Loewen Lab

What a great time! Gobind would have loved it. Here is Michele back in the old ‘tea room’ late at night with old friends in building 68. From left to right – Nico (Ghent), John (Yale), Caroline (MIT), Michele (NRC), Elena (MGH Boston), Phil (U of Essex), Li (U Albani).

https://biology.mit.edu/events/h_gobind_khorana_memorial

Gobind’s Favorite Excerpt:
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion
Through the dark cold and empty desolation
The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters
Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.
- T.S. Eliot

Gobind’s Publication Statistics:
600+ papers
35880 citations
h-factor 101

We are pleased to announce that Cameron Gordon has returned to the lab as of February 2012 to work on a Master’s Degree in Biochemistry. Cameron previously worked with us as a 4th year project student on fungal pheromone receptors and will be shifting to now focus on wheat phytohormone receptors.

We are pleased to have Ms. Li Feng join our group as of September 1, 2011.  Li is working as a technical officer with Dr. Olesya Kharenko on a project funded by the Genomics and Health Initiative, looking at energy in plants.  Li’s expertise in plant transformation and characterization will be a veritable asset to the group, as attested to by the last post regarding the labs failed attempts to grow a pumpkin prior to Li being hired.

Ultimately we were unable to simply grow a pumpkin and leave well enough alone.  Based on recent findings in the lab (Kharenko et al 2011 Biochemical J) we ended up subjecting the pumpkin to field trial drought stress tests in mid-August.  Induction of ABA was anticipated to lead to stimulation of energy production and a larger pumpkin.  However the drought stage lasted longer than anticipated leading to death of the vine and a permanent end to fruit growth.   No amount of moisture re-application would revive the vine and we harvested in mid-September.    Non-the less, the pumpkin weighed in at about 5 pounds, 6 ounces displaying unique and what we believe to be prize winning characteristics.

Well despite the lack of posts on the subject indeed things have been progressing well at the LLPP.  In mid-June the gnome was bribed with beverage after an outdoor group meeting on location.  He seemed to respond well as after 2 weeks of subsequent complete neglect on the part of the growers, a pumpkin emerged.  It was first spotted by Pooja at our second LLPP party that took place last week.  While not of such a significant size just yet, we remain hopeful and anticipate setting up the drip IV later this month.

Congratulations to Stephanie who successfully defended her Master’s thesis today in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan.  Stephanie joined the Loewen lab in September of 2006, had a beautiful baby boy in 2008, and as of July 2011, is the first student to successfully defend a thesis out of the Loewen Lab. She is glad to be done, currently making a few minor edits to her thesis and otherwise looking forward to not being a graduate student anymore. We wish Stephanie all the best in her future career endeavors.

Identification and characterization of interactions between abscisic acid and mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocators, Kharenko, O.A., Boyd, J., Nelson, K.M., Abrams, S.R., Loewen, M.C. (2011) Biochemical Journal 437-117-123.

This work represents an output related to an ongoing project funded by the NRC Genomics and Health Initiative. It describes findings that suggest the possibility of as yet uncharacterized mechanisms of ABA action related to inhibition of mitochondrial ATP translocation and functional localization of ABA in the mitochondrial matrix.

Well there has been alot of discussion about garden gnomes and pumpkins.  At our secret Loewen Lab Pumpkin Plantation (LLPP) site, not so much of a gnome but more of a gargoyle .  We found him lurking amidst the dead dandelions after the RoundUp was applied.    A few issues getting running water to the site in the early days, but things are under control now and many thanks to Sam and Allison for the TLC over the last 10 days.  We are planning our first LLPP site party for next Wednesday 3PM (BYO).  All are welcome to join us if you can find us!

Abscisic acid metabolism and lipid accumulation of a cell suspension culture of Lesquerella fendleri. Olesya Kharenko, Irina Zaharia, Mike Giblin, Vera Cekic, David Taylor, Don Palmer, Sue Abrams & Michele Loewen (2011) Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture 105:415-422.

This work represents an output related to an ongoing project funded by the NRC Genomics and Health Initiative. It describes the uptake and metabolism of ABA by a Lesquerella fendleri cell culture, as well as the effect of ABA on increasing cellular and culture lipid content .

We have entered the annual PBI Pumpkin Growing Competition.  A single pumpkin plant with 8 brown thumbs caring for it.  We hardend it May 17th – May 24th, during which time you may have spotted it lurking in the front beds of PBI during the day time.  As of today, Monday May 25th at 2:30 PM it has been planted, at a secret location, into what appeared to be a healthy rich soil, that we further amended with about 8 gallons of clean manure.  A drip watering system is being developed to ensure good ongoing soil moisture content.  Stay tuned for updates!