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University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignSchool of Molecular and Cellular Biology

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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

UMBRELLA OPPORTUNITIES: GRADUATE PROGRAM G IVES STUDENTS CHANCE TO EXPLORE

A Magazine | The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Issue 9, 2015

MCB

MCB is published by the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology

MCB DirectorStephen G. Sligar

Managing EditorSteph Adams

Additional EditingJudith Lateer

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Pat MayerKurt Bielema

DevelopmentAngela LucasJoan TouseySean D. Williams

PhotographySteph AdamsL. Brian StaufferJoseph Storch

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Produced by the MCB Communications Office for the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology. The University of Illinois is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution.

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T SL E T T E R F R O M T H E D I R E C T O R4 Umbrella Opportunities

Graduate Program Gives Students Chance to Explore6 Heart and Splicy Development

The Kalsotra Lab7 Targeting Cancer with T Cells

David Kranz, PhD ’82, Microbiology

8 First in Class Guy Padbury, MS ’85, PhD ’88, Biochemistry

9 Gene taranis Key to Regeneration of Fruit Fly Epithelial TissuesSmith-Bolton Lab

10 An Interview with Ann CarpenterPhD ’03, Cell and Developmental Biology

11 CDB Tunji Toogun Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fund12 Sacred Gifts

Tom Cycyota, BS ’80, Biology

13 Pleurobranchaea, a simple creature leading to complex discoveriesThe Lab of Rhanor Gillette, Professor Emeritus

13 MIP Welcomes Dr. Phyllis Wise to Faculty14 Drs. Benita S. Katzenellenbogen and John A. Katzenellenbogen have been awarded the

Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award by the Endocrine Society.15 MIP Professor Emeritus: Arthur DeVries16 Science and Outreach in Dr. Lori Raetzman’s Lab17 The Microbial Man

For 62 Years, Ralph Wolfe Has Explored the Microbial Universe

18 Nutritional Immunity: Using Hunger to Fight InfectionKehl-Fie Lab

19 Striking GoldU of I Alum Uses Humble Yeast in Battle Against Parkinson’s and Other Diseases

20 Helicobacter pylori Gastric Infection Impairs Cognitive Performance in RatsThe Blanke Lab

21 Microbiology Welcomes Dr. Christopher Brooke to the Faculty22 Milestones in Excellence24 Mentors of Success

A Growing Alumni Mentoring Program in MCB is Helping Students Map Their Careers

26 List of Recent Graduates

2 MCB

It was a beautiful fall in Champaign Illinois, reminiscent of what was typical beforethe last couple of years of early snow. Matching the sunny weather is the warm glowreflected by the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students and alumni that weare pleased to share with you in this edition of our annual magazine.

In October we celebrated the success of three alumni who were recognized by theCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences during their homecoming celebration. TomCycyota (B.S. ’80 Biology) received the LAS Humanitarian Award for hisoutstanding service as President and CEO of AlloSource. His work to improve thelives of many through the use of donated human tissue is legendary. At the sameevent, an LAS Alumni Achievement Award was bestowed upon David Kranz(M.S. ’80, Ph.D ’82 Microbiology), Phillip A. Sharp Professor in the Departmentof Biochemistry on the Urbana campus, for his entrepreneurial spirit exemplifiedby the successful move of two start-up companies to commercialization by thepharmaceutical industry. Guy Padbury (MS ’85, Ph.D. ’88 Biochemistry), SeniorVice President of Merck, also received the LAS Alumni Achievement Award forhis leadership in several major corporate efforts to bring new therapeutics to themarketplace.

As a Professor in MCB, I am often asked what I consider the most rewardingaspect of my chosen profession. My response certainly credits the thrill ofscientific discovery and the joy of teaching. But the most important is observingthe success of our students as they progress through their careers. I had thepleasure of serving as Guy Padbury’s Ph.D. advisor nearly three decades ago! Thegraduate students in our four MCB departments continue to impress, across awide range of career paths. In this edition of the MCB magazine you will learnfurther details of these accomplishments.

A final word must be mentioned regarding the financial situation facing the Stateof Illinois, as most are aware from the news. The budget impasse, reflected in apartisan chasm between the legislature and Governor’s office has left theUniversity without a budget until spring. This has created trepidation amongfaculty, staff and alumni. The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology remainsone of the crown jewels of the University. We have one of the largest majors oncampus and garner external research funds, which on a per-faculty basis, is one ofthe highest across the entire University.

That said, the future success of state public institutions in the dual mission ofeducation and research is challenged. We are increasingly dependent on externalsources of revenue to support the infrastructure and the recruitment and retentionof the best faculty and staff. We sincerely thank our alumni and friends for theircontinued support and guidance in these endeavors.

I wish you all a happy new year!

Steve SligarDirector

Dr. Stephen G. Sligar

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 54 MCB

When looking for a graduate school program,it would have been easy for Pooja Agashe tonarrow her focus and zero in on microbiology.That would be continuing along a path shestarted with a bachelor’s degree in the field andled to four years working in industry aftergraduation.

Agashe chose Illinois’ School of Molecularand Cellular Biology knowing she mightcontinue down the microbiology path, butknowing the structure of the graduate programcould lead her down another road altogether.

“It’s very easy to get pigeonholed in science.You work so narrowly on one piece of research,”says Agashe, a first-year student in the fall of2015. “Because I spent time in industry, I didhave some ideas about what I wanted to do, butI realized there is so much research going on inthe university.”

Agashe is one of the hundreds of studentswho have enrolled in the school since itstransition to an umbrella approach to admittinggraduate students, which allows new students toexplore laboratories in each of the school’sdepartments. Students do three rotations of fiveweeks each to get a feel for the type of researchhappening in the lab and how they might fit inthat lab’s environment. At the end of the fallsemester, students request labs and departmentsbased on their experiences.

“This approach makes sense because thetraditional interdisciplinary boundaries havelong since blurred. Most of us cross theseboundaries constantly,” says Jim Imlay, professorof microbiology and associate director of theMCB graduate program. “It would be artificialand constraining for incoming students to haveaccess to only a subset of MCB labs. And itwould be a poor idea to make them choose afocus before they have had a good look at all thepossibilities.”

THE RIGHT FITImlay likes to do an informal survey every

year once students are assigned to their labs. Hewants to know how many students findthemselves in the lab that would have been theirtop choice before they began the rotations.

“The answer is only about 25 percent,” Imlaysays. “I see that as a marker that what we’redoing makes sense.”

Nick Hess, a fourth-year student studying

microbiology, did undergraduate research inphysiology. He thought he might end up in Celland Developmental Biology or Molecular andIntegrative Physiology. He decided to explorethe school and was intrigued by a microbiologyrotation. He was hooked.

“Some people come in and are reallyfocused to do one thing,” Hess says. “I came inwith a different attitude. I followed what

interested me during the rotations.”Besides the research focus of the lab, students

also need to be the right fit for the lab’senvironment. Spending five weeks amongst theother students and seeing how the principalinvestigator operates can be invaluable.

“The chemistry between you and your futureadvisor is so important,” says Jie Chen, head ofthe Department of Cell and DevelopmentalBiology. “The opportunity to look at wherepersonalities will match is helpful. Every lab hasother students and other post-docs. They haveto fit into that lab.”

Based on her undergraduate work, WhitneyEdwards, a third-year student, expected to landin Biochemistry. She enjoyed her time in hertwo biochemistry lab rotations but didn’t feellike either of the labs was the right fit. Instead,she felt at home in Molecular and IntegrativePhysiology, mostly because she believed the labshe chose, which is small and close-knit, wouldhelp her reach her goals.

“I wanted a PI who was more of a mentorand would take the time to develop me as a

student,” Edwards says. “Having a small labenvironment allows a lot of one-on-one with theprofessor to talk about science. That was reallypositive for me. Your mentor and your PI aregoing to be a huge factor in your success.”

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSLike many international students, Amrute

Bhate was nervous about coming to a graduateprogram in a country on which she had neverset foot. She did not have the opportunity tomeet with prospective advisors in person or tourtheir labs to get a feel for the environment thatshe would be working in prior to coming to theU.S.

“American students choose a university. Theyget to come to campus for an interview. Theyget to tour the campus and meet the facultymembers,” says Bhate, who is from Mumbai,India. “I didn’t have that opportunity.”

But under the umbrella structure, Bhate wasable to set many of those concerns aside.

“These rotations really help us because whilewe can look up lab pages on the Internet, wecan’t get a feel for them,” says Bhate, who is inBiochemistry. “You get in touch with all thestudents who have been in the program, andthey can help and guide you. Your social networkdefinitely widens.”

Lori Raetzman, associate professor ofmolecular and integrative physiology, says thatcan significantly decrease the possibility aninternational student will have a bad experiencein graduate school.

“Instead of coming to a country and pinningtheir futures on the relationships in one lab, theyhave the opportunity to meet a lot of differentpeople and have different experiences,”Raetzman says.

HELPING FACULTYWhile ensuring a good student experience is

key, the other side of the coin is making surefaculty are getting students that will help themmeet their research goals.

Raetzman says students who come into a labfrom a different background have differentapproaches and ask questions that otherwisemight not be raised.

“They definitely challenge me to look atthings in different ways,” Raetzman says. “We allhave our processes. Getting your eyes opened

listening to your students is so valuable.”Joanna Shisler, an associate professor of

microbiology, says better student-lab matchesalso improve the likelihood students will beenthusiastic about their work.

“Whenever you have people who work foryou who are excited and motivated, you’re goingto get a better environment and betterexperience,” Shisler says.

Chen has students who come from differentscience backgrounds and approach questionsmuch differently than she is used to. That wouldnot be likely without the school’s umbrellaapproach.

“They push me. They definitely make myresearch program better,” Chen says.

STRONGER SCHOOLThe school used the direct-admit approach,

in which the four departments separatelyadmitted students into their programs, beforetransitioning to the umbrella structure around10 years ago. Chen says that approach workedwell before the school was organized and therewere fewer students, but now the program hasexpanded and has multiple students in morethan 80 laboratories.

“We realized we weren’t that competitive. Thereally strong research programs in biology wereall umbrella programs, and we weren’tcompeting,” Chen says. “It wasn’t something wecould ignore.”

While the direct-admit process lets studentsstart their research sooner, having a rotationsemester allows students to take several school-wide classes, form relationships with each otherthat would not have happened in anothersystem, and understand their choices beforemaking a commitment.

“The education you get working in thoserotations outweighs the benefits [of startingresearch sooner],” Raetzman says. “You’remeeting new people, learning new things. Itmakes you a more well-rounded person.”

And that’s important, says Hess, because evenat 23 years old it’s difficult to say with absolutecertainty what you want to do for the rest ofyour life.

“When you’re that young, you don’tunderstand how big the world is or the diversityof choices you have,” Hess says. “I really enjoyedthe opportunity to try out each departmentunder the MCB umbrella.”

Umbrella Opportunities:Graduate Program Gives Students Chance to ExploreBy Brian Wallheimer

“Some people come inand are really focused todo one thing. I came inwith a different attitude. I followed what interestedme during the rotations.”

“When you’re that young, youdon’t understand how big theworld is or the diversity ofchoices you have. I really enjoyed the opportunity to tryout each department under theMCB umbrella.”

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6 MCB

The role of RNA was once thought to be only in protein synthesis. However, theparadigm shifted when the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was award to a group ofscientists who discovered the catalytic properties of RNA. Since this groundbreakingdiscovery, many researchers have investigated both the structural and physiologicalrelevance of RNA-dependent processes in biology. Despite continuing efforts by scientiststo uncover diverse functions of this essential macromolecule, processing and modificationof RNA and its impact on higher organisms remain elusive and under-investigated.

