News

Congratulations to Dr. Alan Diekman, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Urology, on being selected to receive the 2025 Distinguished Service Award from the American Society of Andrology (ASA). Dr. Diekman is nationally recognized for his research into the molecular mechanisms of reproductive biology and has been active in the ASA for over two decades. He has served in numerous leadership roles and as ASA Treasurer coauthored the organization’s five-year strategic plan in 2021. He will be recognized in a March 30 ceremony at the annual conference of the ASA and the International Society of Andrology (ISA).

Autophosphorylation of the Tousled-like kinases TLK1 and TLK2 regulates recruitment to damaged chromatin via PCNA interaction.
West KL, Nguyen TTN, Tengler KA, Kreiling N, Raney KD, Ghosal G, Leung JW.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2024

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Regulation of autophagy by Rab27B in colorectal cancer.
Afroz S, Preet R, Vishwakarma V, Evans AE, Magstadt AN, Dixon DA.
Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2024

Congratulations to Zijun Zhang who was awarded an Abstract Achievement Award for his poster at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting. Zijun is a graduate student in the laboratory of Fenghuang “Frank” Zhan, M.D., Ph.D.

Congratulations to Haven Griffin, Ph.D. on her successful defense of her dissertation entitled, “MC4R Synaptic Distribution and Modulation of Receptor Activity by Membrane Cholesterol Content.” Dr. Griffin was mentored by Giulia Baldini, M.D., Ph.D. and plans to stay as a postdoctoral researcher in the Baldini lab for a few months.

Targeted Forward Genetics: Saturating Mutational Analyses of Specific Target Loci Within the Genome.
Protacio RU, Wahls WP.
Methods Mol Biol.

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Beyond HRD status: Unraveling Genetic Variants Impacting PARP Inhibitor Sensitivity in Advanced Ovarian Cancer.
Kjeldsen MK, Jørgensen M, Grønseth DSB, Schønemann-Lund M, Nyvang GB, Haslund CA, Knudsen AO, Motavaf AK, Malander S, Anttila M, Lindahl G, Mäenpää J, Dimoula M, Werner TL, Iversen TZ, Hietanen S, Fokdal L, Dahlstrand H, Bjorge L, Birrer MJ, Mirza MR, Rossing M.
Cancer Res Commun.

Inhibition of BAK-mediated apoptosis by the BH3-only protein BNIP5.
Rühl S, Li Z, Srivastava S, Mari L, Guy CS, Yang M, Moldoveanu T, Green DR.
Cell Death Differ. 2024

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Structural and functional insights into the interaction between the bacteriophage T4 DNA processing proteins gp32 and Dda.
He X, Yun MK, Li Z, Waddell MB, Nourse A, Churion KA, Kreuzer KN, Byrd AK, White SW.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2024

The Graduate School held a Research Induction Ceremony to celebrate the graduate students who passed their candidacy exams in the past year. Each student was presented with a white coat from their mentor and Dr. Mari Davidson, the director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology track. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology students who received their white coats were:

• Lokesh Akana, mentored by Dr. Adam Wolfe
• Jaycelyn (Jaycee) Hall, mentored by Dr. Craig Porter
• Emory Malone, mentored by Dr. Wayne Wahls
• Benjamin (Ben) May, mentored by Dr. Alicia Byrd
• Kennith Swafford, mentored by Dr. Samantha Kendrick

Congratulations to all!

By Marty Trieschmann

Oct. 15, 2024 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) announced the launch of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Center of Excellence for Proteomics at UAMS — the first and only academic-industry partnership of its kind in the United States.

The world leader in serving science, Thermo Fisher Scientific, entered into a formal agreement with the IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics, which was founded in 2020 with a $11 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the only NIH-funded proteomics service provider in the United States, providing the most cost-effective access to proteomics for any researcher in the U.S. performing biomedical research.

Proteomics allows researchers and clinicians to rapidly identify novel disease biomarkers, new drug targets and unique mechanisms driving human diseases. IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics is equipped with multiple Thermo Fisher advanced Thermo Scientific™ Orbitrap™ mass spectrometers, including the most recent installed state-of-the-art mass spectrometry technology, Thermo Scientific™ Orbitrap™ Astral™ mass spectrometer, to provide premium quantitative proteomics services to researchers.

