Biochemistry Department Jacobs School of Medicine University at Buffalo

So proud of our accomplished graduates! We wish you every success in the future!

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On Thursday May 9th we held our annual Research Day at the Jacobs School. We are pleased to announce the following awards:

Best Graduate Student Oral Presentation: Katherine Casazza (Dr. Jennifer Surtees Lab)
Best Undergraduate Poster Presentation: Luke Hess (Dr. Jennifer Surtees Lab) AND Ethan Jacob (Dr. Timothy Cook Lab/Chemistry)

Thank you to Layne Jensen (B*H GSA President), Dr. Fred Ponticelli and Dr. Satrajit Sinha.

See you next year!

Congratulations to the following undergraduate Biochemistry seniors who were awarded
THE 2024 SUNY CHANCELLOR'S AWARD FOR STUDENT EXCELLENCE
Sarah Bukhari - Dr. Jennifer Surtees Lab
Lea Kyle - Dr. B. Wolfert Lab
Bryan Renzoni - Dr. D. Heppner Lab
The SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence acknowledges students for outstanding achievements that have demonstrated the integration of SUNY excellence within many aspects of their lives in areas such as academics, leadership, campus involvement, community service or the arts.

Biochemistry is the only UB department to have THREE students selected for this award!

Congratulations to the new BPS president-Dr. Gabriela Popescu!

Today we honored Dr. Alastair Brownie for 60 years of service to UB, the Medical School and the thousands of students he taught. There are not enough ways to say thank you for what he has given us!

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Jennifer Surtees has been named Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and STEM Outreach!

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Surtees and wishing her all the best in her new role at Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences!

Surtees Named Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and STEM Outreach Jennifer A. Surtees, PhD, professor of biochemistry, has been named associate dean for undergraduate education and STEM outreach at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

An excellent article written by our very own Dr. Schaner-Tooley for the recent issue of Science Direct!

Reframing the relationship between motherhood and academic science Trends in Biochemical SciencesAvailable online 14 September 2023In Press, Corrected ProofWhat’s this?TrendsTalkReframing the relationship between motherhood and academic scienceAuthor links open overlay panelChristine E. Schaner Tooley 1Show moreShareCitehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibs.2023.08.008G...

We'd like to congratulate the following individuals on their awards at our Research Day which was held on Wednesday, May 17th:

Best Graduate Student Oral Presentation: Frankie Smith (Dr. Daniel Kosman Lab) and Haley Parker (Dr. Schaner Tooley Lab)
Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation: Jennifer Sosa (Dr. Satrajit Sinha Lab)
Best Undergraduate Student Poster Presentation: Mikaela Hastings (Dr. Satrajit Sinha Lab) and Sharaf Maisha (Dr. Lee Ann Sinha Lab)

Everyone did a great job!

Sending our biggest congratulations to our Biochemistry students that graduated yesterday! We are so incredibly proud of you! 🎉

Amazing news! Congratulations Dr. Popescu!

Popescu recipient of highly competitive NINDS award The UB biochemist is the first SUNY recipient of the R35 award, which provides funding for research that breaks new ground or extends discoveries.

Congratulations to our Biochemistry undergraduate major Lea Kyle on being one of two recipients of the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship at UB!

Two UB students named Goldwater Scholars Lea Kyle and Sydney Swedick are recipients of the most prestigious research scholarship offered for undergrad STEM students.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Feltri for being named as an AAAS fellow: "The lifetime honor is bestowed on AAAS members by their peers for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science applications. The UB faculty members were among more than 500 scientists, engineers and innovators to receive the prestigious distinction this year. Past honorees include W.E.B. DuBois, Ellen Ochoa, Steven Chu, Grace Hopper, Alan Alda, Mae Jemison and Ayanna Howard.

AAAS fellows will be recognized in the journal Science this month and they will be celebrated in an induction ceremony to be held this summer."

Andreadis and Feltri are Named AAAS Fellows University at Buffalo faculty members Stelios Andreadis, PhD, and M. Laura Feltri, MD, have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.