Dr. Auinash Kalsotra, an assistant professor of Biochemistryand Medical Biochemistry, is one of the scientists on campus whostudies the effects of RNA processing in mammals. He received aPhD from the University of Texas Health Science Center. Hecompleted his postdoctoral training at Baylor College of Medicineat Houston, where he was awarded a four-year, nationallycompetitive Scientist Development Grant from the AmericanHeart Association. This funding supported his cardiovascularresearch on Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 (DM1), an RNA-mediated neuromuscular disorder that affects 1 in 8,000

individuals worldwide. “This was the period when I became fascinated by RNA because it was clear that

DM1 is caused by a mutation in the non-coding region of the gene,” Kalsotra said. “Whatit means is that the mutation only affects RNA but not the protein that is encoded by thegene. This was a new way of thinking about human disease as most other studies focusedon proteins. This was an exciting period for RNA research. The advent of next-generationsequencing methods made it possible for many laboratories, including ours, to take a closepeek at the whole transcriptome for the first time. The results were unexpected andrevealed the diversity, complexity and importance of RNA processing in many aspects ofhuman health and disease.”

In November of 2012, Kalsotra became a faculty member at the University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign and started his independent research group. “UIUC was a greatplace to begin my academic career not only because of its excellence in research but also ofits unparalleled collaborative environment. I believe that all cutting edge areas in biomedicalresearch are being investigated at our school or university,” he said.

Kalsotra’s research group specializes in studying post-transcriptional regulatorymechanisms of RNA splicing and polyadenylation in heart and liver tissue. They utilize acombination of biochemical, genetics, molecular, and computational techniques to studythe function and regulation of such RNA-networks in tissue development and maturation.

His laboratory has recently discovered a set of previously unknown RNA-bindingproteins (RBPs) that seem to drive many of the pathological changes seen in the heartunder stress. He believes these RBPs are master regulators, which modify and guide variousRNA molecules to perform specific functions in a cell including production of rightproteins at the right time and location. Altered activity of these RBPs in disease changesthis dynamic and thus “wreaks havoc on the cell,” Kalsotra said.

“The current focus of my group is to determine the underlying mechanisms affectingfunctions of these RBPs so therapeutic approaches to correct them can be developed in thefuture.” The National Institutes of Health, March of Dimes, and Roy J. Carver Trustsupport the current projects in his laboratory.

Outside work, Kalsotra spends his time with family and likes to attend the kids’sporting events. “I am fortunate to have my spouse (Dr. Sayee Anakk, a faculty member inthe department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at UIUC) and my two sons whounderstand the value of science. Having a supportive family makes everything easier bothat home and at work,” says Kalsotra.

Heart and Splicy DevelopmentThe Kalsotra LabBy Kevin Yum

When David Kranz was growing up in theChicago suburbs, his parents would pack theirsix children into the station wagon and head upto Wisconsin. There, he and his identical twinbrother tracked down snakes and turtles, andwent swimming and fishing.

These trips fostered a love for biology. Kranzstill travels to Wisconsin to go fishing, but hislove of biology also led to a career that hasinvolved fishing expeditions of a different sort—microscopic fishing expeditions. He co-created atechnology that makes it possible to fish throughmillions of mutant molecules in the hopes offinding one that can combat disease, and he hasfound ways to mobilize the body’s immunesystem to battle cancer.

Kranz, a Phillip A. Sharp professor ofbiochemistry at the University of Illinois, focuseson therapies that make use of the body’s T cellreceptors—a critical player in the immunesystem’s response to foreign invaders. His labwas the first to engineer T cell receptors with atherapeutic potential, and two highly successfulstart-up companies resulted from this and otherwork.

For his strong record as both a researcher andan entrepreneur, Kranz is one of the 2015 LASAlumni Achievement Award winners.

After being paired with his identical twinthroughout grade school and high school, Kranzand his brother Robert decided it would behealthy to attend different universities. Robertwent to Northern Illinois University, whileDavid went to Illinois State, where he receivedbachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology.

However, the twins were together again whenDavid received his PhD from Illinois inmicrobiology in 1982, and Robert got a PhD atthe U of I in biochemistry. (Today, his twinbrother is a biology professor at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis.)

Kranz was drawn to the U of I for his PhD inorder to work with immunologist Ed Voss. Aftergraduating from Illinois, he did postdoctoralwork at MIT, which in the ‘80s was known as“the mecca for molecular biology,” he says.

At MIT, Kranz trained under SusumuTonegawa, a 1987 Nobel Prize winner for hiswork in immunology. His most influentialmentor was another world famousimmunologist, Herman Eisen.

Targeting Cancer with T CellsDavid Kranz, PhD ’82, MicrobiologyBy Doug Peterson

“Herman Eisen’s influence was not justscientific,” Kranz says. “He also taught me toview science as a noble pursuit. He didn’t believein hyping research—just let the science talk foryou.”

After finishing his postdoctoral work at MIT,Kranz returned to Illinois as a professor. His first10 years of research focused on studyingprecisely how T cell receptors worked.

“T cells are absolutely critical in yourimmune system’s defense against viruses,bacteria, and cancer cells—almost any infectiousagent,” he says. “AIDS is the perfect example ofwhat happens when you don’t have T cells.”

T cells have many types of receptors—molecules that bind to or “recognize,” variousforeign agents in the body. When a T cellrecognizes an invader, the immune system takesover and the few T cells that bind to the foreignagent will rapidly expand to millions, taking careof the infection. This process creates “memory Tcells,” which remember the foreign agent andrespond even faster the next time an infectionoccurs.

Kranz has brought in over $20 million ingrants to support his research. He is also a keencollaborator, teaming up with former U of Iprofessor of chemical engineering, DaneWittrup, who did research on antibodies,another key part of the immune system. Kranzand Wittrup worked together on a yeast displaysystem which made it possible to display anentire “library” of antibody and T cell receptormutants contained in a test tube.

This display allowed scientists to run mutantsthrough a high-speed cell sorter, which fishedthrough the antibodies and T cell receptorslooking for one that could be used as a possibledrug candidate. A high-speed cell sorter can gothrough a million cells in 100 seconds, searchingfor the needle in a haystack that will combat aspecific disease.

In 1998, Wittrup and Kranz foundedBioDisplay Technologies, a start-up companythat featured this technology. It immediatelydrew interest from biotech companies.

“It’s a rare thing to start a company and getother companies interested in it in a matter ofmonths,” Kranz says. That is precisely whathappened with BioDisplay Technologies. Severalyears later Abbott Laboratories acquired the

company. Kranz and Wittrup continued asconsultants.

In the 1990s, Kranz says the technology wasused more for engineering antibodies to combatdisease because more work was being doneworldwide on antibodies than on T cell receptors.In the 2000s, research on T cell receptors astherapeutic drugs began to catch up.

Kranz founded his second company,ImmuVen, built on his research showing T cellreceptors could be engineered to target specificcancer cells.

“The goal is to use the receptors as a drug thatwould recruit all of the T cells in the body to fightagainst the cancer,” he says. This technology isstill a few years away from clinical use.

A multinational pharmaceutical companypurchased ImmuVen in December of 2014;however, the details have yet to be officiallyreleased.

Josef Lakonishok, CEO and founding partnerof LSV Asset Management, says, “Dave was ableto navigate ImmuVen through the trials anddifficulties that typically plague a biotech startup,while maintaining a highly productive academicresearch portfolio on top of his teachingresponsibilities.”

As Lakonishok puts it, this is “no small feat.”

The child reflection of the aging man symbolizesthe pathology of myotonic dystrophy type 1,where CUG repeats containing RNA formsribonuclear foci resulting in adult-to-embryonicremodeling of the transcriptome. In thebackground, Peter Pan is shown leading childrento Never Land, which implies that the man at thelake retains his child-like characteristics despitehis aging appearance. The fish in the lake areHeLa cells that were probed for CUG repeat RNA(red), and co-stained with DAPI (blue) andMBNL1 protein (green)Illustration: Maddie Rose Maranto, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Class of 2016, College of Fine + Applied Arts, Graphic Design.

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 7

Guy Padbury’s work for the Upjohn pharmaceutical company hitcloser to home than he ever expected when his father was diagnosed withType 2 diabetes.

Padbury’s team with Upjohn did metabolism research on a moleculelicensed to Eli Lily that went on to become the drug, Actof. This was thedrug that, along with changes in diet and exercise, helped to control hisfather’s diabetes. Ironically, Padbury’s sister worked on marketing the drugfor Eli Lily, so their father’s treatment became a family affair.

Padbury says this experience changed how he viewed what he did for aliving. He saw how the drugs he worked on “were actually touchingpeople first hand. And that perspective reallyenriches your motivation.”

Over his career, Padbury played a leading rolein getting a host of therapeutic drugs to market—drugs that treat everything from bacterialinfections, HIV, and heart disease to Parkinson’s,osteoporosis, and, in his father’s case, diabetes.For this work, Padbury is a recipient of the 2015LAS Alumni Achievement Award.

Padbury was born in London, the son ofworking class parents. His family then moved toNew Zealand before they came to Indianapoliswhen Padbury was in the second grade. In highschool, he turned to the sciences, thanks to theinfluence of his first chemistry teacher, and he majored in chemistry atButler University.

“I was the first of my family to graduate with the equivalent of a highschool degree, let alone go to a university, so I am the classic AmericanDream come true,” he says.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Butler in 1981,Padbury spent three years at Dow Pharmaceuticals before his boss, aformer Marine sergeant, strongly encouraged him to go back to school foran advanced degree. This brought him to the University of Illinois, wherehe received his master’s in 1985 and PhD in 1988, both in biochemistry.

Padbury’s specialty became pharmacokinetics, or drug metabolism.While pharmacology understands how a drug affects human biology,pharmacokinetics is the reverse—understanding how human biologyaffects the drugs once they are administered.

How long it takes the drug to move through your gastrointestinal tractand into circulation, and then how long it lasts in circulation, dictates howoften you need to take it, he says. Pharmacokinetics also affects how youtake a drug, such as determining whether it must be taken with food.

Padbury started doing metabolism research for the Upjohn Companyin Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1987, working his way up the ranks todirector of drug metabolism research for North America by 1998, andthen senior director for global drug metabolism research by 2000.

Zyvox was a good example of the kinds of drugs they developed atUpjohn—and one of the most significant. Zyvox was a first-in-classdrug—the first antibiotic to be classed that way in several decades. (First-

in-class means it uses a unique new mechanism to treat a medicalproblem.)

“For it to be a first-in-class antibiotic is pretty exciting stuff to beassociated with,” he says.

Because the success rate of new drugs is so low, he says, “You can goan entire career and never be associated with a molecule that ends upbecoming valuable medicine for patients. But that’s one I was able to seego from discovery to registration to use in medical practice.”

Padbury and his family moved from Kalamazoo to St. Louis in 2003,when the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer acquired Pharmacia (which was

Upjohn’s new name after earlier mergers). WithPfizer, he eventually became senior vicepresident of worldwide pharmacokinetics,dynamics, and metabolism.

During this period, he also became moreresponsible for “people development.”

“My responsibilities continued to be seeingprojects move through the pipeline, but I wasalso much more responsible for seeing youngscientists develop and be successful,” he says.

Padbury’s ability to package a new drug forregulatory approval at the FDA significantlyincreased the success rate of drugs. In the early1990s, for every 10 molecules that went into

clinical testing, four or five of them failed because of drug metabolismissues. But within a decade, his company was able to improve the successrate so only one out of 20 failed for metabolism issues.

Always seeking a new challenge, Padbury decided to move into thebiotechnology industry in 2009, becoming the vice president ofpharmacokinetics and drug metabolism for the biotech company Amgenin California.

“I like to feel a little intimidated,” he says. “I like to put myself whereI’m forced to learn, and I like to be around young scientists that know somuch it scares you. It’s an invigorating environment.”

