Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2011

Congratulations to Alex Emch and Colleen Lanza for each receiving a highly competitive 2011 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Colleen is a Biochem major working in Dr. Randy Basaraba's Laboratory. Colleen will receive a $3000 stipend for her summer research work, and up to $500 for student travel to the 2012 ASM General Meeting in San Francisco. Alex is a Micro major working in the Wilusz Laboratory and will receive a $4000 stipend along with $1000 for travel to the ASM Meeting.

Alex Emch

Colleen Lanza

Congratulations to Micro Major Rebecca Timmons for receiving an ASM Student Travel Grant to attend and present a poster at the 2011 General Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, May 21-24, 2011.

Congratulations to the following MIP undergraduate students who ranked in the top tier of the over 400 student presenters at CSU’s 2011 Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity Showcase.

HIGHEST HONORS

Katriana Popichak
"Blockade of NF-Kappa B prevents MPTP-Induced Expression of Inducible NO Synthase in Primary Astrocytes"
(Mentor: Ron Tjalkens)

Kapila Pothu
"Mechanism of Ca-triggered Membrane Fusion"
(Mentor: Noreen Reist)

COLLEGE HONORS

Lauren Kinner
"Association of PECAM1/CD31 and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis"
(Mentor: Alan Schenkel)

Ryan Knodle
"Production of a Fusion Protein of ESAT-6 and MTB10.4 to Design a Subunit Vaccine Against Tuberculosis"
(Mentors: Angelo Izzo and Ajay Grover)

Check out the CURC Photo Gallery

To all MIP CURC Participants

Congratulations on a job well done!

Ashley Andrews (Schenkel)
Megan Vogt (Quackenbush)
Jennifer Sneden (Basaraba)
Laylaa Ramos (Peel)
Kapila Pothu (Reist)
Katriana Popichak (Tjalkens)
Paul Moresco (Quackenbush)
Nelly Michie (Ordway)
Kaitlyn McNamara (Ehrhart)
Hannah Laurence (Olver)
Ryan Knodle (Izzo)
Lauren Kinner (Schenkel)
Jessie Haugen (Basaraba)
Amanda Dudek (Stone-Roy)
Jared Brethouwer (Bowen)
Flip Senn (Akkina)
Jennifer Ross (Basaraba)
Colleen Lanza (Basaraba)

Congratulations to MIP graduate students Lorene Martinez and Justin Lee for being two of only 23 students selected as 2011 Environmental Science Communication Fellows at CSU. Lorene and Justin will participate in an interactive communication training workshop led by nationally known journalists on May 9-11. The goal of this program is a very important one: to build the capacity of young scientists to communicate effectively about their work with society.

Moon receives Sigma Xi funding

Congratulations to MIP graduate student Stephanie Moon for receiving Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research in the amount of $1000.

The Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research program has a highly competitive application process and only approximately 20% of applicants receive funding. Stephanie works in the Wilusz Laboratory.

The Spring meeting of the Rocky Mtn Branch of the American Society for Microbiology was held on April 1st and 2nd.

Congratulations to the following MIP'ers who received special recognition for their efforts:

Stephanie Moon
2nd Place Graduate Oral Presentation Award

Claire Birkenheuer and Erik Arthun
3rd Place Graduate Oral Presentation Award

Andrew Goodyear
1st Place Graduate Poster Presentation Award

Congratuations to the following MIP'ers who received a 2011 CVMBS Scholarship or Award:

Jenny Taylor
Innovative Instructional Methodology Award in Undergraduate Education

Randy Basaraba
SCAVMA Advisor Appreciation Award

Bret Abadie
Delano F. Scott Scholarship

Erin Breland
Microbiology Undergraduate Scholarship and Microbiology Student Association Officer Scholarship

Steven Bruckbauer
Microbiology Undergraduate Scholarship

Jamie Bunker
F. Bing Johnson and Jofrid L. Torgersen Memorial Scholarship

Deanna Dailey
Dr. Virgil and Mitzy H. Yount Postgraduate Veterinary Medicine Scholarship

