McClean, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, studies cellular signaling pathways, the biological networks that transform external signals into internal decisions such as whether to grow or die.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and several Department of Energy laboratories have identified two changes to a single gene that can make the yeast tolerate the pretreatment chemicals. They published their findings recently in the journal Genetics.

Professor of Genetics and Wisconsin Institute for Discovery researcher Xuehua Zhong and her lab found that the protein EBS can bind to two different chemical modifications on histones, proteins that DNA wraps around, either promoting or preventing the transition to flowering in plants.

The projects, with an average award amount of $194,000, were selected from 54 proposals submitted from across the UW–Madison campus.

The team debuted the tool — nicknamed “Flamingo” for its one-legged stand and vertical profile — June 20 at the International Zebrafish Conference meeting at UW–Madison.

Published June 21 in the journal Molecular Systems Biology, the study provides a platform for predicting how microbial gut communities work and represents a first step toward understanding how to manipulate the properties of the gut ecosystem.