“The Thermo Fisher Scientific Center of Excellence for Proteomics at UAMS will be a first-in-class partnership that will support research, education and outreach in proteomics not only in Arkansas but across the entire United States,” said Pushkin Pant, vice president/general manager, Life Science Mass Spectrometry at Thermo Fisher. “We will provide access to the latest and next generation technology at this site to support scientists in the United States performing biomedical research.”

“The study of proteins using proteomics is at the core of nearly all biomedical research and often serves as step one in the disease biomarker or drug discovery process,” said Alan Tackett, Ph.D., distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the UAMS College of Medicine who directs the UAMS proteomics program.

As part of the agreement, Thermo Fisher will support annual proteomics educational workshops, and serve as a partner to provide on-site mass spectrometry technology for the NIH proteomics trainee program.

“The primary benefit of this unique academic-industry partnership is to bring the current and next-generation technology in proteomics to the UAMS campus to create a unique environment with world-class infrastructure to support biomedical researchers across the United States,” said Tackett, the inaugural recipient of the Scharlau Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at UAMS.

“In the past few years, we have provided proteomics access to more than 1,500 researchers across every state in the United States plus Puerto Rico and supported educational activities for over 500 faculty, students and support staff,” Tackett added. “The scope of our operation at UAMS is unmatched across academic institutions in the United States and recognized at the highest leadership levels of the National Institutes of Health.”

This first-in-kind partnership unites the industry leader in proteomics technology and solutions, Thermo Fisher, with the only academic national proteomics service provider at UAMS. This academic-industry partnership is designed to create an environment of creativity and innovation that will support discovery and development of new approaches and therapies to tackle the most challenging human diseases including cancer.

Agar lot-specific inhibition in the plating efficiency of yeast spores and cells
Protacio RU, Davidson MK, Malone EG, Helmlinger D, Smith JR, Gibney, PA, Wahls WP.
G3: Genes / Genomes / Genetics 2024

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Development of New Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Mouse Models.
Mehdi SH, Xu YZ, Shultz LD, Kim E, Lee YG, Kendrick S, Yoon D.
Cancers (Basel). 2024

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Untargeted CUT&Tag and BG4 CUT&Tag are both enriched at G-quadruplexes and accessible chromatin.
Thompson MD, Byrd AK.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024

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HIF-α signaling regulates the macrophage inflammatory response during Leishmania major infection.
Fry LG, Washam CL, Roys H, Bowlin AK, Venugopal G, Bird JT, Byrum SD, Weinkopff T.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024

Alan Tackett, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, received an Odyssey Medal for Research from Hendrix College. The Odyssey Medal is presented to alumni whose life achievements exemplify the ideals of the Hendrix Odyssey Program. Medalists are selected by the Hendrix Board of Trustees for their accomplishments in one of the six Odyssey categories: Artistic Creativity, Global Awareness, Professional and Leadership Development, Research, Service to the World, or Special Projects.

Alan Tackett, Ph.D., earned a degree in chemistry with distinction from Hendrix College in 1998, and received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in 2002. He performed postdoctoral training in cancer epigenetics and proteomics at The Rockefeller University in New York City from 2002-2005. He joined the faculty at UAMS in 2005 and has risen in the ranks to a tenured distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. Tackett received the Sharlau Family Endowed Chair for Cancer Research in 2016 and was nominated into the Arkansas Research Alliance in 2021. He currently serves as Deputy Director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS.

As a UAMS faculty member, Tackett has built an internationally recognized research team focused on uncovering new therapeutic strategies to treat metastatic melanoma and developing the next generation of molecular profiling technologies to identify cancer biomarkers. He has published more than 150 scientific articles and holds multiple patents in these areas; and has received more than $40 million in government funding to support his research endeavors.

Tackett serves as director of two National Institutes of Health (NIH) research centers in Arkansas: a NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in systems biology that has enabled critical infrastructure development for large data generating technologies and has provided tailored mentoring to numerous early career faculty resulting in their acquisition of over $25 million in government research funding; and a NIH National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics that has supported biomedical research in over 1,500 laboratories across every state in the U.S. and has provided training and workforce development to over 500 faculty and students, including many who are underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce.