Recognitions

Congratulations to Dr. Rebekah Rogers for her contribution to the NY Times article, The Woolly Mammoth’s Last Stand, and Scientific American podcast.

Two UNC Charlotte Bioinformatics doctoral students, Adriano Schneider and Gregorio Linchangco, and visiting research scholar, Denis Jacob Machado, participated in the Zika Innovation Hack-a-thon. The three UNC Charlotte researchers teamed up with engineers and clinicians.Their project, called L.A.D. (Larvicide Automated Dispenser), was awarded “Most Implementable Solution” sponsored by GE Foundation. The device has the potential to help control mosquito borne diseases such as Zika, Chikungunya, Dengue, and Malaria at the same time it reduces health care costs in countries affected by them.

Computer Science Concentration Bioinformatics B.S. has been established and approved.

Dr. Mindy Shi won the 2016 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Faculty Research Award.

Congratulations to Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Researcher, Madeline Galac, who authored her first paper, Bacterial Communities of Oceanic Sea Star (Asteroidea: Echinodermata) Larvae in the Marine Biology International Journal on Life in Oceans and Coastal Waters.

For several years, Dr. Jennifer Weller, has been working with CMS faculty and students to study and help save the American chestnut tree. To see photos and the story covered CMS Media Relations, go to “Students fight to save the American chestnut.” or go to: https://bioinformatics.charlotte.edu/bioinformatics-professor-helping-cms-stu…

Dr. Deeptak Verma won the 2013 Graduate Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award, which is a university-wide competition. Dissertation title: Elucidating the effects of mutation and evolutionary divergence upon protein structure quantitative stability/flexibility relationships. Deeptak was co-advised by Dr. Livesay and Dr. Jacobs.

Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Daniel Janies, Ph.D., and Professional Science Master’s student, Greg Linchangco, recently published a paper in Cladistics.

A comparison of supermatrix and supertree methods for multilocus phylogenetics using organismal datasets. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cla.12014/full.

Bioinformatics PSM and certificate programs approved for Early-Entry.

Dr. Livesay’s (in collaboration with Dr. Jacobs’ from physics) protein design patent has now been issued. Computer implemented system for protein and drug target design utilizing quantitative stability/flexibility relationships, US Patent 8374828.

Dr. Anthony Fodor has won the 2013 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Faculty Research Award.

Two Bioinformatics and Genomics Faculty receive tenure and promotion.

Jun-Tao Guo, Bioinformatics and Genomics, Tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.

Cynthia Gibas, Bioinformatics and Genomics, promotion to the rank of Professor.

Pathview package was recently published in Bioinformatics:http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/06/11/bioinformatics.btt285.full

Pathview is an R/Bioconductor package for pathway based data integration and visualization. It maps and renders a wide variety of biological data on relevant pathway graphs.

The package is available through Bioconductor and R-Forge:http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/pathview.html http://pathview.r-forge.r-project.org/

Congratulations to Ms. Rachael Chung for receiving an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

Rachael will be graduating with a BS in Computer Science and a Minor in Biology this May 2012. Rachael, a STARS recipient throughout her undergraduate studies, is an early entry student in the Bioinformatics Professional Science Master’s, PSM, and participates in research in Dr. Shannon Schlueter’s Lab. Rachael will continue her Bioinformatics studies and research in the Fall. Rachael is the second student to receive an NSF Fellowship in the Bioinformatics and Genomics Department.

Ms. Shatavia Morrison has won the 2012 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.

Congratulations to Ms. Sajedeh Safari for being selected as the recipient of the 2012 International Graduate Student Scholarship.
Sajedeh has been invited to the International Education Reception. During the program, she will be recognized as an award recipient.

Congratulations to Ms. Shatavia Morrison for receiving the Lucille P. and Edward C. Giles Graduate School Dissertation-Year Fellowship!

The Giles Dissertation-Year Fellowship is awarded to promising students in the final stages of their doctoral work who demonstrate strong potential to make a significant contribution to society by completing the terminal degree in their chosen discipline. The purpose of the fellowship is to allow students to focus full-time on the dissertation, thus improving quality and shortening the time required to complete the doctoral degree. Lucille Giles valued graduate education and established this fellowship in 1990 to support doctoral students in the STEM programs. Mrs. Giles earned a master’s degree in chemistry and had a special interest in the sciences.

The Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Daniel Janies, Ph.D., has been invited to speak at the Symposium Emerging Infections, Microbial Threats to Health, and the Microbiome being hosted by the National Academy of Sciences on December 11 and 12.

The symposium will include national and international leaders from academia and government, who will assess the progress made on the surveillance, detection and responses to emerging, reemerging and novel infectious diseases in humans, plants, and animals. The participants will also discuss how our appreciation of the microbiome and microbial ecology has changed in the 20 years since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s reports on Emerging Infections in 1992 and Microbial Threats to Health in 2003.

Dr. Janies will discuss his research including SUPRAMAP: Weather Maps for Infectious Diseases Based on Analysis of Genomic and Geographic Data. Keynote speakers will include Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Bioinformatics Undergraduate Minor implemented.

Livesay lab news: two grant proposals funded. The first is an extension of our industrial research contract and the other is Dr. Livesay’s NIH R15 proposal titled Elucidating beta-lactamase functional mechanisms via evolutionary conservation.

Congratulations to BCB PhD student, Deeptak Verma, for winning in the Molecular Engineering and Design category at the 4th annual CBES Graduate Student Poster Competition.

Dr. Dennis Livesay has been named as an associate editor of PLoS Computational Biology.