Maureen Emmanueli
Dr. Virgil and Mitzy H. Yount Postgraduate Veterinary Medicine Scholarship

Karen Fox
Floyd Cross Memorial Scholarship

Alana Garner
Dr. Virgil and Mitzy H. Yount Postgraduate Veterinary Medicine Scholarship

Valerie Johnson
Dr. Virgil and Mitzy H. Yount Postgraduate Veterinary Medicine Scholarship

Ryan Knodle
Myron Brown Ludlow Scholarship

Krista Lockwood
Students First Scholarship

Victoria Lucero
Pamela Hill Griffith Memorial Scholarship

Kelsey Quinn
Microbiology Undergraduate Scholarship

Katie Sollars
Microbiology Student Association Member Scholarship

Rebecca Timmons
Beulah and Doyle Blair Memorial Scholarship

Brittney Wyatt
Sumner M. Morrison Memorial Scholarship

Congratulations to Gerald Callahan, Jenny Taylor and Donald Klein for being nominated for the 2011 CSU Alumni Best Teacher Award!

The Colorado State University Alumni Association and its affiliate student group, the Student Alumni Connection, recognize outstanding Colorado State University educators each year with Best Teacher Awards. The teachers are nominated by students and alumni and are selected by a committee comprised of members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and Student Alumni Connection Leadership Council.

In the News...

Brian Foy was highlighted in the April edition of Science Online in the article, "Sex After a Field Trip Yields Scientific First" and in the April 8th Foxnews.com story entitled, "Man Sexually Transmits Insect-Borne Disease to Wife" regarding how he might have passed the Zika virus to his wife after returning from a trip from Senegal.

EJ Ehrhart was noted in the March 10 issue of the Northern Colorado Channel 5 in the article, "Colorado State University Professor Receives $1.3 Million Defense Grant" for his laboratory's involvement with testing the artificial, wound-healing material being developed in the Chemistry Department by Dr. Reynold's laboratory.

Fumihiko Sagawa successfully defended his MS thesis, "Nucleophosmin deposition as a result of mRNA 3' end processing influences poly(A) tail and mRNA export7", on March 10. His advisors are Jeff and Carol Wilusz.

Laura Brandt, DVM, presented her MS defense on March 22 entitled, "In vivo and in vitro characterization of the canine nephron and urinary proteome". Her advisor is Dr. Andrea Bohn

Katie Propst, MS, presented her PhD defense on April 21 entitled, "The Analysis of Burkholderia pseudomallei Virulence and Efficacy of Potential Therapeutics". Her advisors are Dr. Steven Dow and Dr. Herbert Schweizer

Elizabeth Magden, DVM, presented her MS defense on April 21 entitled, "Walleye Dermal Sarcoma Virus Orf C: A potential oncolytic therapy". Her advisor is Dr. Sandra Quackenbush

Genetic Elimination of Dengue Vector Mosquitoes

Megan Wise de Valdez, Derric Nimmo, John Betz, Hong-Fei Gong, Tony James, Luke Alphey and Bill Black

Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:4772-4775 March 2011

The world badly needs more effective, novel ways to control mosquito populations to reduce arthropod-borne diseases such as Dengue fever.  Leave it to Big Bad Bill Black and colleagues to create a ‘Steel Cage Death Match’ of sorts in their mosquito insectary – sans the pile-driver, sleeper hold and chair-bashing excitement of a WWF spectacle.  Instead, Bill and his buddies believe that ‘love’ is the answer.

The basic premise of their approach is to get transgenic male mosquitoes (with a name that rolls right off your tongue: OX3604C) made by Oxitec Ltd that carry a repressible ‘dominant lethal’ mutation to mate with female mosquitoes.  The mutation carried by these male Casanovas is linked to a female-specific RNA splicing event and causes all of the female progeny of the mating to be flightless.  Female mosquitoes that can’t fly don’t mate, don’t feed on your blood and are sitting ducks for predators.  Hence the overall mosquito population should be dramatically reduced in a few generations.

