MIP Newsletter

Volume 8, Issue 6, June 2011

Spotlight
Promotion and Tenure

Congratulations to the following faculty on their upcoming promotion and/or tenure actions which become effective July:

Lars EisenDr. Lars Eisen
Promotion to Associate Professor

Mary JacksonDr. Mary Jackson
Promotion to Associate Professor

Hana VanCampenDr. Hana Van Campen
Promotion to Full Professor

Mark ZabelDr. Mark Zabel
Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure


John Andrews Retiring

Dr. John Andrews will be retiring on June 30th after 5 years with the CSU Western Slope Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Grand Junction.

Prior to Dr. Andrews’s employment at the Western Slope Laboratory he served as the Director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Illinois for 10 years. He has also served as a veterinary pathologist and diagnostician at Iowa State University and the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Dr. Andrews will be staying in the area to enjoy being near his family and to enjoy the great outdoor activities available in western Colorado.

Stop by the Western Slope Laboratory on June 24th, between 1:30-4:30 p.m. to wish Dr. Andrews farewell.


Erin Breland

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program supports the education of scientists, mathematicians and engineers. It was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Goldwater who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman. Erin, a rising senior in our Microbiology undergraduate program, is the only one from CSU who received the award this year.

Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
Congrats Residents

Congratulations to the following students who have completed their Veterinary Residency Program:

Laura Brandt
Deanna Dailey
Matt Feirer
Liz Magden
Brendan Podell

A reception to recognize these achievments will be held on Monday, June 27 at 3:00 in the Glover Gallery, Pathology Building.


Congratulations to the following Micro Majors who made the Dean's List:

Bret Abadie
Shannon Anthony
Lauren Bombardier
Steven Bruckbauer
Timothy Burton
Diana Campos
Bianca Christensen
Lauren Cope
Steven Denham
Amanda Dudek
Laura Edwards
Alexander Emch
Ryan Goffredi
Courtney Hillard
Elena Kaplan
Melissa Karres
Anna Kellund
Lauren Kinner
Ryan Knodle
Hannah Laurence
Edward Lyon
Danielle Lyons
Ian Mcmillan
Brittanie Mcpherson
Paul Moresco
Christine O'Donnell
Gregor Rafal
Rachelle Reneau
Adam Replogle
Jeffrey Sarek
Kenneth Seaver
Andrzej Stadnik
Rebecca Timmons
Megan Vogt
Yi Zhou
Rachel Zigterman
Andrew Zilavy


MIP Honors Mentors

Thank you to the following MIP Faculty who mentored Honors students completing their Honors theses this spring:

Alan Schenkel
Brian Foy
Erica Suchman
Gerald Callahan
Hana Van Campen
Lora Ballweber
Sandra Quackenbush
Susan Deines


Defense

Shiva Angala will present his PhD Defense entitled, "Mycobacterial arabinan biosynthesis: Characterization of AftB and AftC arabinosyltransferase activity using synthetic substrates" on Weds, June 22, 10am in B120 Microbiology. His advisor is Dr. Delphi Chatterjee

Jerome Lee will present his PhD Defense entitled, "Global analysis of mRNA decay rates and RNA binding specificity reveals novel roles for CUGBP1 and PARN deadenylase in muscle cells" on Thurs, June 23, 1pm in B120 Microbiology. His advisors are Drs. Carol Wilusz and Jeffrey Wilusz


pub highlight

Treatment of mice with human mAB 24h after lethal aerosol challenge with virulent VEE virus prevents disease but not infection

Ann Hunt, Dick Bowen, Shana Frederickson, Toshiaki Maruyama, John Roehrig and Carol Blair

Virology 414: 146-152 (June 2011)

If you’re a mouse on campus, there hasn’t been a heckuva lot of good news over the last month. The stock market’s been lousy for six weeks and commodity prices are going through the roof, threatening the affordability of rodent chow. Beloved politicians that mice once looked up to as models for the mammalian world have instead been revealing love children on the internet and other unflattering things on Twitter. As if that isn’t enough, Glenn Telling’s group is coming to town in a few weeks looking to turn many a murine brain to mush with his prion experiments. Can’t you just hear the little critters squeaking ‘C’mon - Tell me something good for a change’?

