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Archive for September, 2011

Autumn Leica Lecture


These are always excellent. This autumn’s lecture will be given by Prof. Tajkip Ha from the Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is entitled
“Single Molecule Biology: One, two, three and four”.
Tuesday 11th October at 5pm
Lecture Theatre 3 in Life Sciences Building with a post lecture reception at 6.15pm in the foyer outside the lecture theatre.

Professor Taekjip Ha received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1996, from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Physics faculty at the University of Illinois in August 2000, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1997) and a postdoctoral research associate in Steven Chu’s laboratory in the Department of Physics at Stanford University (1998-2000). He was named 2001 Searle scholar. In 2005, Dr. Ha was named an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 2008, Dr. Ha was selected by the National Science Foundation to receive a grant to establish and co-direct the Center for the Physics of Living Cells at the University of Illinois.
Professor Ha has achieved many “firsts” in experimental biological physics–the first detection of dipole-dipole interaction (fluorescence resonance energy transfer, or FRET) between two single molecules; the first observation of “quantum jumps” of single molecules at room temperature; the first detection of the rotation of single molecules; and the first detection of enzyme conformational changes via single-molecule FRET. His most recent work, using single-molecule measurements to understand protein-DNA interactions and enzyme dynamics, has led him to develop novel optical techniques, fluid-handling systems, and surface preparations.

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Professor James Fawcett, Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, will be giving his seminar on 03 October 2011 16:00-17:00 in Lecture Theatre 2, Life Sciences Building.
He is an excellent seminar speaker – well worth attending.

Prof. Fawcett’s research interests focus on three related areas of neurobiology.

Axon regeneration in the damaged CNS: inhibition of axon growth by inhibitory proteoglycans in the extracellular matrix, to increase the intrinsic regenerative potential of axons, & using integrin engineering and local protein translation.

Plasticity in the CNS: is turned off in adults by extracellular matrix structures called perineuronal nets. Lab works on actions of these, and methods to modulate their function to improve functional recovery and memory in the adult CNS.

Interfacing the nervous system with electronics: microchannel interface for permanent extracellular recording

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Science and Society Lectures


These lectures, held in the Leggate Theatre, Victoria Gallery & Museum at 5pm, are aimed at addressing the underlying theme of the interdependencies of Science and Society. Since places are limited, you must reserve your place. There is also an all important networking reception at 6 pm.

The forthcoming round of lectures comprises:
4 October 2011
Prof Ada Yonath, Nobel Laureate of 2009 Chemistry Prize
(Director, The Kimmelman Centre for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly Department
of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, Israel) “Two impossible challenges: how
nature’s proteins factory works & how to establish a science centre in Middle East
bringing nations not at peace to work together”.

8 November 2011
Professor Marcus du Sautoy (Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, University of Oxford) “The Secret Mathematicians”. This talk will be about Mathematics and its influence on arts.

13 December 2011
Prof Thomas Stocker (Co-Chair, WGI, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)) (University of Bern, Switzerland) “Climate Change: Making Best Use of Scientific Information”.

Lectures for 2012
17 January 2012: Sir Ian Wilmut, FRS : “Promise of Stem Cell Research for Society’s Health”.

6 March 2012: Colin Blakemore, FRS: Former CE of Medical Research Council & Current President of Motor Neurone Disease Association. “Living longer: the disastrous miracle”.

22 May 2012: Nick Jelley, Oxford: “Importance of Renewable Energy for Society”

9 October 2012: Sir Mark Walport, FRS, Director, Wellcome Trust: “Funding of biomedical research – role of charities, their impact & limitations”.

6 November 2012: David Clary, FRS, President of Magdalen College, Oxford, CSA at Foreign and Commonwealth Office: “The First Chief Science Adviser at the Foreign
Office: Role of Science in international relations”.

11 December 2012: Andrew Willmott, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, “Tsunami and all that which Oceans bring” (tbc)

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Cancelled: Lunch and Imaging Seminar


Monday September 19
Lunch: Committee Room, Life Sciences building, from 12.00

Seminar
Dr Malte Wachsmuth, EMBL Cell Biology & Biophysics will give a seminar on:

“Measuring, imaging and understanding molecular mobilities”

This is close to our hearts and promises to be very interesting.

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Carbohydrates: Key Interactors at the Chemistry-Biology Interface

Thursday Sept 15th

Lecture Theatre 2, Life Sciences Building

IIB researchers are free to attend the workshop and should – but need to register via Jerry Turnbull – send him an e-amil.

Institute of Integrative Biology, Liverpool University.
Organiser: Prof. Jerry Turnbull

Meeting Sponsors: Royal Society of Chemistry, Dextra Labs, CarboSynth, IntelliHep.

Programme
12:00 Buffet lunch & posters (Seminar Room 2, 2nd floor, Life Sciences building)

Session 1 “Host-pathogen interactions” (Chair: Dr Ed Yates)

13:00 Dr Max Crispin (Oxford):
Crystallographic snapshots of antibody biogenesis: IgG glycan conformer transitions between oligomannose, hybrid and complex-type glycans

13:30 Dr Stephen Bornemann (Norwich):
A New Enzyme, Glucan Pathway and Anti-TB Target

13:45 Dr Matthew I. Gibson (Warwick):
Design and Application of Glyco- polymers and Particles

14:00 Dr Ed Yates (Liverpool):
Disruption of disease processes in Plasmodium falciparum malaria with sulfated carbohydrates

14:20 Dr Michael Booth (BBSRC):
BBSRC funding for Industrial Biotechnology

14:35 Posters with Tea & Coffee (Seminar Room 2, 2nd floor)

15:30 Dr Tony Merry – Euroglycoscience network

Session 2: RSC Carbohydrate Group Medal lectures: sponsored by Dextra Labs

15:35 Prof Daan van Aalten (Dundee):
“Molecular mechanisms of O-GlcNAc signalling”

16:25 Dr Stuart Haslam (Imperial College) :
“Mass Spectrometric Strategies for Glycomics and Glycoproteomics”

17:15 Wine reception & posters

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Seminar on Hedgehog and bone development


Tuesday 13 September, SR17 at 1pm

Dr Tabea Dirker will give a seminar on “Heparan sulfate in the development of long bones”

Tabea Dirker did her PhD with Kay Grobe (Univ Munster on HS effects on Sonic Hedgehog) and is currently a postdoc with Andrea Vortkamp (in Univ Duisburg Essen on embryonic bone development).

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Bioinformatics/computational biology/systems biology seminar series


The first one of the new session is this Tuesday, Sept 13.

11 am in SR6, Life Sciences Building

Quentin Nunes will present on The ‘Heparin Interactome’ in pancreatic diseases – an in silico study. It will illustrate an application of functional network analysis to disease.

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