Seminars

Upcoming Seminars / Seminars This Week



Fri 10/20/17 11:30 am	Rosenstiel 118
Biochemistry-Biophysics Friday Lunchtime Pizza Talks
Bob Sauer (MIT)
Structure and Function of AAA+ Proteases
Hosted by Chris Miller
Fri 10/20/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Joe Wachutka (Katz Lab)
Denise Hilton (Goode Lab)
Fri 10/20/17 3 pm	Volen 201
Cognitive Neuroscience Journal Club
Wanbing Zhang (Gutchess Lab)
Timing Is Everything: Age Differences in the Cognitive Control Network Are Modulated by Time of Day
Mon 10/23/17 11 am	Volen 201
Computational Neuroscience Journal Club
Ryan Young (Jadhav lab)
Dynamic information routing in complex networks
Whether it's neurons, genes and proteins, or ecological/social factors, a long standing systems question asks how networks re-route information without changing their structure. Recent papers describe a trick networks with oscillators can implement to re-pattern information flow using dynamical fluctuations in collective reference states, without altering network connections. We will cover how this occurs along with simulations describing how brain networks may exploit these reference states during bursts of synchrony to steer information into target brain areas.
Mon 10/23/17 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Molecular Genetics Journal Club
ShiYu Wang (Rodal Lab)
Dynamics of in vivo ASC speck formation
Ref: http://jcb.rupress.org/content/216/9/2891
Gonen Memisoglu (Haber Lab)
A synthetic biology approach to probing nucleosome symmetry
Mon 10/23/17 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Masayuki Wasa (Boston College)
Enantioselective Transformation of Unreactive Molecules by Frustrated Acid/Base Catalysts
Hosted by Li Deng
Tue 10/24/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Joint Biology/Neuroscience Colloquium
Brooke McCartney (Carnegie Mellon University)
Adenomatous polyposis coli: Your Cellular Swiss Army Knife
Hosted by Bruce Goode
Tue 10/24/17 1 pm	Goldsmith 300
Combinatorics Seminar
Duncan Levear (Brandeis University)
The representation theory of symmetric groups via Okounkov-Vershik (2/2)
For any group G, a natural goal is to enumerate the vector spaces on which G acts (in the sense of L[G] modules). For finite groups, many amazing results are known, such as the number of these `irreducible' vector spaces is equal to the number of conjugacy classes. The symmetric group is a poignant example, and its representation theory is closely tied to other combinatorial subjects. This case was essentially solved by the work of Frobenius and Young 100 years ago, but recently (1995) Okounkov and Vershik established an alternative approach by constructing an ``inductive representation theory'' for the chain of symmetric groups, working from the abstract claim that S_{n-1} is a multiplicity-free subgroup of S_{n}. In this talk, I will prove that claim, explain the resulting work of Okounkov and Vershik, and demonstrate some of its corollaries. In particular, the Branching Rule and Murnaghan-Nakayama Rule for an n-cycle are rendered to trivial observations in this light.
Hosted by Prof. Olivier Bernardi and Yan Zhuang
Tue 10/24/17 2 pm	Goldsmith 317
Topology Seminar
Bena Tshishiku (Harvard University)
The Nielsen realization problem for braid groups
For a compact surface S with mapping class group Mod(S), the Nielsen realization problem asks, "Can a given subgroup G
Hosted by Prof. Ruth Charney
Tue 10/24/17 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
Stephon Alexander (Brown University)
The Jazz of Physics: The Link Between Music and The Structure of the Universe
Abstract: In this talk Alexander revisits the interconnection between music and the evolution of astrophysics and the laws of motion. He explores new ways music, in particular jazz music, mirrors modern physics, such as quantum mechanics, general relativity, and the physics of the early universe. Finally, he discusses ways that innovations in physics have been and can be inspired from "improvisational logic" exemplified in Jazz performance and practice. Speaker Bio: Physicist and musician Stephon Alexander has straddled the worlds of theoretical physics and jazz music over the last two decades. He works on the connection between the smallest and largest entities in the universe pushing Einstein’s theory of curved space-time to extremes, beyond the big bang with sub atomic phenomena.  Alexander is a Professor of Physics at Brown University, with previous appointments at Stanford University, Imperial College, Penn State, Dartmouth College and Haverford College. Alexander is a specialist in the field of string cosmology, where the physics of superstrings are applied to address longstanding questions in cosmology. In 2001, he coinvented the model of inflation based on higher dimensional hypersurfaces in string theory called D-Branes. In such models the early universe emerged from the destruction of a higher dimensional D-brane which ignites a period of rapid expansion of space often referred to as cosmic inflation.
