Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics

Recent Department Achievements

Faculty Achievements | Student Awards | Publications | Oral Presentations | Research and Exhibitions

Faculty Achievements

  • Shijiao Huang was one of four awarded an ADVANCE Distinguished Lecture through KAWSE, the K-State Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering. The purpose of this series is to encourage tenure-track faculty members in STEM departments to make new professional connections. Up to $1,200 will be provided by the KAWSE office to support each speaker. K-State Today
  • Timothy Durrett received a promotion to full professor.
  • Dr. Om Prakash receives appreciation award for consulting.Om Prakash served as an international advisory committee member for the International Symposium on Global Trends in Health, Technology and Management (GTHTM-2024), Dehradun, India, March 15- 17, 2024.
  • K-State's Seek Research Magazine co-features Erika Geisbrecht in the article "Anatomy of a breakthrough" under subtitle 'Small specimen, big possibilities'
  • Erika Geisbrecht awarded National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Supplement to Advance Research (STAR) from projects to programs. She leads an NIAMS-supported research project using the Drosophila model to determine mechanisms that prevent protein aggregation, and ultimately cellular degeneration, in muscle.
  • Anna Zolkiewska received an R21 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entitled "Mechanistic links between mutations in the CLPB gene and congenital neutropenia".
  • Phillip E. Klebba, Salete M. Newton, Brittany L. Nairn*, and Mathew Hansen* received a patent for "High-Throughput Fluorescent Screening Assay for Inhibitors of Gram-Negative Bacterial Iron Uptake"
    * No longer at K-State.
  • Mike Kanost received a National Institutes of Health, MIRA grant entiltled "Function of hemolymph plasma proteins in insect immune responses."

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2024 Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Charlie Hedgcoth, Jr. and Phillip Nordin Graduate Memorial Awards for Excellence

Jared Ridder (grad, E. Geisbrecht) was awarded the 2023/2024 Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.

Student Awards and scholarships

BMB undergraduate and mentor unless otherwise noted.

  • Lauren Apprill (BS/MS) received a Cancer Research Award from the Johnson Cancer Research Center. The award is designed to support graduate students conducting cancer-related research. Lauren's mentor is Kathrin Schrick (Biology). K-State Today
  • Two Biochemistry students received a College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Award for Spring 2025. K-State Today
    • Andrea Miller - Mentor: David Meekins
    • Alyssa Probst - Mentor: Patricia Calvo (Chemistry)
  • Lola Edwards was selected for Quest Freshman Honorary, a program facilitated by Blue Key Senior Honorary. K-State News
  • Four Biochemistry students received a College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Award for Fall 2024. K-State Today
    • Prabhleen Kaur - Mentor: Dan Higgins (Chemistry)
    • Alyssa Probst - Mentor: Patricia Calvo (Chemistry)
    • Jillian Rockley - Mentor: Kathrin Schrick (Biology)
    • Jonathan Ulmer - Mentor: Katsura Asano (Chemistry)
  • Maggie Banhart was selected for Mortar Board Senior Honor Society. K-State Today
  • Lexi Ziolo (Anna Zolkiewska), biochemistry and microbiology, recieved Division of Biology's 2023-2024 Most Promising Student Award. K-State Today
  • Michael Bartkoski recieved the University Honors Program Outstanding Student Award for academic excellence and involvement in the Honors community. Leadership blog post
  • Dylan Feist (Erika Geisbrecht) was awarded Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE) Star Scholar award.

Fall 2024 K-State Johnson Cancer Research Center Undergraduate Awards

K-State News. BMB undergraduate and mentor unless otherwise noted.

  • Ashlee Wilkinson – Mentor: Ryan Rafferty (Chemistry)
  • Emma Peters (Microbiology) – Mentor: Erika Geisbrecht
  • William Finnane – Mentor: Katsura Asano (Biology)
  • Prabhleen Kaur – Mentor: Daniel Higgins (Chemistry)

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Publications

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Oral Presentations

  • Timmothy Durrett presented a talk, "Designer Oilseeds: Harnessing Synthetic Biology for Sustainable Biofuels and Bioproducts," at the 2025 Department of Energy (DOE) Biological System Science Division (BSSD) Annual Principal Investigator meeting in Washington, D.C. during March 31 - April 2, 2025.
  • Ziwei Zhao (graduate, Erika Geisbrecht) presented a talk, "Pathogenic CryAB mutations in muscle suggest a novel mechanism for amyloid secretion via extracellular vesicles," at the 66th Annual Drosophila Meeting in San Diego, CA on March 19-23, 2025.
  • Om Prakash presented an invited talk, "Conquering the Neutrophil-A tale of novel neutrophil serine protease inhibitors," at the International Symposium on Global Trends in Health, Technology and Management (GTHTM-2024), Deharadun, India, March 15-17, 2024.