Well Ann, Dick, Carol and their CDC (John Roehrig) and corporate colleagues have done just that. When mice get infected by Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus (VEEV), they invariably die from a truly nasty encephalitis. There is no FDA-approved vaccine for VEEV and no available treatments. What is sorely needed is an antiviral therapeutic strategy that can save mice (and of course people) after being exposed to the virus. Based on the work by Ann et al, give me 500ugs of human monoclonal antibody (mAb) F5 nIgG and I’ll show you one happy VEEV-infected mouse. This mAb can protect mice when given either 24 hours before viral infection or (notably) 24 hours after exposure to VEEV. While pre-exposure application of the prophylactic antibodies dramatically decreased viral titers as expected, post-exposure treatment interestingly prevented disease but not viral replication. High viral loads could be observed in the brain and other tissues of the infected animals, yet they survived. This highlights the complex association of the immune response and CNS disease in VEEV pathogenesis.

So why did we choose this paper as our coveted MIPublication of the Month®? First, the study highlights some of the significant advances being made by Rocky Mtn RCE investigators in the development of antiviral therapeutics for biodefense-related pathogens. With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and the anthrax attacks just around the corner, it’s nice to see progress being made in this arena. Second, the important connections that we have with our CDC-Vector Borne Diseases Branch colleagues served as a strong foundation and integral part of the current work. This demonstrates that the patented MIP synergy we have within the department also extends to our neighbors as well. Finally, the unexpected disconnect between virus replication and disease noted here is precisely the kind of weird observation that can result in major paradigm shifts in field. However based on the recent experience of a bunch of indicted Italian geologists, MIPnews will back off from making any predictions regarding ‘earth-shaking’ events that might arise from this study…


MIP Publications Late May 2011 - Early June 2011

Obregón-Henao A, Shanley C, Bianco MV, Cataldi AA, Basaraba RJ, Orme IM, Bigi F.  Vaccination of guinea pigs using mce operon mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  Vaccine. 2011 Jun 10;29(26):4302-7.

García-Rejón JE, López-Uribe MP, Loroño-Pino MA, Farfán-Ale JA, Del Najera-Vazquez MR, Lozano-Fuentes S, Beaty BJ, Eisen L.  Productive container types for Aedes aegypti immatures in Mérida, México.  J Med Entomol. 2011 May;48(3):644-50.

Diaz-Badillo A, Bolling BG, Perez-Ramirez G, Moore CG, Martinez-Munoz JP, Padilla-Viveros AA, Camacho-Nuez M, Diaz-Perez A, Beaty BJ, Munoz MD.  The distribution of potential West Nile virus vectors, Culex pipiens pipiens and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae), in Mexico City.  Parasit Vectors. 2011 May 9;4(1):70.

Hunt AR, Bowen RA, Frederickson S, Maruyama T, Roehrig JT, Blair CD.  Treatment of mice with human monoclonal antibody 24h after lethal aerosol challenge with virulent Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus prevents disease but not infection.  Virology. 2011 Jun 5;414(2):146-52.

Rayamajhi M, Redente EF, Condon TV, Gonzalez-Juarrero M, Riches DW, Lenz LL.  Non-surgical Intratracheal Instillation of Mice with Analysis of Lungs and Lung Draining Lymph Nodes by Flow Cytometry.  J Vis Exp. 2011 May 2;(51). pii: 2702. doi: 10.3791/2702.

Haley NJ, Mathiason CK, Carver S, Zabel M, Telling GC, Hoover EA.  Detection of chronic wasting disease prions in salivary, urinary, and intestinal tissues of deer: potential mechanisms of prion shedding and transmission. J Virol. 2011 Jul;85(13):6309-18.

Fox KA, Wootton SK, Quackenbush SL, Wolfe LL, Levan IK, Miller MW, Spraker TR.  Paranasal Sinus Masses of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis).  Vet Pathol. 2011 May;48(3):706-12.

Schultheiss PC, Gardiner DW, Rao S, Olea-Popelka F, Tuohy JL.  Association of histologic tumor characteristics and size of surgical margins with clinical outcome after surgical removal of cutaneous mast cell tumors in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2011 Jun 1;238(11):1464-9.

Fenimore A, Varanat M, Maggi R, Schultheiss P, Breitschwerdt E, Lappin MR.  Bartonella spp. DNA in Cardiac Tissues from Dogs in Colorado and Wyoming.  J Vet Intern Med. 2011 May;25(3):613-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.0722.x.

