Lab meeting: Tuesday Nov 30

We resume after a short break! Lara is presenting this week.

Read Full Post »

Singapore visit draws to an end

Another hectic week in the tropics. I had the pleasure of some extremely interesting visits to A*STAR research institutes and one visit to NUS. IMRE I know well, though the new ATOMTech kit and experiment was new for me and fascinating. IHPC was a new world, somewhat distant from my own field of research, but as computational biology grows, HPC is going to figure increasingly in our research. IME is amazing – massive clean room and capability for MEMS (the bit of IME I could use). Need to think hard about this one, as there are real possibilities for new sensors on a chip.
Now back to the task of dealing with the ton of e-mail that has accumulated before I fly off tomorrow.

Read Full Post »

November Bionano meeting

A must! November 22, SR , Life Sciences building. Details on Rapha-z-lab
I will be on a plane… …somewhat annoying as I wanted to hear Rachel talk about surfaces and cells, which for me is one of the most fascinating interfaces (no pun) in science.

My views on the future of the forum and “Centres” in the new scheme of things is fairly simple. If a community is vibrant then it will continue with little effort and, importantly, throw up new leaders every 4-6 years. If a community does not exist and/or depends entirely on one person then why should it hold meetings? So I guess this means that someone should step into Raphael’s shoes in in the next 12-24 months.
As for LINSET, there is no budget, but it is a useful vehicle, so we might as well keep the badge. Re-badging and shifting deck chairs takes time an effort, better spent on other activities. The Bionano activities can for the next three years be held under the umbrella (aka tea, coffee and biscuits) of the Department of Structural and Chemical Biology.

Read Full Post »

Systems Biology: morphogenesis & spatial dynamics

I received an e-mail from Anne Calof for a rather enticing short course on Systems Biology at the Center for Complex Biological Systems at the University of California Irvine. Enticing because it looks to be a lot of fun and January is always a good time to escape our northern darkness. I have too much stuff on, but Virginie is valiantly checking flights, etc., after I made sure the budget is there.

Read Full Post »

Cell Imaging Chair Search

Exciting times: Faculty has advertised 23 positions, with three representing major developments in our Institute: Cell Imaging, Genomics, Bioinformatics/Modelling.
For my sins I chair the search committee for the new Professor of Cell Imaging… …and the search is now fully active. Happily for us, our University is in a position to invest at a time when many are retrenching, so this is a good time to chair a search committee.

Read Full Post »

Seminar on the tumour microenvironment

A subject close to our hearts!
Thursday at 11am,  Professor Andrea Varro will be speaking on:
Biomarkers, tumour microenvironment and upper GI cancers
Cancer Research Centre’s ground floor lecture theatre.

Read Full Post »

Morton Lecture

The 2010 Morton Lecture “Phosphoinositides in endosomal sorting and signalling” will be given by Prof. Peter Cullen, Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Bristol on Thursday 11th, 4pm in LT2 in the Life Sciences Building.

The Morton Lecture is an award of the Biochemical Society for outstanding contributions to lipid biochemistry and commemorate the late RA Morton, Johnston Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Liverpool.

Read Full Post »

Sugars, lungs and respiratory distress

Dr. Paul McNamara, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital will be giving a seminar on Tuesday 9 November in Physiology on “Airway responses in paediatric respiratory disease”
Paul is a member of the University’s Centre for Glycobiology, so this should be good for those of us into sugars, lungs and oxygen.

Read Full Post »

Exciting Seminar

An excellent seminar on Tuesday November 2

Dr. Claus Jorgensen, (Institute of Cancer Research, London)
Network analysis of reciprocal signalling
Tuesday, 13.00, 9th November, Department of Physiology, Physiology seminar room.

Read Full Post »