鶹ýɫƬ

Member News

Stubbe, Beuning named ACS fellows; Okáľová receives UGA scholarship

ASBMB Today Staff
Oct. 12, 2020

Stubbe, Beuning named ACS Fellows

The American Chemical Society has announced its . ACS fellows are recognized for outstanding achievements and contributions in science and for their service to the scientific community. This year’s inductees include two ASBMB members.

Penny Beuning

, a professor at Northeastern University and recently named chair of that university’s department of chemistry and chemical biology, studies the structure–function relationships and catalytic mechanisms of enzymes involved in DNA metabolism and cells’ tolerance for DNA damage. Her lab is particularly interested in a family of E. coli DNA polymerases that can synthesize new DNA strands even if there is damage in the template DNA, called the Y family. They also work on prediction of protein functions, and protein engineering, in a longtime collaboration with Northeastern colleague Mary Jo Ondrechen. Beuning is highly involved in undergraduate and graduate education and faculty professional development, and serves on the ACS Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs. 

JoAnne Stubbe

, Novartis professor of chemistry and biology, emerita, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studies enzymatic reaction mechanisms including ribonucleotide reductases that catalyze the conversion of RNA building blocks to DNA building blocks in all organisms. Her studies have established the importance of controlled radical reactions in biology.  Stubbe and her many collaborators have uncovered how gemcitabine, a clinically used cancer therapeutic, stoichiometrically inhibits these enzymes and how the natural-product therapeutic bleomycin cleaves DNA via radical mediated mechanisms. Among her many honors, Stubbe was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2009, and earlier this year she received the Priestly Medal, the highest honor that the ACS awards.

Okáľová receives UGA scholarship

Jennifer Okáľová, an undergraduate at the University of Georgia, was recently awarded the UGA College of Pharmacy’s Richard A. Bryan Scholarship for High Academic Achievement and Excellence in Research.

Jennifer Okáľová

Okáľová, who is set to graduate in spring 2021 with a degree in pharmaceutical sciences, has worked for more than two years in Neil Grimsey’s lab alongside a graduate student, Jeremy Burton, to develop a fluorescence biosensor platform to assess the spatiotemporal activation of atypical p38 signaling in living cells.

The $1,000 Bryan Scholarship is awarded annually to an undergraduate researcher in the pharmaceutical sciences program. Okáľová also received UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunites, or CURO, Summer Research Fellowship. She won an Experimental Biology 2020 Travel Award to travel to San Diego, but the in-person conference was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

“Research is my passion,” Okáľová said. “Being both a student and research assistant has shown me that science is more than a career path, it is a lifestyle. I am excited to be applying to graduate programs to start a Ph.D. program in fall 2021 so I can continue my journey.”

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition monthly and the digital edition weekly.

Learn more
ASBMB Today Staff

This article was written by a member or members of the ASBMB Today staff.

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in People

People highlights or most popular articles

Honors for Bhatt, Lim and Nuñez
Member News

Honors for Bhatt, Lim and Nuñez

Sept. 16, 2024

Ami Bhatt receives the American Society of Hematology's William Dameshek Prize. The Pew Charitable Trusts selects Ci Ji Lim and James Nuñez as 2024 Pew scholars.

In memoriam: Robert Warren Newburgh
In Memoriam

In memoriam: Robert Warren Newburgh

Sept. 16, 2024

He was a distinguished developmental and cell biologist and a member of the ASBMB since 1957.

'Don’t be afraid to take a different path'
Profile

'Don’t be afraid to take a different path'

Sept. 11, 2024

In 2016, MOSAIC scholar Rebecca Ann Faulkner paused her career for four years to focus on her family, a decision she believes made her a more effective and empathetic scientist.

Honors for Baserga, Matunis and Tate
Member News

Honors for Baserga, Matunis and Tate

Sept. 9, 2024

Awards, promotions, milestones and more. Find out what's going on in the lives of ASBMB members.

In memoriam: William Catterall
In Memoriam

In memoriam: William Catterall

Sept. 9, 2024

Known as the “father of ion channels,” he was a neuroscientist and pharmacologist at the University of Washington and an ASBMB member for more than 45 years.

Announcing the winners of the 鶹ýɫƬ Motifs bioart competition
Contest

Announcing the winners of the 鶹ýɫƬ Motifs bioart competition

Sept. 3, 2024

The 12 winning works of art to be featured in the 2025 ASBMB calendar were selected from 37 entries received from scientists in both academia and industry at all career stages with submissions coming from as far away as Pakistan and Brazil.