2022 Inaugural Chemical Biology Symposium


Biomedical Sciences Symposium

The inaugural Chemical Biology Symposium was held October 21-22, 2022 and was attended by over 100 people. Friday featured Graduate Training in Chemical Biology student presentations and a keynote address by Dr. Nozomi Ando from Cornell University. Saturday included presentations by Dr. Jimmy Ballard (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center), CBID scientists and other selected scientists. A poster session concluded the symposium.

Symposium Information

Keynote Speaker

Nozomi AndoDr. Nozomi Ando
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Cornell University

Presentation title: "Evolution of an Ancient Allosteric Enzyme"

Invited Speaker

Jimmy BallardDr. Jimmy Ballard
Professor and Chairman
George Lynn Cross Research Professor
PI/Director, Oklahoma Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunity, CoBRE
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Presentation title: "Suppressing Toxin Receptor Expression During C. difficile Infection"

Symposium Awardees

Oral Presentation Award Winners

  • Lightning Talks: Matt Zupan (Mentor: Meredith Hartley, KU Chemistry)
  • Special Award: Sahida Afroz (Mentor: Dan Dixon, KU Molecular Biosciences)

Poster Award Winners

  • Erick McCloskey (Mentor: David Davido, KU Molecular Biosciences)
  • Brielle McKee (Mentor: Josie Chandler, KU Molecular Biosciences)
  • Naviya Schuster-Little (Mentor: Rebecca Whelan, KU Chemistry)
  • Blanca Rodriguez (Mentor: Josie Chandler, KU Molecular Biosciences)
  • Aprajita Tripathi (Mentor: Kalyani Pyaram, KSU Division of Biology)

Awardees Group Picture

2022 Chemical Biology Symposium Awardees

Awardees (from left to right) Erick McCloskey, Naviya Schuster-Little, Matt Zupan, Blanca Rodriguez, Brielle McKee, and Aprajita Tripathi with Dr. Brian Ackley (Sahida Afroz not pictured).

List of Abstracts

Poster Session  (3:30 - 5:00 pm)
Poster #
Last Name
First Name
Abstract Title
1ArteagaLuisCharacterization of Circulating Extracellular Vesicles Released in Plasma from Colorectal Cancer Mouse Model
2BinjawadagiRashmiDose Effect of Thyroid Hormone on Myelin Damage and Myelin Repair
3CiftciMuhammedLipids Modulate Membrane Targeting and Activation of Apoptotic Factors BAX and Bcl-xL
4DasguptaDebolinaOxidative Stress Regulator NRF2 controls Inflammatory T-helper (Th) Subset differentiation by Modulating Glycolysis
5DownesGrantLow Valency Insulin-CD22 Ligand Conjugates Reduce Insulin-specific B Cell Activation in Response to Anti-CD40 Stimulation
6EbertEricOptimizing the Delivery of Antibody Therapeutics using Blood-Brain Barrier Modulators
7EvansAndrewInhibition of Xpo1 in Colorectal Cancer
8FeehanRyanCan We Identify Enzyme Active Sites Without Experimentation?
9GargGauravDesign, Synthesis and Profiling of P-Heterocycles as Covalent Probes
10HapugaswattaHarsha

Role of Rab27A in Cell Growth of Colorectal Cancer Cells

11HettiarachchiPiyankaElectrochemical Evaluation of the Local Effects of Zn2+ Photo Release in the Zebrafish Brain
12HoltEsther

Real Time Imaging of Autotaxin Activity in Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells

13HutchisonJustinSARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Monitoring in Kansas: Correlation with Clinical Data and Variant Tracking
14JimenezBryanAn Analysis of bar-1 Alleles in Motoneuron Differentiation
15JoshiPrabhuNeuroimmune Regulation of Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Infection and Lethal Pneumonia
16KrohJacobDetermination of the Transmembrane Domain of the Virulence Protein IpaC by 19F NMR
17KurfmanEmilyCapillary Electrophoresis Analysis of Cellular Metabolites for In Situ Life Detection on Ocean Worlds
18MalvankarShwetaFamilial Alzheimer’s Disease Mutations Stabilize Stalled Complexes of γ-secretase Bound to Substrate and Trigger Synaptic Loss Independent of Aβ42
19MartinezJamesA Modular Synthesis of Sanctolide A Analogs
20McCloskeyErickHSV-1 ICP0 Dimer Domain Adopts a Novel β-barrel Fold
21McKeeBrielleGenetic Adaptation to Tobramycin Alters the Antibiotic Susceptibility of Quorum Sensing (LasR)-Null Mutants in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
22MohottiNishamaInvestigating Lipid Regulatory Pathways During Demyelination and Myelin Repair Using a Novel Genetic Mouse Model
23PfannenstielJessicaIdentification of a Coronavirus Macrodomain Inhibitor That Impairs Virus Replication in Cell Culture
24RodriguezBlancaMutations in the Nitrogen Phosphotransferase Gene ptsP Destabilize Cooperation in P. aeruginosa
25RussolilloMatthewLabeling Tumor Cells with Synthetic Constructs for Immune Detection
26Schuster-LittleNaviyaAffinity-free Enrichment and Mass-spectrometry Characterization of CA125 (MUC16) from Ovarian Cancer Patient Ascites
27SeiboldSteveThe University of Kansas Protein Structure and X-ray Crystallography Laboratory
28SmithNathanCompetitive Impact of Hydrogen Cyanide Produced via Acyl-homoserine Lactone-dependent Eavesdropping by Chromobacterium subtsugae
29TripathiAprajitaAntioxidation System Metabolically Reprograms Survival and Expansion of Activated CD4 T-Lymphocytes 
30VithanageDimuthuSynthesis of Novel Macrocyclic N-Acyl Sulfamide Analogs Using a Build-Couple-Pair Strategy
31WangChien-WeiCharacterizing the Tandem Repeat Region of Ovarian Cancer Biomarker CA125
32WeiLanjingFunctional Inhibition of RNA-binding Protein HuR Reverses Chemotherapeutic Resistance in Triple-negative Breast Cancer

