Seminars
Seminars of Academic Year 2022-2023
Title: Looking under the hood of cells: from single molecule dynamics to whole cell organelle reconstructions

Speaker: Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Ph.D.
Senior Group Leader
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Janelia Research Campus
Host: Anne Kenworthy, Ph.D.
Date: Monday, January 9, 2023
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Membrane Ruffling is the Viscosity Sensor that Facilitates the Counterintuitive Acceleration of Migrating Cells in Highly Viscous Fluids

Speaker: Yun Chen, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Center for Cell Dynamics
Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT)
Johns Hopkins University
Host: Seham Ebrahim, Ph.D.
Date: Monday, February 27, 2023
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Title: The Hierarchical Organization in Immune-Pathogen Interactions

Speaker: Yan Yu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Chemistry Department
Indiana University
Host: Anne Kenworthy, Ph.D.
Date: Monday, April 10, 2023
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Structural basis for glycosphingolipid sorting and sensing of microbial danger

Wayne Lencer, MD
Longwood Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Division Chief Gastroenterology, Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
Host: Anne Kenworthy, Ph.D. and James Casanova, Ph.D.
Date: Monday, May 8, 2023
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Computational design of membrane receptors: from protein motions to CAR T cell therapies

Speaker: Patrick Barth, Ph.D.
Associate Professor at EPFL, Adjunct Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Host: Anne Kenworthy, Ph.D.
Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Aberrant Glycosylation Regulates Glycocalyx Architecture and Viscoelasticity in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Speaker: Alexander X. Cartagena-Rivera, Ph.D.
Earl Stadtman Investigator
NIH Distinguished Scholar
Chief, Section on Mechanobiology
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health
Host: Seham Ebrahim, Ph.D.
Date: Monday, May 22, 2023
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Live Cell Imaging of Early Metabolic Changes in FUS ALS Motoneurons
Speaker: Vitaly Zimyanin, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Redemann Lab, Center for Membrane & Cell Physiology, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Host: Lukas Tamm, Ph.D.
Dates: Friday, June 2, 2023
- Friday, June 2, 2023
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Seminar Archives
Near-Infrared Molecular Probes for In Vivo Imaging and Photothermal Therapy
Bradley D. Smith, Ph. D.
Emil T. Hofman Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Director, Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility
Host: Dr. Huiwang Ai
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, A.P. Somlyo Conference Room
[Event Details...]
Toward Optimal Insulin Action and Performance for People with Diabetes
Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Utah
Host: Dr. Huiwang Ai
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, A.P. Somlyo Conference Room
[Event Details...]
Eavesdropping on Tumors with Engineered Exosome Biochips
Yong Zeng, PhD, Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas
Host: Dr. Huiwang Ai
Dr. Zeng currently is an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas in the Department of Chemistry, the Bioengineering Graduate Program, and KU Cancer Center. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Alberta, Canada with Jed Harrison in 2007. His postdoctoral research with Richard Mathies at the University of California, Berkeley was focused on single cell analysis of early-stage carcinogenic mutations in blood cancer. Dr. Zeng joined KU as assistant professor of chemistry in 2012. Working at the interface of chemistry and biology, a primary aim of his research is to develop new enabling tools for liquid biopsy-based cancer diagnosis and precision medicine. Dr. Zeng is also interested in translational research to move technology innovations from laboratory benchtop into clinical practices to facilitate the advance of human health. He received the J.R. & Inez Jay Award in 2014, and was named as prestigious Docking Family Faculty Scholar in 2017. His research has been supported by a number of grants from National Institute of Health (NIH) and other funding agencies.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Somlyo Conference Room, Pinn 4025
[Event Details...]
Title: Imaging key steps of single enveloped virus entry
Gregory Melikian, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases, Emory University
Host: Dr. Lukas Tamm
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Snyder Building, 314
[Event Details...]
Stochastic Assembly of Calcium Signaling Units in Muscle
Dr. Luis Fernando Santana, Professor, UC Davis.
Host: Dr. Swapnil Sonkusare
Dr. Luis Fernando Santana from UC Davis. Fernando is the Chair of Physiology at UC Davis, and has been a pioneer in imaging and electrophysiology of ion channels in blood vessels and cardiac myocytes.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall Auditorium, 1014
[Event Details...]
Catch me if you can – Macromolecular complexes shaping adaptive immunity
Dr. Robert Tampé
ERC Investigator Life Sciences
Institute of Biochemistry, Biocenter, Goethe University Frankfurt
Research Center CRC 807 – Membrane Transport and Communication
Host: Dr. Lukas Tamm
Identifying and eliminating infected or malignantly transformed cells are fundamental tasks of our adaptive immune system. For immune surveillance, the cell’s metastable proteome is displayed as broken bits (peptides) on major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) molecules to cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. Our knowledge about the track from the cellular proteome to the presentation of peptides has greatly expanded, leading to a quite comprehensive understanding of the antigen processing pathway. The seminar will report on the mechanism of antigen translocation, chaperoning, editing, and ER quality control. Following on an integrative approach, the contribution of individual proteins as well as the architecture of the MHC I peptide-loading complex (PLC) and other MHC I chaperone complexes, also in the context of viral immune evasion, will be addressed. The work provides the framework for understanding the quality control of antigen selection and unveils the molecular details underlying the onset of an adaptive immune response.
