The 6000 members of the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry share the goal of using chemistry to develop a better understanding of biological processes, and to harness these processes for the common good. The objectives of the Division are to promote knowledge and research in the field of biological chemistry and the relations of this discipline to other branches of science.

Announcements

The Gordon Hammes ACS Biochemistry Lectureship

This is a new award administered jointly by the Editor-in-Chief of Biochemistry and the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. The lectureship is intended to honor, at an annual Fall ACS meeting, the contributions of an individual who has had a major impact on scientific research at the interface between chemistry and biology particularly in the realm of biochemistry, biological chemistry, molecular biology and biophysics.

A nominator will send the curriculum vitae of the candidate, a list of publications, a letter explaining the special achievements of the candidate, and arrange for a minimum of two additional letters of support. All nomination material should be sent to either the Secretary of the Division of Biological Chemistry:

John P. Richard
Department of Chemistry
University at Buffalo, SUNY
Buffalo, NY 14260
biochdiv@chem.buffalo.edu.
Use on subject line for EMAIL message: DBC Awards

or the Editor of Biochemistry:

Richard N. Armstrong, Editor
Department of Biochemistry
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
832 RRB
Nashville, TN 37232-0146
journalbiochem@vanderbilt.edu.

Deadline - June 1, 2008

New Membership Benefits

Discount on ACS Chemical Biology

Graduate Students and Postdocs who are members of the Division of Biological Chemistry are now eligible to receive a special rate of $40 on a web subscription to ACS Chemical Biology. To take advantage of this discount please send your name, address, phone and email address to the Secretary of the Division, John Richard at biochdiv@chem.buffalo.edu using subject line: ACS Chemical Biology Discount.

• Go to ASC Chemical Biology web site

Discount on Wiley Books

Members of the Division of Biological Chemistry are now eligible to receive a 20% discount on any Wiley book, across all content areas. This discount is available to members who order online at wiley.com, or over the phone at 1-800-callwil by using the special code BCHEM when placing the order.

• Go to Wiley web site

Founder’s Travel Awards to attend The Winter Enzyme Mechanisms Conference

The Winter Enzyme Mechanisms Conference was founded in 1969 by Tom Bruice, Bill Jencks, and Myron Bender, to foster collegial interactions within the community of chemists and biochemists interested in understanding the chemical basis for enzymatic catalysis and the regulation of enzyme action. The passing of William P. Jencks on January 5 of 2007 coincided with the 20th meeting of the Winter Enzyme Mechanisms Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. Bill’s loss was keenly felt by many of the senior participants at this conference, who understood that he was present at the creation of their gathered community of enzymologists. There was interest at this meeting in recognizing Bill’s many contributions to Mechanistic Enzymology in a manner that would help to ensure the vibrancy of this community that he had helped to create.

An important outcome of this interest is the “Founder’s Travel Awards”, to support the participation of students and/or post-docs at meetings of the Winter Enzyme Mechanisms Conference. The endowment for this award will be administered by the ACS Biological Chemistry Division, who will manage the investment of the contributed funds and establish the process for the competitive selection of the awardees.

Members who would like to contribute to the endowment to support the “Founder’s Travel Awards” should make out your contributions to the “ACS Biological Chemistry Division, Founder’s Travel Award” and send this contribution to:

Professor Eugene G. Mueller
Treasurer, ACS Biological Chemistry Division
Department of Chemistry
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292

Message from the Chair - Carol Fierke

The Division of Biological Chemistry had a great year in 2007. We are very thankful to Tadgh Begley and the program committee for the enormous effort they put into organizing the wonderful programming at the ACS fall meeting. This year the Biological Chemistry Division hosted exciting award symposia for the Repligen, Pfizer, and Lilly awards as well as the first annual Murray Goodman Memorial Prize. This award was established in memory of Dr. Murray Goodman, founding editor of Biopolymers, by John Wiley & Sons and the Editor-in-Chief of Biopolymers to recognize outstanding achievement in one or more areas of biochemistry. I would like to congratulate the 2007 and 2008 award winners and to thank the corporate sponsors for their support in recognizing the best of the excellent scientists in the biochemical area.

The Biological Chemistry Division continued two important outreach activities this year. The Division provided funds to subsidize joining the ACS and traveling to the fall ACS meeting for 10 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows so that they could present their work at this meeting. This initiative is important for mentoring and developing the next generation of scientists. Additionally, the Division provides roughly a dozen grants each year to support symposia presented at ACS Regional Meetings and other meetings of interest to the membership of our Division.

I would like to thank the two officers, John Richard, secretary, and Eugene Mueller, treasurer, who are responsible for the hard work of keeping the Division running. In particular, in the past year John Richard and Uli Iserloh of Bright Launch launched an updated Website at: www.biochemdivision.org. This website contains important information about the activities of the Division. Finally, I urge everyone to vote in the upcoming election for members of key Biological Chemistry Division committees. These elected officials will play an important role in determining the future direction of the Division.

The Division of Biological Chemistry is highly interactive, as evidenced by the many symposia at the 2007 fall ACS meeting that are co-sponsored with other ACS divisions. The DBC welcomes participation by scientists with diverse interests in Biological Chemistry, including those whose interests overlap with analytical, medicinal, inorganic, organic, and carbohydrate chemistry as well as the emerging discipline of chemical biology. To continue this trend, for the first time the Biological Chemistry Division is sponsoring programs at both the Spring (April 6 - 10, 2008 in New Orleans, LA) and the Fall (August 17-21, 2008 in Philadelphia PA) national ACS meetings. In contrast to the fall programming, the spring meeting will consist primarily of short, 20 minute talks selected from the submitted abstracts. The goal of this program is expand the opportunities for the members, especially the younger members, of the Biological Chemistry Division to present their work to the chemical community.

One challenge for all areas of Chemistry is to attract and mentor scientists from diverse backgrounds. The Chemistry community has been actively addressing this challenge by participating in two national workshops developing plans and strategies to increase the representation of women and minorities on the faculty of research universities. These workshops, entitled Building Strong Academic Programs through Gender Equality (Jan. 2006) and Excellence Empowered by a Diverse Academic Workforce: Achieving Racial & Ethnic Equity in Chemistry (Sept. 2007), are providing information about the barriers to success, developing best practices to encourage participation, and impacting policies in the chemical sciences nationally. The future of Chemistry depends on our ability to attract the best and brightest minds to the chemical disciplines from diverse backgrounds.

Award Nominations for 2009

Nominations are requested for the year 2009 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, and the Repligen Corporation Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes. A nominator should send the curriculum vitae of the candidate with a list of publications and a letter explaining the special achievements of the candidate. Additional letters of support for the specific candidate are desirable. All materials should be sent to John Richard (biochdiv@chem.buffalo.edu) by June 1, 2008.

• Learn more about the award process and past recipients

Hot Articles from Biochemistry.

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Recent Cover Articles from Biochemistry.

The structure of charybdotoxin (red) complexed to the KcsA potassium channel (with the four monomer units colored gray and cyan) as determined by NMR spectroscopy. Charybdotoxin binds to the extracellular side of KcsA and directly blocks entry of K+ ions into the channel pore. The toxin-bound structure of KcsA remains in the closed conformation, and only minor conformational changes in the extracellular loops are necessary to accommodate complex formation. The structural data clearly delineate the specific hydrophilic and hydrophobic contacts that stabilize complex formation.

• Yu, L., et al. (2005) Biochemistry 44, 15834-15841