Briefly Noted Mary C. Beckerle, chief executive officer and director, Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI); and distinguished professor of biology and associate vice president for cancer affairs at the U was elected to the National Academy of Science in April. “I have the best job in the world,” she says, and whether it’s meeting with clinicians and donors, developing financial sustainability, or building relationships and teams, she’s working to turn ideas into action and meaningful progress. “We are at the most exciting time in history when it comes to the ability of scientific knowledge to improve health.” And while she’s had to reduce the time she spends in the lab to dedicate more time to leading HCI, she’s not slowing down when it comes to saving lives.
Two SBS faculty members, Sophie Caron and William Anderegg, have received the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for early-career faculty. The Faculty Early Career Development award provides recipients with five years of funding to help them lay the foundation for their future research.
In a Journal of Mammology paper, Sara Weinstein, lead author and post doc researcher in the Dearing lab found that the African crested rat is the only mammal known to sequester plant toxins for chemical defense. The team also uncovered an unexpected social life— the rats appear to be monogamous and may even form small family units with their offspring. The research was picked up broadly by the national and international press, intrigued by the existence of giant poisonous rats.
Distinguished Professor Denise Dearing was selected to receive a Humboldt Research Award, conferred in recognition of the awardee’s entire academic record to date. Award winners are invited to carry out research projects of their own choice in cooperation with specialist colleagues in Germany.
A new Capsicum (Solanaceae) species from the Andean-Amazonian Piedmont has been found and named. With her co-authors, SBS’s Lynn Bohs, also known as “Doctor Pepper,” announced the good news in a recently published paper which appeared in PhytoKeys. The chili pepper genus includes five species cultivated worldwide as vegetables, spices, and medicines.
In a new paper from Richard Clark’s lab, analysis of the smallest known arthropod genome reveals a mechanism for genome reduction that appears to be driven by a specialized ecological interaction with plants. The article, in e-Life with SBS alumnus Robert Greenhalgh (PhD’18) as lead author, was selected as an editors’ choice by Science.
BioUtah’s 2020 Utah Life Sciences’ Executive of the Year award went to SBS alumnus Randy Rasmussen, PhD’98 “for his vision in founding and building a successful global diagnostic company to revolutionize testing for infectious disease.” Rasmussen is co-founder of BioFire Diagnostics in Salt Lake City.
In March, Ofer Rog’s lab announced its first two publications. The lab studies the synaptonemal complex (SC), a conserved structure that underlies chromosome-wide behaviors during sexual reproduction. The SC has been observed in almost all eukaryotes— from yeast to worms to humans. One paper appeared in Current Biology and the other in PLOS-Genetics.
Briefly Noted, continued on page 13
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