Annual report for the Department of Molecular Biology
College of Agriculture
July 2006 – June 2007
1. Introduction
The report covers the annual activities of the Department of Molecular Biology, for fiscal year July 2006 - June 2007. We believe, as in the past, that the Department has performed at or above expectations for a Department of Molecular Biology of this size.
We consider the three new hires (two of which shared with the Department of Botany,
College of Arts and Sciences) as the major achievement for the past year. We also believe that we have made substantial improvements in our Student Learning
Assessment activities. There is some room for improvement: the Department should have serious discussion about the future teaching and research directions.
2. Academic Planning Implementation:

Participation in the revision of the biology core curriculum (action item 9)

Faculty search for an ecological geneticist (action item 13)

Faculty search for an evolutionary and ecological functional geneticist (action item 13)

Faculty search for a molecular microbiologist (action items 17 and 18)

Successful first-year implementation of the new PhD degree in Molecular and
Cellular Life Sciences (action item 15)

Implementation of the WWAMI medical education program (connected to action item 27)

Implementation of the requirement for strengthening Interdisciplinarity (general
Institutional Issue)
For the coming year, we plan to:

Further update, in collaboration with all participating departments campus-wide, the graduate curriculum for the MCLS program

Continue strengthening of the Microbiology program

Prepare for the search for molecular biologists (a replacement position for Jerry
Johnson)
3. Teaching activities:
The Department has provided instruction in numerous courses for students from the
College of Agriculture, College of Arts and Sciences, and College of Health Sciences.
We have also provided classroom instruction for the WWAMI program. For more detailed information, see Appendix below.
4. Research and/or creative activities:

The Department of Molecular Biology exceeds in research (see Appendix). This is evidenced by:
4.a.
The number and quality of our publications

32 experimental papers in peer-reviewed journals

7 review articles in peer-reviewed journals

14 book chapters

1 edited book (Liberles, Oxford Press)

59 participations in conferences/symposia and invited seminars or plenary talks
(many of which abroad)

The total IF for all published work for the year amounts to 172.8, averaging 3.0 per publication.
4.b.
The number of grants and the overall external funding: the total amount of awarded funds exceeds $9M (our record) despite the difficult funding situation at NIH and NSF, our two major sources for federal funding.
5. Service, Extension and Outreach Activities:
The faculty of the Department of Molecular Biology do their fair share of service to the
Department, the College of Agriculture, and the University (see Appendix for a partial list of committees). We also actively participate in various kinds of committees and panels at the national and international level (see Appendix). This brings a lot of visibility to both the Department and the University. In terms of service to the discipline (see
Appendix):

We actively participate in grant proposal evaluations (as external reviewers, or as study section/panel members) for national agencies such as NSF, NIH, ACS,
DOE, USDA, and for some foreign science foundations;

We review manuscripts for ~30 journals in the field, including top-notch journals.

We serve as editors or on editorial boards for 8 major journals.
Overall, our service by far exceeds what is usual for a Department of our size. We intend to continue this service at its present level and quality in the future.
6. Student Recruitment and Retention Activities and Enrollment Trends:
We participate in the efforts of the College of Agriculture and the University to recruit and retain students. In addition to the standard student advising at all points of a student’s tenure at UW, we give presentations at high schools and community colleges to attract new undergraduates and transfer students. We also put a lot of effort into keeping an attractive and informative Web page for the purpose of recruitment. We have now created a special Web page for the MCLS PhD program with links to the personal web sites of all participating faculty members.
In terms of enrollment trends, our programs at the undergraduate, MS and PhD levels have been constant for the last several years. We will certainly work towards increasing enrollment by (i) updating and upgrading our curricula, (ii) hiring more

diverse and high-quality new faculty, and (iii) publicizing our research activities through all kinds of possible venues.
7. Development Activities and Public Relations, Including the Use and
Maintenance of the Departmental Website:
Due to the specific character of our Department in the framework of a College of
Agriculture, our development activities are rather modest. We do, however, make a good use of our website to inform our constituents of our teaching and research accomplishments. The website has been updated in accordance with the template approved by the College. We also use television broadcasts to popularize our achievements.
8. Classified and Professional Staffing : no changes or problems
9. Assessment of Student Learning:
This year, we have worked with the college of Agriculture and the University to finalize our Assessment of Student Learning. It is now posted on the Web page of the
Department (see Appendix).