Featuring Live Music with Bob Nieske of the Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Hosted by Bjoern Penning
Wed 10/25/17 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Inna Nechipurenko (Sengupta)
Molecular Memory of Morphologies by Septins during Neuron Generation Allows Early Polarity Inheritance
Ref: Boubakar et al., Neuron 2017 Aug 16;95(4):834-851.  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.07.027
Daniel Powell (Marder Lab)
Dopamine neuron dependent behaviors mediated by glutamate cotransmission
Ref: Mingote et al. eLife 2017; 6:e27566 https://elifesciences.org/articles/27566
Thu 10/26/17
Everytopic Seminar
No Seminar
Thu 10/26/17 4 pm	Abelson 229
MRSEC Seminar
Séverine Atis (Harvard University)
On Growth and Form of Range Expansions at Liquid Interfaces
Hosted by Baptiste Blanc
Thu 10/26/17 4:30 pm	Goldsmith 317
Joint Mathematics Colloquium
Chi-Wang Shu (Brown University)
High Order Numerical Methods for Hyperbolic Equations
Refreshments at 4:00pm, Goldsmith 100
Hosted by Prof. An Huang
Fri 10/27/17 11:15 am	Rosenstiel 118
Biochemistry-Biophysics Friday Lunchtime Pizza Talks (Cosponsored by the Quantitative Biology Program)
Michael Poirier (Ohio State University)
Deconstructing Nucleosome Dynamics
Hosted by Jeff Gelles (Biochemistry)
Fri 10/27/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Jackie McDermott (Paradis Lab)
Madelen Diaz (Rosbash Lab)
Mon 10/30/17 11 am	Volen 201
Computational Neuroscience Journal Club
Ivan De Araujo ( Yale University)
Circuit Organization of the Gut-Brain Axis
Gut-generated signals function as major modulators of motivated and emotional behaviors. The presentation will describe a pathway via which sensory cells of the gastrointestinal tract connect to the brain's reward systems. It will also explore a second pathway that allows these gut sensory cells to engage the motor brain systems controlling the craniofacial musculature.
Hosted by Chenghao Liu
Mon 10/30/17 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Dan Raleigh (Stoneybrook)
Islet amyloidosis and the biophysical basis of beta cell death
Hosted by Klaus Schmidt-Rohr
Mon 10/30/17 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Daniel Raleigh (Stonybrook)
Islet amyloidosis and the biophysical basis of beta cell death
Hosted by Klaus Schmidt-Rohr
Tue 10/31/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
M.R. Bauer Distinguished Guest Lecture Series
Betty Eipper (University of Connecticut Health Center)
Using neuropeptides to communicate – lessons learned from a single cell green alga
Hosted by Sue Paradis and Eve Marder
Tue 10/31/17 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
Huajian Gao (Brown University)
Mechanics of cell-nanomaterial interactions
Ref: 1. H.J. Gao, W.D. Shi and L.B. Freund, "Mechanics of Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis," 2005, PNAS, Vol. 102, pp. 9469--9474. 2. X.H. Shi, A.v.d. Bussche, R.H. Hurt, A.B. Kane and H.J. Gao, "Cell Entry of One-Dimensional Nanomaterials Occurs by Tip Recognition and Rotation," 2011, Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 6, pp. 714--719. 3. Y.F. Li, H.Y. Yuan, A.v.d. Bussche, M. Creighton, R.H. Hurt, A.B. Kane and H.J. Gao, "Graphene Microsheets Enter Cells through Spontaneous Membrane Penetration at Edge Asperities and Corner Sites," 2013, PNAS, Vol. 110, pp. 12295--12300. 4. W.P. Zhu, A. von dem Bussche, X. Yi, Y. Qiu, Z.Y. Wang, P. Weston, R.H. Hurt, A.B. Kane and H.J. Gao, "Nanomechanical Mechanism for Lipid Bilayer Damage Induced by Carbon Nanotubes Confined in Intracellular Vesicles," 2016, PNAS, Vol. 113, pp. 12374--12379.