Levis WR, Paraskevas LR, Jacobson M, Spencer J, Spencer T, Martiniuk F.  Endemic leprosy in new york city.  Arch Dermatol. 2011 May;147(5):624-6.

Arshed MJ, Magnuson RJ, Triantis J, Abubakar M, Van Campen H, Salman M.  Comparison of RNA extraction methods to augment the sensitivity for the differentiation of vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana1 and New Jersey.  J Clin Lab Anal. 2011;25(2):95-9. doi: 10.1002/jcla.20439.

Happenings

ASM 2011 General Meeting

A contingent of MIP microbiologists – including three of our undergraduate majors (Rebecca Timmons, Erin Breland and Ian McMillian) – braved the rising Mississippi River (as well as the inhabitants of Bourbon Street) and attended the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans from May 21-24th.

Check out the MIP'ers ASM 2011 Photo Gallery


Where are they now?

Curious about what our recent students are doing with their Microbiology degrees? Here’s a snapshot of the future plans for some of our recent Spring 2011 graduates:

Some are returning to school...

Ryan Goffredi and Ian Wallace are attending Colorado Center of Medical Laboratory Science.

Chris Lehmann is attending Medical School at the University of Indiana.

Jeffrey Sarek is attending Vet School here at CSU.

Some are working in industry...

Matthew Marquez is working for Tolmar Inc.

Brookly Teryla is working for Leprino Foods.

Nancy Cung is working at Poudre Valley Hospital as a Pharmacy Tech

Some are working in academic research...

Elizabeth Creissin is working for Dr. Orme.

John Griffith is working for Dr. VandeWoude.

Danielle Lyons is working for Dr. Brennen.

Ian McMillan is working for Dr. Schwiezer.

Andrzej Stadnik is working for Dr. Medford in the Biology Department


Ballot Congratulations to the following newly-elected members to the MIP Departmental Committees

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Glenn Telling
Edward Hoover

PROMOTION, TENURE & REAPPOINTMENT COMMITTEE

John Belisle
Jeff Wilusz

GRADUATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Dean Crick
Mark Zabel

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Alan Schenkel


Microbiology Student Association

Newly Elected 2011-12 Officers of the Microbiology Student Association

President - Erin Breland
Vice President - Ryan Knodle
Treasurer - Claire Bounds
Secretary - Katie Sollars
Public Relations - Bryant Monreal
Volunteer/Event Coordinator - Amanda Dudek
Webmaster - Alex Emch


Barb Powers

Congratulations to Barb Powers on her 15th anniversary as Director of the CSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Barb put on the Dlab Directors lab coat on July 1, 1996.


On May 5th, Don Klein presented a lecture to the Washington DC Branch of the ASM ASM logo as part of his ASM Branch Lecturer service. Don is also participating in the 7th annual CSU Meet and Greet program August 29-Sept 1st. Are You? For more information on the Program, contact Heather Bean in Residence Life.


CRC Awards

Congratulations to the following MIP researchers who were awarded grants by the CVMBS College Research Council for 2011/2012:

Claudia Gentry-Weeks, "A newly discovered Francisella bacteriophage- sequence analysis and identification of the bacterial binding receptor"

Christine Olver, "Use of thromboelastography to predict thromboembolic disease in dogs and horses"

Jeffrey Wilusz, "Unique regulation of histone mRNA metabolism in induced pluripotent stem cells"


Rocky Mountain Virology Annual Meeting

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
SEPTEMBER 23-25, 2011
Pingree Park Campus

This year's keynote speaker is our incoming Dept Head Dr. Gregg Dean. Gregg will be speaking about his research on lentiviruses (HIV and FIV), innate immunity, and the generation of effective mucosal and systemic immune responses through oral immunization. This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet our new colleague in the relaxed environs of the Pingree campus. This year's meeting also coincides with peak aspen viewing and will feature the Saturday evening barbecue and, of course, a generous contribution from the New Belgium Brewery. So save up your best data and plan on breaking in those new hiking boots this September!


Best Wishes Katie!

Katie Hechavarria's last day with MIP was Friday, June 17. Katie has done a fantastic job for MIP managing the Foothills Campus Accounts. For the past year Katie has been commuting from Denver every day. With a baby on the way, finding a new job in Denver is a better option for her and her family. We will miss her positive attitude, dedication, and hard work. Best wishes Katie!


Got Parking?

CSU Parking Permits are expiring on July 31st

Renew your parking permit by either;

  1. Purchasing your permit early - June 1-30 take your current (2010-11) permit to the Parking Services Office located at 1508 Center Avenue and exchange it for your 2011-12 permit.
  2. Purchase your permit after July 1 either online or at the Parking Services Office.

For more information, please see the Parking Services website


Shell gamePayroll Shenanigans for Hourly Employees

Timesheets submitted for the May 21-June 3 pay period will not be paid on June 17th. Due to CSU fiscal year end policy, you’ll have to wait until Friday July 1, 2011 for your check. Please plan accordingly.


 

MIP Bits

Quote of the Month

Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem.
~ Bill Vaughan



Oscar Lunch

It’s a fish-eat-fish world out there: A 7" oscar makes a meal out of a 4" shark in Janet Bebell’s son’s fish tank

Alternative Captions:

  1. Nothing beats fresh sushi
  2. Not the first tall ‘tail’ we’ve seen coming from MIP mouths
  3. Anyone ever count the number of fingers on Janet’s hands?
  4. Look a fish with two tails! I didn’t know that the adage ‘there are more horse’s rear ends than heads’ also applied to osteichithyes!
  5. JAWESOME!
  6. Submit your own

Fiscal Year Deadlines

PCARD:
Last day to use PCard is June 27 (may resume use on July 1). If you can stop using your PCard a week earlier, it will make financial administration at year-end even a little smoother.

TRAVEL:
Travel receipts/documents should be turned in to the Dept no later than June 20.

If travel is occurring during the last 2 weeks of June, receipts should be turned in within 24 hours of return.

TIMESHEETS:
Hourly timesheets for the pay period ending June 17 must be submitted to the Dept no later than 9:00 am June 20.

Hourly timesheets for the pay period ending July 1 must be submitted to the Dept no later than 5:00 pm July 1 due to the 4th of July holiday.


MIPuzzle
Questions for MIPuzzle #66
MIPuzzle #66 Answers
MIPuzzle 66

NIH Happenings
  • NIAID announces its final FY11 grant paylines

    Wondering on what side of the fence that scored NIH grant application of yours resides? Well now you can officially find out for many Institutes. Check out the NIAID 2011 paylines

  • Wondering what to do with your ‘intellectual property’?

    The bottom line is to protect it with a patent, copyright or trademark. As far as NIH grants are concerned, in terms of your intellectual property you need to remember the following three simple rules:

    1. Do not include confidential information in your grant application -- particularly in the title or abstract -- unless you have a patent or patent application covering your inventions.
    2. If you do include confidential information, clearly mark it as confidential or proprietary.
    3. Address intellectual property in your consortium agreement if using subawards.

    For the full scoop, check out the Be Intelligent About Intellectual Property article.


New Grant Awards

Candace Mathiason, "Mother to Offspring Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease", NIH-NIAID.

Carol Wilusz, "Messenger RNA Stability in Myotonic Dystrophy ", NIH-Arthritis, Musculoskel & Skin.

Christine Olver, "Reduction of P falciparum in Transfusion Units Using the Mirasol PRT Process and an in vitro RBC Culture Model", CaridianBCT Biotechnologies, LLC.

Stephanie Moon, "A Potential Role for a Highly Structured, Non-coding RNA Derived from the Dengue Virus Genome", Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society.


JUNE 2011
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri
    1 2 3 
6 7 8 9 10
13 14 15 16 17
20 21
First day of Summer
22  23  24
John Andrews Retirement Party Western Slope Dlab
27 28 29 30
End of Fiscal Year!
 

 

JULY 2011
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri
        1
CSU parking decal online sales begin
4

Independence Day
Univ Holiday
5
Resident Orientation
6 7 8
11 12 13 14 15
18 19 20  21  22 
25 26 27 28 29

Do you have NEWS or PICTURES you would like to share?

Send In your ideas or newsworthy items. Contributions make the Newsletter better!

MIP Newsletter Volume 8, Issue 6, June 2011
MIP Home CVMBS HomeCSU Home

Email the MIP News