Archived News (2010)
The CBC Welcomes the Second Class of CBC Scholars
December 9, 2010
The Chicago Biomedical Consortium is pleased to announce the second class of CBC Scholars. Each CBC university selected three outstanding third or fourth year graduate students in a biomedical discipline to participate in the Scholars program. Each member of the Scholars Class of 2011 will receive a grant of $5,000 per year for up to two years. This award is to be used for academically-related purposes, such as travel to conferences or participation in workshops.
The CBC Scholars serve as CBC ambassadors at their schools and will advance the CBC mission of fostering collaboration and excellence.
The members of the Class of 2011, their university affiliations and thesis advisors are listed below.
Northwestern University:
Louis (Lou) Dore, Department of Medicine, John Crispino
Adam Pah, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Luis Amaral
Nicolas Pelaez Restrepo, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Luis Amaral
University of Illinois at Chicago:
Sevim Yildiz Arslan, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Howard Lipton
Christina Chow, Department of Pharmacology,
Tohru Kozasa
Lila Gollogly, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Gail Hecht
University of Chicago:
Qiyan Mao, Committee on Development, Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology (BSD), Robert Ho
Bryan F. Singer, Committee on Neurobiology (BSD), Paul Vezina
Fei Sun, Department of Chemistry (PSD), Chuan He
High turnout marks the 8th Annual CBC Symposium
November 4, 2010
The 8th Annual CBC Symposium took place on October 29, 2010 within the beautiful surroundings of Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago campus. This year’s symposium focused on "Protein Folding and Misfolding in Health and Disease" and aimed to address both the basic biology of protein folding in cells, and perturbations of the process, or protein misfolding, and the role that misfolding plays in aging and the development of neurodegenerative disorders (such as Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).
As one of the symposium attendees put it, this year’s symposium featured “a stellar line-up and important topics.” Indeed, the lectures were presented by four outstanding guest speakers:
Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD
Professor, Departments of Developmental and Molecular Biology and of Medicine; Co-director, Einstein Institute for Aging Studies, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Recipient of P. Benson Award in Cell Biology (2005), Keith Porter Fellow in Cell Biology (2005/8), Nathan Shock Memorial Lecture Award (2006), and Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Award (2008)
Steven Finkbeiner, MD, PhD
Associate Director and Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease; Director, Taube-Koret Center for Huntington’s Disease Research; Professor of Neurology and Physiology, University of California, San Francisco
Judith Frydman, PhD
Professor, Biology, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
Randal J. Kaufman, PhD
Warner-Lambert/Park-Davis Professor of Medicine; Professor, Departments of Biological Chemistry and Internal Medicine, University of Michigan; Recipient of Distinguished Investigator Award from Michigan Hemophilia Society (2000), Van Wezel Prize (2003), and an American Association for the Advancement of Science Award (2007),
and two Chicago-area based scientists:
Scott T. Brady, PhD
Professor and Head, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago,
and a CBC Scientific Director Richard I. Morimoto, PhD
Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology; Professor of Molecular Biosciences; Director, Rice Institute for Biomedical Research, Northwestern University; Recipient of American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award; Dreyfus Distinguished Young Faculty Award; NIH Merit Award; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Huntington Disease Society of America, Award for Excellence in Medicine.
The meeting opened with introductory remarks by Sangram (Sam) S. Sisodia, PhD, Thomas Reynolds Sr. Family Professor of Neurosciences, and Director of the Center for Molecular Neurobiology, University of Chicago.
Over 200 scientists actively participated in this year’s symposium. All three CBC universities were well-represented among the symposium attendees, who also included scientists from Rosalind Franklin University, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, Chicago State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Rush University Medical Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School, among others. In addition, the symposium presented a popular poster session that this year gathered a record number of posters (28) in the history of the CBC annual symposia.