Symposium Agenda

Time
Activity
Speaker
Friday, October 21, 2022 – Oread Hotel, Griffith Ballroom
4:00 pm4:30 pmWelcome session - Drinks, snack, and get name tags 
4:30 pm4:35 pmGeneral Greeting and Presentation of 2022 Chemical Biology CertificatesTimothy Jackson
Graduate Training in Chemical Biology Trainees
Lightning Talks and Presentations
Session Chair: Esther Holt
4:35 pm4:55pm

Matt Zupan - Former Trainee, Chemistry

Dr. Meredith Hartley, Mentor

Matt Zupan
4:55 pm5:10 pm

Jacob Kroh - Trainee, Molecular Biosciences

Dr. Roberto De Guzman, Mentor

Jacob Kroh
5:10 pm5:25 pm

Eric Ebert - Trainee, Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Dr. Teruna Siahaan, Mentor

Eric Ebert
5:25 pm5:40 pm

Lexie Cutter - Trainee, Molecular Biosciences

Dr. Scott Hefty, Mentor

Lexie Cutter
5:40 pm6:00 pm

 Samuel Gary - Former Trainee, Medicinal Chemistry

Dr. Steven Bloom, Mentor

Samuel Gary
6:00 pm7:00 pmDinner Buffet  
Keynote Address
7:00 pm 

Nozomi Ando (Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Cornell University)

Evolution of an Ancient Allosteric Enzyme

Nozomi Ando
Saturday, October 22nd – School of Pharmacy
8:00 am8:45 amMorning Social session – SOP Atrium
Coffee, Juice, & Muffins
 
Session I - 2020 SOP
Session Chair: Esther Holt
8:50 am9:00 amWelcome and opening comments 
9:00 am9:20 am

Rebecca Whelan (Associate Professor, KU – Chemistry)

"New Insights on an Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Enabled by Bioanalytical Chemistry...and the Questions that Remain"

Rebecca Whelan
9:20 am9:40 am

Shyam Sathyamoorthi (Assistant Professor, KU – Medicinal Chemistry)

"Tethered Alkene Functionalization Technology for Complex Molecule Assembly"

Shyam Sathyamoorthi
9:40 am10:00 am

Anthony Fehr (Assistant Professor, KU – Molecular Biosciences)

"The Discovery of Novel SARS-CoV-2 Macrodomain Inhibitors"

Tony Fehr
10:00 am10:20 am

Steven Bloom (Assistant Professor, KU – Medicinal Chemistry

"Anti-Packaging Peptides (APPs) as New Antiretroviral Drugs for HIV-1"

Steve Bloom
10:20 am10:30 amBreak 
Special Session
Introduction by Jacob Kroh
10:30 am11:30 am

Jimmy Ballard (Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology & Director, Oklahoma Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunity, CoBRE, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center).

Suppressing Toxin Receptor Expression During C. difficile Infection

Jimmy Ballard
12:00 pm1:00 pmLunch - First Floor Dining Area
(Mortar & Pestle Cafe)
 
Session II - 2020 SOP
Session Chair: Jacob Kroh
1:00 pm1:20 pm

Justin Hutchison (Assistant Professor, KU – Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering)

"Induced Thermal Stability of Phage Protein GP6 via Interactions with Mycobacterium smegmatis"

Justin Hutchison
1:20 pm1:40 pm

Teruna Siahaan (Aya and Takeru Higuchi Distinguished Professor, KU – Pharmaceutical Chemistry)

"Searching for Mpro Enzyme Inhibitors using Immobilized Peptide and Peptidomimetic Libraries"

Teruna Siahaan
1:40 pm2:00 pm

Saswati Biswas (Research Assistant Professor, KUMC – Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology)

"A Strategy for Rapid Screening of Lantibiotics"

Saswati Biswas
2:00 pm2:15 pmBreak 
Session III - 2020 SOP
Session Chair: Matthew Russolillo
2:15 pm2:35 pm

Scott Lovell (Director, KU Protein Structure & X-Ray Crystallography Laboratory)

"Gene to Structure: Utilizing X-Ray Crystallography to Support Chemical Biology"

Scott Lovell
2:35 pm2:55 pm

David Johnson (Director, , KU CBID Computational Chemical Biology & Molecular Graphics and Modeling Core Facilities)

"Structure Prediction of Protein Monomers and Complexes Using Alphafold"

David Johnson
2:55 pm3:15 pm

Sahida Afroz (Ph.D. Candidate, KU – Department of Molecular Biosciences)

"Overexpression of the Small GTPase Rab27B Promotes Tumor Growth by Regulating Autophagy Flux in Colorectal Cancer"

Sahida Afroz
3:30 pm5:00 pm

Poster Session

Snacks and Drinks – SOP Atrium

 
5:00 pm Poster and Flash Talk Award Ceremony, 2020 SOP 
6:00 pm Invited Dinner, Merchant’s Pub & Plate 

The 2022 symposium was possible through support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences CoBRE in Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease (P20GM113117), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Graduate Training in Chemical Biology (T32-GM132061) and the Higuchi Biosciences Center.