Most recently, he says he thought it was time to make another changeand “scare myself a little bit more,” so he joined Merck & Company thispast July as senior vice president of preclinical development. Hisresponsibilities have expanded beyond drug metabolism, and he is incharge of the pharmaceutical sciences formulation development group, aswell as the groups responsible for preclinical safety assessments.

Padbury says, like many researchers, he began his career with a purepassion for science, but as he saw the impact of these drugs, he becamemore driven by the effect they had on people’s lives.

“You still have your passion for science, but the mission of the industryreally starts to captivate you,” he points out. “You’re making somethingthat is actually going to improve a person’s life and, in some cases, prolongtheir lives. That starts to ground you and bring you energy to come intowork every day.”

As he puts it, “That’s been my lightning rod.”

First in ClassGuy Padbury, MS ’85, PhD ’88, Biochemistry By Doug Peterson

The fruit fly, also known as Drosophila, is auseful organism for studying many biologicalprocesses, most notably in genetics anddevelopment biology. Scientists at the Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have identifieda gene that regulates cell fate changes during thewound response using this simple but versatileorganism capable of regeneration.

“Drosophila imaginal discs are an excellentmodel tissue for studying regeneration due totheir remarkable regenerative capacity andsimple epithelial structure. While significantdiscoveries have been made identifying earlydevelopment genes, how cells recognize andadapt to damage, and maintain appropriate cellfates during regeneration still remains elusive,”said Rachel Smith-Bolton, an assistant professorin Cell and Developmental Biology.

“Using the power of genetics, we can ablatethe wing primordium and screen for mutationsthat impair wound healing and regeneration inDrosophila,” she said. “We discovered thatmutations in the gene taranis caused posterior-to-anterior cell-fate transformations inregenerated wings while having no effect onundamaged tissue.”

Smith-Bolton, with lead author PhD studentKeaton Schuster, recently published theirfindings in the journal Developmental Cell, oneof the most highly cited journals in the field ofcell and developmental biology.

“While tara is dispensable in the wing duringnormal development, it is responsible forcontrolling the deleterious side effects of thesignaling that drives wound healing andregeneration. We demonstrated that withoutsufficient Taranis protein, regenerating tissuefails to repattern with proper cell identities.”

It was often thought that regeneration closelyresembled development, therefore previousresearch focused on identifying developmentalgenes that regulate regeneration in metazoans.However, Smith-Bolton’s group findings left thedoor open for studying genes unique toregeneration, which adds complexity tounderstanding the mechanisms of regeneration.

“Our next goal is to identify additional genesthat are responsible for ensuring properpatterning and cell fate during regeneration. It isbecoming increasingly clear that unwanted sideeffects of regeneration can occur, which shouldbe taken into account when engineering

regeneration for medical purposes. We hope ouridentification of these protective factors will aidthe induction of regeneration in more complex organisms including humans.”

Top: Assistant Professor of Cell andDevelopmental Biology Dr. Rachel Smith-Bolton and PhD student Keaton SchusterBottom: Aberrant cell fate changes duringregeneration of the Drosophila wingimaginal disc (or Drosophila wingprimordium) Credit: Keaton Schuster

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SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 98 MCB

“You’re making something

that is actually going to improve a person’s life and,in some cases, prolong theirlives. That starts to ground

you and bring you energy tocome into work every day.”

Gene taranis Key to Regenerationof Fruit Fly Epithelial TissuesSmith-Bolton LabBy Kevin Yum

An Interview with Ann Carpenter

CDB Tunji ToogunMemorial GraduateFellowship Fund

1. Who or what at the University of Illinoishas had the most impact on you?My advisor, Andy Belmont, certainly had themost influence on my development as a scientist.His lab is very open to technology developmentin pursuit of biological questions. I am usuallymore interested in figuring out how to answer aparticular biological question than in learningthe actual answer! I also picked up a lot of hisscientific style: a careful and serious approach –impeccably conscientious – concerned withgetting things right rather than gunning forflashy results.

2. How did you balance your personal timewith the graduate school?I had an unusual routine for a graduate student:I worked diligently and intensely weekdays from8 to 5 and was largely off-duty outside of that. Ivolunteered through my church and through myneighborhood group, not to mention fixing upmy own house and actual hobbies. There werecertainly many times when I had to go the extramile to monitor equipment, read papers, or pushthrough difficult experiments, but I tried to stickto a limited work schedule. That is how I ammost productive: working really intensely but fora constrained period. Studies confirm that mostpeoples’ productivity drops off steeply above 50hours/week. Some students seemed to be alwaysin the lab but I think it is too difficult to stayfocused. I figured, if it takes working 80hours/week to succeed in science then I shouldpick something else.

A side benefit of having established thispattern early on in my career is that it was not acrisis when I had a family. In a single five-yearperiod, I became a stepmother to three childrenand gave birth to two more. Of course, now I“work” around the clock, but at least half thetime it’s for my family! If I had been relying onextreme work hours, this would have been a verydifficult transition.

3. What part of your work fuels yourpassion? I love quantifying images and I’m fascinated bythe fact that beautiful images of cells can beconverted into quantitative, statistically solidnumerical data. I am also passionate aboutmaking a difference in the world, whether it’sthrough my group’s open-source software,working on drug discovery projects,volunteering, or raising my children. As astereotypical Midwestern girl, I am hardwired tobe helpful, and that is where my passions align.

4. What current research topic(s) are youand your group currently focusing on?My laboratory here at the Broad Institute ofHarvard and MIT is dedicated to extracting richinformation from biological images. To do this,we advance and support our open-sourcesoftware, CellProfiler, which is used bythousands of biologists worldwide. We workclosely with collaborators in the Boston area andaround the world doing high-throughputimaging projects, helping to devise imageprocessing pipelines that enable them to quicklyidentify samples that will be most interesting tofollow up on, whether it’s for drug discovery oridentifying novel genetic regulators of abiological process. Outside of this, my petproject is high-risk/high-reward: we areattempting to use images as a very unbiasedsource of data about cell state in response toperturbation. After more than five years ofenergy invested into that, it is starting to bearfruit and will likely have a major impact on howchemical compounds are prioritized for drugtesting and how disease-associated alleles arepursued, to name a few applications. Thankgoodness for startup funds; the traditional NIHsystem would never have funded that work (wetried!).

5. What was unique about the University ofIllinois and the department of Cell andDevelopmental Biology?

I could have gone to an Ivy League school formy PhD but was “stuck” in Illinois for familyreasons. When I arrived in Boston for mypostdoc, after finishing my PhD at UIUC, thecontrast was stark: most graduate studentstraining at Harvard and MIT rarely saw theprofessor running the lab. They certainly did notlearn much directly from them but insteadpostdocs taught graduate students and graduatestudents taught undergraduates. Postdocs wereon their own, to sink or swim! I became aware ofhow lucky I was to have been trained in AndyBelmont’s lab at UIUC. My PI actually taughtme how to do science, hands-on. From settingup the microscope appropriately to formulatingscientific questions I am very grateful to haveactually been trained by a successful seniorscientist. This was true even for PIs in the labswhere I rotated my first year, including BenitaKatzenellenbogen, Chris Doe, and Stan Maloy.At a place like UIUC, you get more attentionand training from your principal investigators.

6. Tell us about your current position inyour institute.As the Director of the Imaging Platform at theBroad, I lead a group of approximately eightcomputer scientists, software engineers, andcomputational biologists. My lab is similar tofaculty labs at Harvard and MIT except thatthe Broad has an unusual structure wherePlatform Directors are focused on technologydevelopment in collaboration with biology labs.As such, I am 100% focused on research; I haveno teaching responsibilities.

7. What was your first impression as a newgraduate student in CDB? During the first week of graduate school Iremember being really intimidated by myclassmates. My impression was that everyonewas smarter and had more experience than me.In the end, each person has a mixture ofpersonal characteristics and experiences thatinfluences their path; what I love about science is

The Department of Cell and DevelopmentalBiology is pleased to announce the firstrecipients of the Tunji Toogun Award: NimishKhanna, now a postdoctoral fellow in theDepartment of Biological Sciences, UCSD; andFrank Echtenkamp, now a postdoctoral fellowat Technishche Universität München, Germany.Both graduated with PhDs in 2015.

This award was created in memory of a PhDstudent who tragically passed away in 2007. Hewas an energetic and dedicated graduatestudent, and this award will recognize studentswho reflect the spirit of Tunji Toogun.

Tunji Toogun, a Cell and DevelopmentalBiology Ph.D. student at the University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign, died August 3,

2007 at the age of 26 after falling into Lake Shelbyville and drowning. Within his career,Tunji was best known for his hard work and boundless enthusiasm for research andlearning.

Born in Nigeria on October 15, 1981, Toogun studied at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign receiving his B.S. in 2001 and a posthumous Ph.D. in 2007. Tunji firstarrived to UIUC as an incoming freshman in 1997 at the age of sixteen to begin a long andfruitful academic career. He left an immediate impact on those around him with his strongNigerian accent and his always friendly and persistent demeanor.

Friends and teachers of Tunji characterized him as a bright, kind, and enthusiasticindividual who was also a great friend.

A year after Tunji’s death, a fund was established in his memory, with contributions fromTunji’s friends, classmates, and faculty. The Department of Cell and DevelopmentalBiology has decided to use this fund to recognize and support outstanding graduatestudents in our program in the form of awards and fellowships. The CDB Tunji ToogunMemorial Graduate Fellowship Fund

will be offered annually to a CDB graduate student at any stage of the graduate programfor his or her outstanding research accomplishments.

To donate towards the CDB Tunji Toogun Memorial Graduate Fellowship Fundplease visit: https://mcb.illinois.edu/giving/

there’s a tremendous variety in how toapproach a scientific question, and you get tosee individuals attack things differently.

A mantra my classmate taught me was,“Don’t compare other people’s outsides to yourinsides.” He would remind me that I amintimidating, too. When that still wasn’t cuttingthrough the insecurity, I would go through myfolder of every award I’d ever won and thatwould usually cheer me up! I have almostcompletely outgrown my imposter syndromeby now; building up a history of success helpeda lot. It also helped to have role models inscience at UIUC: as an undergraduate, beingcaught not knowing something is embarrassing,but I saw mature scientists readily admittingwhat is outside their sphere of knowledge; Ithink becoming comfortable with this is crucialfor interdisciplinary work especially becauseyou’re constantly nudging yourself outside yourcomfort zone.

My first impression of Andy Belmont wasthat he was so knowledgeable and insistent onlogical and well-supported data, that he wouldbe a tough advisor— thought he was thetoughest advisor in the department. I decided Iwanted to train in his lab because I figured if Isurvived, my research project (and I) would beable to withstand any amount of externalscrutiny. It was a great choice – the training Ireceived at UIUC was rigorous and I was wellprepared for my time at MIT and Harvard.

8. Do you believe your education and/ortraining at UIUC has adequately preparedyou for a successful career in your field?Certainly. In addition to the scientific training,the seminars and courses in the soft skills werehelpful; heading a successful laboratory inacademia requires far more than just scientificskills and talent. For example, I took a one semester “Certificate in BusinessAdministration for Life Scientists” that gave memany useful management-related skills.

PhD ’03, Cell and Developmental Biology Cell images from Ann Carpenter’s time atUIUC (formerly Ann Carpenter Nye)

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 1110 MCB

To most, sea slugs might invoke thoughts of primitiveness, but to RhanorGillette, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Molecular and IntegrativePhysiology, the predatory Pleurobranchaea californica serves as an optimal modelof learning and decision-making.

“They seem a simple animal,” remarked Gillette, “but their nervous systemreflects the ancient structure and function of the common ancestor of thevertebrates and insects.”