Abstract: Nanomaterials, including various types of nanoparticles, nanowires, nanofibers, nanotubes, and atomically thin plates and sheets have emerged as candidates as building blocks for the next generation electronics, microchips, composites, barrier coatings, biosensors, drug delivery, and energy harvesting and conversion systems. There is now an urgent societal need to understand the biological interactions and environmental impact of nanomaterials which are being produced and released into the environment by nearly a million tons per year. This talk aims to discuss mechanics as an enabling tool in this emerging field of study. The discussions will touch on some of the recent experimental, modelling and simulation studies on the mechanisms of cell uptake of low-dimensional nanomaterials and their effects on subcellular vesicles and damage. Speaker Bio: Huajian Gao received his B.S. degree from Xian Jiaotong University of China in 1982, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Science from Harvard University in 1984 and 1988, respectively. He served on the faculty of Stanford University between 1988 and 2002, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1994 and to Full Professor in 2000. He served as a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research between 2001 and 2006 before joining the Faculty of Brown University in 2006. At present, he is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Engineering at Brown.  Professor Gao’s research is focused on the understanding of basic principles that control mechanical properties and behaviors of materials in both engineering and biological systems. He is Member of the National Academy of Engineering, German National Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, the leading journal of his field. He has received numerous academic honors, from a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1995 to recent honors including the Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics from the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in 2012, Prager Medal from Society of Engineering Science in 2015, Nadai Medal from American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2015 and Theodor von Karman Medal from American Society of Civil Engineers in 2017.
Hosted by Michael Hagan
Tue 10/31/17 4 pm	Shapiro Science Center GL14
Science Policy Initiative Seminar
Ronit Prawer (Science and Innovation Network)
Growing and strengthening the relationship between the UK and US in relation to research and innovation
Hosted by The Science Policy Initiative
Wed 11/1/17 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Richard Mains (University of Connecticut )
Kalirin and Trio; master regulators of neuronal development and neurodevelopmental abnormalities
Hosted by Paradis/Marder
Thu 11/2/17 4 pm	Abelson 229
MRSEC Seminar
Derek Stein (Brown University)
TBA
Hosted by Baptiste Blanc
Fri 11/3/17 11:15 am	Rosenstiel 118
Biochemistry-Biophysics Friday Lunchtime Pizza Talks
Jue Chen (Rockefeller University/HHMI)
CFTR, an odd ABC transporter
Hosted by Chris Miller
Fri 11/3/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Mark Zielinski (Jadhav Lab)
Joey Flyer-Adams (Griffith Lab)
Mon 11/6/17 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Anne McNeil (University of Michigan)
Part 1: Precision synthesis of Conjugated copolymers & their applications Part 2: Creating research-like lab courses at scale
Hosted by Irving Epstein
Tue 11/7/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Joint Biology/Neuroscience Colloquium
Torben Heick-Jensen (University of Aarhus, Denmark)
Sorting RNA for function or decay
Hosted by Michael Rosbash and Mike Marr
Tue 11/7/17 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
Narayanan Menon (UMass Amherst)
TBA
Hosted by Michael Hagan
Wed 11/8/17 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Eric James (Marder Lab)
TBA
Zachary Knecht (Garrity Lab)
TBA
Thu 11/9/17 2 pm	Abelson 333
Theory IGERT Seminar
Ken Kamrin (MIT)
TBA
Hosted by Albion Lawrence / Kabin Kamrin
Thu 11/9/17 4 pm	Abelson 229
MRSEC: Membrane-based Materials (IRG1)
Simon Merminod (Rogers Lab)
TBA
Hosted by Mahsa Siavashpouri
Fri 11/10/17 12:30 pm
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
NO PIZZA TALK - SfN MEETING STARTS SATURDAY
Fri 11/10/17 3 pm	Volen 201
Cognitive Neuroscience Journal Club
Tian Zhou (Sekuler Lab)
TBA
Mon 11/13/17 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Ronald T. Raines (MIT)
Diazo Compounds: Versatile Reagents for Chemical Biology
