Seminars

Upcoming Seminars / Seminars This Week



Thu 9/29/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Psychology Department Brown Bag
Yuliya Kuras (Health Lab)
Childhood physical neglect and exaggerated inflammatory gene responses to repeated psychosocial stress in adulthood
Thu 9/29/16 2 pm	Goldsmith 300
Everytopic Seminar
Andrei Negut (MIT)
From Khovanov Homology to Hilbert Schemes
I will recall the basic ideas of categorified knot invariants, and show how to relate them to Hilbert schemes of points on the plane. This is a project with Eugene Gorsky and Jacob Rasmussen, and the goal is to obtain new viewpoints on knots and braids by "geometrizing" them.
Hosted by Konstantin Matveev
Thu 9/29/16 4 pm	Carl J. Shapiro Theater, Shapiro Campus Center
Gabbay Award Lectures in Biotechnology and Medicine
Jeffery W. Kelly (The Scripps Research Institute)
The Chemistry and Biology of Adapting Proteostasis for Disease Intervention
Hosted by Dagmar Ringe
Fri 9/30/16 11:15 am	Rosenstiel 118
Biochemistry-Biophysics Friday Lunchtime Pizza Talks
Paul Shaffer (Amgen)
GlyRα3: Taking some of the pain out of ion channels
Hosted by Chris Miller
Fri 9/30/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Stephen Alkins (Griffith Lab)
Josiah Herzog (Paradis Lab)
Fri 9/30/16 2:30 pm	Abelson 229
IRG 2
Mat Chamberlain (Gelles Lab Grad student)
Diversity of transcription elongation complexes from non-equilibrium binding of regulatory proteins
In all organisms, the multi-subunit RNA polymerases (RNAPs) that synthesize messenger RNAs bind multiple accessory proteins to regulate elongation rate, transcriptional pausing, and termination. However, the dynamics of regulatory protein association/dissociation and how different regulators influence one another's function is unclear. We used multi-wavelength single-molecule co-localization techniques to directly observe the association dynamics of the elongation regulators NusA and σ70 with E. coli RNAP in vitro. Contrary to previous proposals, NusA could repeatedly bind to and release from elongation complexes (EC) during synthesis of a single RNA. However, elongation complexes that retained bound σ70 did not bind NusA and the RNAP-bound σ70 could be retained even in the presence of physiological (micromolar) concentrations of competing elongation factors NusA and/or NusG. Factor occupancy of elongation complexes was non-equilibrium, with significant amounts of σ70ECs even in the absence of free σ70 because dynamics were dominated by slow σ70 dissociation from EC. The data further demonstrate that same gene is transcribed by at least two different types of complexes with different elongation rates, pausing and termination propensity. These observations suggest that during cellular transcription different non-equilibrium dynamics dictates the composition of ECs whose different functional properties can cause traffic jams, altered pausing, and population shifting at intergenic transcriptional attenuators, all of which potentially allow fine-tuning of gene expression in bacterial cells.
Mon 10/3/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Molecular Genetics Journal Club
No Journal Club
Tue 10/4/16 10 am	Gerstenzang 122
Genetics Training Grant Symposium
Ramnik Xavier (Broad Institute)
Gut check on immunity
Hosted by Genetics Training Grant Students
Tue 10/4/16 11 am	Gerstenzang 122
Genetics Training Grant Symposium
Marc-Jan Gubbels (Boston College)
Mechanism and function of Ca2+-dependent protein secretion associated with Toxoplasma gondii host cell invasion
Hosted by Genetics Training Grant Students
Tue 10/4/16 1 pm	Gerstenzang 122
Genetics Training Grant Symposium
Paulo Verardi (University of Connecticut)
Zika Virus: Development of Vaccine Candidates for an Unprecedented Emerging Infectious Disease
Hosted by Genetics Training Grant Students
Tue 10/4/16 2 pm	Gerstenzang 122
Genetics Training Grant Symposium
Emily Troemel (University of California San Diego)
Alien-like growth by microsporidia in the nematode C. elegans
Hosted by Genetics Training Grant Students
Tue 10/4/16 3:15 pm	Shapiro Science Center 2nd Floor Atrium
Genetics Training Grant Symposium
Graduate Students (Brandeis University)
Poster Session
Tue 10/4/16 4 pm
Physics Department Colloquium
No colloquium (Rosh Hashanah)
Wed 10/5/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Vivekanand Vimal (Dizio Lab)
Parallel specification of competing sensorimotor control policies for alternative action options
Ref: Gallivan, Jason P., et al. Nature neuroscience (2016).
Alexis Johns (Wingfield Lab)
Auditory processing in noise: a preschool biomarker for literacy
Ref: White-Schwoch, T., Carr, K. W., Thompson, E. C., Anderson, S., Nicol, T., Bradlow, A. R., ... & Kraus, N. (2015). PLoS Biol, 13(7), e1002196.
