The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Spring Awards Program, honoring faculty and staff achievements, was held on March 8, 2018, in the Memorial Union Sun Room.  The list of award recipients can be viewed on the CALS On-line website.

Basil Nikolau, professor in the Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology and director of the Center for Metobolic Biology, and Matt Helmers, an Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering professor who holds the Dean’s Professorship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, received the Dean Lee R. Kolmer Award for Excellence in Applied Research at the college’s fall convocation. The Dean Lee R. Kolmer Award is named for a former college dean and honors faculty or staff who have made significant contributions to improving the welfare of Iowans by the application of their research.

Faculty chosen for 2018 Dean's Emerging Faculty Leaders Awards are Adam Barb, Nell Gabiam, and Grant Arndt in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  These members were chosen based on their excellent research.  The awards are funded by donations from members of the LAS Dean's Advisory Council and LAS alumni.

Natalie Whitis, an Iowa State alumna, was recently awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which provides three years of full financial support during a five-year fellowship period.  The goal of the program is to recognize high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers and support their graduate research training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines.

For 20176, 64 employees reached 25 consecutive years of service at Iowa State University. For more than 100 years, the 25 Year Club has recognized faculty and staff who have worked at Iowa State a quarter century or more.  A honoree, Donald Beitz, started working at Iowa State in 1967 and is the sole 50-year honoree.

Every year the Division of Student Affairs celebrates the accomplishments of students who serve the community with their gifts of leadership.  For 2018, Bailey Mooney, a Biochemistry and Genetics student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from Middle, Iowa, was presented the Kappa Alpha Theta High Flyer Award, a donor established award first given in 2011.  The award is given to invest in a woman student who is an outstanding undergraduate leader at Iowa State University.  The award recognizes a senior with a minimum GPA of 3.50 who has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills.

Daniel Kramer, a second year Ph.D. student in Professor Stone Chen’s research group, has been awarded the Print and Grace Powers Hudson Scholarship in Agriculture by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for the 2018-19 academic year.  This scholarship of $1,000 is designated for students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences pursuing a Ph.D. or M.S. degree.

The Bailey award is given to faculty whose research is innovative and not only increases fundamental knowledge, but also has practical applications. This year, Thomas Bobik, professor of microbiology, received a three-year, $137,697 award to explore the use of methanobactin as a way to remove copper in human tissue as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.  

The Iowa State Daily takes a look at the wearing of the hijab by women of the Muslim faith.

Iowa State University researchers gain new insight into the human immune system by studying the material left over after blood donations.  The results published in a peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry, illuminates the process of how the human body fights off harmful bacteria.

Please join us for a special event celebrating the dedication of the Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology on Friday, March 30th at 3 p.m. to be held in the Molecular Biology Building Atrium.

The BBMB Graduate Learning Community (GLC), which started in Fall 2013, is a peer-led community that focuses on exploring the professional development and careers of graduate students studying in the area of biochemistry and biophysics. The first meeting of the year for GLC will be held on August 30 to help guide new BBMB students with their Individual Development Plan (IDP) assessment tool, with subsequent meetings and events planned around the IDP results.

The diversity of ideas and perspectives students bring is essential to keep research fresh and moving forward.  Awarded the LAS Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring, Reuben Peters, a professor in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, has provided guidance to 17 students who have received graduate level degrees, and his mentoring has led to more than 90 publications and four patents.

Take a look back at 2017 for accomplishments and milestones for Iowa State University.

To add to the growing understanding of CRISPR as an immune system for the benefit of gene editing technique as well as other unforeseen applications, Dipali Sashital, an assistant professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, and Chaoyou Xue (’17 Ph.D. Biochemistry) are working with a new technique, developed by Xue, to visualize how the CRISPR protein searches DNA.  The results have been published in the journal, Cell Reports.

While Coulomb’s Law of opposites attract may have brought Marna Yandeau-Nelson and Scott Nelson together, it is the combination of genetic and biochemical science and teaching at ISU, and a mutually supportive home life that keeps the bond strong.

CALS "Stories About..." article written by Basil Nikolau explains how big science projects are built on small science advancements.

A novel database presented by researchers at ISU will allow scientists to access information on RNA structures encoded within the human genome.  "This will help facilitate basic research into human biology and could pave the way for new medical treatments that target RNA", stated by Walter Moss, assistant professor in the Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.  

Diane Bassham and Gustavo MacIntosh's current study on a cellular pathway in plants shows a connection to a certain encephalopathy, or the degeneration of neural cells in the brain.