asbmbnews

Xiaodong Wang,
a Howard Hughes
Medical Institute alumni
investigator and
researcher at the
National Institute of
Biological Sciences in Beijing, has been
named the winner of the ASBMB-Merck
Award. This award recognizes outstanding
contributions to research in
biochemistry and molecular biology.
Wang studies the functions of cell
organelles and is credited with the
discovery of a new function of mitochondria
in programmed cell death.
David Sabatini,
an associate professor
at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
and a Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
investigator, won the Earl and Thressa
Stadtman Scholar Award, given to
a scientist with 10 or fewer years of
postdoctoral experience, including
medical residency and fellowship.
Sabatini is a leader in the ongoing
elucidation of the mTOR pathway, a
master regulator of growth. He is also
a member of the Whitehead Institute
for Biomedical Research.
Kim Orth,
a professor at the
University of Texas
Southwestern Medical
Center at Dallas, has
been named the winner
of the ASBMB Young Investigator
Award. Orth’s most notable achievements
include the discovery of novel
post-translational modifications
exploited by the virulence factors
secreted by bacterial pathogens. One of
these, YopJ from Yersinia, the causal
agent of plague, transfers an acetyl
group from acetyl CoA to a serine or
threonine hydroxyl in mammalian MAP
kinase kinase, inactivating the enzyme.
Another virulence factor, VopS from
Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a cause of
debilitating diarrhea, is an enzyme that
AMPylates (transfers AMP) to tyrosine,
serine or threonine hydroxyl in mammalian
Rho GTPases, inactivating these
enzymes. Her studies bring new insights
to the field of eukaryotic signaling.
Judith Voet,
professor emeritus at
Swarthmore College,
and Donald Voet,
associate professor
at the University of
Pennsylvania, won the
ASBMB Award for
Exemplary Contributions
to Education.
The Voets have made
significant contributions
to the teaching of biochemistry and
molecular biology through their writing.
Together, they have authored the
comprehensive textbook “Biochemistry,”
co-authored “Fundamentals of
Biochemistry” and co-edited the
educational journal “Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology Education
(BAMBED).”
Christine Guthrie,
a professor at the
University of California,
San Francisco, last year
won the ASBMB-Merck
Award, which recognizes
outstanding contributions to research in
biochemistry and molecular biology.
Guthrie, an American Cancer Society
research professor of molecular genetics,
pioneered the use of budding yeast as a
model organism to elucidate the mechanism
of messenger RNA splicing.
Look for more in-depth coverage
of the award winners and
their lecture topics in forthcoming
issues of ASBMB Today and
at www.asbmb.org.
Sneha Rao (srrao@live.unc.
edu) is an undergraduate
at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
ResouR ce:
genomewide
epigenetic
maps
Researchers in the Reference
Epigenome Mapping Consortium,
part of the NIH Common Fund’s
Roadmap Epigenomics Program
(http://commonfund.nih.gov/
epigenomics), have begun creating
a community resource of
genomewide epigenetic maps in
a variety of human primary cell
and tissue types.
The data represent more than
100 samples, including adult
and fetal cells and tissues and
embryonic and induced-pluripotent
stem cells.
The majority of reference epigenomes
being generated contain
information about DNA methylation,
a core set of histone modifications,
chromatin accessibility
and gene expression.
A subset of reference epigenomes
also will contain an
expanded set of at least 20
additional histone modifications.
The consortium’s website
(http://roadmapepigenomics.org)
provides information about protocols
developed by consortium
members, information about data
standards and links to a variety of
sites where the epigenomic data
can be visualized in a genome
browser or downloaded for subsequent
analysis.
September 2011 ASBMB Today 7