UW–Madison Department of Biochemistry

This seminar has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Biochemistry Colloquium on Monday, March 16 will be given by Tom Muir @princeton.edu. The Muir Lab investigates the physiochemical basis of protein function in complex systems of biomedical interest. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

🍃 Invited Speakers 🍃 photosynthesis2026.com

Photosystems structure and function
🌿 Alexey Amunts, Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation
🌿 Chris Gisriel, University of Wisconsin-Madison

@amunts.bsky.social @uwbiochem.bsky.social
#ICPR26 #photosynthesis

Awesome representation from @uwmadscience.bsky.social at the @asbmb.bsky.social #ASBMB2026 meeting in DC! #ScienceServesUsAll

Rohith Rajasekaran Receives Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award The prestigious award recognizes outstanding research achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences.

Rohith Rajasekaran, a recent PhD graduate, has received the @fredhutch.org Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. The award recognizes outstanding research achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences. Read more: biochem.wisc.edu/2026/02/27/r...

Join us for Biochem Colloquium on March 9. Shiv Grewal, Chief of the NCI Laboratory of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, focuses on understanding how the genome is regulated within cells through the formation & maintenance of heterochromatin. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

Meet UW-Madison’s Brian Fox “Brian looks for enzymes that have evolved to harness them for new, industrial uses, like the deconstruction of biomass for use in biorenewable chemicals and fuels. The resulting discoveries will allow for sustainable alternatives through processes already partially optimized by nature.”

Meet Brian Fox, professor of @uwbiochem.bsky.social, who studies enzymes and their functions, using synthetic biology techniques to discover new enzymes that can break down recalcitrant polysaccharides for use as biofuel feedstock.

Huge congratulations to my student Rohith Rajasekaran @born2raisecell.bsky.social (now a postdoc in Kole Roybal's lab at UCSF) on being selected for a Weintraub award! Super proud of you and all the work you've done!

Research in Brief: The What, Why, and How Research from the Raman and Henzler-Wildman Labs uncovers new details about how bacterial cells balance energetic needs to expel antibiotics.

Research from the Raman and Henzler-Wildman Labs points to potential targets for combating drug-resistant pathogens. Their study, published in @pnas.org, looked at how bacterial cells balance energetic needs to expel antibiotics. Read more: biochem.wisc.edu/2026/02/18/r...

Congratulations to Emeritus Professor Judith Kimble, who received the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal awarded by @genetics-gsa.bsky.social.

Join us on March 2 for Biochemistry Colloquium! Joel McManus @cmu.edu studies the mechanisms that regulate mRNA translation. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

Brielle and Paige representing the Hoskins Lab undergrads at the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social poster session at #BPS2026!

Join us on Monday, February 23 for Biochemistry Colloquium with Traci Hall. Hall leads the Macromolecular Structure Group
at the NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and their lab focuses on mRNA stability and translation. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

Join us on Feb. 16 for Biochemistry Colloquium with Willow Coyote-Maestas. The @willowcoyote.bsky.social Lab builds and applies technologies to learn about membrane proteins in health and disease. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

IPiB Thesis Defense February 12, 2026: Wenbo Lu Lu’s research in the Landick and Venturelli Labs examined how patterns of gene expression in gut microbiota influence the metabolites produced.

Join us for Wenbo Lu's Ph.D. thesis defense on February 12! Lu's research in the Landick & Venturelli Labs examined how patterns of gene expression in gut microbiota influence the metabolites produced. Learn more: ipib.wisc.edu/2026/02/09/i...

Join us on February 9 for Biochemistry Colloquium with Sara Nowinski @vai.org. The Nowinski Lab is working to understand mitochondria in detail, focusing on the mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis pathway. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

IPiB Thesis Defense February 5, 2026: Sarah Evert Evert’s research in the Raman Lab explored the function of a bacteriophage receptor binding protein.

Join us for Sarah Evert's Ph.D. thesis defense on February 5! Evert's research in the Raman Lab explored the function of a bacteriophage receptor binding protein. Learn more: ipib.wisc.edu/2026/01/15/i...

Space Phages YouTube video by UW-Madison Department of Biochemistry

Designing a space-bound experiment requires researchers to stick to specific materials in a limited amount of space. Learn how the Raman Lab designed an experiment fit for space travel, to investigate how bacteria and phages change in space: www.youtube.com/watch?v=j94C...

