Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Newsletter

Light-Sheet Microscopy and Data Science Grant Launches November 12

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation is excited to announce an open call for proposals for a new Instrumentation Grant for Advanced Light-Sheet Microscopy and Data Science. This grant will provide support of up to $1.2 million per site for the acquisition of instrumentation, development and maintenance; support for data science collaborations within research teams; and costs for proposed research programs. Image credit: Wesley Legant, Legant Lab.

Beckman Institute at UIUC Celebrates 30 Years

The Beckman Foundation Board of Directors visited the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, which was founded with a donation of $40 million by Dr. and Mrs. Beckman in 1989. While there, the Board also solved their way out of the "Beckman Escape Room," one of several events to mark the occasion.

Fmr. Beckman SAC Member Dr. Scott Strobel Named Yale University Provost

Dr. Scott A. Strobel, formerly a member of the Beckman Foundation Scientific Advisory Council, has been named as the next Provost for Yale University. The university's announcement shares that as both an educator and researcher, Strobel has "led a number of major Yale initiatives over the past two decades." As Provost, he will be the university's chief academic and budgetary officer. Image credit: Dan Renzetti, Yale University.

Dr. Chang Liu Selected as 2019 Moore Inventor Fellow

Dr. Chang Liu, 2015 Beckman Young Investigator Awardee, has been named by the Gordon and Better Moore Foundation as a 2019 Moore Inventor Fellow. The fellowship "supports scientist-inventors who create new tools and technologies with a high potential to accelerate progress in the foundation's areas of interest: scientific discovery, environmental conservation and patient care."

Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski, 2014 Beckman-Argyros Vision Research Awardee, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. He was one of 100 new members to be elected, recognized for having "demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service" in the fields of health and medicine.

2017 AOB Postdoctoral Fellow Anna Simon, PhD, was published in the journal Nature Chemistry: "Supercharging Protein Self-assembly." Research findings were also published in ACS Synthetic Biology: "Employing 25-Residue Docking Motifs from Modular Polyketide Synthases as Orthogonal Protein Connectors."

2017 AOB Postdoctoral Fellow Furqan Fazal, PhD, was published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology: "RNA Structure Maps Across Mammalian Cellular Compartments." Research findings were also published in Cell: "Atlas of Subcellular RNA Localization Revealed by APEX-Seq."

2017 AOB Postdoctoral Fellow Liela Bayeh-Romero, PhD, was published in the journal of the American Chemical Society: "Copper Hydride Catalyzed Enantioselective Synthesis of Axially Chiral 1,3-Disubstituted Allenes."

2017 AOB Postdoctoral Fellow William Wolf, PhD, was published in the journal of the American Chemical Society: "Examining the Effects of Monomer and Catalyst Structure on the Mechanism of Ruthenium-Catalyzed Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization."

Justin Kollman, PhD, of the Beckman Center for Cryo-EM at the University of Washington, was published in the journal BioArxiv: "Ensemble Cryo-EM Structures Demonstrate Human IMPDH2 Filament Assembly Tunes Allosteric Regulation." Research findings were also published in BioRxiv: "Coupled Structural Transitions Enable Highly Cooperative Regulation of Human CTPS2 Filaments."

Organizing or Hosting a Seminar or Conference?
The Beckman Speaker and Conference Support Fund is open to all current Foundation awardees. Invite a member of the Beckman 'Family' of awardees to be your speaker and submit your application for funding up to $3,000.

Beckman Awardees:
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Alumni Highlights

Light-Sheet Microscopy and Data Science Grant Launches November 12

Beckman Institute at UIUC Celebrates 30 Years

Fmr. Beckman SAC Member Dr. Scott Strobel Named Yale University Provost

Dr. Chang Liu Selected as 2019 Moore Inventor Fellow

Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Dr. Matthew Akamatsu Receives NIH K99 Award