045 - NatSci News Rewind February 2023 Transcript

You're listening to NatSci News Rewind a podcast that counts down the monthly news headlines in the world of NatSci. Let's take a look back at the news for March 2023.

Number 5:
Kicking off the news this month: Investiture ceremony honors MSU's Sean Crosson as a Rudolph Hugh Endowed Chair
Michigan State University microbiologist Sean Crosson, a professor in the MSU Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (MMG), with joint appointments in the College of Natural Science and the College of Veterinary Medicine, was honored as a Rudolph Hugh Endowed Chair at an investiture ceremony held March 23 at MSU's Wharton Center.

Number 4: 
Going up: Discovering a protein's 'elevator' motion could spur new cancer treatments
Michigan State University biochemist Jian Hu has taken another important step in learning as much as possible about tiny protein machines that help shuttle metals into living cells. This latest step, published in the journal Nature Communications, provides detailed new insights into how these machines work. Hu and his team are working to use this knowledge to develop new cancer therapies and enable people to live healthier lives. 

Number 3:
Coming in at number 3 - Guowei Wei inducted into prestigious AIMBE College of Fellows
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) announced the induction of Guowei Wei, Michigan State University Foundation Research Professor, to its prestigious College of Fellows. Wei was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows “for outstanding contributions in mathematical molecular biosciences and drug discovery, and for predicting variants, infectivity, and vaccine breakthrough of SARS-CoV-2.”

Number 2: 
MSU study reveals inequity in journal peer review
Scientists’ careers are defined by their contributions to peer reviewed literature. Yet, a recent Michigan State University study reveals that peer review disadvantages some scientists more than others, but solutions to rectify this disparity remain elusive. MSU researchers analyzed data from more than 300,000 biological science manuscripts to see if the authors’ demographics mattered when it came to deciding if research was worthy of publication. The findings were published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
 
Number 1:  
And our top news story for the month - MSU is taking the world's fastest supercomputer to the final frontier
Michigan State University is leading pioneering research on the world’s fastest supercomputer, thanks to a new grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The DOE has awarded an MSU-led team 1.3 million node hours of computation time on the Frontier supercomputer (Frontier is made up of 9,400 computing nodes, and one hour of computing on a single node is equal to one “node hour”). Lead researcher Brian O’Shea and the multi-institution team will harness the power of Frontier to better understand galaxies.

And that will wrap up the rewind for the month of March 2023. To read more about these stories, head on over to our website at natsci.msu.edu/news. You can also stay up to date by following us on social. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @msunatsci. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check us out next month.