To demonstrate this ain’t just science fiction, Bill et al filled 6 steel cages with wild Aedes  aegypti mosquitoes from a genetically diverse strain obtained from Mexico, introduced a bunch of macho-looking, irresistible backcrossed OX3604C males into the cage, and put on some Barry White tunes to create the proper mood.  They then followed egg and adult wild mosquito numbers in the cages for more than half a year (does the Black Lab know how to have a good time or what?).  The results were very dramatic and very promising:  A reduction in egg and adult wild mosquito numbers was observed in 6-8 weeks and the entire population of wild mosquitoes in the cage was killed off in 10-20 weeks.

So why did we choose this paper as our coveted MIPublication of the Month® for April?  First, this study is a very clear proof of principle for the consortium’s OX3604C version of the classic sterile insect technique as a highly effective means of controlling a targeted mosquito population.  Thus it’s a clear stepping stone to field trials.  Second, it represents a nice collaboration between MIP researchers and industry as we try to move the work we do from the benchtop to the real world.  Finally, it’s a great example of the coming together of molecular biology, genetics and vector biology to create what appears to be a better fly swatter.  Who says nothing practical every comes out of the ivory towers of our universities (even if the tower is only four stories tall with a leaky roof)?

MIP Publications Late March 2011 - Early April 2011

Olsson M, Meadows JR, Truvé K, Rosengren Pielberg G, Puppo F, Mauceli E, Quilez J, Tonomura N, Zanna G, Docampo MJ, Bassols A, Avery AC, Karlsson EK, Thomas A, Kastner DL, Bongcam-Rudloff E, Webster MT, Sanchez A, Hedhammar A, Remmers EF, Andersson L, Ferrer L, Tintle L, Lindblad-Toh K.  A Novel Unstable Duplication Upstream of HAS2 Predisposes to a Breed-Defining Skin Phenotype and a Periodic Fever Syndrome in Chinese Shar-Pei Dogs.  PLoS Genet. 2011 Mar;7(3):e1001332.

Hoff DR, Ryan GJ, Driver ER, Ssemakulu CC, De Groote MA, Basaraba RJ, Lenaerts AJ.  Location of Intra- and Extracellular M. tuberculosis Populations in Lungs of Mice and Guinea Pigs during Disease Progression and after Drug Treatment.  PLoS One. 2011 Mar 21;6(3):e17550.

Shang S, Ordway D, Henao-Tamayo M, Bai X, Oberley-Deegan R, Shanley C, Orme IM, Case S, Minor M, Ackart D, Hascall-Dove L, Ovrutsky AR, Kandasamy P, Voelker DR, Lambert C, Freed BM, Iseman MD, Basaraba RJ, Chan ED.  Cigarette smoke increases susceptibility to tuberculosis--evidence from in vivo and in vitro models.  J Infect Dis. 2011 May;203(9):1240-8.

Ledermann JP, Lorono-Pino MA, Ellis C, Saxton-Shaw KD, Blitvich BJ, Beaty BJ, Bowen RA, Powers AM.  Evaluation of widely used diagnostic tests to detect west nile virus infections in horses previously infected with st. Louis encephalitis virus or dengue virus type 2.  Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2011 Apr;18(4):580-7.

Sartain MJ, Dick DL, Rithner CD, Crick DC, Belisle JT.  Lipidomic analyses of Mycobacterium tuberculosis based on accurate mass measurements and the novel "Mtb LipidDB".  J Lipid Res. 2011 May;52(5):861-72.

Ptitsyn AA, Reyes-Solis G, Saavedra-Rodriguez K, Betz J, Suchman EL, Carlson JO, Black WC 4th.  Rhythms and synchronization patterns in gene expression in the Aedes aegypti mosquito.  BMC Genomics. 2011 Mar 17;12(1):153.