The abilities to learn and make decisions in foraging are based on theirlearning and motivational state. Their decisions are not based simply on sensoryinformation per se, but essentially on how information makes them feel, muchlike ourselves.

As a graduate student Gillette switched from working with mammals to seaslugs because of the extremely high data rates possible in working with theiraccessible nervous systems. In a recently published review, Gillette and hisformer PhD student Jeff Brown showed how the neuronal circuitry mediatingthe approach/avoidance decisions of foraging paralleled in point-for-pointfashion the structure and functions of the mammalian brain, but without themore derived complexity acquired in mammalian evolution.

The analogies may well reflect the deep common origins of motivational andaction selection mechanisms of the simpler and more complex beings. ForGillette and his team of researchers, understanding Pleurobranchaea circuitry isjust the first step in elucidating the complex landscape of neural evolution.

Pleurobranchaea: a simple creatureleading to complex discoveries:The Lab of Rhanor Gillette, Professor EmeritusBy Megan Patton

MIP Welcomes Dr. Phyllis Wise tothe Faculty

Dr. Phyllis Wise, eminent neuroscientistand endocrinologist who served as thechancellor of the University of Illinois atUrbana–Champaign from 2011-2015, hasjoined the faculty of the Department of MIP.Her research interests include endocrine andneurochemical mechanisms regulating neuralplasticity during aging, and neuroprotectiveactions of estrogen after injury and duringaging.

She has received two MERIT (Method toExtend Research in Time) awards from theNational Institutes of Health, from 1986 to1996 and again from 2001 to 2010. Dr. Wise isa member of the Institute of Medicine of theNational Academy of Sciences, and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. In2004, she received the Roy O. Greep Awardfor outstanding contributions to research inendocrinology and the Women inEndocrinology Mentor Award in 2003.

In her role as an educator, she will engage asan instructor in the MCB Honors Discussioncourse and the Discovery course in HumanReproduction.

A teenage girl named Kacey survived thehorrific shooting at Columbine High School in1999, when 12 students and one teacher weremassacred. However, a single shotgun blast hadbadly damaged her right hand, arm, andshoulder. In cases such as hers, most victims losetheir arm to amputation, but because of donatedhuman tissue from AlloSource in Centennial,Colorado, this woman—now 35-years-old—tellspeople she has two arms to hug her fourchildren.

“That’s the power of what AlloSource is allabout,” says Thomas Cycyota, president andCEO of the Colorado company. AlloSource isone of the largest tissue banks in the country,preserving human tissue from generous donorsand using it to create approximately 250,000transplantable allografts each year. (An allograftis a human-to-human transplant.)

For his work in tissue donation andtransplantation, Cycyota is the 2015 recipient ofthe LAS Alumni Humanitarian Award.

“Everybody understands organ donationbecause a heart or kidney saves somebody’s life,”Cycyota says. “But with tissue donation, a donorwho has passed away can affect hundreds ofpeople, making it possible for those withoutcartilage in their knees to be active again or thosewho have been severely burned to heal.

“We deal with a sacred gift because the donoris somebody’s loved one,” Cycyota adds.“Donors all have a story, and they are all beingmourned by a family while the surgeons do theamazing things they do.”

Another one of the stories that touchedeveryone at AlloSource was that of Cameron, a22-year-old who had just graduated fromEastern Illinois University when he was killed ina bus accident. He was an organ and tissuedonor, and his tissue helped countless people.

“I had the honor of meeting and getting toknow Cameron’s mom and dad,” Cycyota says.“Because Cameron was the same age as ouroldest son at the time of his death, you can

imagine how he impacted my life, and this familyhas become close personal friends. They lost achild in a split second, and it changed their life,and it changed everybody’s life around them.”

Cycyota was first inspired to enter the medicalfield when an influential physiology teacher atProviso West High School in the Chicago areatook the class to Northwestern University to heara talk by famed heart surgeon, Michael DeBakey.Inspired to become a doctor, Cycyota came tothe University of Illinois in 1976, but twointroductory biology classes “clobbered me,” ashe puts it. Although he was a straight-A studentin high school, the two C’s he received in biologydrove him to also focus on business, while stillgetting a science-based education. His bachelor’sdegree in 1980 was in biology.

“Even though I didn’t become a doctor, I havestill been able to help people through thealtruistic things I wanted to do, and that’s workedout wonderfully for me,” Cycyota says.

Serving at AlloSource also brought him fullcircle to the day he heard Dr. DeBakey talkabout heart transplants because he was now incharge of a company that specialized in tissuetransplants.

It was a winding road to get there. Aftergraduating from Illinois, he sold medical devicesfor the Kendall Company from 1981 to 1991,picking up his MBA from Loyola Universityalong the way. He then transitioned to woundcare management at New Dimensions inMedicine, an Ohio company, before going toJohnson & Johnson in 1996 and becoming theworldwide director for wound management.

He was hired as President and CEO ofAlloSource in 2000, when the company hadfewer than 200 employees. Today, AlloSourceemploys more than 500 people in Colorado andthroughout the country, and has grown into oneof the largest and most respected organizationsof its kind.

AlloSource’s products offer life-saving andlife-enhancing healing possibilities in many

forms. For example, they provide largesegmental bones for people who have bonecancer or have suffered trauma, as well as skinfor burns or chronic wounds.

AlloSource tissue can also help those with tornligaments or tendons, as well as patients (such asinjured soldiers) undergoing repair of spineconditions or traumatic injuries. One of thecompany’s most innovative products isAlloStem® Cellular Bone Allograft, in whichthey combine donated stem cells from the donorwith bone from the same donor to provide abone substitute that helps in hard-to-healorthopedic cases.

The company even provides a layer of tissue,from placentas donated by voluntary C-sections,for surgeons to use as a biologic barrier followingsurgery. Wrapping nerves in amnion tissue canreduce phantom nerve pain when a leg isamputated, and it can also prevent the swelling,scarring, and pain that can occur when a tumoris removed.

Cycyota is awed by the technology developedfrom donated human tissue, but what inspireshim most are the stories of people like Kevin, amechanic who was burned over 80 percent of hisbody when his truck exploded. Donated skinsaved his life. Then there was a young adultnamed Manuel who was burned in a highvoltage accident in South Carolina. He lost allfour limbs, but donated tissue and bone made itpossible for surgeons to create a partial limb athis shoulder. In turn, this made it possible forhim to use crutches, move with prosthetic legs,and do something as simple as scratch his nose.

Patients like Manuel say although the tissuedonation didn’t necessarily save their lives, “it stillsaved their life,” Cycyota says. “People who getdonated tissue believe it is a life-changing event.”

“That’s why I use words like ‘sacred’ and‘miracle,’” he adds. “The tissue we transplantbecomes the recipient’s own tissue, so the body can heal itself. And that’s a miracle in its ownright.”

Sacred GiftsTom Cycyota, BS ’80, BiologyBy Doug Peterson

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Pleurobranchaea californica: Every time it encounters another animal, the blindsea slugmust decide whether to risk trying to eat it; credit Tracy Clark

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 1312 MCB

The Society’s highest honor, this annual award

recognizes lifetime achievements and exceptional

contributions to the field of endocrinology. Dr. Benita

Katzenellenbogen is currently the Swanlund Chaired

Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, and

Dr. John Katzenellenbogen is the Swanlund Chaired

Professor of Chemistry. This is the first time the award

has honored two scientists who collaborate both atwork and at home as a married couple.

Drs. Benita S. Katzenellenbogen and John A.Katzenellenbogen have been awarded the FredConrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award by theEndocrine Society.

Credit L. Brian Stauffer

“bridge” between Colleges on this campus,”said Dr. Stephen Sligar, director of the Schoolof Molecular and Cellular Biology. “As amember of the College of Medicine on theUrbana-Champaign campus, Benitaexemplified the value of a model where themost productive tenured research faculty areengaged in the education of medical, graduateand undergraduate students. Without theCollege of Medicine, we on this campus wouldnot have benefited from having both John andBenita as colleagues. The Katzenellenbogensrepresent the importance of this connection inunderstanding the fundamental mechanisms ofbiological function. It is wonderful that theyhave been recognized for their long-termcontributions to the University of Illinois.”

“Drs. Benita and John Katzenellenbogenembody the uniqueness of the University ofIllinois. As scientists of the highest caliber, theyhave been instrumental in training our talentedMedical Scholars at College of Medicine atUrbana-Champaign,” said Dean MicheleMariscalco. “Benita Katzenellenbogen, as oneof our first faculty, has been a highly successfuland valued educator. Training medical studentswho will impact the care of patients forgenerations to come is a unique opportunity,and both Drs. Katzenellenbogen haveembraced this mission.”

In addition to their highly productivecollaborations joining biology and chemistry,they have each led extremely distinguished,independent scientific careers. Dr. BenitaKatzenellenbogen’s work has elucidatedfundamental aspects of structure-functionrelationships and mechanisms of action ofERα and ERβ, and demonstrated theremarkably broad spectrum of estrogen actionson gene expression and cell signaling networks.Her extensive research has provided theframework for our current understanding ofthe basis for the actions of selective estrogenreceptor modulators (SERMs) such astamoxifen and raloxifene, and for thedevelopment of anti-hormonal therapies usedin breast cancer treatment and prevention.

Dr. John Katzenellenbogen has studiedimportant aspects of diverse estrogen ligands in

various analytical and biomedical applications.He synthesized and characterized manyestrogens with novel structures and biologicalactivities, including the most selective agonistsand antagonists for ERα and ERβ, andselective regulators of the non-genomic actionsof ER. John’s laboratory has also been a worldleader in the development of agents forimaging steroid receptors in endocrine-responsive cancers by positron emissiontomography (PET), including [18F]FES and[18F]FDHT, for breast and prostate cancer.Both have been role models in service to theirprofessions, and in training over 250 graduatestudents and postdoctoral and MD fellows.On the home front, the Katzenellenbogens arethe parents of two daughters and they havefour grandchildren.

“John and Benita Katzenellenbogen areresearch pioneers who have made importantcontributions to chemical and medicalsciences, especially in the area of steroidhormones, as this most recent award attests,”said Dr. Gregory Girolami, head of theDepartment of Chemistry. “They haveilluminated the fundamental molecular aspectsof estrogen action and have developedinnovative techniques for the imaging of breastand prostate cancers. In addition, they arewonderful colleagues who, through theirteaching and their leadership, have contributedin many less visible but equally important waysto the University of Illinois. We are incrediblyfortunate to have both John and Benita asmembers of our faculty, and it is gratifying tosee that they have been recognized in thisway.”

The Endocrine Society’s Koch LifetimeAchievement Award honors practicingphysicians and academics worldwide who havegreatly advanced the field of endocrinologyand contributed to the diagnosis, treatment,and understanding of diseases involving thehuman endocrine system. The award includesa $25,000 honorarium and further recognitionat the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting inBoston in April 2016.

Arthur L. DeVries

The Department ofMolecular and IntegrativePhysiology would like torecognize the careerachievements of Dr. Arthur(Art) DeVries. Dr. DeVriespioneered unique and

exciting research in the antifreeze mechanismsthat operate in Antarctic fishes. He discoveredthe antifreeze glycoproteins, which impart theantifreeze properties to the fish blood. Duringhis long career as a comparative physiologist andhis numerous field trips to Antarctica, Dr.DeVries studied the physiology, biochemistryand molecular biology of these antifreezeglycoproteins, which brought international fameand recognition to his research program at theuniversity and established him as a world leaderin this field of biology.

Dr. DeVries is a Professor Emeritus in theDepartment of Molecular and IntegrativePhysiology and Animal Biology. He received hisPhD from Stanford (1968), and during thisperiod, he discovered antifreeze glycoproteins(AFGPs) in Antarctic notothenioid fishes.