Teaching :
Appendix to the Molecular Biology Department Annual Report
Fiscal Year 2005-2006
Classroom teaching : course, name, credit hours, number of students, instructor
Fall 2006

MOLB 1010 Science and Society, 1 credit, 26 students (Lewis)

MICR/MOLB/BIOL 2021, General Microbiology, 4 credits, 53 students (Watson)

MOLB 3610, Principles of Biochemistry, 4 credits, 98 students (Lewis/Miller/
Langer/Zlatanova)
MOLB 4050, Student Seminar, 1 credit, 11 students (Petersen)

MOLB 4051/5051, Department Seminar, 1 credit, 30 students (Jarvis)

MOLB 4400/5400, Immunology, 4 credits, 13 students (Isaak)

MOLB 4440/5440, Microbial Genetics, 3 credits, 10 students (Petersen)

MOLB 4460/5460, Microbial Physiology, 3 credits, 11 students (Gomelsky)

MOLB 4600/5600, General Biochemistry I, 3 credits, 59 students
(Liberles/Francis/

Johnson

MOLB 4990/5630, Topics: Bioinformatics, 3 credit, 9 students (Liberles)

MOLB 5010-02, Problems: Molecular Biology, Biophysical Methods, 1 to 3 credits, 7 students (Ivanov)

MOLB 5050, Student Seminar, 1 credit, 13 students (Jarvis)
Spring 2007

MICR/MOLB 2021, General Microbiology, 4 credits, 53 students (Watson)

MICR/MOLB 2240, Medical Microbiology, 5 credits, 61 students (Isaak)

MOLB 3000, Introductory Molecular Biology, 3 credits, 37 students (Miller)

MOLB 4050/5050, Student Seminar, 1 credit, 22 students (Petersen)

MOLB 4051/5051, Department Seminar, 1 credit, 30 students (Zlatanova)

MOLB 4100, Clinical Biochemistry, 3 credits, 36 students (Langer)

MOLB 4170/5170, Cloning and Sequence, 1 credit, 23 students (Thorsness)

MOLB 4180/5180, Protein Isolation/Characterization, 1 credit, 19 students
(Hinman)

MOLB 4300, Writing in Molecular Biology, 1 credit, 11 students (Hinman)

MOLB 4450/5450, Cell/Dev/Genetics, 3 credits, 11 students (Fay)

MOLB 4490/5490, Microbial Gen Exp, 1 credits, 23 students (Gomelsky)

MOLB 4610/5610, General Biochemistry II, 3 credits, 47 students (Stayton)

MOLB 5650, Proteins, 3 credits, 14 students (Jarvis)
Graduate students :

Adrianos, S. (Lewis)

Brooks, B. (Lewis)

Creager, M. (Lewis)

Geisler, C. (Jarvis)


Gupta, P. (Zlatanova)

Keele, J. (Stayton)

Kirienko, N. (Fay)

Obuya, J. (Johnson/Sylvester)

Ryjenkov, D. (Gomelsky)

Schmidt, A. (Gomelsky)

Smith, C. (Thorsness)

Xue, J. (Miller)
Active grants (by faculty member):

NIH, R01 GM066868-01A1, Developmental functions of Rb family proteins,
$219,517 (Fay, PI)

ACS, RSG-03-035-01-DDC, The retinoblastoma protein in C. elegans , $198,
000; 1/1/03-12/31/07 (Fay, PI)

NIH No Rockies, A novel genetic approach for elucidating glycopeptide hormone functions and effectors, $21,075 (Fay, PI)

NIH/INBRE, P20 RR016474-05, A novel genetic approach for elucidating glycopeptide hormone functions and effectors, $21,075 (Fay Co-PI/Mentor)

USDA NRI Biological Functions of Antioxidants Associated with Oxygenic
Photosynthesis $242,000, co-PI with Herbert/Basile (Gomelsky, PI)

AES Competitive Grant Program, Conserved pathway linking cyclic dimeric GMP to E. Coli motility and pathogenesis, $15,400 (Gomelsky, PI)