Hosted by Isaac Krauss
Mon 11/13/17 5 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Special Seminar
Tyrone Hayes (Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley)
From Silent Spring to Silent Night: A Tale of Toads and Men
Hosted by The Division of Science, Offices of the Provost, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Tue 11/14/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Joint Biology/Neuroscience Colloquium
Jessica Whited (Harvard Medical School)
Factors enabling and antagonizing total limb regeneration in axolotl salamanders
Hosted by Paul Garrity
Tue 11/14/17 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
Julie Williams-Byrd (NASA Langley Research Center)
Decision Analysis Methods Used to Make Appropriate Investments in Human Exploration Capabilities and Technologies
Abstract: NASA is transforming human spaceflight. The Agency is shifting from an exploration-based program with human activities in low Earth orbit (LEO) and targeted robotic missions in deep space to a more sustainable and integrated pioneering approach. Through pioneering, NASA seeks to address national goals to develop the capacity for people to work, learn, operate, live, and thrive safely beyond Earth for extended periods of time. However, pioneering space involves daunting technical challenges of transportation, maintaining health, and enabling crew productivity for long durations in remote, hostile, and alien environments. Prudent investments in capability and technology developments, based on mission need, are critical for enabling a campaign of human exploration missions. There are a wide variety of capabilities and technologies that could enable these missions, so it is a major challenge for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) to make knowledgeable portfolio decisions. It is critical for this pioneering initiative that these investment decisions are informed with a prioritization process that is robust and defensible. It is NASA's role to invest in targeted technologies and capabilities that would enable exploration missions even though specific requirements have not been identified. To inform these investments decisions, NASA's HEOMD has supported a variety of analysis activities that prioritize capabilities and technologies. These activities are often based on input from subject matter experts within the NASA community who understand the technical challenges of enabling human exploration missions.  This paper will review a variety of processes and methods that NASA has used to prioritize and rank capabilities and technologies applicable to human space exploration. The paper will show the similarities in the various processes and showcase instances were customer specified priorities force modifications to the process. Specifically, this paper will describe the processes that the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Technology Assessment and Integration Team (TAIT) has used for several years and how those processes have been customized to meet customer needs while staying robust and defensible. Speaker Bio: Ms. Williams-Byrd is currently an electro-optics engineer for the Space Mission Analysis Branch of the NASA Langley Research Center and leads a technology and integration team that identifies and communicates technologies that could enable human spaceflight exploration to a variety of space destinations. She has identified, performed analysis, assessed, prioritized and communicated current and future technologies that would enable human spaceflight exploration to decision-makers at NASA Headquarters. Ms. Williams-Byrd began her career at NASA Langley Research Center designing and developing solid-state laser systems used for remote sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Hosted by Anique Olivier-Mason
Tue 11/14/17 7 pm	Schwartz Auditorium 112
Hidden Figures: Women at NASA Yesterday and Today
Julie Williams-Byrd (NASA Langley Research Center)
A Q&A with Julie Williams-Byrd, a Deputy Chief Technologist at NASA and a showing of the film, Hidden Figures
Speaker Bio: Ms. Williams-Byrd is currently an electro-optics engineer for the Space Mission Analysis Branch of the NASA Langley Research Center and leads a technology and integration team that identifies and communicates technologies that could enable human spaceflight exploration to a variety of space destinations. She has identified, performed analysis, assessed, prioritized and communicated current and future technologies that would enable human spaceflight exploration to decision-makers at NASA Headquarters. Ms. Williams-Byrd began her career at NASA Langley Research Center designing and developing solid-state laser systems used for remote sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Hosted by Anique Olivier-Mason
