MBI-Nytt Nr 6 2012 – 29 juni

Reins hjørne The spring term is now behind us. Exams and

evaluations are done and the last masters exam has

been held. I take this opportunity to congratulate all

new masters and wish you all the best of luck in

your careers as molecular biologists. Thanks to the

supervisors and everyone who contribute to create

our very good study environment.

We can also look back at a very good season with

Monday Seminars and lots of exciting discussions.

My impression is also that the mid term review for

the PhD students is very good and is highly

appreciated by both students and supervisors. Last,

but not least, the Monday Seminars very nicely

spreads the knowledge and awareness of our

research activities. This is an investment that really

strengthens science at our department. I also

recommend that you all take time to stop by our

new publications on display in the corridor. There is

lots of interesting and high quality stuff there. It is

high time that we reinstall our paper celebration

events.

At the end of the semester, we had the first guest

lecture marking that Sars, CBU and MBI now have

joint Friday seminars. This will give us a nice

opportunity to keep up with new developments

also in bioinformatics. We can also look forward to

new lectures in the Faculty Horizons series, - an

excellent venue for inspiration and cross-

disciplinary thinking.

The autumn will also reveal if our budget for 2013

will be well appreciated. I would have liked to have

seen better figures and trends. Yet, I'm confident

that our efforts to implement the department's

strategic plan will give results in the time to come.

With this, I wish you all a nice summer and good

vacations!

A nuclear receptor with a heme in its ligand binding

pocket

By Rune Male

The nuclear receptors is a large superfamily of eukaryotic transcription factors that are involved in regulation of development, metabolism and reproduction. These receptors consist of a DNA binding domain (DBD) and a ligand binding domain (LBD). Among the ligands are steroids, thyroid hormones, and retinoic acid. When ligand binds, the LBD undergos a conformational change that turns the receptor into an active transcription factor. Many nuclear receptors are still "orphans", - i.e. their ligands are unknown. The subfamily of nuclear receptors typified by E75 (in insects: uniprot:P17672) and REV-ERB (in mammals) have an unusual type of ligand: their ligand binding pocket contains a covalently bound heme molecule. It has been shown that the red-ox state of heme iron alters the conformation of the LBD, possibly induced by NO or CO (Pardee et al., 2009: pmid 19243223).

As E75 plays a key role in embryonic development in Drosophila, we have selected this nuclear receptor as a potential target for intervention with the reproductive programme in the salmon louse. These arthropods are blood-eating parasites with an extreme capacity for reproduction. While the blood serves as its essential source of nutrients for egg production (up to 1000 per hatching), the large amount of hemoglobin-derived heme and iron may represent a problem for the parasite. We therefore speculate that E75 serves as an iron sensor that is linked to nutritional status. Salmon lice have two E75 genes that both produce several splice variants. We are currently characterising these E75 proteins and the role of heme in their regulation.

Molecule of the Month

Structure of human Rev-erbβ LBD with Fe (III) heme in the ligand binding pocket. (From Pardee et al 2009; PDB:3cqv)

MBI-Nytt Nr. 4 2012 2

People

Vanja Haugland vil vikariere i

studiekonsulentstillingen i ca.

2 mnd. fra august i påvente av

utlysning av stillingen.

Camilla Osberg er tilsatt i et vikariat som avdelingsingeniør fra august til mai neste år. Hun skal vikariere for Bjørg Flatekvål og v skal tilknyttes BFS-prosjektet til Thomas Arnesen i tillegg til å fungere som laboratorieansvarlig ved Lab 4.

Audrey Astori is a guest at lab

4 until mid-August.

Nye publikasjoner

NAD+ biosynthesis and salvage – a phylogenetic perspective. Toni I. Gossmann, Mathias Ziegler, Pål Puntervoll, Luis F. de Figueiredo, Stefan Schuster and Ines Heiland, FEBS J. 2012 Mar 9. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-4658.2012.08559.x.