We can all agree that the Secret Santa exchange is a highlight of our Holiday Party! We all wish you a healthy and happy season!

Happy Halloween from Biochemistry! The Schaner Tooley and Kosman Labs always knock it out of the park!

Congratulations Dr. Popescu!

Internationally known researcher Gabriela Popescu, PhD, has been recognized for her efforts to improve equity & inclusivity in the fields of physiology & biophysics! 🎉

The Society of General Physiologists has chosen Popescu to receive the 2022 Sharona Gordon Award!

Get all the details: https://buff.ly/3TyPRtz

The Biochemistry Department at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo is actively recruiting two (2) tenure track Assistant/Associate Professors to join our dynamic and vibrant department. Application process, salary consideration, qualifications and areas of expertise can all be found at the attached link. Please share!

https://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu/postings/38114

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"Scientists are just people." Thank you Frankie for this important piece in ASBMB!

ASBMB Today — an magazine by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology — has published an opinion piece by Frances Smith that details her experiences with .

Smith, a trainee in the doctoral program in biochemistry, was diagnosed with OCD in graduate school, and she discusses what it feels like to live with this mental disorder.

“Obsessive-compulsive disorder may not be what you think it is — I’ve met tons of people who assume it’s a need for organization and order. But that’s not necessarily true or may only be partially true. My OCD is truly what it sounds like: having compulsions about tasks that my mind obsesses over and that I must complete for reassurance,” writes Smith.

She explains how , a technique to alleviate harmful thinking patterns in a number of mental health conditions, can help treat .

As Smith points out, OCD is a mental disorder that’s often misjudged. So let’s get the facts. The American Psychiatric Association describes OCD as:

“A disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions). The repetitive behaviors … can significantly interfere with a person’s daily activities and social interactions … Even if they know their obsessions are not realistic, people with OCD have difficulty disengaging from the obsessive thoughts or stopping the compulsive actions.”

Read Smith’s full piece at ASBMB Today: https://buff.ly/3gRWiX6

A fascinating read on the response to the COVID pandemic from Dr. Surtees and the collaboration with Erie County and the CBLS Genomics core.

“We’ve been keeping an eye out for delta, which was accounting for 99% of what we’ve been seeing, and of course the omicron variant,” says Jennifer Surtees, associate professor of biochemistry in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB. “We’re really interested to see how the omicron variant relates to delta. Can they coexist or will one dominate the other?”

UB investment helped pave way for COVID sequencing Work underway at UB’s CBLS has been key to the effort that sequences and analyzes as many as 1,000 viral samples every week.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Gabriela Popescu for her receipt of the "Exceptional Scholars: Sustained Achievement Award"!

UB Exceptional Scholars: Sustained Achievement Award Established in 2002, this award honors outstanding professional achievement that has been focused on a particular body of work over a number of years. This award was created to recognize an unprecedented accomplishment in a senior scholar's career, distinguishing a body of work of enduring importanc...

Our very own Scooby gang (Schaner-Tooley lab) and crew from "Up" (Kosman lab) want to wish you a Happy Halloween!
We always enjoy seeing what they come "Up" with every year!
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Congratulations to the following students who have received year end awards:

Graduate Research Day 2021 Awards
-Senior Research Award: Alasteir Ong (O'Brian Lab) and Alexandra Glathar (S. Sinha Lab)
-Junior Research Award: Frances Smith (Kosman Lab)
-Student's Choice Research Award: James Catlin (Schaner-Tooley Lab)

Undergraduate Awards
-The John Moran Award: James Ellegate
-The Deborah, Christopher and Adam White Award: Lauren LoTempio
-American Cancer Society Outstanding Senior Award: William Le

Undergraduate 2021 Commencement Award
Outstanding Senior Award: Kathryn Maraszek

Thank you to all the students and faculty for their efforts during this challenging year-great job!

A great article featuring our Popescu lab!

Implementing team science is paying off for UB researchers UB researchers like Gabriela K. Popescu, PhD, are finding success with a team science-based approach that brings forth more motivated and effective team members.