Recent News
Rutgers profiles McKim lab member: Shetal Shah
Sept 2009
Ms. Shah is currently working with Waksman Principal Investigator and Rutgers University Professor Kim McKim in his reproductive biology lab here at the Institute. She was recently profiled for an online interview for the About Rutgers website. "She's a Scarlet Ambassador, showing the Rutgers ropes to prospective students and their parents". Click the link below to read what she says is the most important thing to know about Rutgers...
Waksman at The Board
Sept 3rd, 2009
Waksman Director and university Professor Joachim Messing was officially appointed to the newly endowed chair of the Rutgers University Board of Governors. Named for the late Selman Waksman, a 1915 Rutgers graduate; co-discoverer of streptomycin (the first antibiotic active against tuberculosis); professor of biochemistry and microbiology at Rutgers for four decades; and winner of the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the intent of this endowed chair is to support a member of the university faculty whose work focuses on molecular genetics at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology.
Sequencing of Sorghum Genome Completed
Jan 2009
In a paper published in the journal Nature this week, Rutgers researchers Joachim Messing, Rémy Bruggmann, and a team of international collaborators have described the genome of sorghum, a drought-tolerant African grass. The findings could one day help researchers to produce better food crops for arid regions with rapidly expanding human populations, such as West Africa, and new feedstocks for biofuel
Click here for full Rutgers news release
Click here to full Nature article (PDF)
Antibiotics jam the RNA polymerase hinge
Oct 2008
A team of Rutgers University scientists led by Richard H. Ebright and Eddy Arnold has identified a new antibiotic target and a new antibiotic mechanism that may enable the development of broad-spectrum antibacterial agents effective against bacterial pathogens resistant to current antibiotics. In particular, the results could lead the way to new treatments for tuberculosis (TB) that involve shorter courses of therapy and are effective against drug-resistant TB. The researchers showed how three antibiotics – myxopyronin, corallopyronin and ripostatin – block the action of bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP). RNAP is the enzyme that transcribes genetic information from DNA into RNA, which, in turn, directs the assembly of proteins, the building blocks of all biological systems. Blocking bacterial RNAP kills bacterial cells. The research findings are reported in the journal Cell, published online Oct. 16 and in the Oct. 17 print issue of the journal.
Click here for full Rutgers news release
Click here to full Cell article (PDF)
Click here to listen to Dr. Ebright discuss their findings on "Talk of the Nation" (NPR Radio).
Duckweed Genome Sequencing Has Global Implications
July 2008
Three plant biologists at Rutgers’ Waksman Institute of Microbiology are obsessed with duckweed, a tiny aquatic plant with an unassuming name. Now they have convinced the federal government to focus its attention on duckweed’s tremendous potential for cleaning up pollution, combating global warming and feeding the world.
PGIR projects featured on NJN Science and Technology Report
March 2008
NJN highlights Waksman's plant genomics research on probing the recently sequenced genomes of corn and other related products for ways to improve both food crops and potential bio fuel sources.
GASL induction official.
November 2007
Back in August, Rutger's University released a statement announcing Dr. Messings election to the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. This month, he was presented with the official certificate of membership as given by the President of the organization.
The Thinkers
Fall 2007, Rutgers Magazine
Dr. Hugo K. Dooner gets the cover of Rutgers Magazine for his recent election to the National Academy Sciences. He and three others from Rutgers are featured in a six-page article about their recent induction into the esteemed academy.
WSSP Gets $3 Million Boost From NSF
September 12, 2007
Professors William Sofer and Andrew Vershon have been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation, totalling nearly $3,000,000, to support their outreach efforts beyond the borders of the university to regional high schools. The recipients plan to incorporate two new programs into the Waksman Student Scholars Program (WSSP) – " Bioinformatics: Learning by Doing," a four-year project, and "HiGene: A Genome Sequencing Project for High Schools," a three-year project. For the past 14 years, more than 1,500 high school students and 72 Teachers from 46 New Jersey High Schools have engaged in Molecular Biology Research through the program. Established in 1993, the WSSP has been sponsored by the Waksman Institute, Rutgers’ Department of Genetics and Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and Rutgers’ Division of Life Sciences. It has been supported by other grants from the NSF, the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Merck & Co., Inc.