LEFT: Lecture by Judith Frydman, PhD, Stanford University. CENTER and RIGHT: Lunch and Poster Session. (Photos: CBC)
(see also commentary: Folding Failures and Brain Diseases, Science Life, Nov. 10, 2010)
CBC announces its third Lever Award
October 15, 2010
A CBC team of Principal Investigators: Chad Mirkin, (NU), David Eddington, (UIC), and Milan Mrksich, (UChicago) received $2.1M CBC Lever Award for a proposal Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics. The CBC Award will establish two core facilities at UIC and at UChicago that will develop, fabricate, and disseminate standardized and well-defined matrices and substrates for culturing cancer cells. The CBC Lever Award matches a $12 million award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to help establish a collaborative network of Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNEs).
(see also Interface of Nanotechnology and Cancer; NU News Center, Oct. 12, 2010)
Dr. Brenda Russell, the UIC CBC Scientific Director, received the iBIO 2010 iCON Innovator Award at the 4th Annual iBIO iCON Awards Dinner on September 30, 2010 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago
October 5, 2010
The iCON Awards Gala was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Chicago and was attended by approximately 400 researchers, educators and biotechnology leaders. The iCON Awards recognize the role of education, research, training and scholarship in fostering growth and building the next generation of Midwest biotechnology and life sciences innovators and leaders.
The iCON Innovator Award recognizes an active researcher/scientist/educator who is acknowledged by his or her peers as a leader in the teaching of and scholarship in biotechnology and its related sciences. With this being said, all those who know Brenda’s stellar research career and her contributions to education at both the university and Chicago community levels, agree that Brenda is well deserving of this prestigious award. Dr. Delara Motlagh, a former PhD student of Dr. Russell’s, introduced Brenda and shared with the audience several of her memories of Brenda as a mentor, educator, scientist and friend.
Dr. Russell’s scientific experience and productivity encompass multiple disciplines and demonstrates collaboration between quantitative biology, bioengineering, physiology and chemistry. As a Professor of Physiology, Biophysics, Bioengineering and Medicine, Brenda’s work in tissue engineering and the development of a novel, biometic cardiac regeneration system using bioengineering and surface chemistry modifications has resulted in the formation of her Evanston based company, Cell Habitats, Inc., which has joined the iBIO PROPEL center.
Notably, all previous iCON Award recipients are closely connected to the CBC: Dr. Thomas J. Meade, (Northwestern University; 2009 iCON Innovator Award) is a 2009 CBC Spark Award holder, Dr. Daphne Preuss (Chromatin Inc.; 2008 iCON Innovator Award) was the original leader of the CBC discussions at UChicago, and Dr. Chad A. Mirkin (Northwestern University; 2007 iCON Innovator Award) is a PI on the newest 2010 CBC Lever Award.
PHOTOS: Dr. Brenda Russell receiving the 2010 iCON Innovator Award. (Photos: CBC)
CBC Catalyst Team develops a novel technique to visualize protein interactions in living cells
September 28, 2010
In a recently published PNAS article Time-resolved luminescence resonance energy transfer imaging of protein–protein interactions in living cells, the CBC Catalyst Team of Jerold Turner (UChicago) and Lawrence Miller (UIC) describe luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET), a method of labeling and detecting proteins in living cells with a 50-fold higher sensitivity than current techniques. In LRET, one protein is labeled with a terbium complex that is characterized by an extended time span between light absorption and emission. The second protein is labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP), which has a short emission lifetime. If the two different fluorescently-tagged proteins form a complex in vivo, the tags co-localize and can be microscopically visualized following excitation. The beauty of the system is that the detection of the terbium-sensitized GFP emission at long lifetimes effectively eliminates detection of cellular autofluorescence, unbound terbium probe luminescence and directly excited GFP.
Figure: Schematic representation of intermolecular terbium-to-GFP LRET. TMP-Lumi4 binds specifically and tightly to eDHFR (KD = ∼ 2 nM). Interaction between eDHFR and GFP fusion proteins and excitation of TMP-Lumi4 (the donor) results in LRET-sensitized emission of GFP (the acceptor). Time-resolved microscopy detects long-lifetime, sensitized GFP emission while eliminating cellular autofluorescence and directly excited GFP fluorescence background signals. (Figure and legend courtesy PNAS).
"With this new tool, we hope cell biologists and others will be able to study things they haven't seen before, such as interactions that couldn't be visualized in live cells in real time," Miller said. "Hopefully the method will yield information that makes it easier to deduce biological mechanisms." (Adapted from: New Tagging Technique Enhances View of Living Cells. ScienceDaily 4 August 2010).