NSF, MCB-0316270, Cyclic Dimeric GMP, a novel secondary messenger in bacteria, $156,096 (Gomelsky, PI)

NASA WY Space Grant Consortium, $14,000 (Gomelsky, PI)

Roche Photolithographic Masks for Rhodobacter Sphaeroides, $10,000
(Gomelsky, PI)

NIH, RO1 GM49734-12, N-glycosylation mechanism in insect cells, $233,541
(Jarvis, PI)

USDA-ARS, 58-5410-3-325, Vesicular stomatitis virus in convalescent animals,
$26,667 (Jarvis, PI)

CSU Developing Baculovirus System to Produce Subunit Vaccines Against
Influenza Viruses $295,000 11/1/06-4/30/09 (Jarvis, PI)

Univ of IA Extending Lifespan of Baculovirus Infected Cells, $240,219 (Jarvis, PI)

Lloyd Inc. Developing an Improved Diagnostic Test for Canine Hypothyroidism,
$181,013 (Jarvis, PI)

NIH, R01 GM068056-02, Human tryptophanyl tRNA synthetase: A functional analysis, $226,378 (Johnson, PI)

USDA-ARS, 58-5410-2-337, Cooperative DNA sequencer, no cost extension
(Johnson, PI)

NSF, MCB-0326255, Peptidases that degrade solid spider silk fibers, no cost extension (Langer/Lewis, PIs)

NSF, NIRT, CMS-0304494, Spider silk proteins $305,223 (Lewis/Yarger ASU,
Co-PIs)


DOD ARMY, DAMD17-03-1-0542, Epidemiology of chronic wasting disease,
$400,170 (Lewis, PI)

NIH, R01 GM047390-12, Spider silk proteins as novel biomaterials $342,996
(Lewis, PI)

DOD AF, F49620-03-1-0341, AFOSR DEPSCoR Spider silk genes for materials applications $162,920 (Lewis, PI)

DOD AF, FA9550-06-1-0310, Proteomics for proteins of spider silks and chronic wasting disease, $200,843 (Lewis, PI)

NSF, #MCB-0315601, Tubuliform spider silk proteins, $128,946 (Lewis, PI)

USDA CSREES, 35603-16255, Development of blood protein assays for prions in mammalian TSEs, $250,000 (Lewis, PI)

WYBIGEN, #102298UW1, Synthetic spider silk genes, $32,000 (Lewis, PI)

WY AG, #102705UW5, Immunological protein response to TSE protein infection,
$78,000 (Lewis, PI)

UW Cash Spider flageliform silk proteins, $32,526 (Lewis, PI)

UW Cash Sequence of spider acindiform + piriform silks, $20,927 (Lewis, PI)

UW Designing Spider Silk Genes for Materials Applications, $67,000 (Lewis, PI)

UW Spider Silk Genes for Materials Applications, $34,350 (Lewis, PI)

UW Macromolecular Core Equipment Facility, $91,688.85 transferred from
Zoology (Lewis, PI)

KRAIG Biocraft Labs Spider Silks $6,000 (Lewis, PI)

NEXIA Spider Silk Licensing, $231,000 (Lewis, PI)

WYBIGEN Spider Silk Proteins in Alfalfa, $38,000 (Lewis, PI)

University of Bergen Asa Tellgren PhD Student Position, $9,970 (Liberles, PI)

NIH No Rockies, Lineage-specific processes of evolution, $14,000 (Liberles, PI)

AES, Competitive Grant program, Regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in the foodborne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes by a Novel Group of Crp-Fnr
Regulatory Proteins, $20,000 (Miller, PI)

NIH, R21 Global Mechanisms of Bacteriodopcin Resistance in Listeria, $210,750
(Miller, PI)

AES Competitive Grant program, Identification of prognostic and diagnostic markers of brisket disease in cattle. $20,000 (McCormick and Stayton, PIs)

NSF 40680, Collaborative Plant Biology in the 21 st Century
– Symposium at
CSU, 30,000 (Sylvester, PI)

DOE, Analysis of Cell Division and Expansion during Leaf Morphogenesis in
Maize and Rice, $240,000 (Sylvester, PI)

NSF, subcontract from Cold Spring Harbor Lab Characterizing Sub-Cellular
Compartments in Maize Using Fluorescent Protein Tagged Lines, $352,962
(Sylvester, PI)