Dr. DeVries then spent next three years at U California, Davis continuing to characterizethe structure of AFGPs as a NIH postdoctoralfellow and later as an Assistant ResearchBiochemist before starting his own laboratory in1971 at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

In 1976, he joined UIUC as an assistantprofessor in the Department of Physiology andBiophysics and became a full professor in 1985.He has remained in the department ever since.He is currently a leader in the field of Antarcticand Arctic fish biology and has won numerousawards, including the Italian National AntarcticProgramme and the Accademia Nazionale deiLinceie Premio Internazionale 'Felice Ippolito'international prize. He has over 160 publicationsincluding seven Science and six Nature papers,and is best known not only for his studies in fishAFGPs but also his contributions to knowledgeof the biology of Antarctic fishes.

In 2011, Dr. DeVries was the first recipient ofthe Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1stInternational Ice-Binding Protein Conferenceheld in Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario,Canada.

Their enormous contributions to the field ofendocrinology—spanning more than fourdecades—have greatly advanced ourunderstanding of the broad actions of steroidhormones and their receptors in diverse targettissues in health and disease. Their pioneeringwork on estrogens and estrogen receptors hasdefined the multifaceted modes by which thesereceptors are regulated and act in distinctive andbiomedically significant ways. These seminalcontributions have also highlighted novelapproaches for the diagnosis and treatment ofhormone-responsive cancers and beneficialmodes of tissue-selective estrogen action formanaging various disorders includingendometriosis and multiple sclerosis.

"John and Benita Katzenellenbogen representthe best that is Illinois. As outstandingcontributors to the research an educationalmission of the institution, they are some of ourmost valued faculty. Importantly, they represent a

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 1514 MCB

With as much passion asshe exudes for her work, it ishard to believe that LoriRaetzman, an associateprofessor in Molecular andIntegrative Physiology, wasnot attuned to science sincethe beginning.

“My dad worked in afactory and my mom was astay-at-home mom, so I definitely didn’t havescience in the genes,” she said. It was not untilshe took a summer research opportunity at theMayo Clinic that Raetzman uncovered her lovefor developmental neurobiology.

She pursued developmental neurosciencethroughout her graduate training, after whichshe accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in thelab of Dr. Sally Camper at the University ofMichigan. It was here that she began studies on[the developmental origins of] the pituitarygland, which led her to Illinois in 2005.

In line with her previous work, Raetzman’slab currently focuses on understanding earlydevelopment of the pituitary gland and howenvironmental signals [cues] are integrated intothis process. She boils this down to a fatechoice.

“You have one stem cell that has to makefive different hormone-producing cells, and weknow a couple of the first steps that happen foreach of those cells. But we don’t know whatmakes an undifferentiated cell that could beanything, go this way versus that way.”

Cutting-edge technology has allowed labmembers to isolate these stem cells, the firststep towards characterizing them in moredetail. Isolated stem cells can be directlysubjected to different hormonal or

environmental factors, allowing their responseto be further studied. With a variety oftechniques, as well as collaborations acrosscampus, Raetzman and her students aremaking great strides towards understandingthe signals that underlie this fate choice.

“Working for Lori has been more than Icould have ever asked for from a graduateschool PI. Having experienced a number ofdifferent laboratory atmospheres in the past, itis abundantly clear to me why both Lori andeveryone she has trained to date has been sosuccessful,” said Matt Biehl, an MD/PhDstudent in the Raetzman Lab. “Her passion fortraining has been especially beneficial,considering my background is somewhatsimilar to hers. Having no family or friendswith a background as either a PhD or MD (orany college experience, for that matter), herguidance has been beneficial not only in myscience, but also in ensuring I am following acareer path that benefits me the most. Nowentering my fourth year of graduate school, Ican’t even begin to quantify how much Lorihas helped me grow as both a graduate andmedical student.”

Whitney Edwards, a second-year PhDstudent in the lab, describes with excitementthe atmosphere in their field right now. Much

like Raetzman, Edwardsentered her under-graduate career with nointention of pursuingscience.

“I went intoundergrad as a theatremajor, actually. I took abasic science course andabsolutely fell in love

with it, and things kind of just progressed fromthere,” she said. Edwards also takes her passionfor science outside of the lab, where she isinvolved in promoting the presence ofunderrepresented minorities in the sciences.One organization to which she dedicates agreat deal of time, STEMfem, seeks to form analliance between women in the sciences.

Raetzman’s position as an associateprofessor also extends far beyond the lab, andplays a significant role in contributing to thepositive atmosphere at Illinois. As a member ofthe Endocrine Society, she has been able tocollaborate with “a remarkable group ofphysicians and scientists” in order to providetraining and outreach to the next generation ofscientists.

“That really has solidified my love ofendocrinology and dedication to the field,” shesaid. The goal of promoting and supportingwomen in the sciences is also important toRaetzman. Since her days as a PhD student inRuth Siegel’s lab, she has sought out femalerole models who embody strength andpersistence in an environment still dominatedby males. Now, as someone who epitomizes asuccessful female in the field, she serves as arole model to students across campus.

Science and Outreach in Dr. LoriRaetzman’s Lab, Molecular and Integrative PhysiologyBy Megan Patton

Ralph Wolfe was on his way to Philadelphia to help celebrate his father-in-law’s 90th birthday in 1977, when the graduate students in his laboratoryat the University of Illinois started receiving angry phone calls.

A press release sponsored by NASA and the National ScienceFoundation had announced Wolfe’s Illinois colleague, Carl Woese, haddiscovered a third form of life, and mentioned Wolfe’s involvement.Newspapers ran wild with the news release, making all sorts of pseudo-scientific sensational claims and outraging the scientific community, Wolfesays. He did not see the release until it had generated headlines around theworld.

“People thought we were out of our minds,” Wolfe says. In fact, oneNobel Prize winner called him up and advised him to disassociate himselffrom Woese’s research or risk destroying his career.

Wolfe says that despite the PR problems caused by the news release, hedefended the data from Woese’s studies, which showed that methanoarchaeaorganisms were completely separate from bacteria. This discovery led Woeseto propose that archaea formed an entirely new branch on the tree of life—athird kingdom in addition to eukaryotes (which include animals and plants)and bacteria.

Woese’s theory did not prune the traditional tree of life recognized byscientists; it yanked the old tree out by the roots and planted a new one.

The outrage over the sensational headlines in 1977 may have delayedacceptance of Woese’s ideas by 10 years, Wolfe says. However, acceptancedid come, and Woese went on to receive a host of awards for his discovery,including the coveted Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy ofSciences.

It all started with research happening in Wolfe’s Burrill Hall laboratory,where a simple technique for cultivating methanogens was laboriouslydeveloped over a period of 10 years. Although Wolfe was not directlyinvolved in Woese’s work, his laboratory collaborated in the experiment thattriggered the landmark discovery.

For Wolfe, growing up in a small town of 1,500 in the Shenandoah Valleyof Virginia, and he says he had no idea what he wanted to do in life.However, as a youth, being a researcher in microbiology was not somethinghe saw coming.

“In college, I found that I could get better grades with the least effort inbiology courses, so I figured maybe I should concentrate on it,” he says witha sly smile.

Wolfe majored in biology at Bridgewater College, where his father taughtphilosophy and religion. He received his master’s in 1949 and his PhD in1953 in bacteriology, both at the University of Pennsylvania. He decided toget an advanced degree because his original goal was to teach at a smallcollege. He says that is when his professors “scientifically seduced him.”

“They kept telling me that a PhD is a research degree,” so he became areluctant researcher—at least in the beginning. He soon embraced the workand came to the University of Illinois as an instructor 1953.

Wolfe had a passion for studying microbial diversity, but he did not moveinto his life’s work on methanogens until 1961. While on sabbatical inEngland, he conducted research on methanogenic bacteria, which producevast quantities of methane and are found in anoxic environments such assediment, the rumen of cows, the cecum of horses, and the alimentary canalof all animals, including humans.

“Most people think of anoxic conditions as being the absence ofoxygen,” Wolfe says, “but that’s not enough for these creatures. For them to

grow, they have to a have a reduction potential of minus 330 millivolts,which is quite negative.”

These qualities made it extremely difficult to isolate methanogens, whichwas why few people in the 1960s studied them. As he puts it, “At that timeyou had to stand on your head and wiggle your hands and your ears inorder to get these conditions.”

Throughout the ‘60s, Wolfe found ways to mass culture methanogenicorganisms, and his lab became the world leader on the metabolism of thesemicrobes. His lab also began finding clues that methanogens were differentfrom anything else in the world. In the early 1970s, his lab discovered a newcoenzyme unique to these creatures—a major discovery.

“This coenzyme was something entirely new,” he says. “Then we foundanother one and another one and another one.”

In all, his lab discovered six new coenzymes behind the metabolism ofmethanogens. Meanwhile, Carl Woese, in a lab down the hall, had beenworking out a technique for analyzing the 16S ribosomal RNA of differentmicrobial species. Woese had already compared the 16S rRNA in about 60microbes, when he proposed that Wolfe collaborate on an experiment to usemethanogens in his assay. Woese ran the rRNA assays on Wolfe’smethanogens, and was shocked to discover these organisms werecompletely different from any other bacteria.

“He told me methanogens weren’t bacteria, and I said of course they’rebacteria,” Wolfe recalls. “They looked like bacteria under the microscope.”

Woese ran his tests on all seven methanogens known at the time and thesame result came in. Based on the ribosomal RNA tests, these organismsclearly belonged in the same group, but they were not bacteria.

Wolfe and Woese co-authored an article that appeared in the proceedingsof the National Academy of Sciences, and as the years passed Woese’stheory was vindicated. Additional evidence had poured in demonstratingthat methanogens were just part of a larger archaea kingdom.

As for Wolfe, he remained in the world of methanogens, working out thepathway for how they reduce carbon dioxide to methane. Over 20 years, hislab figured out the enzymes and coenzymes involved, for which he creditshis sensational team of graduate students.

Wolfe retired in 1991, but kept his lab open for another 15 years. He stillcomes into the office every day to read literature and follow hismicrobiology hobbies, such as studying magnetotactic bacteria. On the topshelf in his office sits a large funnel, which he once used with students todemonstrate how methane, trapped underwater in sediment, could become“combustible air.”

He recalls how his students would wade out into Urbana’s Crystal Lake,stir up the sediment, and collect the gas in an inverted plastic funnel. As onestudent pulled out the stopper at the end of the funnel, another studentwould hold a match near the opening. The result would be a massive fireballof ignited methane. This experiment originated in the 1600s when theItalian scientist Alessandro Volta (for whom the volt is named) firstconducted it. On one wall of Wolfe’s office is the replica of a pistola, the device Volta

used to fire off a mixture of swamp gas and air. Just below it is one ofWolfe’s favorite sayings from the poet Robert Service: “It isn’t the gold thatI’m wanting so much as just finding the gold.” “That’s what drives me,” Wolfe says, after looking back on his 62-year

career. “It’s not about the gold. It’s all about making the discovery.”

The Microbial Man For 62 Years, Ralph Wolfe Has Explored the Microbial UniverseBy Doug Peterson

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 1716 MCB

The power of yeast has brought us beer andbread for hundreds of years. Now these simplecells are bringing us fresh insights and possibletreatments for neurodegenerative diseases suchas Parkinson’s and Huntington’s.

“I love dogs, but I think yeast is man’s bestfriend,” says Susan Lindquist, a University ofIllinois microbiology alum and professor ofbiology at MIT. She should know, for Lindquistuses yeast cells as “living test tubes” as herlaboratory uncovers promising new compoundsto treat diseases.

