biologically driven annotation of plant metabolomes. This…

Jay Thelen smiling.

Sep. 7, 2019

Jay J. Thelen

Educational background Ph.D. Biological Sciences, University of Missouri Courses taught Biochemistry 4272/7272: Biochemistry…

Portrait of Scott Peck

Sep. 7, 2019

Scott C. Peck

Educational background Ph.D., Michigan State University Courses taught Biochemistry 2480: Introduction to Macromolecular Structure and Function Biochemistry 8200: Principles and Research Practices in Biochemistry…

Lesa J. Beamer smiling.

Sep. 7, 2019

Lesa J. Beamer

Educational background Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Courses taught Problem-Based Learning (PBL) for 1st and 2nd year medical students Graduate Level Structural Biology for the Life Sciences…

Steven Van Doren

Sep. 7, 2019

Steven R. Van Doren

Dynamic biological assemblies are strategic and fascinating. We have been exploring molecular recognition by flexible proteins and automatic tracking of changes in complex spectra and medical images. Molecular recognition by proteins with intrinsic disorder A pivotal virus-membrane interaction: Coronaviruses use a region of Spike to merge the viral envelope with the host cell membrane. We continue to be interested in the nature of the lipid interactions with this fusogenic region of Spike. Our articles reported (i) the NMR structure of the fusion peptide in a simple membrane-mimicking environment and (ii) its insertion and distortion of the simple membrane mimic via…

Sep. 7, 2019

Gerald Hazelbauer, PhD

Education BS Biology Williams College Williamstown, Mass. MS Biology Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio PhD Genetics University of Wisconsin Madison, Wis. Research Area Transmembrane receptors and sensory transduction in bacterial chemotaxis. Research Description The aim of our research is to elucidate molecular mechanisms of transmembrane receptors and sensory transduction. For more than 40 years our research group has provided important information about the transmembrane chemoreceptors and signaling complexes that mediate chemotaxis in Escherichia coli. We have helped make bacterial chemotaxis the best understood signaling system in biology and a favored subject for systems biology. Our experimental approaches combine biochemistry,…

John J. Tanner smiling.

Sep. 6, 2019

John J. Tanner

Educational background Ph.D. Chemistry, Brown University, 1988…