NIH, R01 GM047390-13, Genetic analysis of mitochondrial integrity, $198,991
(Thorsness, PI)

NIH, R01 GM068066-03, The essential role of mitochondrial DNA in cell growth,
$211,285 (Thorsness, PI)

AES Competitive Grant program, Taking a Bite out of Yeast, $5,690 (Thorsness,
PI)


NIH Northern Rockies, Aberrant integration of mitochondrial and secretory function in the human neurodegenerative disease choreoacanthocytosis,
$21,075 (Thorsness, PI)

NSF, MCB-0504239, Single chromatin fiber dynamics studied via Magnetic
Tweezers, $103,083 (Zlatanova, PI)

NIH RO1 GM077872-01 Development of novel single-molecule approaches for nanoscale study of helicases, $68,500 (Zlatanova, Co-PI)

DOD ARMY BRCA1 Mediated Histone Monoubiquitylation Effect on Nucleosome
Dynamics $105,375 (Zlatanova, PI)
Staff
Eppley Foundation, Nucleosome Dynamics at the Single Molecule Level, $25,000
(Tomschik, PI)
Publications (name of faculty member in bold):
Monographs or edited books:
Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007. Liberles, D.
A. (editor).
Book chapters:
Fay, D.S.
(2006) Contributing author and section editor of WormBook Methods:
Forward Genetics and Genetic Mapping: Chapters 1-10. ed. The C. elegans
Research Community, WormBook, doi/10.1895/wormbook.1.90.1, http://www.wormbook.org
.
Harrison, R.L. and Jarvis, D.L.
(2007) Transforming lepidopteran insect cells for continuous recombinant protein expression, p. XX-YY. In D.W. Murhammer (ed.),
Methods in Molecular Biology Vol ZZ: Baculovirus Expression Protocols . Humana
Press, Clifton, N.J. (in press).
Harrison, R.L. and Jarvis, D.L
. (2007) Transforming lepidopteran insect cells for improved protein processing, p. XX-YY. In D.W. Murhammer (ed.), Methods in
Molecular Biology Vol ZZ: Baculovirus Expression Protocols . Humana Press,
Clifton, N.J. (in press).
Shi, X. and Jarvis, D.L.
(2007) Protein N-glycosylation in the baculovirus-insect cell system. In M.J. Fraser, G.W. Blissard, and J. Vlak (eds.), Current Drug Targets ,
Bentham Press, London (in press).
Kodra, J.T., Skovgaard, M., Madsen, D. and Liberles, D.A.
(2007) Linking sequence to function in drug design with ancestral sequence reconstruction. Ancestral Sequence
Reconstructi on. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pupko, T., Doron-Faigenboim, A., Liberles, D.A.
and Cannarozzi, G.M. (2007)
Probabilistic models and their impact on the accuracy of reconstructed ancestral protein sequences. Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction . Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Reviews:

Fay, D.S. and Yochem, J. (2007) The SynMuv genes of Caenorhabditis elegans in vulval development and beyond. Invited review. Dev. Biol . in pres s.
Lewis, R.V.
(2006) Spider Silk: Ancient Ideas for New Biomaterials, Chemical Rev. 106,
3762-3774.
Zhang, J., Hill, D.R. and Sylvester, A.W.
(2007) Diversification of the RAB GTPase family in dicots and monocots. J. Integr. Plant Biol. (Invited review for special issue on plant cell biology) van Holde, K. and Zlatanova, J.
(2006) Scanning chromatin: A new paradigm? J. Biol.
Chem . 281, 12197-12200.
Zlatanova, J.
, McAllister, W. T., Borukhov, S. and Leuba, S. H. (2006) Single-molecule approaches reveal the idiosyncrasies of RNA polymerases. Structure 14, 953-966.
Zlatanova, J.
and van Holde (2006) Single-Molecule Biology: What is it and how does it work? (by invitation) Mol. Cell 24, 317-329.
Zlatanova, J., Seebart, C. and Tomschik, M. (2007) Nap1: taking a closer look at a juggler protein of extraordinary skills. FASEB J. 21, 1294-1310.
Experimental papers in peer-reviewed journals:
Kirienko, N.V. and Fay, D.S.
(2007) Developmental transcriptome profiling of the C. elegans pocket protein ortholog, lin-35 , reveals stage-specific roles in cell cycle control and differentiation. Dev. Biol. in press.
Cho, S., Rogers, K.W. and Fay, D.S.
(2007) The C. elegans glycopeptide hormone receptor ortholog, FSHR-1, regulates germline differentiation and survival.
Curr. Biol.
17, 203 –212.
Bender, A.M., Kirienko, N.V., Olson, S.K., Esko, J.D. and Fay, D.S.
(2007) lin-35/Rb and the CoREST ortholog spr-l coordinately regulate vulval morphogenesis and gonad development in C. elegans . Dev. Biol. 302 , 448 –462 .
Qiu, X. and Fay, D.S.
(2006) ARI-1, an RBR family ubiquitin ligase, functions with UBC-
18 to regulate pharyngeal development in C. elegans . Dev. Biol. 291, 239-252.
Zeller, T., Mraheil, M.A., Moskivn, O.V., Li, K., Gomelsky, M.
and Klug, G. (2007)
Regulation of hydrogen peroxide-dependent gene expression in Rhodobacter sphaeroides : Regulatory functions of OxyR. J. Bacteriol. 189, 3784-3792.
Tarutina, M., Ryjenkov, D.A. and Gomelsky, M.
(2006) An unorthodox bacteriophytochrome from Rhodobacter sphaeroides involved in turnover of the second messenger c-di-GMP. J. Biol. Chem.
281, 34751 –34758.
Ryjenkov, D.A
., Simm, R., Römling, U. and
Gomelsky, M. (2006) The PilZ domain is a receptor for the second messenger c-di-GMP. The PilZ domain protein YcgR controls motility in enterobacteria. ( Accelerated publication ) J. Biol. Chem. 281, 30310-30314.
Xu, P., Van Kirk, E.A., Murdoch, W.J., Zhan, Y., Li, S., Ren, J., Isaak, D.D.
, Radosz, M. and Shen, Y. (2006) Anticancer Efficacies of Cisplatin-Releasing pH-Responsive
Nanoparticles. Biomacromolecules 7, 829-835.
Aumiller, J.A., Hollister, J.R., and Jarvis, D.L.
(2006) Molecular cloning and functional characterization of ßN -acetylglucosaminidase genes from Sf9 cells. Prot. Expr. Purif .
47, 571-590.

Hill, D.R., Aumiller, J.J., Shi, X. and Jarvis, D.L.
(2006) Isolation and characterization of a baculovirus vector that supports recombinant glycoprotein sialylation by SfSWT-1 cells cultured in serum-free medium. Bioengr. Biotechnol . 95, 37-47.
Harrison, R.L. and Jarvis, D.L.
(2006) Protein N -glycosylation in the baculovirus-insect cell expression system and efforts to engineer insect cells to produce
“mammalianized” recombinant glycoproteins.
Adv. Virus Res . 68, 159-191.
Shi, X. and Jarvis, D.L.
(2006) A new method for the rapid amplification of cDNA ends of extremely GC-rich genes. Anal. Biochem . 356, 222-228.
Shi, X., Harrison, R.L., Hollister, J.R., Fraser, M.J. and Jarvis, D.L.
(2007) Construction and characterization of new piggyBac vectors for constitutive or inducible expression of heterologous gene pairs and the identification of a previously unrecognized activator sequence in piggyBac . BMC Biotechnol . 7 ,5.
Brooks, A.E. and Lewis, R.V.
(2006) Probing the elastic nature of spider silk in pursuit of the next designer fiber, Chem, Technol. May 12-14.
Teulé, F., Furin, W.A., Cooper, A.R., Duncan, J.R. and Lewis, R.V.
(2007)
Modifications of spider silk sequences in an attempt to control the mechanical properties of the synthetic fibers (in press J. Materials Sci.
)
Li, T., Caraco, M.D., Gaucher, E.A., Liberles, D.A.
, Thomson, J.M., Chamberlin, S.G. and Benner, S.A. (2006) Examination of transition redundant approach-to-equilibrium
(TREx) Clocks in Mammalian Systems. BMC Evol. Biol.
6, 25.
Berglund-Sonnhammer, A.C., Steffansson, P., Betts, M.J. and Liberles, D.A
. (2006)
Optimal gene trees from sequences and species trees using a soft interpretation of parsimony. J. Mol. Evol. 63, 240-250.
Arnesen, T., Betts, M.J., Pendino, F., Liberles, D.A.
, Anderson, D., Caro, J., Kong, X.,
Varhaug, J.E. and Lillehaug, J.R. (2006) Characterization of a processed gene duplicate, hARD2, encoding a novel human protein acetyltransferase. BMC
Biochemistry , 7, 13.
Roth, C. and Liberles, D.A.
(2006) A systematic search for positive selection in higher plants (embryophytes). BMC Plant Biol.
, 6, 12.
Rastogi, S., Reuter, N. and Liberles, D.A.
(2006) Evaluation of models for the evolution of protein sequences and functions under structural constraint. Biophys. Chem. 124,
134-144.
Skovgaard, M., Kodra, J.T., Gram, D.X., Knudsen, S.M., Madsen, D. and Liberles, D.A.
(2006) Using evolutionary information and ancestral sequences to understand the sequence-function relationship in Glp1 agonists. J. Mol. Biol.
, 363, 977-988.
Ardawatia, H. and Liberles, D.A.
(2007) A systematic analysis of lineage-specific evolution in metabolic pathways. Gene 387, 67-74.
Roth, C., Rastogi, S., Arvestad, L., Dittmar, K., Light, S., Ekman, D. and Liberles, D.A.
(2007) Evolution after gene duplication: Models, mechanisms, sequences, systems, and organisms. J. Exp. Zool.
308B, 58-73.

