The Younger Protein Scientists Committee Update for Newsletter 10/05
Current members:
Judith Klein-Seetharaman (Chair), Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine
Peter Schubert, Postdoctoral Associate, Biomedical Research Center, University of British
Columbia, Canada
Jennifer Cochran, Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Ivan Budyak, Graduate Student, Research Center Jülich, Germany
Karin Abarca-Heidemann, Postdoctoral Associate, University of Frankfurt
Pere Garriga, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, College Professor
Zhanwu Liu, Postdoctoral Associate, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Are you at an early stage in your career? Then you need visibility of your work! The young
protein scientist (YPS) committee has worked over the past 4 years to increase visibility of
young protein scientists in the research community by selecting abstracts submitted by graduate
students, postdocs and recently appointed (untenured) independent researchers for presentation at
the annual meetings of the Protein Society. Every meeting since 2000 has had a dedicated young
protein scientist session with 5-6 speakers selected from the abstracts. The numbers of submitted
abstracts considered for this session have increased to a record of 295 in 2004, so that we added
two speakers each to three of the main sessions at the last meeting in Boston. Thus, we were able
to provide 12 young protein scientists with an opportunity to present their work to a broad
audience, 6 speakers in the YPS session and 6 speakers integrated in the main sessions: In the
session entitled “Characterization and control of protein ligand interactions”, recently appointed
Assistant Professor Jennifer Cochran, Stanford University, presented her work on engineering
EGF-ligand receptor interactions and postdoctoral associate Agnieszka Szarecka from the
University of Pittsburgh presented her results from modeling protein dynamics in order to
understand the mechanisms of low affinity drug action. In the protein folding session,
postdoctoral associate Tommi Kajander from Yale University presented a general model for the
folding of repeat proteins from designed tetratricopeptide repeat TPR proteins and Anant
Paravastu, Postdoctoral Associate NIDDK, NIH, showed his solid state NMR electron
microscopy results on fibrils of the Alzheimer Beta-amyloid peptide. In the protein engineering
and design session, postdoctoral associate Belinda Sharpe from the University of Sussex in
England spoke about rational design of peptides that switch structural state and Dana
Reichmann, a graduate student at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, described the
modular architecture of protein-protein binding interfaces. Finally, the Young Protein Scientist
symposium was attended more than 500 meeting participants. The symposium covered a broad
range of protein science research: Postdoctoral associate Anirban Banerjee from Harvard
University talked about his intermediates in the base excision repair pathway. Postdoctoral
associate Ji Yu presented single molecule imaging in live cells to understand gene expression.
Postdoctoral associate Jun Yin from Harvard University presented new methods to label protein
at specific sites. Recently graduated engineer Brian Berger spoke about his PhD thesis work on
relating surfactant properties to activity and isolation of integral membrane proteins. Graduate
student Mahumita Guha from Boston University spoke about the stability of human very lowdensity lipoproteins. The session concluded with a presentation by graduate student Cherryl
Sanchez-Irizarry from Harvard University who revealed how cancer-associated mutations within
a conserved heterodimerization domain cause activation of human Notch1.
The YPS committee also organized a number of additional events. The Career Panel & NSF/NIH
Funding Workshop included a presentation of the organization of the NIH as a funding
institution with specific emphasis on one of the recent Roadmap initiatives, the Proteomics
Initiative by Salvatore Sechi, NIH. The workshop was followed by an open discussion with a
panel composed of Kamal Shukla from the NSF, Salvatore Sechi and Janna Wehrle from the
NIH, Jim Kranz from Johnson and Johnson, and Bob Sauer from MIT. The session was chaired
by YPS committee member Peter Schubert, a postdoc from the University of British Columbia.
The YPS committee also collaborated with the education committee on organization of a
workshop on grantsmanship for undergraduate research held by Parag Chitnis from the NSF.
Last but not least the mixer! On Sunday night after the YPS session, we all went out to an Irish
pub around the corner from the meeting site. This was a the place to talk science, career and have
fun. The pub was completely packed with attendants from all stages in their careers – from
undergraduates to leaders in academia and industry. Johnson and Johnson, WHO ELSE ENTER
HERE generously supported this networking opportunity, but the popularity of the event let the
money run out after a short time. The mixer is an important event to help researchers early in
their careers establish contacts and obtain advice from researchers at more advanced stages in
their careers. At this event, academics and industrial researchers alike have the opportunity to
make a lasting impression on young researchers. Without funds this event cannot take place – if
you are able to please help us ensure that this event continues to be part of the annual meetings
of the Protein Society.
If you would like to join the committee or would like to support our activities financially, please
contact the committee chair, Judith Klein-Seetharaman. For more information on the
committee’s activities, pls. visit http://flan.blm.cs.cmu.edu/YPS/index.jsp.
Jennifer Cochran, Assistant Professor Stanford University in the characterization and
control of protein ligand interactions session.
Agnieszka Szarecka, Postdoctoral Associate University of Pittsburgh
in the Characterization and control of protein ligand interactions
session.
Judith Klein-Seetharaman, Chair of the Young Protein Scientist
Committee, at the Young Protein Scientist Session.
Anirban Banerjee, Postdoctoral Associate
Harvard University, in the YPS symposium.
The YPS symposium was packed with more than 500 attendants.
Ji Yu, Postdoctoral Associate Harvard
University, in the YPS symposium.
Jun Yin, Postdoctoral Associate Harvard
University, in the YPS symposium.
Brian Berger, Graduate Student, University
of Delaware, in the YPS symposium.
Mahumita Guha, Graduate student
at Boston University, in the YPS
symposium.
Cherryl Sanchez-Irizarry,
Graduate student Harvard
University, in the YPS
symposium.
Lir’s pub looked okay from the outside… (note
however the warning sign of researcher with
poster roll).
… but was packed in the inside.
Attendants included the YPS speakers….
… the Johnson and Johnson sponsors….
… undergraduate and staff researchers ….
… graduate students and academic leaders…
… it was fun!
Graduate student Dana Reichmann from the Weizmann
Institute at the protein design session chaired by
Matthias Buck, Assistant Professor at Case Western.
The NIH/NSF funding workshop and panel discussion. From left
to right: Peter Schubert, University of Vancouver (Chair),
Salvatore Sechi, NIH, Kamal Shukla, NSF, Bob Sauer, MIT, Jim
Kranz, Johnson and Johnson, Janna Wehrle, NIH.
Tommi Kajander, Postdoctoral
Associate Yale University, in the
Protein Folding session.
Anant Paravastu,
Postdoctoral Associate
NIDDK, NIH, in the
Protein Folding session.