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Graduate Student Spotlight: Mo Hashemian
Graduate Student Spotlight: Mo Hashemian
This summer’s graduate student spotlight is on Mo Hashemian! Over the past year, Mo has accomplished numerous achievements. He was recently awarded the ARCS Fellowship (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) for outstanding academics. At the Miller Symposium Poster Session, Mo received the poster award given out by ACS Pharmacology and Translational Sciences. We were also fortunate to hear about his research updates at both the third year seminar and joint group meeting, where Mo discussed the role of metal cofactors in MUTYH function and how he’s been adjusting the protein purification process to retain these cofactors within the structure. We’re excited to see the developments Mo makes on his project moving forward!
Thank you Carlos!
We bid farewell to our Postdoctoral Researcher, Carlos Trasviña-Arenas, as he begins his own lab in the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City. His lab will be investigating DNA repair and chronic degenerative diseases. We thank Carlos for all his contributions to the MUTYH project, and wish him the best of luck in Mexico!
Congratulations to Dr. Merve Demir!
A big belated congratulations to Dr. Merve Demir on filing her dissertation! Her research has helped further our understanding of the mechanisms and structures involved in MutY’s identification of the OG lesion and the excision of the misincorporated adenine. We wish her the best of luck as she continues her research adventures as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Conrad Prebys Center at SBP!
Congratulations to Professor Sheila David on Receiving the 2022 Education Award
Congratulations to Professor Sheila David on Receiving the 2022 Education Award
10/12/2022
Professor David receives the 2022 Education Award by the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EMGS). The EMGS recognizes her contributions to educating students and young investigators in environmental mutagenesis and genomics. Professor David continues to dedicate her time to mentor and teach both undergraduate and graduate students in the field.
Once again, congratulations to Professor David!
Congratulations to our students!!
Many congratulations to our graduate students!
Elizabeth Lotsof won the Raymon M. Keefer Fellowship which is awarded to graduate students pursing a Ph.D. in Chemistry.
Cindy Khuu won the Floyd and Mary Schwall Dissertation Year Fellowship in Medical Research which is awarded to continuing graduate students focused on medically related research.
Congratulations to our undergraduates!
Vivian Kellner won both the Maureen Belletini Undergraduate Research Fellowship which is awarded to continuing juniors or seniors and the Francesca Miller Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship which is awarded to a junior or senior undergraduate pursing research in the biomedical or pharmaceutical science. Vivian participated in the annual R. Bryan Miller Symposium which was a requirement for the Francesca Miller Fellowship.
Madeline Bright was named the 2021 University Medalist, this highly prestigious award is given to the top graduating senior at UC Davis for their studies, contributions to community service, and aspirations to their future goals. UC Davis published a news article about Madeline that can be read here: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/questions-drive-top-uc-davis-graduate
We are so proud of all of our students!!
Congratulations to our R. Bryan Miller Symposium 2021 Award Winners!
Congratulations to our R. Bryan Miller Symposium 2021 Award Winners!
Thank you for your dedication to excellence!
Recent Article Published: Unique H-bonding of Adenine with oxidatively damaged base 8-oxoguanosine enables specific recognition and repair by DNA glycosylase MutY.
Recent Article Published by Sheila David’s Lab: Unique Hydrogen Bonding of Adenine with the Oxidatively Damaged Base 8-Oxoguanine Enables Specific Recognition and Repair by DNA Glycosylase MutY.
Majumdar, C.; Mckibbin, P.L.; Krajewski, A.E.; Manlove, A.H.; Lee, J.K.; David, S.S.
J. Am. Soc. 2020. 142, 48, 20340–20350.
DNA repair protein MutY employs specific interactions to differentiate OG:A basepairs from canonical G:C and T:A basepairs. Prior work from our lab has focused on understanding the structural requirements of OG on lesion recognition and catalysis, and we have shown that MutY relies on the exocyclic 2-amino group of OG to identify and distinguish OG:A from other basepairs. Additionally, we’ve shown that OG binding induces conformational changes that influence A excision.
This new work uses structure-activity relationships (SARs) to identify the structural features of A that influence OG:A recognition, verification, base excision, and overall cellular repair. We correlate observed in vitro MutY activity on A analogue substrates with their experimental and calculated acidities to provide mechanistic insight into the factors influencing MutY base excision efficiency. Our results herein can be used to guide future design of MutY/MUTYH specific probes to monitor the activity, or lack thereof, of MutY/MUTYH variants. These results can also applied toward the development of MUTY/MUTYH specific inhibitors that may find utility in cancer therapeutics.
Click on the link or graphical abstract to find out more!
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.0c06767#
Congratulations to Doug Banda and coworkers!
5/31/2017
Congratulations to David Lab authors Doug, Nicole, Michael, and Katie on their recently released article, “Repair of 8-OXOG:A Mismatches by the MUTYH Glycosylase: Mechanisms, Metals and Medicine,” in Free Radical Biology and Medicine! The final version of the article is now available online.
Link to their new article here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1V8Lr3AkHAI6DS.
Science Daily News
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- Defying physics: This rare crystal cools itself using pure magnetism July 6, 2025Deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert, scientists studied a green crystal called atacamite—and discovered it can cool itself dramatically when placed in a magnetic field. Unlike a regular fridge, this effect doesn’t rely on gases or compressors. Instead, it’s tied to the crystal’s unusual inner structure, where tiny magnetic forces get tangled in a kind of […]