With lifespans extending, people havebecome more susceptible to the neurodegen-erative diseases of old age, such as Parkinson’sand Alzheimer’s, Lindquist says. She citesfigures showing while deaths from stroke wentdown 20 percent and deaths from heart diseasewere cut by 13 percent from 2000 to 2008, theneurodegenerative disease Alzheimer’s went upby 66 percent.

Behind all neurodegenerative diseases aremistakes made in the body’s protein-foldingprocess—a subject that Lindquist has studiedfor most of her career beginning with her firstprofessorship at the University of Chicago in the1970s.

To explain protein folding, Lindquistcompares the process to creating a musicalinstrument, such as a saxophone, from a sheetof metal.

“When you fold up the sheet of metal tomake a very complex musical instrument andyou do it right, it plays beautiful music,” shesays. “But when you get the folding wrong, theinstrument is not going to play good music andmight even ruin the entire orchestra.”

Like that nondescript sheet of metal used tomake an instrument, proteins start out as long,linear strings of amino acids; they have to befolded exactly right for them to do their specificjob in the body. There are 15,000 to 20,000different types of proteins, which are theworkhorses of the body. If one little thing goeswrong with a protein’s complex folding process,the result can be disease, such as cystic fibrosis.

“Misfolded proteins can also go off asrenegades and run amok,” she says. “They are

responsible for most cancers, as mutatedproteins cause cells to grow when they shouldn’tbe growing.”

Lindquist began her career studying generegulation and doing basic science on proteinfolding, but for the past 12 years she hasfocused on using this knowledge to tackledisease. In much of the work, her lab is doingtheir initial research using yeast cells.

When Lindquist first suggested using yeastcells to study neurodegenerative diseases, manypeople thought she was crazy, and sheunderstands why. These diseases are“profoundly complicated,” she says, so itseemed far-fetched that they could study themin simple yeast cells.

Yeast cells, like all organisms, share the sameprotein-folding problems as human cells, butthey are cheap, easy to use, and provide fastresults. Lindquist’s team took certain proteinslinked to neurodegenerative diseases andinserted them into yeast cells. For instance,when they put high levels of alpha synuclein (a-syn), a protein linked to Parkinson’s, in yeastcells, the cells became sick in ways thatmimicked what happened in human brain cells.

They screened over 500,000 compounds inyeast and found about 100 looked promising forreversing the effects of a-syn. In particular, theydid detailed work on one of those compounds,NAB. After seeing its impact on yeast cells, theyconfirmed that NAB also reversed the negativeeffects when it was tested on human neuronscreated from stem cells taken from the skin ofpatients with Parkinson’s.

The Lindquist Lab is also looking at proteinsand cancer. They are studying heat shockproteins, which help cells cope under all kinds ofstresses such as heat, lack of oxygen, too muchoxygen, or too little water. The problem is cancercells can use this heat shock survival mechanism“to survive and grow in us and kill us.”

As Lindquist explains, “If we can find anagent that can stop cancer cells from using theheat shock survival response, we might be ableto use it to fight cancer.”

A third area of research in the Lindquist Labhas been the impact of protein folding on the

evolution of new traits in organisms. Forinstance, she is studying how proteins calledprions can set off a chain reaction in cells thatlead to complex new traits in an organism.

Lindquist has won multiple of honors for herwork, and has been elected to the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences, the NationalAcademy of Sciences, and the Institute ofMedicine. However, she credits Illinois with firstputting her on this track of discovery.

“My experience at the University of Illinoishad a profound effect on my career,” she says.When she began her undergraduate work at U of I, she was planning on going to medicalschool. After working for a summer in thelaboratory of Jan Drake, professor ofmicrobiology, her eyes were opened to the joysof biological exploration.

“Being able to find something that no oneever knew before…that was extraordinarilyexciting to me,” she says. She went on to receiveher B.S. in microbiology from Illinois in 1971and her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1976.

As she continues to pursue new discoveries atMIT, Lindquist compares the screening processfor therapeutic compounds to panning for gold.

“When you’re panning, you have to gothrough a lot of sand and gravel before you findsome gold,” she says. “But even when you findgold, that doesn’t mean much until you can findthe gold again and again in the same stream.Then you will know you might have hit a vein ofgold or the mother-lode.”

When it comes to their screening process, shesays, “We don’t know for sure yet, but we thinkwe have started to strike gold.”

Striking GoldU of I Alum Uses Humble Yeast in BattleAgainst Parkinson’s and Other DiseasesBy Doug Peterson

According to a recent Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC) report, morethan 2 million people become infected withdrug-resistant bacteria each year in the UnitedStates alone. First-line treatments are no longereffective against these “superbugs” and theiremergence is a global concern due to the limitedtherapeutic options for dealing with them. Onepathogen of particular concern is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Previously MRSA infections were largelyconfined to hospitals; however, in recent years anincreasing number of these infections arebeginning in the community at large. Thisdissemination has led the CDC to state S. aureusand other antibiotic resistant pathogens pose aserious threat to human health and call for thedevelopment of new therapeutic options.

During infection, bacteria must obtain all oftheir nutrients from the host. In response tothese invaders, our body takes advantage of thisAchilles’ heel and sequesters many essentialnutrients upon infection, a process known asnutritional immunity. Dr. Thomas Kehl-Fie, an

assistant professor of microbiology, is activelystudying the impact of host-imposed metalstarvation on pathogens, in particular S. aureus.

“Transition metals play a large role in manyliving organisms, as they are essential for crucialbiological processes. In fact, an estimated 30percent of all proteins require a metal co-factorand loss of the ability to impose metal starvationresults in higher susceptibility to infection,”Kehl-Fie said.

“We know that hosts, us, starve bacteria foressential nutrients including transition metals.Despite this, S. aureus still kills tens of thousandsof people every year in the United States alone.To cause disease, S. aureus must adapt to thisnutrient limitation. Our thinking is that if we canunderstand the adaptations that allow S. aureusto survive in this extremely hostile environment,we can then identify new targets for therapeuticdevelopment.”

A critical component of nutritional immunityis the manganese and zinc binding proteincalprotectin. Dr. Kehl-Fie’s group utilizes theability of calprotectin to bind metals to

determine how bacteria respond to metalstarvation.

“A major challenge to studying how bacteriarespond to nutritional immunity is mimickingthe starvation that bacteria experience duringinfection in culture. The ability to impose metalstarvation in culture using calprotectin allows usto harness the power of molecular genetics toelucidate the factors that enable S. aureus andother pathogens to overcome nutritionalimmunity. Then using wild type mice and micewhich have defects in metal sequestration, wecan evaluate if the bacterial factors identified inculture contribute to infection and resistingnutritional immunity.”

“Coming to the lab is not work for me. I lovescience and it is my passion. One of thefortunate things about doing research is that youget to interact with people who are verypassionate about what they are doing. Thisincludes faculty, graduate students, andundergraduate students at the University ofIllinois.”

“A major challenge to studying how bacteria respond to nutritionalimmunity is mimicking the starvation that bacteria experienceduring infection in culture.”

Kehl-Fie Lab, Microbiology

Nutritional Immunity: Using Hunger to Fight Infection

By Kevin Yum

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Dr. Susan Lindquist will speak at the 2016MCB commencement ceremony.

18 MCB SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 19

The human gastrointestinal tract is composed of trillions ofmicroorganisms whose collective genome (microbiome) containsmore than a hundred times as many genes as are present in the host.Studies have identified some of these microorganisms play animportant role in metabolism and production of essential vitamins. Itwas no surprise when recent studies revealed gut microbiome,depending on various environmental cues, can control which genesare turned on and off, thus regulating gene expression in thedigestive system. Additionally, our microbiome is unique and can bealtered based on diet, lifestyle, and exposure to toxins andantibiotics.

Since our body provides little space for these microorganisms togrow, all species of microorganisms must be properly balanced tomaintain homeostasis. Potentially innocuous microbes may becomedangerous when they outnumber the beneficial microbes. In the case

Microbiology Welcomes Dr. Christopher Brooke to the Faculty

The Department of Microbiology welcomed Dr. ChristopherBrooke as an assistant professor in September of 2015. Dr. Brookereceived his Ph.D. in Microbiology & Immunology from theUniversity of North Carolina in 2010, and completed a postdoctoralfellowship at the National Institutes of Health in 2015. He is extremelyexcited to join the Microbiology Department within MCB, and looksforward to establishing collaborations across the wider UIUC scientificcommunity. At Illinois, his group uses influenza virus as a model tobetter understand the mechanisms that govern viral evolution andtransmission.

Influenza virus continues to pose a global public health threatbecause it is remarkably adept at evolving to escape the immunitygenerated by vaccination or previous infection. Further, the potentialfor zoonotic influenza viruses to evolve to transmit between humansresulting in another pandemic remains a serious concern.

The Brooke lab combines approaches drawn from molecularvirology, evolutionary biology, viral genomics, and immunology tobetter understand how influenza viruses evolve and how they causedisease. A particular focus of the group is on determining how thesegmented structure of the influenza virus genome promotes viralevolution and immune escape. Brooke and colleagues recentlydemonstrated that the vast majority of influenza virus particles lack acomplete functional set of viral genes, and thus must work together togenerate a productive infection. Upending previous dogma, theyfound that viruses that packaged fewer genome segments were actuallybetter able to replicate and transmit between hosts. These findingshave necessitated a paradigm shift in how we view viral populations,and have opened up several new areas of study that the lab is currentlypursuing.

Brooke hopes that their work will open the door to designing new“escape-proof” vaccines and therapeutics, as well as improve ourability to predict and prepare for future pandemics.

Helicobacter pyloriGastric Infection Impairs Cognitive Performance in RatsFrom the Blanke Lab,Microbiology

of Helicobacter pylori, bacteria that colonize the stomach of half ofthe world’s human population, it alters the local gastric environmentin ways that can allow a suitable niche to colonize, and in theprocess, potentially cause the development of gastric ulcers andstomach cancer. Since most microorganisms cannot survive in thisharsh gastric environment, H. pylori faces little competition forresources.

Recently, Dr. Steven Blanke’s research group in the Departmentof Microbiology discovered something surprising.

“After infecting rats with H. pylori, Michael Reno, the seniorPh.D. student who has been spearheading our studies, discoveredthat infection can cause inflammation in more than just the stomachwhere the bacteria are growing. We knew that H. pylori causes gastricinflammation but it was not previously known that H. pyloriinfection could induce a chronic systemic inflammatory response.But what really surprised us was finding that chronic infectioninduced inflammation within the brain of animals,” said Dr. Blanke.

To further investigate this finding, Dr. Blanke, in collaborationwith Dr. Joshua Gulley’s group in the Department of Psychology,has actively started evaluating the cognitive performance in theinfected rats. “We have been examining the influence of H. pyloriinfection on memory and spatial learning in animals chronicallyinfected for 6 months as well as animals actively infected but curedby antibiotic therapy.”

“The preliminary data gathered by the Gulley lab has beeninteresting. Even after being cured of H. pylori infection, animalsshowed a reduction in their natural exploratory behavior. Rodentsare naturally very inquisitive of their environment, but H. pyloriinfection, even after curing, appears to reduce that inquisitiveness.Additionally, those same animals needed additional time to learnnovel cognitive tasks in comparison to animals that were neverinfected. To us, this indicates that the influence of H. pylori inducedinflammation on the brain can persist even after the infection hasbeen cured.”

“Our next goal is to better understand the mechanism by whichH. pylori infection, which remains specifically localized to thestomach, is able to induce systemic and brain inflammation. To dothis, we will be looking at how chronic H. pylori infection influencesthe populations of immune cells within the infected host. Specificpopulations of T cells within the immune system play key roles inregulating the inflammatory process, both in upregulating anddownregulating, and we are interested in the influence H. pyloriinfection may be having on those populations.”