Master exams

Åtte strålende studenter har avlagt sin avsluttende mastereksamen i juni; Monica Dalva, Alexander Kirkeby Eieland, Rhian Morgan, Camilla Osberg, Siri Merete Ratvik, Øyvind Strømland, Sylvia Varland og Thaddaeus Mutugi Nthiga. Gratulerer så mye, alle sammen! Eight magnificent students have had their final masters exam this June; Monica Dalva, Alexander Kirkeby Eieland, Rhian Morgan, Camilla Osberg, Siri Merete Ratvik, Øyvind Strømland, Sylvia Varland and Thaddaeus Mutugi Nthiga. Congratulations, everyone!

Vacant positions at MBI

Seniorkonsulent/førstekonsulent (studieadministrasjon)

Stipendiat/PhD-fellow(Aurelia Lewis’ group, 4-year stipend financed by UiB) Stipendiat/PhD-fellow(Nathalie Reuter’s group, 3-year stipend financed by Norges forskningsråd)

Studiekonsulent - vikar

Vanja Haugland går inn som vikar i stillingen som studiekonsulent for ca. 2 mnd. fra august. Marielle R. Hauge har sagt opp sin stilling for å gå over i ny fast stilling i Ålesund. Fast stilling som studiekonsulent er lyst ut i JobbNorge med søknadsfrist 6. august. – se link over. Vanja er til daglig tilsatt ved fakultetssekretariatet, Mat.nat.

Forskning og forskningsfinansiering

Studienytt

Personalnytt

MBI-Nytt Nr. 4 2012 3

Instituttrådsmøte Instituttrådet hadde møte 25. juni. Hovedsaken var behandlingen av instituttets budsjettforslag for 2013, med

langtidsbudsjett.

Utkast til protokoll

Instituttledelsens kommentarer til budsjettet

Budsjettabeller

Informasjon om ferieavvikling i sommer / Information regarding the summer holiday

Frysebokser / Freezers Vi ber alle om å være med å passe på fryseboksene gjennom sommeren – det gjelder spesielt de som ikke er koblet til alarm!

We ask everyone to help look after the freezers during summer – particularly those which do not have alarm attachment!

Alle ansatte som skal ha ferie i sommer MÅ huske å føre opp planlagt ferie på listen ved administrasjonen / Please remember to list your holiday weeks on the list outside the reception.

Administrasjonen har følgende bemanning i sommer: Uke 25: Knut Olav, Margun, Marielle, Grethe og Andrea Uke 26: Knut Olav Margun, Marielle, Grethe og Andrea (redusert uke) Uke 27: Margun, Marielle og Grethe Uke 28: Jarle, Grethe Uke 29: Jarle Uke 30: Jarle Uke 31: Jarle, Knut Olav

Instituttledelsen er på ferie: Rein (inst.leder) uke 28, 29, 30 og 31 Mathias (stedfortr.) uke 28, 29, 30 og halve 31 Aurelia (stedfortr.) uke 29, 30 og halve 31 Andrea (adm.sjef) uke 27, 28, 29, 30 og 31 (vil være på jobb en dag i uke 28 og en dag i 29)

Instituttleder og administrasjonssjef kan nåes på mobil i ferien. Rein: + 47 924 25 456 Andrea: + 47 971 72 904

Bestillinger: i uke 26 og 27 sendes bestillinger til Margun (obs! ikke på jobb fredager). Jarle er tilbake som bestiller i uke 28.