Thu 11/16/17 4 pm	Abelson 229
MRSEC Seminar
Ibrahim Cissé (MIT)
TBA
Hosted by Baptiste Blanc
Fri 11/17/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
David Waterman (Haber Lab)
Stephen Alkins (Griffith)
Fri 11/24/17 12:30 pm
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
NO PIZZA TALK - THANKSGIVING
Mon 11/27/17 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Eisenbud Lecture Series in Mathematics and Physics
James Sethna (Cornell University)
Sloppy Models, Differential Geometry, and How Science Works
Models of systems biology, climate change, ecosystems, and macroeconomics have parameters that are hard or impossible to measure directly. If we fit these unknown parameters, fiddling with them until they agree with past experiments, how much can we trust their predictions? We have found that predictions can be made despite huge uncertainties in the parameters -- many parameter combinations are mostly unimportant to the collective behavior. We will use ideas and methods from differential geometry to explain what sloppiness is and why it happens so often. We show that physics theories are also sloppy -- that sloppiness may be the underlying reason why the world is comprehensible.
Hosted by Bulbul Chakraborty
Tue 11/28/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Joint Biology/Neuroscience Colloquium
Norbert Perrimon (Harvard Medical School)
Inter organ communication
Hosted by Joyce Rigal
Tue 11/28/17 4 pm	Abelson 131
Eisenbud Lecture Series in Mathematics and Physics
James Sethna (Cornell University)
Crackling Noise
A piece of paper or candy wrapper crackles when it is crumpled. A magnet crackles when you change its magnetization slowly. The earth crackles as the continents slowly drift apart, forming earthquakes. Crackling noise happens when a material, when put under a slowly increasing strain, slips through a series of short, sharp events with an enormous range of sizes. There are many thousands of tiny earthquakes each year, but only a few huge ones. The sizes and shapes of earthquakes show regular patterns that they share with magnets, plastically deformed metals, granular materials, and other systems. This suggests that there must be a shared scientific explanation. We shall hear about crackling noise and that it is a symptom of a surprising truth: the system has emergent scale invariance -- it behaves the same on small, medium, and large lengths.
Reception to follow the lecture in Abelson 333.
Hosted by Bulbul Chakraborty
Wed 11/29/17 10 am	Abelson 333
Eisenbud Lecture Series in Mathematics and Physics
James Sethna (Cornell University)
Normal form for renormalization groups: The framework for the logs
Ken Wilson's renormalization group solved for the behavior of phase transitions by mapping statistical mechanics into a differential equation in the space of all Hamiltonians, as we examine them on different length scales. This mapping from complex physical systems to simple differential equations has allowed us to explain scale invariance that emerges in everything from crackling noise to the onset of chaos. The results of the renormalization group are commonly advertised as the existence of power law singularities near critical points. This classic prediction is often violated, with logarithms and exponentials that pop up in the most interesting cases. Mathematicians have developed normal form theory to describe the likely behaviors of differential equations. We use normal form theory to systematically group these seeming violations into universality families. We recover and explain the existing literature, predict the nonlinear generalization for universal homogeneous functions, and show that the procedure leads to a better handling of the singularity even for the classic 4-d Ising model.
Hosted by Bulbul Chakraborty
Wed 11/29/17 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Chang Liu (Griffith Lab)
TBA
Alejandro Torrado Pacheco (Turrigiano Lab)
TBA
Thu 11/30/17 4 pm	Abelson 229
MRSEC: Biological Active Materials (IRG2)
Danny Goldstein (Chakraborty Lab)
TBA
Hosted by Greg Hoeprich
Fri 12/1/17 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Lauren Tereshko (Sengupta Lab)
Claire Symanski (Jadhav Lab)
Fri 12/1/17 3 pm	Volen 201
Cognitive Neuroscience Journal Club
Angela Gutchess (Gutchess Lab)
TBA