Petersen, N.S.
, Karina, E. and Manninen, K. (2006) CG32130, starvin, is expressed as a heat shock gene in Drosophila melanogaster . Drosophila Information Service , 89, in press.
Harpster, M.H., Bandyopadhyay, S., Thomas, D.P., Ivanov, P.S., Keele, J.A.,
Pineguina, N., Gao, B., Amarendran, V., Gomelsky, M.
, McCormick, R.J. and
Stayton, M.M
. (2006) Earliest changes in the left ventricular transcriptome postmyocardial infarction. Mamm Genome 17, 701-715.
Zhang, J.M., Sylvester, A.W.
, Li, D.Q. and Sun, X.P. (2006) Complementation and expression analysis of SoRab1A and SoRab2A in sugarcane demonstrates their functional diversification. J. Integr. Plant Biol.
48, 1450-1457.
Park, S., Hanekamp, T., Thorsness, M.K. and Thorsness, P.E.
(2006) Yme2p is a mediator of nucleoid structure and number in mitochondria of the yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curr Genet . 50, 173-182.
Francis, B.R., White, K.H. and Thorsness, P.E. (2007) Mutations in the Atp1p and Atp3p subunits of the yeast ATP synthase differentially affect respiration and fermentation in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J. Bioenerg. Biomembr.
[Epub ahead of print].
Yaneva, J. N., Paneva, E. G., Zacharieva, S. I. and Zlatanova, J. S.
(2006) Linker histones do not interact with DNA containing a single interstrand cross-link created by cisplatin. Z. Naturforsch.
61c, 879-883.
Yaneva, J., Paneva, E., Zacharieva, S. and Zlatanova, J.
(2006) The antitumor antibiotic netropsin affects the interaction of linker histones with DNA. Exper. Pathol.
Parasitol., in press.
Yaneva, J., Paneva, E., Zacharieva, S. and Zlatanova, J.
(2006) The linker histone H1 does not bind to DNA damaged by cisplatin in inter-position. Exper. Pathol.
Parazsitol., in press.
Yaneva, J., Paneva, E., Zacharieva, S., Vasseva, B. and Zlatanova, J.
(2007) The lexitropsin antibiotics distamycin A and netropsin affect the histone H1/DNA interaction in different ways. Exper. Pathol. Parasitol ., 11, in press.
Other publications:
Stayton, M.M.
and McCormick, R.J. (2007) Brisket disease, high altitude sickness and pulmonary hypertension: diagnostic tests.
University of Wyoming Reflections .
Faculty have participated in numerous conferences and symposia and have presented invited seminars and plenary talks in many different countries.
Service to the Department/College/University:
The faculty have participated in numerous activities such as serving on search committees (both in and outside the Department), committees in the College of
Agriculture, the Graduate School, and the University. They have taken leadership role in the Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences interdisciplinary campus-wide graduate program, and have played a major role in the further development of the Microbiology