Wise de Valdez MR, Nimmo D, Betz J, Gong HF, James AA, Alphey L, Black WC 4th.  Genetic elimination of dengue vector mosquitoes.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Mar 22;108(12):4772-5.

Blair, CD.  Mosquito RNAi is the major innate immune pathway controlling arbovirus infection and transmission.  Future Microbiol. 2011 Mar;6:265-77.

Butrapet S, Childers T, Moss KJ, Erb SM, Luy BE, Calvert AE, Blair CD, Roehrig JT, Huang CY.  Amino acid changes within the E protein hinge region that affect dengue virus type 2 infectivity and fusion.  Virology. 2011 Apr 25;413(1):118-27.

Magden ER, Weiner CM, Gilliland JC, Degroote MA, Lenaerts AJ, Kendall LV.  Torticollis in Mice Intravenously Infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2011;50(2):244-7.

Might KR, Hanzlik KA, Case JB, Duncan CG, Egger EL, Rooney MB, Duerr FM.  In vitro comparison of proximal ulnar osteotomy and distal ulnar osteotomy with release of the interosseous ligament in a canine model.  Vet Surg. 2011 May;40(3):321-6.

Eisen L, Coleman M, Lozano-Fuentes S, McEachen N, Orlans M, Coleman M.  Multi-disease data management system platform for vector-borne diseases.  PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2011 Mar 29;5(3):e1016.

Liu N, Cummings JE, England K, Slayden RA, Tonge PJ.  Mechanism and inhibition of the FabI enoyl-ACP reductase from Burkholderia pseudomallei.  J Antimicrob Chemother. 2011 Mar;66(3):564-73.

Maddy Olver wins Honorable Mention at CSEF!

Following in the MIP tradition of high quality science, Maddy Olver, daughter of Dr. Christine Olver, received an Honorable Mention in the Animal Sciences division at the Colorado State Science and Engineering Fair held at CSU in April. Is it too early to start recruiting her for our graduate programs???

Congratulations to Stephanie Moon for receiving an ‘Honorable Mention’ at the CSU Art in Science Exhibition held this spring. Her artwork is pictured below.

Upon receiving the award, the humble artist was quoted as saying "really, it's just a bunch of speckles."

Mark Your Calendars!

WHEN: May 6, 4-7pm
WHERE: A/Z Lawn

Famous Dave's BBQ will provide the main dishes of chicken and pork, please bring a side dish to share...there will be sign-up sheets in the main offices in Path, Micro & IDA. This event is co-sponsored by DMIP, MSA and MSO.

The MIP Graduate Student Organization hosted guest speaker, Dr. Jon Epstein DVM, MPH from the EcoHealth Alliance in New York city, on Friday April 1st. Dr. Epstein gave a seminar entitled "Emerging bat viruses: Why Ebola, Nipah and SARS outbreaks are our fault" to a packed house. Dr. Epstein enjoyed meeting with several graduate students and post-docs, having lunch with graduate students, touring the USDA and DMC, and the dinner social at CB & Potts. Special thanks the MIP Department and the graduate student-invited speaker committee for making this event possible.

Thanks to everyone in MIP who volunteered their time to help judge the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair on April 7th:

Diane Bergstedt
Brian Geiss
Ryan Goffredi
Courtney Hillard
Tiffany Hughes
Charles Hunt
Don Klein
Gary Mason
Candace Mathiason
Crystal Meyerett
Jeff Sarek
John Spencer
Erica Suchman
Hana Van Campen
Vara Vissa
Agatha Wieczorek

Congratulations to Jeff Wilusz on his re-election to Faculty Council for another three year term starting July 1. Thanks to all MIPers who make valuable contributions to the shared governance of our institution.

