From Aspiration to Admission: Roadmap to Graduate School

Brody Deming began his research career during the summer of the pandemic in the lab of Biochemist Dr. Shahir Rizk. Because of the pandemic, the lab was mostly off-limits so Deming engaged in a theoretical/computational project using the software Chimera to model the interactions of sugar binding proteins that form nanostructures. He has since graduated with a Biochemistry B.S. degree and is now researching in the Purdue Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology program in pursuit of a Ph.D. Deming returned to IU South Bend this Tuesday to talk with current science majors about the "roadmap to graduate school" to give advice based on his experience on how to select a graduate program - and how to prepare as an undergraduate so that this graduate program will select them in return. It is wonderful to see our alumni return to campus to visit their professors, but it is even more exciting to see them give back to IU South Bend. Thanks so much, Brody, for helping to inspire and encourage our students in their pursuit of graduate school.

The Secret Social Life of Bacteria

Last night, Maggie Fink gave a talk about the secret social life of bacteria at the downtown public library as part of an outreach lecture series "Our Universe Revealed" by the University of Notre Dame and IU South Bend. Fink is the perfect candidate for this joint effort because she is a graduate of IU South Bend (biochemistry major) and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Notre Dame where she is supported by the prestigious National Science Foundation Fellowship. Bacteria are infamous as harmful germs, but they are also responsible for symbiotic relationships in the digestive system. Furthermore, scientists have been farming bacteria for decades to produce particular proteins like insulin to treat diabetes. But in this talk, Fink described how bacteria communicate with each other and sometimes work in cooperation to give us a "new appreciation for the invisible hidden dramas unfolding all around us." A video recording of her talk is available at the link below, which also archives past talks.

Video Recordings of "Our Universe Revealed" lectures