Julius Judd Publishes Research in Genes & Development

Julius Judd (Class of 2017) published a paper entitled “Pioneer-like factor GAF cooperates with PBAP (SWI/SNF) and NURF (ISWI) to regulate transcription in the journal Genes & Development.  His article was featured in an article in the Cornell Chronicle.  Julius is a graduate student in the lab of John Lis.

GGD Class of 2019 at the MBG Picnic

MBG Graduate Students Advance Diversity & Inclusion

GGD Class of 2019 at the MBG Picnic

Graduate students in the MBG graduate programs established the MBG Diversity Council. The mission of this group is to promote, enhance and expand the diversity of the MBG community. They initiate and support programing that promotes inclusivity in the Department. All students, postdocs, staff and faculty in MBG and associated Fields are welcome to join; for more information, go to their website.

GGD @ the Virtual Graduate School Fair — October 27 11am-3pm

Genetics, Genomics & Development will be participating in the Graduate School’s Virtual Fair!  This will give prospective students the opportunity to  talk to staff, current students and faculty!

The Cornell University Graduate School is hosting a Virtual Graduate School Fair on Tuesday, October 27 from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm (eastern time).   More information and a link to register can be found here: http://bit.ly/CornellGradFair

We hope you to see there!

Bridge between science and a pandemic: Pleiss lab contributes to COVID testing successes

The process for elucidating pathways in RNA biology that are critical for gene expression in eukaryotes in Jeff Pleiss’s lab has been instrumental in the development of Cornell’s COVID testing program. Zach Dwyer (Class of 2014) helped write the scripts for the liquid handlers to prepare sample pools, which has been important in allowing Cornell COVID-19 Testing Laboratory (CCTL) to achieve such a high volume of test results. The Pleiss lab is also exploring other ways to support and streamline CCTL’s testing capabilities. Read the Cornell Chronicle article here.

Donald Long

Donald Long receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program grant

Donald LongDonald Long (Class of 2019) was awarded a fellowship through the NSF GRFP program.  Don is in the Praveen Sethupathy lab.

His research focuses on tumor metabolism in Fibrolamellar Carcinoma (FLC), a rare form of liver cancer that is highly metastatic with a low rate of detection.  This disease results in devastating levels of mortality in individuals with a median age of 20; currently, there are no viable treatments. Specifically, Don is investigating the role of a novel protein transporter in promoting FLC tumor growth and also exploring how specific microRNAs may contribute to the regulation of glycolysis and FLC cell survival.

MBG Graduation Cermony Participants 2019

MBG Graduate Recognition Ceremony

MBG Graduation Cermony Participants 2019Graduates from the Fields of BMCB, Biophysics and GGD participated in the first annual MBG Graduate Recognition Ceremony.  Hosted by Chris Fromme, DGS of BMCB and Faculty Advisor of the MBG Diversity Council, this event allowed members of the Department and Fields to recognize and congratulate the participants and their families.  For a look at Graduate School pictures from the PhD Hooding Ceremony, go to the Grad School flickr album.

CVic Innocent

Cvic Innocent (PhD, 2015), GGD Alumni, awarded $1M grant from the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative to create new core facilities prototype

CVic InnocentBIO: Cvic Innocent’s expertise is in the testing and diagnostics of customized microscopy instrumentation. Her journey in imaging started in graduate school at Cornell University, where her thesis focused on vesicular trafficking dynamics in fly synapses. She then finished a postdoc at Oxford University, where her research centered on the application of reversible-switchable fluorescent proteins for use in non-linear SIM. Routinely using, creating and customizing computational tools to better quantify images is why she enjoys explaining the fundamentals of nontraditional microscopy. As the Assistant Director of the Cellular Imaging Core and as research scientist at the Harvard Medical School, she consults on the relevant and unique light microscopy methods used in advanced imaging.

PROJECT: There needs to be a new prototype of what the standard service imaging core can be. Such facilities do not need to compete with cores devoted to custom instrumentation, nor must they solely rely on box-commercial systems. To achieve this prototype, Cvic will: 1) facilitate tight-knit collaborations between cores, researchers, and microscopy vendors; 2) hold structured microscopy and optics education courses introducing new research technology or approaches; and 3) recruit new talent into imaging core management. Lastly, for microscopy education to be best applied and pervasive, Cvic will facilitate the education of core staff scientists via inter-core collaborations and exchanges.

Carolyn Milano submits first-author paper to bioRxiv

Carolyn Milano (Class of 2013) has submitted a first-author article on her research to bioRxiv — Mutation of the ATPase domain of MutS homolog-5 (MSH5) reveals a requirement for a functional MutSγ complex for all crossovers in mammalian meiosis. Carolyn is in the lab of Paula Cohen in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

GGD Alumni Amanda Larracuente: Sequencing the Y Chromosome

Amanda Larracuente (PhD, 2010) recently published an article in the journal Genetics on her research sequencing a portion of the Y chromosome of the fruit fly. This ground-breaking research was featured in an article in Genomics Research.