Professional Science Master’s students from UNC Charlotte’s Department of Bioinformatics of Genomics win 2nd place in the annual Charlotte Biotechnology Consultancy Challenge ($500 in prize money). The team developed a strategic plan to implement a life sciences informatics cluster in Greater Charlotte. This plan is intended to make Charlotte one of the top regions for life sciences informatics. The team composed of Benika Hall, Jessica MacMinn, Adam Whaley, Anuja Jain, and Coach Brouwer. The team also won the “Audience Choice” award, and were asked to present their project “Life Science Informatics in the Charlotte Region” to Charlotte Research Institute’s Advisory Board.

The Charlotte Biotechnology Consultancy Challenge brings together graduate students teams to develop savvy strategies and supporting materials to leverage the life science and life science informatics assets for economic development by supporting biotechnology businesses. This event will strengthen the identification of Charlotte as a prime location for life science and life science informatics companies.

BCB alum, Dr. Nina Sanapareddy receives Distinguished Dissertation Award

Dr. Zhenchang Su has won the 2011 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Faculty Research Award.

Ms. Elise Marshall has won the 2011 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Staff Award.

BCB PhD student, Charles David, wins CBES Focus Area in CBES 3rd Annual Graduate Student Poster Competition

For the Molecular Engineering & Design (MED) Focus Area:
Charles David- for his poster “A Model Comparison for Characterizing protein Motions from Structure”

First BCB doctoral student, Dr. Timothy Tickle, graduated.

It’s official! The Bioinformatics and Computational Biology PhD program has now been approved by the UNC Board of Governors

Dr. Jun-tao Guo and collaborators Dr. Bo Hong and Mr. Jiadong Wu at Georgia Tech received BIBM 2011 Best Paper Award.

Amy Stonger Receives NSF Fellowship Graduate Research Fellowship. Stonger, who earned a bachelor’s in molecular biology from UNC Charlotte, is pursuing a doctorate in the University’s new Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Ph.D. Program.

First Gates Millennium Scholar for UNC Charlotte

Roshonda Barner has planted herself at UNC Charlotte and is growing in her research at the North Carolina Research Campus. As the University’s first Gates Millennium Scholar, Barner is in her first year of study in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology doctoral program. Arriving from North Carolina A&T where she received her undergraduate degree in applied mathematics, Barner’s research looks at how environmental stresses, such as heat and drought, can lead to changes in alternative splicing in the plant Arabidopsis thallana, a mustard like plant commonly used in research.

Currently working in Dr. Ann Loraine’s lab at NCRC, Barner is doing one of her two semester rotations before she commits to a particular lab. She spends her time between the two campuses, taking courses at UNC Charlotte then making the 30-mile drive up Interstate 85 to the Plants for Human Health Institute facility in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

“I chose to study bioinformatics at UNC Charlotte because I was attracted to the research being conducted by the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics and the recent addition of the Ph.D. program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology” credits Barner. “I feel that bioinformatics research is growing rapidly in the region and I want to be a part of that growth.”

“The life sciences will provide the solutions to many of the great challenges of the 21st century, from feeding our population to protecting our environment and our health,” says Dr. Lawrence Mays, Chair of the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics. “At the same time, the science has become far more quantitative. Our program gives students both the domain knowledge and computational skills to make major contributions in this field.” The Gates Millennium Scholars program is funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal of the program is to help minorities become leaders in underrepresented areas, such as math, science, engineering, computer science, education, and library science.

The University is excited to have a student of Barner’s caliber at UNC Charlotte and working in the NCRC cooperative.

“Attracting a Gates Millennium Scholar to one of our doctoral programs is a win for the University,” says Dr. Susan Sell, Senior Associate Dean in the Graduate School. “In addition to demonstrating superb academic qualifications, scholars must exhibit strong leadership potential and be committed to community service.”

“It is an honor to be a Gates Scholar and even more of one to be the first such scholar at UNC Charlotte,” says Barner. “The first thing that I have noticed upon starting my studies at UNC Charlotte is the welcoming atmosphere. This made the transition very smooth for me!” For additional information on the Gates Millennium Scholars program visit http://gmsp.org/

Dr. Anthony Fodor has won the 2010 College of Computing and Informatics Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.

Bioinformatics Technology and Applications Certificates implemented.

Dr. Livesay has won the 2010 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Faculty Research Award.

First IT PhD Bioinformatics Track doctoral student, Dr. Ra’ad Gharaibeh, graduated.

Dr. Jun-tao Guo received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Award to investigate transcription-factor binding sites via structure-based approaches.

We have officially moved into the new Bioinformatics building.

Bioinformatics PSM implemented.

Mr. Timothy Tickle has won the 2008 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.

It’s official! We are now our very own department, called the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics.

PSM Coordinator hired- Elise Marshall.

PhD Coordinator hired – Dennis Livesay.

Ms. Patricia Artis has won the 2005 College of Computing and Informatics Outstanding Staff Award.

Bioinformatics PhD track established.

First faculty member hired – Cynthia Gibas.

Mr. Timothy Tickle and advisor have won the 2005 College of Computing and Informatics Essam El-Kwae Student-Faculty Research Award.

Bioinformatics Research Center established.

Drs. Dennis Livesay and Don Jacobs’ NIH-R01 grant proposal has been funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The main goal of this proposal is to develop the next generation of the Distance Constraint Model (DCM), which is a unique biophysical modeling scheme that harmoniously calculates stability and flexibility metrics. The title of the proposal is: Predicting protein flexibility and stability.

Dr. Lawrence Mays hired to create the Bioinformatics programs.