Biology Department Seminar Schedule
All Seminars are held in 109 Leidy Lab at 4:00 pm unless otherwise noted.
FALL 2006
September 14
September 21
Title: Exploring Sensory Adaptations: Adventures of an Expeditionary
Biologist.
Area: Auditory Behavior, Neurophysiology and Mechanics
Speaker: Dr. Peter Narins (University of California - Los Angeles)
Webpage: http://www.physci.ucla.edu/physcifacultyindiv.php?FacultyKey=1862
Hosted by: Dr. Marc Schmidt
Special Seminar - September 28
Time: 12:00 noon, Room: 109 Leidy Lab
Title: From DNA to Enzyme Microarrays: Applications in High Throughput,
High Content Screenings
Area: Microarray Technology
Speaker: Gérard Lipowski (Technische Universitat Munchen)
Work description:
Dr. Lipowski will present briefly the microarray technology, the advantages offered
by biochip techniques and give some examples of applications. On the technological
front, he will present more in details the Comparative Genomic Hybridization
technique (CGH Array) that he used in Marie Curie Institute in Paris for cancer
research
and diagnosis. Dr. Lipowski will talk also about the enzyme microarrays projects
that he undertook in Japan and that he continues in Munich.
September 28
Title: Systematic Dissection of the Cilia-PKD Pathway in Zebrafish
Area: Zebrafish Genetics, PKD
Speaker: Dr. Zhaoxia Sun (Yale University -Department of Genetics)
Webpage: http://www.med.yale.edu/genetics/fac/ZhaoxiaSun.php
Work description:
Dr. Sun uses zebrafish to study kidney development and diseases.
Currently, her lab is focusing on polycystic kidney disease
(PKD). PKD is characterized by the
formation of multiple kidney cysts thought to result from over-proliferation
of epithelial cells. Based on preliminary analyses of multiple novel genes
involved in PKD, Dr. Sun proposes a revised model in which
cilia function as sensors for
lumen size of epithelial tubes. Defects in cilia formation or function lead
to uncontrolled expansion of lumen size and eventually cyst
formation in local areas.
October 5
Title: Molecular Mechanisms of Early Embryogenesis in C. elegans:
Bridging Global and Local Approaches.
Area: Molecular Biology
Speaker: Dr. Fabio Piano (New York University)
Webpage: http://www.nyu.edu/fas/dept/biology/faculty/piano/
Hosted by: Dr. Doris Wagner
October 12
Title: Assembly, Secretion and Function of Lipopolysaccharide
Endotoxins: Potent Bacterial Activators of Innate Immunity
Area: Biology
Speaker: Dr. Chris Raetz (Duke University)
Webpage:
Hosted by: Dr. Fevzi Daldal
October 19
Title: Defining the Role of TGFb Superfamily in Ovarian Cancer through Mouse
Models
Area: Pathology
Speaker: Dr. Stephanie Pangas (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX)
Webpage:
Hosted by: Dr. Richard Schultz
October 26
Faculty Search Presentation - Genomics
November 2
Faculty Search Presentation - Genomics
Tuesday, November 7, Special Seminar
Title: TBA
Area of Research: Most of our current research concerns the ecology and evolutionary biology of microbial interactions. Projects span the interaction continuum, from parasitic interactions to mutualistic ones. The study systems we employ include RNA viruses (phage phi-6, VSV), Escherichia coli bacteria, conjugative plasmids, and gene transfer agents of alpha-proteobacteria.
Speaker:
Paul Turner, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University
Webpage: http://www.yale.edu/turner/home/index.htm
November 9
Faculty Search Presentation - Genomics
November 16
Title: Genomic Analyses on Single DNA Molecules
Area: Genetics and Genomics
Speaker: Dr. Kun Zhang (Harvard Medical School)
November 30
Title: The Common Sequence Polymorphisms of Arabidopsis thaliana.
Speaker: Richard Clark, PhD (Max Planck Institute for Developmental
Biology)
Work Description: Richard Clark is interested in how DNA sequence
variation is generated and maintained, and how it contributes to
plant evolution. He is currently a post-doc in Detlef Weigel's
lab, where he is using a novel sequencing technology to determine
the DNA polymorphisms in the entire genomes of 20 strains of Arabidopsis.
December 5
Title: Thermodynamics of Protein Evolution: Stability, Robustness, and Evolvability
Speaker: Jesse Bloom, PhD (California Institute of Technology)
Work Description: Dr. Bloom is interested in the relationship between protein
structure and evolution. He has developed experimental methods to monitor changes
in the structure and functional promiscuity of evolving proteins. Jesse also
uses mathematical modeling and computer simulations to study the determinant
governing protein evolution.
December 7
Title: Beyond the Five Senses: The Maps, Compasses, and Sensory
Biology of Sea Turtle Navigation
Area: Behavior, Neuroethology, Sensory Ecology, and Conservation Biology of Ocean
Animals
Speaker: Dr. Kenneth Lohmann (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Webpage: http://www.unc.edu/depts/geomag
Hosted by: Dr. Marc Schmidt
Work Description: One of our major projects in recent years has been to try
to unravel how sea turtles navigate across vast expanses of seemingly featureless
ocean. The seminar provides highlights of our 15 years of research on sea turtles
and focuses on how sea turtles use several unusual sensory abilities to navigate,
including the ability to determine wave direction from underwater accelerations
and an ability to assess geographic position using the Earthís magnetic
field (a kind of magnetic map).
December 12
Title: Deciphering Metazoan Transcription Regulatory Networks
Using a Gene-Centered Protein-DNA Interaction Mapping Approach
Speaker: Dr. Bart Deplancke (University of Massachusetts)
Work Description: Dr. DePlancke is currently a post-doc in Marian Walhout;s
lab at UMass, where he has developed novel one-hybrid technologies, which he
has employed to elucidate transcriptional control networks in C. elegans. Bart
has a diverse background, with a Master's degree in bioengineering, and a PhD
in mucosal immunology; in setting up his own lab he plans to employ experimental
analysis of transcriptional network to explore regulatory networks in the mouse.