Pictured here: MD/PhD student Michael Reno and Dr. StevenBlankeHelicobacter pylori: one of the very few organisms capable ofactively colonizing the human stomach induces a robustinflammatory response which is able to influence health intissues beyond the stomach, potentially influencing cognitivehealth.

By Kevin Yum

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 2120 MCB

One particularly telling moment at the ceremony highlighting thenaming of U of I as one of the “Milestones in Microbiology” sitesactually occurred after the proceedings were over, as those whoparticipated in the event were having their picture taken around a plaquefrom the American Society for Microbiology.

On the plaque were the images of eight “giants” whose work at Illinoisduring the past nearly 150 years played a major role in bringing thedepartment the status it enjoys today. Thomas Burrill, Carl Woese,Abigail Salyers, and Nobel laureate Salvador Luria were among them—and all of them were deceased except for Ralph Wolfe, 94, who wasmaking a beeline for the exit.

“Ralph!” Someone called. “Come here for a picture!”He stopped for a moment and surveyed the group. “The photo looks

perfect already,” Wolfe said, and continued on his way. Typically shy ofthe spotlight, it was Wolfe’s way of saying he was just one of many whomade the department what it is.

Indeed, a prevailing message at the ceremony was that this honor—which has been awarded to just 10 universities before Illinois—is theresult of years of collaborative work by faculty, students, andadministrators in the Department of Microbiology.

“This department has had an incredible generosity of spirit for itsentire time,” said John Cronan, who has served as head of theDepartment of Microbiology for 18 years, in his comments at the event.“One of my main jobs has been to not screw it up. Having done this for18 years you might think I’m a competent administrator, but that’s nottrue—I just have a great department. My colleagues are colleagues in thebest sense of the word.”

The American Society for Microbiology, the largest and oldest lifescience society in the world, named Illinois one of the Milestones for its“rich history of major microbiological achievements,” it said in a release.

It added that the university has been “home to many outstandingmicrobiologists who have made seminal discoveries that significantlyincreased biological understanding and advanced the field ofmicrobiology.”

As of 2015, Illinois is home to six past presidents of the society.Those past Illinois professors highlighted by the society at the

Milestones event include Burrill (1839-1916), who founded the scienceof bacterial plant pathology; Salyers (1942-2013), who pioneeredstudies of Bacteroides, a major intestinal bacterium responsible forbreaking down fibrous materials, and whose research enhanced ourunderstanding of antibiotic resistance among gut bacteria.

Woese (1928-2012) was honored for discovering the archaea, alsoreferred to as the third domain of life distinct from bacteria and eukarya;Sol Spiegelman (1914-1983) initiated the study of RNA and themechanisms of viral replication; Luria (1912-1991) pioneered the studyof bacterial virus-mediated transfer of DNA; Irwin “Gunny” Gunsalus(1912-2008) was recognized for his seminal studies in microbialbiochemistry.

Marvin P. Bryant (1925-2000) made fundamental contributions torumen bacteriology and fermentation processes; Wolfe (1921)developedthe first archaeal cell-free extract system for methane production, andalso played a lead role in establishing the Woods Hole Microbial EcologyCourse.

A crowd of more than 150 people attended the event and heardseveral speakers, including college and university administrators, RobertSwitzer, professor emeritus of biochemistry, William Metcalf, G. WilliamArends Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology and professor ofmicrobiology, Gene Robinson, director of the Carl R. Woese Institute forGenomic Biology, and others.

“Our Department of Microbiology has a decades-long record of

world-class research and education,” said Feng-Sheng Hu, associatedean for life and physical sciences at the College of Liberal Arts andSciences and Ralph E. Grim Professor of Plant Biology and Geology.“We all know that Carl Woese rewrote biology textbooks with hisdiscovery of a third domain of life. In addition to Carl, a number ofother luminaries have made profound contributions to the field ofmicrobiology while serving on our faculty.”

Stanley Maloy, past president of American Society for Microbiologyand a former professor with the Department of Microbiology from1984-2002, said that the 18 years he spent at Illinois changed his life.

“This is truly a wonderful, magical place because of the people here,”he said. He added, “We’re recognizing some people here whose namesare everywhere in microbiology. You can’t miss those names because oftheir impact. But the culture of microbiology here is that everyone workstogether and moves forward.”

Intercepted after the ceremony before he reached the exit, Wolfeadded one other group to the list of those who should be recognized:students.

“Departments of science really ride on the backs of graduatestudents,” Wolfe said. “They do the work.”

He was asked what he was most proud of in his 60-plus years with thedepartment, as a professor or professor emeritus.

“I think just seeing the department grow and maintain its stature overthe years has been the most important thing,” Wolfe said. “Manydepartments go through cycles. They have a cycle of excellence and thenthey decay. So far, we’ve been able to maintain our excellence.”

Milestones in Excellence

By Dave Evense, College of LAS Office of Communications and Marketing

Illinois Department of Microbiology Receives Rare Honor in Recognition of its Contributions to Microbiology

(From left) Stephen Sligar, director of the School of Molecular andCellular Biology, Swanlund Endowed Chair, and professor ofbiochemistry, chemistry, biophysics and computational biology;Michele Mariscalco, regional dean of the College of Medicine;Peter Schiffer, vice chancellor for research and professor ofphysics; John Cronan, head of the Department of Microbiologyand professor of biochemistry; Gene Robinson, director of theCarl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Swanlund Chair, andprofessor of entomology; William W. Metcalf, G. Williams ArendProfessor in Molecular and Cellular Biology and professor ofmicrobiology; Edward Feser, interim provost and vice chancellorfor academic affairs and dean of the College of Fine and AppliedArts; Feng-Sheng Hu, associate dean for life and physicalsciences at the College of LAS and Ralph E. Grim Professor ofPlant Biology and Geology; Robert L. Switzer, professor emeritusof biochemistry and honorary microbiologist; and Brenda Wilson,professor of microbiology, after the ceremony honoring theUniversity of Illinois as a “Milestones in Microbiology” site. (Photoby Joseph Storch)

“This is truly a wonderful, magical place becauseof the people here. We’re recognizing some people here whose names are everywhere in

microbiology. You can’t miss those names because of their impact. But the culture of microbiology here is that everyone works

together and moves forward.”

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 2322 MCB

Joining the program was one of the most important career decisionsSchmelkin made. During mentoring, she shadowed Berkowitz severaltimes as he worked with patients at Community Hospital. When she wasnot at the hospital, she corresponded often with Berkowitz as he offeredher career and academic advice.

Berkowitz eventually wrote her a recommendation letter that helpedher get into Mayo. Most importantly, Schmelkin added, the programhelped her decide that she wanted to go to medical school. She came tothat conclusion while trailing Berkowitz about his job.

“His job is very technical, but when he interacts with people he is ableto connect with them on a very human level, and that’s not about science.That’s about comforting them in a time when they’re scared before

surgery,” Schmelkin said. “Andwhen I saw that really delicatebalance between the science and thehuman side of things, I was reallyexcited to do that myself one day.”

Stories such as Schmelkin’s havemade the Pathways program one ofthe most well regarded at Illinois.The Illinois Academic AdvisingCommittee recognized it as anOutstanding Established Programand Knox was invited to present itat the National Academic Advising

Association’s annual conference in October 2014. It started when Berkowitz decided he wanted to create a way to help

students find their direction during their undergrad years. He knew whatit felt like being on your own in college. He was the first in his family to goto college for a significant amount of time, and he felt that he had nobodyto ask for advice about academics or setting a career path.

“I really didn’t have anyone to query to get that information,”Berkowitz recalled. “It worked out for me, but if we can make it easier forthese students and teach them what’s expected of them while they’revetting the process out, it goes such a long way.”

The first year Berkowitz, the only mentor in the program, mentoredthree students, including Schmelkin. With help from the School of MCB

A college education opens many doors— sometimes it seems too many.As Leah Schmelkin (BS, ’13, molecular and cellular biology; psychology)might have attested to early in her undergraduate studies at Illinois, shedidn’t know what she wanted to do. Then she received notice from theSchool of Molecular and Cellular Biology about a new opportunity to job-shadow a doctor and alumnus named Richard Berkowitz (BS, ’79, biology;MD, ‘83) as he made his rounds as an anesthesiologist at CommunityHospital in Munster, Ind.

Schmelkin applied, was accepted, and now, as a medical student at MayoMedical School in Rochester, Minn., she has the distinction of being one ofthe first students to go through the MCB’s Pathways to Health CareersMentorship Program. Within a few short years the program has grownfrom one founding mentor—Berkowitz—to dozens of them. They include doctors,pharmacists, dentists, and other Illinoisalumni in the health care industry who arewilling to lend their time and knowledgeto help undergraduate MCB studentsmap their future.

Tina Knox, who coordinatesundergraduate instruction and advisingfor MCB, said last year the programmatched 33 MCB students with alumnimentors; some 41 students were matchedthe year before. There was a dip inapplications this year, which Knox attributed to timing (the applicationdeadline came during an exam period), but said feedback on the programhas been “wonderful.”

Any MCB undergraduate student who seeks this rare opportunity mustsubmit an essay to apply. Berkowitz goes through the applications and, withKnox’s help, matches students with mentors in their field of interest.

Response has been strong, according to Knox, with alumni mentorsagreeing to bring the student to work for job shadowing. When they are nottogether, mentors are encouraged to keep in touch by phone or email toprovide the student with career advice.

“They’re matched for a year,” Knox said. “But most of the mentors haveagreed to see the student through graduation if the student chooses.”

Mentors of SuccessA Growing Alumni Mentoring Program in MCBis Helping Students Map Their Careers

By Dave Evensen, College of LAS Office of Communications and Marketing

“The networking piece and the job

shadowing experience was really so

important for me. Without having the

background and those experiences,

I don’t know if I would’ve necessarily

been so quick to jump on this pathway.”

and College of LAS Office of Advancement, he began growing theprogram by sending emails to other Illinois alumni in the health carefield to enlist their help. Gradually over the next six years, about 50alumni joined the cause.

“We’d like to do a better job adding mentors, because we’re lookingat about 1,100 MCB majors, and it would be nice for the ones whodo want mentors or guidance to have somebody they can talk to,”Berkowitz said.

“The time commitment itself is really not that great,” he added. “IfI were an alumnus, I would think it’s very attractive. It’s a way for meto shape the career of a student and at the same time get re-engagedin the university.”

To benefit students who do not necessarily want to become doctorsthe program has evolved over its lifespan to include mentors fromdifferent aspects of health care. Nicole Raucci (BS, ’12, MCB) whoapplied for the Pathways program as a senior, intended to go tomedical school.

After shadowing Berkowitz, however, she started considering analternate path. Berkowitz put her in touch with a nurse practitionerand physician’s assistant at the hospital where he worked and this pastAugust she began her first job as a registered nurse at NorthwesternMemorial Hospital in Chicago. Her science background has helpedher as she works the general medicine unit and has plans to earn adoctoral degree as a nurse practitioner.

“The networking piece and the job shadowing experience wasreally so important for me,” Raucci said. “Without having thebackground and those experiences, I don’t know if I would’venecessarily been so quick to jump on this pathway.”

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING AS A MENTOR,please contact Tina Knox, tmknox@illinois.edu.FOR DONATIONS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO THIS PROGRAM, please contact Sean Williams, sdwilli2@illinois.edu.