Thu 10/6/16 3:30 pm	Abelson 131
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Ashfaq Bengali (Texas A&M, Qatar)
Transition Metal Catalyzed Hydrogen Release from Amine-Boranes
Hosted by Christine Thomas
Fri 10/7/16 11:15 am	Rosenstiel 118
Biochemistry-Biophysics Friday Lunchtime Pizza Talks
Shohei Koide (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Perlmutter Cancer Center, NYU)
Controlling Cell Signaling with Designer Binding Proteins
Hosted by Chris Miller
Fri 10/7/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Nick Clark (Marr Lab)
Anna Hartmann (Sengupta Lab)
Mon 10/10/16 11 am	Abelson 307
String Theory Seminar
Jennifer Lin (IAS)
Algebraic Entanglement Entropy and Holography
Hosted by Bogdan Stoica
Mon 10/10/16 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Chemistry Department Colloquium
David Case (Rutgers)
Molecular dynamics studies of biomolecular crystals
Hosted by Thomas Pochapsky
Tue 10/11/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Joint Biology/Neuroscience Colloquium
Patrick Sung (Yale University)
Biochemical analysis of homology-directed DNA repair
Hosted by Jim Haber
Tue 10/11/16 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
Irmgard Bischofberger (MIT)
Fingers, toes, and tongues: the anatomy of interfacial instabilities in viscous fluids
Abstract: The invasion of one fluid into another of higher viscosity is unstable and produces complex patterns in a quasi-two dimensional geometry. This viscous-fingering instability, a bedrock of our understanding of pattern formation, has been characterized by a most-unstable wavelength that sets the characteristic width of the fingers. We have shown that a second, previously overlooked, parameter governs the length of the fingers and characterizes the dominant global features of the patterns.  Because interfacial tension suppresses short-wavelength fluctuations, its elimination would suggest an instability producing highly ramified singular structures. Our experimental investigations using miscible fluids show the opposite behavior -- the interface becomes more stable even as the stabilizing effect of interfacial tension is removed. This is accompanied by slender structures, tongues, that form in the narrow thickness of the fluid. Among the rich variety of global patterns that emerge is a regime of blunt structures, "toes", that exhibit the unusual features characteristic of proportionate growth. This type of pattern formation, while quite common in mammalian biology, was hitherto unknown in physical systems. Speaker Bio:  PhD in Physics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, 2011 Postdoc in Physics, University of Chicago, 2012-2015 Assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, since January 2016
Hosted by Professor W. Benjamin Rogers
Thu 10/13/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Psychology Department Brown Bag
Jeremy Simon (Social Interaction & Motivation Lab)
TBA
TBA
TBA
Thu 10/13/16 2 pm	Volen 119
Theory IGERT Seminar
An Huang (Brandeis University)
Graph embedding, quadratic forms, and toric geometry
I will describe some old and new ideas related to embedding graphs into oriented surfaces, and explain how they may be related to basic objects in arithmetic and geometry. If time permits, I will also speculate on how physics may help in resolving some of the open issues.
Hosted by Professor Albion Lawrence
Fri 10/14/16 11:15 am	Rosenstiel 118
Biochemistry-Biophysics Friday Lunchtime Pizza Talks
Deborah Perlstein (Department of Chemistry, Boston University)
Piecing together the mechanism of cytosolic iron sulfur cluster assembly
Hosted by Maria-Eirini Pandelia
Fri 10/14/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
NO PIZZA TALKS scheduled
Fri 10/14/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Town Hall Meeting
Life Sciences Graduate Programs (students only) (MCB, Neuroscience, and BCBP )
An open forum between students and faculty in the Life Sciences to discuss any and all issues relevant to graduate life at Brandeis
Tue 10/18/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Joint Biology/Neuroscience Colloquium
Oliver Hobert (Columbia University)
Patterning the C. elegans nervous system
Hosted by Piali Sengupta
Tue 10/18/16 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
Daniel Gottesman (Perimeter Institute)
TBA
Hosted by Professor Matthew Headrick
Wed 10/19/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Stephen Atkins (Griffith Lab)
Aversive Learning and Appetitive Motivation Toggle Feed-Forward Inhibition in the Drosophila Mushroom Body
Ref: Perisse et al., 2016, Neuron 90, 1086--1099
Keith Hengen (Turrigiano Lab)
Behavioral and Single-Neuron Sensitivity to Millisecond Variations in Temporally Patterned Communication Signals
Thu 10/20/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Psychology Department Brown Bag
Wanbing Zhang (Aging, Culture & Cognition Lab)
TBA
Alycia Sullivan (Lifespan Lab)
TBA
Fri 10/21/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
NO PIZZA TALKS - QB/BCBP/MSM Retreat
Mon 10/24/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Molecular Genetics Journal Club
Chloe Greppi (Garrity Lab)
Rylie Walsh (Rodal Lab)
Tue 10/25/16 11 am	Abelson 307
String Theory Seminar
Sam McCandlish (Stanford University)
TBA
Note different day of the week.