interdepartmental undergraduate program. The Directors of both programs are faculty members from the Molecular Biology Department (David Fay and Dale Isaak). Isaak has also served as a member of the Biology executive committee. Five faculty members have taught in the WWAMI program.
Other university-wide activities include, but are not limited to serving on the University biosafety committee, the University animal care and use committee, serving as moderators at the Graduate student symposium. Randy Lewis hosted lab sessions for
Women in Science program.
This year Prof. Langer was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award for excellence in teaching.
Service to the Profession at the National/International Level:
The faculty have performed numerous activities at the national and international level, including speakers for national societies, participation in committees at the national level, in technical and scientific advisory boards, consulting for Biotechnology companies, WY state science fair judges, representing the department and the university at the Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry,
USA.
Numerous faculty members have served on study sections/panels or as external reviewers for Federal granting agencies (NIH, National Science Foundation, American
Cancer Society, DOE, USDA) and for Biotechnology companies. They have also served as reviewers for similar agencies abroad (Canada, Italy, the UK).
Reviews for Journals/Books (cumulative for all faculty):
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Archives of Microbiology, Biochemistry,
BioProcessing Journal, Biotechniques, Development, Developmental Biology, EMBO
Journal, EMBO reports, Engineering and Life Science Reviews, European Journal of
Cell Biology, Expert Review of Proteomics, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Gene,
Genetics, Glycobiology, Glycoconjugate Journal, Insect Molecular Biology, Journal of
Bacteriology, Journal of Virology, Journal of Virological Methods, Molecular
Microbiology, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, Nucleic Acids Research,
Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, Photosynthesis Research, Protein
Expression and Purification, Virus Research.
Editors/Editorial Boards:
 WormBook Methods: Forward Genetics and Genetic Mapping, Editor (Fay)

Journal of Bacteriology (Gomelsky)

Protein Expression and Purification (Jarvis, Lewis)

Virology Journal (BioMed Central) (Jarvis)

Glycobiology (Jarvis)

Analytical Biochemistry (Lewis)

Biomaterials and Bionanomaterials (Lewis)

Central European Journal of Biology, Springer Verlag (Zlatanova)

Public relations: Television programs filmed in the lab (Lewis).
Appendix for Section 9 (Assessment of Student Learning as posted on the Web)
Desired Learning Outcomes for Students Earning a Bachelors of Science in
Molecular Biology
It has largely been accepted as self-evident by the biological education community that comprehension of principles in our fast moving field is fundamentally more important than possession of an extensive reservoir of facts. Reflecting this belief, the
Department of Molecular Biology has adopted three learning outcomes:
1). Graduates will be able to propose hypotheses that explain novel biological
phenomenon
Mastery of this skill will be demonstrated by:

Basing the hypothesis upon precedence and/or logic

Consideration of alternative hypotheses

Appropriate application of fundamental principles

Sub-discipline specific application of facts and principles
2). Graduates will be able to propose experimental tests of hypotheses
Mastery of this skill will be demonstrated by:

Appropriate application of techniques

Adequate description of experimental controls

Logical and internally consistent application of scientific methods
3). Graduates will be able to effectively communicate the significance of classic biological principles and emerging biological developments to both
expert and lay audiences
Mastery of this skill will be demonstrated by:

Well organized and clearly written research notebooks, reports and grants

Accurate and clear presentation of primary biological literature

Appropriate use of visual and interpretive aids
Assessment of Courses and Programmatic Outcomes
The Department of Molecular Biology is dedicated to providing the best educational experience possible and consequently is committed to continuing review and enhancement of the curriculum and programmatic emphasis. We utilize integrated course assessment mechanisms to identify strengths and weaknesses in our curriculum and adapt individual courses and programmatic themes in response to the information collected. Our commitment to providing a thorough and effective education in modern biology is driven by the knowledge that modern society is permeated by social and health issues that must be guided by individuals with a comprehensive and fundamental understanding of biological and scientific principles.