MIP's Administrative Staff participated in their Quarterly Staff Meeting, potluck-style, on March 16 in Pathology Room 107. Because the date fell between Mardi Gras and St Patricks Day staff brought dishes that were appropriate for celebrating either holiday. There was corned beef and cabbage, Irish soup, Jambalaya, and Irish soda bread to name a few.

Dr. Hoover addressed the staff and provided information about the state of the department and what to expect with the upcoming budget cuts.

The highlight of the afternoon, however was when the group participated in team building exercises of Pictionary and Charades. Staff were divided into two groups; the Shamrocks and the Masks. The exciting round of Pictionary came down to a tie with the Masks winning the tie-breaking challenge of ‘Fish out of Water’.
The Toughest Charades were ‘Columbus’, performed by Janet Bebell, and ‘Calvary’, performed by Cathy Griffin. The Easiest Charades were ‘Hug’, performed by Erin Napier, and ‘Twirl’, peformed by Bev Meyer.

Be sure to visit the Photo Gallery from this teambuilding and delicious staff event.

Best Wishes Dawn!

We are sad to report that Dawn Petersen's last day with MIP was April 20th...

From Dawn: "After working in the Microbiology Office for five years, I have decided to move on. My husband and I have accepted jobs in Durango, CO. I will be joining the HR team at Durango School District. We look forward to raising our girls in a smaller town, walking to work, and exploring the San Juans on the weekends. I will always have fond memories of CSU, Ft. Collins, Poudre Canyon and my many wonderful co-workers in MIP."

Thank you to all who participated in helping us raise funds for Japan earthquake relief efforts. Your contributions are greatly appreciated. We were able to donate $350.00 to Sasakawa Peace Foundation on April 8.

Graduation Schedule
May 13, 2010

PVM
8am Moby Arena

Graduate School
3pm Moby Arena

Biomedical Sciences
7:30pm LSC Main Ballroom

Bacteriologist Interviews

The Bacteriologist search committee has identified top candidates to invite for interviews and plans to have the interviews completed before the end of June. Stay tuned to email notices for upcoming candidate seminars and interview schedules.

If you haven't heard, CSU is currently in the process of replacing the Octel Voicemail System with Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging. This transition should be complete by Summer 2011. Please see the Exchange website for more information.

As noted on the Exchange website, Exchange voice mail has the "added benefit of delivering voice mail messages via e-mail for users with an existing Exchange account". Users who have already been switched to the new voicemail system have reported that although the email messages transcribed from voicemail are not accurate, they do provide some comic relief.

A few examples;

"This is Danish Warts calling..." translation: "This is Dana Schwartz calling..."

"We have a cat with a hi limbo steak house…" translation: "We have a cat with a high lymphocyte count"

Congratulations to Lisa McCann and her family on the birth of her first grandchild, Camden Downey McCann, born March 30.

The VandeWoude Lab had a babyshower on March 17 for Amy Nalls (due end of March, girl), Cindy Zheng (due 4/20, girl), and Martha MacMillan (due 4/21, boy). This is in addition to Brea Smith's baby born in January (boy), Karen Fox due end of March (boy), and Liz Magden last October (boy). Somebody contact Environmental Services to see what's going on in the Path Building!!!!!

The shower included a babyfood content identification contest, won by Crystal Meyerett, who correctly identified bananas, beef and peas.

Check out photos from the Baby Shower

Pathology 3rd Floor Renovations

Pathology Rooms 320, 321, 323 and 301 are undergoing renovations from March 28 through July 1. The renovations are in preparation for the arrival of Dr. Glenn Telling and his Laboratory on, or around July 1. Please contact Jeanette Fritzler if the additional noise, etc. is impacting your research and she will work with Facilities on mitigating those disruptions.

"Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain, For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain. America, America, man sheds his waste on thee, And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea."
~George Carlin

Happy Earth Day 2011

Randy Basaraba recently provided professional veterinary expertise at the Iditarod dogsledding race in Alaska

Alternative captions
• "Hurry up and take the picture – I’m freezing my mukluks off"
• Frustrated by the lack of salary increases in recent years, Randy takes on some part time work to help make ends meet
• After a long hard day a work, would you really want to put your lips anywhere near a bottle that looked like that?
• Nothing beats a beer with a great head!
• It may say ‘amber ale’ on the bottle, but that looks like a ‘stout’ inside
• Submit your own

Twice a year, Corrine Lindstadt must move the Pathology atomic clocks into the main office until they receive transmission of the daylight savings time change to reflect the current time.

Alternative captions:
• Last time that Corrine is falling for the ‘Hey- you’ll get triple-time’ if you work this weekend line
• Clocks in the main office keep track of the different time zones of the various far flung MIP facilities
• Look no further than the Path Office for trinkets for your Flava Flav Halloween costume
• Submit your own

Janet Bebell has recently moved her main office to Pathology Room 108

Alternative captions:
• Wow - Departmental budget cuts are really starting to show!
• Dr. Hoover’s secret room where he gets faculty to agree to serve on committees
• We’ve got the round table, now all we need are a few MIP Knights
• Submit your own.

Pathology 107 Remodel - Can you find the differences?

The changes are subtle, but the improvements made to this frequently used departmental room are important.

Four of the 7 improvements made to the room are visible between the "before" and the "after" pictures. Can you identify them?

Questions for MIPuzzle #64
MIPuzzle #64 Answers

Congratulations to Santiago Mejia, formerly of the Titus Laboratory, for his recent appointment as Director of Research at Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia (INPer) in Mexico City.

Congratulations to MIP graduate, John Gilchrist for being accepted into the Cellular & Molecular Physiology PhD program at Johns Hopkins University beginning fall 2011.

Congratulations to Megan Cassidy for receiving the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Fellowship.

Congratulations to former MS student Angie Morrison for passing the Colorado Patent Law Bar Exam!

• Note new Responsible Conduct of Research Section in K and T grant applications

  When you apply for a career development (K) award or an institutional training (T) grant this Spring, you now get separate additional space to describe your plan for instruction in responsible conduct of research. This means a separate 3 page section for T grants (that's not part of the 25 page limit) and a one page section in K award applications (that's not part of the 12 page limit).

• New Site Gives Unfunded Applications Another Potential Shot at Funding

  The National Health Council (NHC) has launched an online “matchmaker” to connect unfunded NIH applications with alternative funding sources.  Through the Health Research Funding Web site, any researcher whose project was scored but not funded can post their abstract and contact information for free. Using these details, registered organizations can search for and find projects that appeal to them.  Currently the site targets >40 patient advocacy groups (e.g. the American Cancer Society and the Alzheimer’s Association) but is anticipated to expand and include companies, etc

• NIH Plans to End Class B Dogs in Research

  Due to concerns about the treatment of dogs purchased from USDA Class B dealers, NIH has created a pilot program to test whether researchers can effectively conduct research without using animals from these sources The ultimate goal would be to prohibit institutions from using NIH funds to purchase dogs from Class B dealers by 2015. Find out more in the March 18, 2011, Guide notice

• Info on NIH grants for postdocs looking to become independent

  NIH/NIAID funds two "transition" grants that can help postdocs move into an independent position:   the NIAID Research Scholar Development Award (K22) and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00).  Last year the NIAID success rates for these grants was 31% for the K22 and 14% for the K99/R00 – not too shabby by NIH standards these days.  The K22 offers $150K the first year and $100K the second (direct costs) while the K99/R00 offers $90K for the first year K99 phase and $249 K for the subsequent second and third R00 years.  Check ‘em out!

Mary Ann DeGroote, "Preclinical Testing of Agents with Mycobacterium Abscessus Activity", Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Mary Jackson, "Disinfectant-Resistant Mycobacteria", NIAID

Susan VandeWoude, "Molecular Analysis of FIV", The Scripps Research Institute

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