Recent Defenses

  • Huiquan Duan sucessfully defended his doctoral disssertaiong entitled "Mechanistic Insights into Complement Inhibition," on March 4, 2025, Duan completed his degree undter the mentorship of Dr. Brian Geisbrecht.
  • Sequoyah Morabito successfully defended his master thesis entitled "Interactions of antioxidants and phenoloxidase reactions in Manduca sexta hemolymph" on November 19, 2024. Morabito completed his degree under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Kanost.
  • Yungui Guo successfully defended his doctoral disseration entitled "Analysis of additional regulators necessary for autophagy in Drosophila muscle tissue" on October 18, 2024. Guo completed his degree under the mentorship of Dr. Erika Geisbrecht.
  • Guanpeng Wang successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, "Immune cell response to external and internal signals: Regulation of breast tumor infiltrating leukocytes by cell surface ADAM proteases and neutrophil precursor cells by the mitochondrial CLPB," on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Wang completed his degree under the mentorship of Dr. Anna Zolkiewska.

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Research and Exhibitions

  • Six Biochemistry students presented posters in the Undergraduate Research Forum on April 15, 2025, at Kansas State University.
    • Lauren Bishop presented "Chitin - Binding ability and Structure of an Insect Cuticular Protein at pH 5 and 7" - Mentor: Michael Kanost
    • Evan Dickson presented "Identification of Interneurons Involved in Aging in C. elegans Nervous System" - Mentor: Shijiao Huang
    • Jane Oltjen presented "Role of Antipsychotic Drugs in Enhancing Lifespan and Healthspan in Wildtype and Neurodegenerative Disease Strain C. Elegans" - Mentor: Shijiao Huang
    • Marilyn Reese presented "The Effects of Dietary Iron Supplementation on Larval Weight, Growth Rate and Mortality in the tobacco hornworm." - Mentor: Maureen Gorman
    • Mia Thompson presented "The Function of Human CLPB in Apoptosis of Breast Cancer Cells" - Mentor: Anna Zolkiewska
    • Lexi Ziolo presented "Role of Mitochondrial Protein CLPB in Apoptosis of Breast Cancer Cell Lines" - Mentor: Anna Zolkiewska
  • Timothy Durrett presented a poster, "Synthetic Biology Tool Development for Precision Engineering of Oilseed Crops" at the 2025 Department of Energy (DOE) Biological System Science Division (BSSD) Annual Principal Investigator meeting in Washington D.C. on March 31 - April 2, 2025.
  • Lauren Apprill (BS/MS, Kathrin Schrick - Biology) presented a poster,Lauren Apprill beside her poster at the Capital. "Developing the next superfoods: protein interactions in vegetables leading to increased cancer prevention for Kansans" at Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol on February 26, 2025, in Topeka, KS. K-State News

  • Shelby Innes (grad, Shijiao Huang) presented a poster, "Effects of Neuromodulating Drugs on Wildtype and Neurodegenerative Disease Strain C. elegans," at the KU Center for Genomics Symposium in Lawrence, KS on May, 17th, 2024.

  • Two biochemistry undergraduates presented research posters at the K-State Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 11, 2024.

    Laura Bishop standing next to her research poster.
    • Lauren Bishop (Neal Dittmer) presented "Expression, Purification, and Chitin-Binding Ability of an Insect Cuticular Protein."

    • Elizabeth Murillo-CervantesElizabeth Morillo standing by her poster.
      (Maureen Gorman) presented "Purification and Expression Analysis of Manduca sexta Lcn1."

  • Two biochemsitry undergraduate students were recently recognized at the 22nd annual Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE) Symposium, held on Jan. 13-14 in Manhattan. K-State Today
    • Michael Bartokoski presented "Understanding the role of neurotransmitter receptors in anti-Aspergillus fumigatus immunity" — poster presentation.
    • Jillian Rockley presented "Role of asparagine synthetase and other transcriptional factor targets in epidermal morphogenesis" — poster presentation.

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