Tue 10/25/16 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
No colloquium (Brandeis Monday)
Wed 10/26/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Nathaniel Miska (Turrigiano Lab)
Suman Guha (Jadhav Lab)
Distinct roles of visual, parietal, and frontal motor cortices in memory-guided sensorimotor decisions
Ref: Goard, M. J., Pho, G. N., Woodson, J. & Sur, M. Elife 5, 471 (2016).
Thu 10/27/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Psychology Department Brown Bag
Stephanie Robinson (Lifespan Lab)
TBA
Ashley Geiger (Health Lab)
TBA
Fri 10/28/16 11:15 am	Rosenstiel 118
Biochemistry-Biophysics Friday Lunchtime Pizza Talks
Tarun Kapoor (Rockefeller)
Hosted by Chris Miller
Fri 10/28/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Dan Powell (Marder Lab)
Denise Hilton (Goode Lab)
Sat 10/29/16 9 am	Lemberg Academic Center
Greater Boston Area Statistical Mechanics Meeting (GBASM)
Greater Boston Area Statistical Mechanics Meeting
Craig Maloney, Northeastern Bin Zhang, MIT Greg Grason, UMASS Amherst Yu-Shan Lin, Tufts University
Hosted by Professor Michael Hagan
Mon 10/31/16 11 am	Abelson 307
String Theory Seminar
Netta Englehardt (Princeton)
TBA
Mon 10/31/16 11 am
Computational Neuroscience Journal Club
Kanaka Rajan (Princeton University)
Pizza at noon
Mon 10/31/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Molecular Genetics Journal Club
Fred Kramer (Public Health Research Institute Center, New Jersey Medical School - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
SuperSelective Primers for Multiplex Real-time PCR Assays that Assess the Abundance of Rare Mutations Associated with Cancer
Hosted by Larry Wangh
Mon 10/31/16 4 pm	Gerstenzang 121
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Alan Aspuru Guzik (Harvard University)
Billions and billions of molecules
Hosted by Judith Herzfeld
Tue 11/1/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 121
M.R. Bauer Distinguished Guest Lecture Series
Huda Zoghbi (Baylor College of Medicine)
Rett syndrome: From the clinic to genomes, epigenomes, and neural circuits
In this lecture I will share my journey with Rett syndrome from my first patient encounter, through the challenges of watching hundreds of girls go through a sequence of normal development, regression, and then progression, and the 16 year search for the cause of this disorder till we discovered that mutations in the X-linked methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) caused Rett syndrome. The lecture will cover studies aimed at understanding disease mechanim and the insights we learned from various animal models. Through the use of genetically-engineered mice, we learned that the brain is acutely sensitive to the levels of MeCP2 and that both decreases and increases in MeCP2 levels (or function) can lead to neurological and beahvioral features that are also observed in humans. We also learned that the protein is needed throughout life to maintain normal neurological functions and that normalizing its levels can reverse disease-like features in a mouse model of the human MECP2 duplication syndome. We have been gradually pinpointing the neurons that mediate various neurological and psychiatric symptoms, and more recently uncovered circuit abnormalities in both the Rett and duplication mouse models. Building on this understanding of neural substrate-phenotype relationships, we showed that deep brain stimulation of a specific neural network improved learning and memory in a Rett syndrome mouse model.
Hosted by Eve Marder and Michael Rosbash
Tue 11/1/16 2 pm	Volen 119
Theory IGERT Seminar
Daniel Ruberman (Brandeis)
TBA
Hosted by Prof. Albion Lawrence
Tue 11/1/16 4 pm	Abelson 131
Physics Department Colloquium
TBA ( )
TBA
Refreshments at 3:30pm, outside Abelson 131
Hosted by
Wed 11/2/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Neurobiology Journal Club
Huda Zoghbi ( Baylor College of Medicine)
Rett syndrome: From the clinic to genomes, epigenomes, and neural circuits
Thu 11/3/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Psychology Department Brown Bag
Drs. Don Katz and Jennifer Gutsell (Psychology Department)
Job after Graduation
Hosted by Xiaodong Liu
Fri 11/4/16 12:30 pm	Gerstenzang 123
Molecular and Cell Biology & Neuroscience Student Seminars
Shen Wang (VanHooser Lab)
Nikki Amichetti (Wingfield Lab)
Mon 11/7/16 11 am	Abelson 307
String Theory Seminar
Washington Taylor (MIT)
Hosted by Professor Matthew Headrick
Mon 11/7/16 12 noon	Rosenstiel 118
Molecular Genetics Journal Club
Jackie McDermott (Paradis Lab)
Denise Hilton (Goode Lab)