Company News: April/May 2022

The ASBMB intervenes in the PREVENT Pandemics law

The public affairs team submitted to a US Senate committee in February three recommendations for legislation aimed at improving US preparedness. The society recommended (1) creating the Agency for Advanced Health Research Projects as an autonomous agency, (2) allocating funds to ensure that institutions adequately prepare graduates. a STEM doctorate to diverse career paths and provide experiential learning, and (3) invest in research infrastructure at federal facilities, minority-serving institutions, and emerging research institutions. Read the full letter.

ASBMB Responds to NIH Strategic Plan for Diversity

The public affairs team submitted a letter in February to the National Institutes of Health’s Office for Diversity in the Scientific Workforce with recommendations to improve the agency’s draft strategic plan for fiscal years 2022 to 2026. The recommendations focused on mitigating gender-based harassment in the NIH intramural program, supporting minority-serving institutions, and supporting LGBTQAI+ scientists and scientists with disabilities. Read the full letter.

Statement from the ASBMB on the resignation of Eric Lander

The Public Affairs team has drafted a statement in response to the resignation of Eric Lander from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lander was the president’s top science adviser and resigned Feb. 7 after admitting he had demeaned and disrespected his OSTP colleagues. The ASBMB urged the Biden administration to quickly fill the position of director of the OSTP and to ensure that this key Cabinet-level position is filled by a diverse candidate who is representative of the broader scientific community. Read the full statement.

May 25: Poster abstracts expected for gene expression meeting

This in-person meeting will be held July 21-24 in Kansas City, Missouri. It will present the latest information on the cis code of regulations; how cis-regulatory information is read by transcription factors, signaling pathways and other proteins; how cell diversity is created during development; and how we can study this problem using state-of-the-art genomics technology and computational methods. The abstract deadline for those wishing to be considered for lectures is May 6. The abstract deadline for poster presenters and the registration deadline is May 25. Submit an abstract. Learn more in this Q&A session with two of the organizers.

July 14: oral abstracts expected for transcriptional regulation meeting

This in-person meeting will be held September 29 through October 2 in Snowbird, Utah. Sessions will cover recent advances and new technologies in the regulation of RNA polymerase II, including contributions of non-coding RNAs, enhancers and promoters, chromatin structure and post-translational modifications, molecular condensates and other factors that regulate gene expression. The deadline for the summary of oral presentations is July 14. The deadline for the poster abstract is August 18. Learn more.

August 2: Abstracts expected for a meeting on epigenetic regulation and genome stability

Most epigenetics and chromatin meetings focus on transcription, while most genome integrity meetings pay little attention to epigenetics and chromatin. This conference – taking place September 28-October 2 in Seattle – will bridge that gap to connect researchers interested in epigenetic and chromatin regulations with those interested in genome integrity. The deadline for oral and poster abstracts and the early bird registration deadline is August 2. The regular registration deadline is August 29. Learn more.

New Public Affairs Staff

McKinley

Black-smith

The Public Affairs Advisory Committee of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology welcomed two new science policy officers earlier this year.

Raechel McKinley recently obtained his doctorate. in anatomy at Howard University and advocated for students and science policy at his university and at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Mallory Smith earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Kansas Medical Center, where she was a principal organizer of the Kansas STEM Policy Fellow program. She was also a member of the advocacy committee of the National Postdoctoral Association.

New Meetings Coordinator

Reder

The ASBMB meetings committee welcomed Megan Reder to the team earlier this year. Reder holds a degree in hospitality management from the University of Alabama with a concentration in meetings and events marketing. She attends the ASBMB’s annual meeting and the many conferences and webinars offered by the society. You can reach her at mreder@asbmb.org.

New Finance Team Members

Wieland

Gupta

The accounting department of the ASBMB has two new employees.

Brandon Wieland became ASBMB’s Chief Financial Officer in October. Wieland is a Certified Public Accountant and Financial Planner who spent the first 15 years of his career working in the public accounting industry, primarily with nonprofit organizations, for which he performed financial statement audits. and regulatory and compliance tax filings and served as a consultant for accounting systems. and operations. Wieland earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Rajni Gupta is a new Senior Accountant who started in November. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland in 2008. In the years that followed, she worked at United States Pharmacopeia, Centrus Energy and a financial services company.

New Data Integrity Team Members

Gaidamakova

Goldsmith

The ASBMB Publications Department welcomed two new members to the Data Integrity team earlier this year.

Elena Gaidamakova became the company’s data integrity manager in January. She has a doctorate. in Biology from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She spent two decades as a researcher at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and before that at the National Institutes of Health.

Jessica Goldsmith is an image analyst who joined the company in November. She received her bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the University of Maryland in Baltimore County in 2007. Since then, she has worked for several government agencies, including the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation. She is an award-winning photographer.

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