IPiB Thesis Defense January 28, 2026: Rahul Vivek Vivek’s research in the Butcher Lab investigated the interaction between poly(UG) RNA and a protein implicated in multiple neurodegenerative disorders.

Join us for Rahul Vivek's Ph.D. thesis defense on January 28! Vivek's research in the Butcher Lab investigated the interaction between poly(UG) RNA and a protein implicated in multiple neurodegenerative disorders. Learn more: ipib.wisc.edu/2026/01/16/i...

Microbes mutated in space hint at biomedical benefits to humans on Earth Researchers are interested in studying effects on the gut microbiome and antibiotic-resistant infections.

In 2020, researchers in Raman Lab launched bacteria and phages into space. Now, those microbes have returned to Madison with hints at how space travel may impact the gut microbiome and clues about how to treat antibiotic-resistant infections on Earth. news.wisc.edu/microbes-mut...

Microbes mutated in space hint at biomedical benefits to humans on Earth Researchers are interested in studying effects on the gut microbiome and antibiotic-resistant infections.

In 2020, researchers in Raman Lab launched bacteria and phages into space. Now, those microbes have returned to Madison with hints at how space travel may impact the gut microbiome and clues about how to treat antibiotic-resistant infections on Earth. news.wisc.edu/microbes-mut...

A Yeast-Based High-Throughput Screening Platform for the Discovery of Novel pre-mRNA Splicing Modulators Pre-mRNA splicing is a core process in eukaryotic gene expression, and splicing dysregulation has been linked to various diseases. However, very few small molecules have been discovered that can modul...

Sierra's paper is out! Thanks to our collaborators @danglab.bsky.social & Melissa Jurica's lab! Also to the Evans Foundation for funding1

A Yeast-Based High-Throughput Screening Platform for the Discovery of Novel pre-mRNA Splicing Modulators | ACS Chemical Biology pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

New in ACS SynBio: led by Dennis Bolshakov, we used the awesome power of yeast to define how expression levels, noise, and sequence program the dynamics of synthetic protein waves, allowing us to genetically encode new cellular timescales stable over generations!

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

New preprint! We found that the flavin-dependent halogenase RebH catalyzes sequence-tolerant Trp bromination in peptides 🧪https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.17.694899v1

Wei Selected as STRIDE Scholar Wei's research explores fundamental questions about how what we eat affects our health.

Wei Wei, who joined @uwbiochem.bsky.social's faculty this summer, is among 13 new and early-career faculty selected as STRIDE scholars by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Pathway Program. Learn more: biochem.wisc.edu/2025/11/21/w...

Join us on Monday, Dec. 8 for Biochemistry Colloquium with Eric Greene. The Greene Lab @columbiauniversity.bsky.social studies homologous-recombination-associated proteins using in-vitro and in-vivo biochemical techniques. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

TDP-43 controls RNA structure through high affinity lattice interactions TDP-43 is an RNA binding protein implicated in neurodegenerative disease. TDP-43 binds to GU dinucleotide repeats, which are highly abundant sequences in human RNA. Here we show TDP- 43 has one of the...

New from the Butcher Lab—defining the RNA binding mechanism of TDP-43. Happy to have played a small part in this amazing work!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

IPiB Thesis Defense December 5, 2025: Ross Soens Soens’s research in the Coon Lab explored post-translational modifications to proteins in mammalian cells.

Join us for Ross Soens' PhD thesis defense on Friday, Dec 5! Soens' research in the Coon Lab explored post-translational modifications, and modifications made during translation, to proteins. More info: ipib.wisc.edu/2025/11/17/i...

Ecofriendly herbicide offers targeted weed control A new herbicide system from Paige Henning, postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Genomic Science Innovation; scientist Benjamin Minkoff; and Michael Sussman, professor of biochemistry, uses a natural plant peptide, SPH, to suppress and kill a wide variety of weeds. SPH targets a receptor found in nearly all plant species, giving it broad activity. The researchers showed that removing this receptor from crops makes them resistant to SPH, enabling selective weed control. The result is an ecofriendly herbicide that could simplify farming and reduce environmental impact.

A new herbicide system from Paige Henning, Benjamin Minkoff and Michael Sussman uses a natural plant peptide, SPH, to suppress and kill a wide variety of weeds. @uwbiochem.bsky.social #WisconsinInnovates

Join us on Monday Dec. 1 for Biochemistry Colloquium with Brandt Eichman @vanderbilt.edu. The Eichman Lab investigates the molecular details of how proteins repair damaged DNA and maintain integrity of the genome during replication. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...