Turner and Miller are recipients of 2008 CBC Catalyst Award titled Multiplexed Imaging of Transient Molecular Complex Dynamics in vivo.
The Annual CBC Scholars Scientific Exchange was held August 19, 2010
September 7, 2010
The CBC Scholars from all three CBC universities met at the NU Chicago Campus to present and discuss their dissertation research. The talks were designed to focus on important “Big Picture” concepts and each presentation was followed by a short discussion. The participating Scholars and the research they presented were:
Rima Chaudhuri (UIC, PI-Michael Johnson), Computational Models for the Discovery/Design of Novel Therapeutics to Inhibit the Papain-like Protease of the Human SARS Coronavirus
Sam Nalle (UChicago, PI-Jerry Turner), Intestinal Barrier Dysfunction and Graft-Versus-Host-Disease
Jackie Shephard (NU, PI-Lonnie Shea), Gene Delivery from Hydrogels for Applications in Regenerative Medicine
Matthew Curtis (UIC, PI-Brenda Russell), Microdomain Heterogeneity in 3D Alters Neonatal Cardiac Myocyte Growth and Contraction
Erin White (UChicago, PI-Michael Glotzer), Structural Transitions in the Centralspindlin Complex Required for Microtubule Bundling During Cytokinesis
The presentations were followed with lunch and a short planning meeting in which future events were discussed. The Scholars used this time to re-connect with each other and to announce anticipated graduation dates plus discuss post-doc search strategies and future career paths. The Scholars will join the CBC 8th Annual Symposium speakers for breakfast on the day of the October 29th symposium on Protein Folding and Misfolding in Health and Disease which will be held at Ida Noyes Hall on the UChicago campus.
CBC Summer Workshop in Proteomics and Informatics, August 2-6, 2010
August 23, 2010
The Fourth Annual CBC Summer Workshop in Proteomics and Informatics took place at the CBC/UIC Proteomics and Informatics Service Facility (PISF) on August 2-6, 2010. The workshop, organized by Dr. Larry Helseth, the Associate Director of the PSIF, and Dr. Kolla Kristjansdottir of The University of Chicago, was a combination of lectures, demonstrations, hands-on laboratory training in multiple mass spectrometry techniques, and computer training in data analysis. In addition, the five-day course offered lectures and training in protein separation followed by trypsin digestion, peptide separation, mass spectrometry, database searches, isotope labeled sample analysis, identifying and analyzing post-translational modifications, top down proteomics and complex data analysis. As with past workshops, the number of applicants far exceeded the capacity of the workshop; the 28 students, faculty and staff that attended the workshop included 7 from The University of Chicago, 6 from Northwestern University, 14 from the University of Illinois at Chicago and 1 from industry.
Proteomics and informatics specialists from all three CBC affiliated universities contributed to the workshop. In addition to lectures by Drs. Alex Schilling, Hua Xu and Larry Helseth from the PISF at UIC, Dr. Kolla Kristjansdottir, University of Chicago, a co-organizer of the meeting, presented multiple lectures and participated in sample prep demonstrations and tutorials in data analysis software applications during the 5-day workshop. Dr. Carrie Crot and Mr. Rod Davis from the PISF demonstrated the use of several of the instruments in the facility and helped participants interpret raw mass spectrometry data. Dr. Paul Thomas, Northwestern University, organized sections on top-down proteomics, gave lectures in this area and demonstrated top-down proteomics on the PISF LTQ-FT Ultra.
The workshop also featured an invited speaker from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Dr. Josh Coon, who gave a lecture on using iTRAQ for quantitative proteomics and presented a seminar discussing on-going research in his lab. The final day of the workshop included presentations by all attendees. The workshop members were divided into 3 groups that outlined a preparative strategy, analyzed data, and then proposed an interesting biological question and how they would investigate it using proteomic and informatic techniques learned during the week. The day concluded with workshop participants meeting one-on-one with PISF staff members to discuss individual research projects.