Other MBI-info

MBI-Nytt Nr. 4 2012 4

All employees going on vacation this summer MUST write this on the list by the administration. The administration has the following staff this summer: Week 25: Knut Olav, Margun, Marielle, Grethe and Andrea Week 26: Knut Olav Margun, Marielle, Grethe and Andrea (reduced week) Week 27: Margun, Marielle and Grethe Week 28: Jarle, Grethe Week 29: Jarle Week 30: Jarle Week 31: Jarle, Knut Olav

Department’s Management on vacation: Rein (Head): week 28, 29, 30 and 31 Mathias (First vice head):week 28, 29, 30 and half 31 Aurelia (Second vice head): week 29, 30 and half 31 Andrea (Head of adm.): week 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 (will be at work one day in week 28 and a day in 29)

Rein and Andrea can be reached on mobile: Rein: + 47 924 25 456 Andrea: + 47 971 72 904

Bestillinger: I uke 26 og 27 sendes bestillinger til Margun (obs! ikke på jobb fredager). Jarle er tilbake som bestiller i uke 28. Vi ber imidlertid om at de fleste bestillinger for uke 28, 29 og 30 gjøres i uke 26. Dette fordi alle våre anvisere er på ferie disse ukene. Eventuelle bestillinger skal likefullt gjøres i Baseware, fakultetet vil bistå med anvisning i denne perioden. Anvisning: Uke 26: Knut Olav anviser torsdag og fredag (denne uken) Uke 27: Rein anviser Uke 28, 29 og 30: Jarle får hjelp til anvisning fra fakultetet Uke 31: Knut Olav anviser

God sommer! fra oss i administrasjonen

Språkkurs for ansatte ved UiB - høsten 2012

Personal- og organisasjonsavdelingen tilbyr ulike kurs i språk for ansatte, og har satt opp en

foreløpig kursplan for høsten:

22.-21. august: Kurs i engelsk for ledere og personalmedarbeidere. (fulltegnet)

MBI-Nytt Nr. 4 2012 5

3. september: Oppstart av kveldskurs i akademisk engelsk for vitenskapelig ansatte, som

går over 13 kurskvelder.

16. oktober: «I klartekst», kurs i å skrive klart og godt på norsk.

23. oktober: «I klartekst», kurs i å skrive klart og godt på norsk.

25.-26. september: Engelskkurs for administrativt ansatte ved UiB, todagers kurs.

27.-28. november: Workshop i akademisk engelsk for ph.d.-kandidater, todagers kurs.

All kursinformasjon med påmeldingslenker vil bli lagt ut fortløpende på intranett og på Personal-

og organisasjonsavdelingens nettsider (i kalenderen). (http://www.uib.no/poa). Se også nettsiden

www.uib.no/sprak for informasjon om andre språkressurser.

English for Academic Purposes – Evening Course for

employees

Target group: Academic staff, e.g. researchers, postdocs, PhD Candidates

Start: 3. September 2012 (NB – individual meeting time)

When: Every Monday from 15.30 until 18.30 (+ every evening after the course one

participant will get individual feedback by appointment)

Duration: 13 evenings of 3 teaching hours (+1 individual session).

Where: Christiesgate 18, room 3.4

Teacher: Brendan McNulty,

Course content: The course aims to improve the participant’s ability to communicate information

about their field of research in English and the ability to participate more actively in professional

or social settings when meeting foreign colleagues, the press or others.

The language of instruction will be English. Discussing the participant’s own work and their

ability to communicate their knowledge will be an integral part of the lessons. Emphasis will be

placed on oral and written communication. The individual one-to-one sessions will be based

mainly on excerpts from the participant’s own theses/dissertations, presentations, articles etc.

Cultural differences will be discussed in the context that these then can be used to "sell" oneself

and one’s ideas. Practical training in written presentation: Written academic English norms

Review of individual feedback on shorter texts such as conference presentations or articles written

by the participants themselves.

Oral presentations and conversations.

- Training in introducing/presenting oneself, one’s subject and research

- Giving a presentation (which will be videoed), answering questions, posing questions,

commenting on the work of others

- More informal dialogue: etiquette and common courtesy when establishing contacts at

conferences or when hosting invited guests, table manners, cultural norms.

Course fee: NOK 2500. (To cover the course fee, the participants should apply to their Head of

Department before signing up for the course)

Sign up for the course here: https://skjema.app.uib.no/academic_english