RNA Splicing in Cancer and Targeted Therapies.
Islam MR, Nagar P, Neetole ST, Wan L, Rahman MA.
Genes (Basel). 2023

Synthesis and Anti-Melanoma Activity of Acryloyl Pyridinone Analogues.
Urbaniak A, Bathula C, Chauhan J, Rai P, Thammathong J, Clark C, Heflin B, De Loose A, Avaritt N, Rodriguez A, Tackett AJ, Sen S, Banerjee S.
Chem Biodivers. 2023

Pif1 Helicase Mediates Remodeling of Protein-Nucleic Acid Complexes by Promoting Dissociation of Sub1 from G-Quadruplex DNA and Cdc13 from G-Rich Single-Stranded DNA.
Chib S, Griffin WC, Gao J, Proffitt DR, Byrd AK, Raney KD.
Biochemistry. 2023

TNRC18 engages H3K9me3 to mediate silencing of endogenous retrotransposons.
Zhao S, Lu J, Pan B, Fan H, Byrum SD, Xu C, Kim A, Guo Y, Kanchi KL, Gong W, Sun T, Storey AJ, Burkholder NT, Mackintosh SG, Kuhlers PC, Edmondson RD, Strahl BD, Diao Y, Tackett AJ, Raab JR, Cai L, Song J, Wang GG.
Nature. 2023

Experimental pharmacology in precision medicine.
Urbaniak A, Thummel KE, Alade AN, Rettie AE, Prasad B, De Nicolò A, Martin JH, Sheppard DN, Jarvis MF.
Pharmacol Res Perspect. 2023

Resveratrol induces major histocompatibility complex class I antigen presentation in a STING-dependent and independent manner in melanoma.
Morehead LC, Koss B, Fil D, Heflin B, Garg S, Wallis KF, Tackett AJ, Miousse IR.
Mol Immunol. 2023

Bifunctional inhibitor reveals NEK2 as a therapeutic target and regulator of oncogenic pathways in lymphoma.
McCrury M, Swafford K, Shuttleworth SL, Mehdi SH, Acharya B, Saha D, Naceanceno K, Byrum SD, Storey AJ, Xu YZ, Doshier C, Patel V, Post GR, De Loose A, Rodriguez A, Shultz LD, Zhan F, Yoon D, Frett B, Kendrick S.
Mol Cancer Ther. 2023

Characterization of methionine dependence in melanoma cells.
Garg S, Morehead LC, Bird JT, Graw S, Gies A, Storey AJ, Tackett AJ, Edmondson RD, Mackintosh SG, Byrum SD, Miousse IR.
Mol Omics. 2023

Identification of Regulatory Elements in Primary Sensory Neurons Involved in Trauma-Induced Neuropathic Pain.
Stephens KE, Moore C, Vinson DA, White BE, Renfro Z, Zhou W, Ji Z, Ji H, Zhu H, Guan Y, Taverna SD.
Mol Neurobiol. 2023

We’re delighted to share the exciting news that Kevin D. Raney, Ph.D., Professor & Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has been honored with the 2023 Odyssey Medal from Hendrix College. These awards, presented by the Board of Trustees, recognize individuals whose life achievements that reflect the essence of the Hendrix Odyssey program, with a particular focus on accomplishments in various categories, including research.

In recognition of Dr. Raney’s outstanding contributions, he was presented with his medal at a luncheon and recognized at a special reception held on October 26, 2023. We warmly invite you to join us in congratulating Dr. Raney for this well-deserved recognition.

Mohammad Rahman, Ph.D. was awarded a grant from the Arkansas Breast Cancer Research Program for his project, “Manipulating RNA Splicing as a Targeted Therapeutic Approach in Breast Cancer.” Dr. Rahman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a member of the Cancer Biology Research Program of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

Alicja Urbaniak, Ph.D., will be presenting, “Trending in Science: How Social Media Can Enhance Your Career,” on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1-2 p.m.

Dr. Urbaniak is a KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Award scholar and an instructor in the College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She is also an associate member of the Winthrop. P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. Her research focuses on investigating the activity of compounds of natural origin and their derivatives as anti-cancer agents.

Dr. Urbaniak serves as an executive committee member and secretary of the Division for Drug Discovery and Development of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), and she is a member of the Partnerships Committee. Additionally, she is an editorial board member of the Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology.

Register here 

Congratulations to Xiuqi “Michael” Wang on the successful defense of his dissertation entitled, “Discovery of Imidazopyridine Analogs as FLT3-ITD Secondary Mutant Inhibitors for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia.” Dr. Wang was mentored by Dr. Hongyu Li and will be beginning a postdoctoral position in Dr. Jun Qi’s lab at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School.

Increased Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors with Dietary Methionine Restriction in a Colorectal Cancer Model.
Morehead LC, Garg S, Wallis KF, Simoes CC, Siegel ER, Tackett AJ, Miousse IR.
Cancers (Basel). 2023

Biotransformation research advances – 2022 year in review.
Khojasteh SC, Argikar UA, Cheruzel L, Cho S, Crouch RD, Dhaware D, Heck CJS, Johnson KM, Kalgutkar AS, King L, Liu J, Ma B, Maw H, Miller GP, Seneviratne HK, Takahashi RH, Wang S, Wei C, Jackson KD.
Drug Metab Rev. 2023

Dustyn Barnette, Ph.D., is a 2021 Biochemistry and Molecular Biology graduate. He returned to speak about career opportunities in government research.

Congratulations to Kanishka Manna, a graduate student in the lab of Stephanie Byrum, Ph.D., who won second place in the Bioinformatics Division at the SE IDeA meeting in Columbia, SC. His poster title was, “A novel proteogenomics workflow for proteoforms detection.”

Doctor of Philosophy students who passed their candidacy exams in the last year received their white coats at the Graduate School Research Induction Ceremony. Students from the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Track who received their white coats were Reham Sewilam, mentored by Robert Eoff, Ph.D., Mason McCrury, mentored by Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., and Randall Rainwater, mentored by Marie Burdine, Ph.D. Congratulations to all!