24 MCB SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 25

Biochemistry,Specialized Curriculum,Highest DistinctionMatthew KleinjanKathryn McEvoyYunhong WangBingyan WuKevin Yum

Molecular and CellularBiology Honors Concentration, HighestDistinctionMichaela EickhoffDhruv JoshiClara Stelman, Fall 2014Susan Zelasko

Molecular and CellularBiology, Highest DistinctionJason Dienhart, Fall 2014Abby EskerChristopher FelicelliMuhammad IlyasHollis JohansonAmogh KambalyalSherwin KelekarJiwon KimRebekah LandsmanSizhe WangStella Wu, Fall 2014

Biochemistry, Specialized Curriculum,High DistinctionKevin GillYanshu GuoEun Bee Kim

Molecular and CellularBiology HonorsConcentration, HighDistinctionNicholas BakerSean Carlo BlancoNicole HristakosJacqueline JunaSeungbae LeeAnnette Merkel, Fall 2014Julian NallabelliSean O’MalleyMabel SetoAngela ShupePhillip VanDuyne

Biochemistry, Specialized Curriculum,DistinctionMeredith Kisting

Molecular and CellularBiology, DistinctionRalph ClaveriaAaron EinhornVindhya RaoJooyoung Yoon

Biochemistry, Specialized CurriculumSyed ArslanShannon BogueJiachang Hao, Summer 2015Jisoo KimSeong Wook LeeDaniel LimNeil MiranAndrew PleckiKonstantin TachlukovJacob TilsleyFei Wang

Molecular and CellularBiology Honors ConcentrationMegan BarnesMara DubnowNatascia Flasch, Fall 2014Sarah InnocentiPaul KozakJun Soo ParkRobin RiceCara SchornakNatalia SopiarzMorgan Zenner

Molecular and CellularBiologyAmr AbdouFarjad AdamjeeFaraz AghaFakhra AhmadLina Al-ChaarKelly AlleavitchLucas AltenbaumerMichael AndrascoAshley AndronowitzShaun ArmstrongSarah AsaturianRobert BaginskiGuntas Bansi, Summer 2015Aneta BasalajNicholas BaurChristine BednarzKimberly BekasNeal BertelsSadaf BhaiManan BhavsarSheela Bhayani, Fall 2014Lauren BiernackiMitchell BigelowCory BockenhauerKrunal BodaliaMelissa BoginStephanie BollowNicole BorkowskiJacqueline BrinkmanMansoor Burhani, Fall 2014Elizabeth Burke, Summer 2015Joseph BurkeMichael BurrisCathleen CahillKendall CampbellAllison CanadaErin CarmodyKyle CarverAlan CatalanoDaniel Chae

Joshua ChangBob ChenEmily ChengMichael CherwinRishabh ChoudhariNaima ChoudhuryCaitlin ChristianMichael ClarkeErin ClaussenMargaret CooperJuan CoronelDavid CuiJohn CulhaneStephanie CurtisDiana Czarny, Summer 2015Michael CzeschinAlan DavidAugustus DemanesDanielle Di Lorio, Summer 2015Janine DoctorAmanda DonaldWilliam DonohueSean DuminieKirstin DunbarHoanghuy DuongMonika DzierzanowskiOsadebamwen Ede-ImafidonQuincy EleryKimberly ElkayamMahmoud ElrakhawyJohn ElueForrest EricksenJoseph FanelliBriana FanningJonathan FastMichaela FischKelsey FisherJacob FleenerMegan FranckDiego FriasZachary GaertnerCarolyn GalbatoMeghan GallagherTaylor GalvanMichel Garcia, Summer 2015Doris GavranovicMohammad GhaneGina GiaseDestinee GlaudeLingjie Gong, Fall 2014Swati GoyalDaniel GraberDylan GraffCristina GrattonAlexander GregoryJeffery GrossMercedes GroveVictoria GugalaXinyi GuoShreya GuptaSamantha HallRaia Hamad, Summer 2015Amy HanleyThomas HanleyKierstyn HansenMicquel HartYixuan HeNick HehmannKaren HoShayla Hobbs, Summer 2015Jordan Holler

Muhammad HossainJanet HsuehNorman HuangJin HuhMargaret HungEmily ItokuNicole JackowskiNeha JainSurbhi JainJessica JankiewiczHyunsoo JinDian JosephBalaji JothishankarJustyna Kaczmarzyk, Fall 2014George KalapurakalRoche KapoorSarah KempelBret KerstingBobak Khalili, Summer 2015Mariha KhanKayla KillionDaniel KimDo Yeon KimGrace Kim, Fall 2014Jae Seong KimJohn KimNicholas KimSusie KimThomas King, Summer 2015Cassandra KippingSuzanne KirkConnor KleinJohn KnudsonKelsey KovachSvitlana KovalDaniel KukRay KuoKhee-Man KwonRichard LadnerJacqueline Lam, Fall 2014Michael LaPelusaBrandon LarsonColin LeeJae Kon Lee, Summer 2015Joseph LeeJoseph LeeKiwon LeeNoori LeeSara LeeYunah LeeRandy LeibowitzAdam LevinJong LimJiangzhou LiuTong LiuJeremy Loescher, Fall 2014Hilary LohmanMaria LowisSean LucasChristine LuuDaniel LynchRachael LynnSamantha MaasaraniKelsey MaczkoAmina MadhwalaElman MadrioMichael MagnusonLorraine MascarenhasClayton MaschhoffKatherine MassMaximillian Mata

Kamil MatejewskiMargret Matias, Fall 2014Jessica MatthiesenKayla McCawley, Fall 2014Rachelle McCleanJennifer McDonaldMichelle MendezKristen MichonAhamed MilhanDerek MinorSergio Miranda, Summer 2015Mirihagalle MirihagalleSupipi MirihagalleKathryn MirzaSandra MiskiewiczAshley MohanTaylor Molln, Fall 2014Sarah Monick, Fall 2014Brittany MoteHarold MugnoMindi MuiBethany MurphySidra MurtazaTarek NabulsiNicole NelsonNina Nguyen, Fall 2014Brandon NideaTanner NorrisChinedu NwokoMonica O’ConnorNatalia OkonTheodore OlanrewajuDamilola OlatunbosunLarissa OlsonKelsey OnestoBeverly OnyekwulujeCrystal OrtizDevron OzgenMichael PadishRahul PanchalBrent PanozzoEric Park, Summer 2015Jun Yeon Park, Summer2015Michellai ParksArjun PatelJay PatelJayna PatelKamal PatelMegh Patel, Fall 2014Milan PatelMonal PatelPriyanka PatelRonak PatelRupal PatelSayeel PatelTrevor PetersSofia PetukhovaJohn PhamGerard PinedaAlexander PiavnikMarlena PoleckaAndrew PosenClayton PowersBradley PowszokXinyue QiFrancis RamirezBreann RandleAlnoor RashidBrandon RedweikJohn ReganAbby Reising

Rachel RendakKyle RidlenWilliam RiedlAlex RomineLauren RuvolaBadeia SaedPhillip SalmenEmily SamuelTeerarit SaubhayanaDarsh ShahCorey ShaymanVivian ShenTuo ShiAlvin SinghRamneek SinghChristopher SmreczakMagdalena SobierajKarol SokolowskiSophia SonNoor SoufanKrisos SpyratosChristine StellaJoel SticklingCody StieglitzTaylore StinnettTiffany SumRachel SwansonRobert Swanson, Fall 2014Tariq TajjiouiKonrad TaubeSarah TayazimeAlexis ThorstensonMateusz TkaczJose TorioMegan TranTrang TranAngelica UkaigweRay UrbanMatthew Van Der BoschMackenzie VarcoBrendan VastlikMallorie VestElizabeth VlahosEmily Von HattenDejan VrtikapaKatherine WalkaRyan WalleckVictor WanKelly WangInae We, Summer 2015Maximillian WeberElise WendtAlexandria WestonBrendan Whittaker, Summer2015

Stephen WilliamsLeon WilsonHongjiang WuMariah WuRuiting XiaKevin YangAmanda YoussefNina YoussefniaChenzhao YuKarolina Zapal

BiochemistryZhanar AbilYoung AhnNeal AndruskaAdrienne Barry, Fall 2014Emilia Calvaresi, Fall 2014Bijoy Desai, Fall 2014Salehe Ghasempur, Fall 2014Fiona Groninger-Poe, Summer 2014Irisbel Guzman SanchezAbhinav LuthraKim Nguyen, Summer 2014Preeti SharmaSheena Smith, Fall 2014Seyed Torabi, Fall 2014Pei WangDaniel Wichelecki, Fall 2014

Biophysics and Computational BiologyMark Arcario, Fall 2014Jeffrey Brown, Fall 2014Mohamed GhoneimFrancisco Guerra, Fall 2014Jikun Li, Summer 2014Thuy Ngo, Fall 2014Leonardo Sepulveda Duran, Summer2014

Alexander Taguchi, Summer 2014Pengfei Yu, Fall 2014

Cell and DevelopmentalBiologyChase BoltFrank Echtenkamp, Fall 2014Nidhi Khanna, Fall 2014Nimish Khanna, Fall 2014Lisa MooreStephanie Tsang Mui Chang, Fall 2014Min Zeng

MicrobiologyDivya Balasubramanian, Summer 2014David Barnhart, Summer 2014Vandana Chakravartty, Fall 2014Amandeep GargiFatemah Hermes, Fall 2014Alexander Smith, Fall 2014Xiaomin Yu, Summer 2014

Molecular and Integrative PhysiologyAlicia Dietrich, Summer 2014Ting Fu, Summer 2014Kieran NormoyleHarry RosenbergVesna Tosic

Doctor of Philosophy Master of Science

Undergraduate Degrees—Bachelor of Sciences

MCB G R A D U AT E S

BiochemistrySamantha PhinneyErin Wildeman

BiologyJoseph BrodskyColin Stoy, Summer 2014Damien Tobin

Biophysics and Computational BiologyHuseyin Tas, Fall 2014

SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY 2726 MCB

Your gifts support general and specific programs in research,teaching, training, and public service, at the school ordepartmental level. To express interest and to make a tax-deductible donation to the MCB General Fund and/orfunds in each of the four MCB departments, please visitmcb.illinois.edu/giving. You can also contact Assistant Directorof Development Sean Williams at sdwilli2@illinois.edu, (217) 300-4462, to discuss making a donation. Every gift helps maintain the excellence of MCB.

Your financial support is deeply appreciated.

Molecular and Integrative Physiologyresearchers explore topics ranging frommolecular function to whole animal integrationto understand how thousands of encodedproteins serve to bring about the highlycoordinated behavior of cells and tissuesunderlying physiological functions, and howtheir dysfunction may lead to diseases such ascancer, diabetes, obesity, neurologicaldisorders, and infertility.

Microbiology lies at the heart of the biologicalsciences. The recent awareness that host-associated microbes, the “microbiome,” playvital roles in modulating human healthunderscores the relevance of microbiology.Moreover, microbiology is also key tounderstanding climate change, greenchemistry, geology, animal health, andagriculture.

Biochemistry alumni and faculty are engagedin interdisciplinary research in medicine,community health, the environment, socialpolicy, and industry. We are committed tomaintaining an exceptional record viagroundbreaking discoveries and superb trainingof scholars in our classrooms and laboratories.

Department of Cell and DevelopmentalBiology faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows,and staff research interactions amongmolecules, macromolecules, andmacromolecular machines giving rise to livingcells. Our mission includes applying basic celland molecular biological research to theunderstanding and treatment of humandisease as well as new biotechnologyapplications.

S U P P O R T T H E MCB FA M I LY

Give online: mcb.illinois.edu/giving

The main academic mission of theSchool of Molecular and Cellular Biologyis the management and advancement ofthe undergraduate major. Each year wegraduate nearly 500 majors with theBachelor of Science degree in Molecularand Cellular Biology. We’re one of thelargest majors at the University, andhave an established, outstandingtrack record of preparing students forprofessional and academic careers. Inaddition, the school works closely withits four departments in managing ourgraduate-level programs. With over15,000 alumni, we’re proud of ourgraduate family and want to keep inclose contact. Our future is dependenton the generosity of our graduates, andwe welcome your contributions to theschool and departments, each of whichoffers a unique and excellent mission.