LEFT: Kolla Kristjansodotti using systems biology software to analyze mass spectrometry results. CENTER: Paul Thomas acquiring top-down data on the LTQ-FT Ultra. RIGHT: Alex Shilling describing advanced proteomics strategies. (Photos: CBC)
High-Throughput Cellular Screening Workshop introduces Chicago research community to resources available at the Cellular Screening Center
June 14, 2010
The High-Throughput Cellular Screening Workshop organized by the Institute for Genomics & System Biology (IGSB) at the University of Chicago took place on June 8, 2010. Approximately 30 researchers attended the workshop that aimed to familiarize scientists with the high-throughput RNAi and chemical screening technologies available at the Cellular Screening Center (CSC). The CSC, opened in 2007 with support form the Chicago Biomedical Consortium and the University of Chicago Biological Science Division (BSD), facilitates drug discovery and development by defining the complex genetics underlying disease, isolating chemical compounds that affect specific cellular activities, and developing potential therapeutics to target disease pathways.
The morning events, held at the Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery (KCBD), began with an overview of the technology and instrumentation available at the CSC presented by Sam Bettis, the Technical Director of the CSC. In his seminar, Sam discussed the screening reagents (RNAi and small compound libraries), screening guidelines, assay development, formatting assays for automation, and readout parameters. Subsequently, three current users of the CSC presented their research overviews:
Ruby Dhar: Genome-wide RNAi screening to elucidate estrogen-receptor signaling in breast cancer
John Barkinge: A high throughput solution-phase strategy for quantifying thousands of protein-protein interactions
Michael Thirman: Screening for small molecule inhibitors for specific genetic subtypes of acute leukemia
Following lunch, Sam Bettis led a tour of the CSC, which is located in the Gordon Center of Integrative Science at the UChicago campus. The CSC consists of a 900 square foot laboratory and includes three filtered air space rooms to reduce the number of air-borne particles and thus reduce the risk of contamination: certified 10,000 (anteroom), 1000 (storage and tissue culture room) and 100 (Tecan Freedom EVO 200 and Thermo F3 robotic arm system rooms). During the tour, workshop participants had an opportunity to observe the precise and complex maneuvers performed by the robotic arm on the CSC robotic deck during a mock run. The robotic arm is integrated with 3 readers allowing multiple different reads within a single screen. More information on CSC technology can be found here.
LEFT: A group of workshop attendees at the Cellular Screening Center. CENTER AND RIGHT: Workshop participants observe the robotic arm during a mock run. (Photos: CBC)
Quantitative Insights, Inc wins CBC Business Plan Competition
May 26, 2010
The CBC held its Third Annual Business Plan Competition on May 17, 2010, at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center in Chicago, IL. Five graduate student-led teams from the business and management schools at the three CBC affiliated institutions presented business plans describing their biomedical companies and products to a panel of judges. The judges were selected from Chicago-area venture capital firms, angel investors, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and included:
Bob Altman (Marathon Pharma)
George Arida (Venture Investors)
Tom Churchwell (Midwest Venture Partners)
Ron Kirshner (Heartland Angels)
John Larson (Abbott Laboratories)
Donna Williamson (Ceres Venture Fund)
The three business and management schools and the plans they presented were:
- Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, Center of Biotechnology Management
- Barron, Inc
- UroVention
- The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship
- Quantitative Insights, Inc
- The Liautaud Graduate School of Business, UIC Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies
- Apana
- MMPe Technologies
At the conclusion of the half-day program, the University of Chicago team’s business plan for Quantitative Insights, Inc was announced the winner of the competition and received a $10,000 CBC prize. Quantitative Insights, Inc is developing a computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) software platform that assists radiologists during breast cancer diagnosis. The software, QuantX, provides new and expanded diagnostic information and uses an advanced neural network to assist radiologists in characterization and assessment of identified lesions, leading to fewer missed and incorrectly diagnosed cancers. As the company moves forward, it plans to extend the QuantX platform to a variety of cancers and imaging modalities and ultimately create the industry’s first integrated multi-modality CAD solution. The team members include:
James Krocak: CEO
Brian Luerssen: President
Maryellen Giger, PhD: Co-Founder, Scientific Advisor
Yading Yuan, PhD: Scientific Officer
Ryan Richardson: VP Marketing
Shailesh Agarwal, MD: Medical Officer
LEFT: Katie Stallcup, the CBC Executive Director and the Quantitative Insights, Inc team members (from left to right: James Krocak, Ryan Richardson, Brian Luerssen, Yading Yuan). RIGHT: The judges listening to the presentations. (Photos: CBC)
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn visits the Chicago Biomedical Consortium exhibit at the 2010 BIO International Convention
May 7, 2010
Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn presided over the BIO 2010 International Convention ribbon cutting ceremony on May 4. The convention was held at McCormick Place and it is the largest biotechnology event in the world. During his tour of the Illinois Pavilion, Governor Quinn (right) visited the Chicago Biomedical Consortium booth and met with Katie Stallcup (left), the CBC Executive Director, and Brenda Russell (middle), the Scientific Director from the University of Illinois at Chicago. (Photo: CBC)
Norbert Riedel, Corporate Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Baxter International, talks about the Chicago Innovation Pipeline, a collection of technologies available for licensing from 6 of the top research institutions in the Chicago region. The pipeline was developed by UChicagoTech for the 2010 BIO International Convention. (see video clip - QuickTime; see also UChicagoTech)
CBC Winter 2010 Workshop in Informatics for Proteomics Received with Enthusiasm
February 4, 2010
The CBC-organized winter workshop in Informatics for Proteomics, held at the UIC College of Pharmacy on January 26-27, 2010, offered two days of lecture and hands-on informatics training. The workshop covered the basics of mass spectrometry, data extraction, database searching, and several advanced topics such as the use of stable isotopes and chemical labeling in quantitative proteomics and the identification of post-translational modifications with mass spectrometry. Participants were also introduced to top-down proteomics and recent updates to the facility's LTQ-FT Ultra mass spectrometer. The number of applicants far exceeded the capacity of the workshop; the 21 accepted attendees were selected from the three CBC universities as well as from Loyola University and Rush Medical Center. Given student interest and enthusiasm, presentation of additional workshops is under consideration. Please contact Jola Glotzer (jolaglotzer at uchicago dot edu) or Larry Helseth (helseth at uic dot edu) with questions or comments.
January 29, 2010
Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC) is pleased to announce the inaugural class of CBC Scholars. Each CBC University was invited to nominate up to three outstanding advanced graduate students to participate in the new CBC Scholars Program. The class of 2010 will consist of eight members (listed below) each to receive a grant of $5,000 per year for up to two years to be used for academically related purposes such as travel to conferences.
The CBC Scholar Program intends to develop a leadership forum for students from the CBC Universities to advance the CBC mission of fostering collaboration and excellence. The first gathering of the CBC Scholars took place on January 27, 2010.
Chicago Biomedical Consortium Scholars: Class of 2010
Northwestern University:
Justin Cassidy, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology
Weston Daniel, Department of Chemistry
Jaclyn Shepard, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
University of Illinois at Chicago:
Rima Chaudhuri, Department of Bioengineering and Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
Matthew Curtis, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Haripriya Ramu, Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
The University of Chicago:
Sam Nalle, Department of Pathology
Erin White, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
CBC announces 2009 Fall Round Catalyst Awards
January 8, 2010
The Chicago Biomedical Consortium’s Catalyst Award program offers funding of up to $200,000 for one- or two-year collaborative research projects. Catalyst Awards aim to support creative new inter-institutional collaborations in basic biomedical research.
The following three research teams received the CBC Catalyst Award in 2009 Fall Round:
Serdar Bulun, MD, (NU), Jonna Frasor, PhD, (UIC) and Yang Dai, PhD, (UIC) recieve a CBC Catalyst Award for project: A Systems Biology Understanding of Estrogen Receptor Action.
Alexander Minella, MD, (NU) Marsha Rosner, PhD, (UChicago) and Robert Rosner, PhD, (UChicago) recieve a CBC Catalyst Award for project: Cell Cycle Regulatory Networks: An Integrative Approach.
Lonnie Shea, PhD, (NU) and Deborah Tonetti, PhD, (UIC) recieve a CBC Catalyst Award for project: A High throughput signaling pathway analysis during cellular organization into structures.