Robert Tampé is a biochemist at the Biocenter of Goethe University Frankfurt, known for his contributions in the mechanistic understanding of antigen processing and viral immune evasion. He also discovered the molecular machinery of ribosome recycling and provided structural and mechanistic insights into ribosome splitting and mRNA surveillance. His major passions are macromolecular complexes, membrane biology, control of mRNA translation, as well as chemical and synthetic biology.
Robert Tampé is full professor at Goethe University Frankfurt and director of the Institute of Biochemistry and the Research Center SFB 807 Membrane Transport and Communication. He initiated the Cluster of Excellence Macromolecular Complexes. Before assuming his position in Frankfurt, he was director of the Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Medical School at the University of Marburg, independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry Martinsried, and assistant professor at the Technical University Munich. As Max Kade Fellow, he worked with Harden M. McConnell at Stanford University. He was awarded with an honorary professorship from Kyoto University and was Visiting Research Fellow at Merton College and Department of Biochemistry, Oxford.
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Eavesdropping on tumors with engineered exosome biochips
Yong Zeng, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry, KU Bioengineering Graduate Program, and KU Cancer Center. University of Kansas
Host: Dr. Huiwang Ai
Dr. Zeng currently is an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas in the Department of Chemistry, the Bioengineering Graduate Program, and KU Cancer Center. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Alberta, Canada with Jed Harrison in 2007. His postdoctoral research with Richard Mathies at the University of California, Berkeley was focused on single cell analysis of early-stage carcinogenic mutations in blood cancer. Dr. Zeng joined KU as assistant professor of chemistry in 2012. Working at the interface of chemistry and biology, a primary aim of his research is to develop new enabling tools for liquid biopsy-based cancer diagnosis and precision medicine. Dr. Zeng is also interested in translational research to move technology innovations from laboratory benchtop into clinical practices to facilitate the advance of human health. He received the J.R. & Inez Jay Award in 2014, and was named as prestigious Docking Family Faculty Scholar in 2017. His research has been supported by a number of grants from National Institute of Health (NIH) and other funding agencies.
Time: 4:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Pinn 1014
[Event Details...]
Lectin-driven and glycosphingolipid-dependent construction of endocytic pits for polarized distribution in cells by trafficking via the retrograde route
Dr. Ludger Johannes, Director, Chemical Biology of Membranes and Therapeutic Delivery, Institut Curie
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall Auditorium, 1014
[Event Details...]
Bacterial outer membrane protein Ail and its interactions with the human host
Francesca M. Marassi, PhD
Cell Death and Survival Networks Research Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute
Host: Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Molecular Engineering for Live Cell Imaging and Reprogramming toward Cancer Immunotherapy
Speaker: Dr. Peter Yingxiao Wang
Professor of Bioengineering
Department of Bioengineering
Institute of Engineering in Medicine
University of California, San Diego
Host: Dr. Huiwang Ai
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, 3016 Cell Bio Large Conference Room
[Event Details...]
A dynamic single molecule view of genome activation during early embryonic development
Speaker: Dr. Mustafa Mir
Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Snyder 314
[Event Details...]
Title: “Microtubule Networks and Organization of the Cytoplasm”
Speaker: Dr. Irina Kaverina
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Vanderbilt University
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, 3016 Cell Bio Large Conference Room
[Event Details...]
Title: Manipulating Macrophage Signaling
Speaker: Dr. Meghan Morrissey
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, 3016 Cell Bio Large Conference Room
[Event Details...]
Title: Lateral and Transverse Asymmetries in Mammalian Membranes
Speaker: Dr. Ilya Levental
Associate Professor of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology
McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, 3016 Cell Bio Large Conference Room
[Event Details...]
Title: Brain Control and Readout at Biologically Relevant Resolutions.
Speaker: Dr. Or Shemesh
Postdoctoral Fellow
Synthetic Neurobiology, MIT Media Lab and McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Snyder Building, Room 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Deciphering spatiotemporal regulation of cell signaling with high resolution imaging
Speaker: Dr. Erik Welf
Instructor
Departments of Cell Biology and Bioinformatics
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, 3016 Cell Bio Large Conference Room
[Event Details...]
Title: Visualizing biomolecular interactions at single-molecule and single-cell levels
Speaker: Dr. Ruobo Zhou
HHMI Postoctoral Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Snyder Building, Room 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Designing, and evolving, genetically encoded biosensors to visualize cell physiology
Cancelled due to Covid-19, To be rescheduled.
Speaker: Dr. Robert Campbell
Professor of Science, Chemistry
University of Alberta, Canada and University of Tokyo, Japan
Host: Dr. Huiwang Ai
Abstract: The Campbell research group is focused on the use of protein engineering for the development of fluorescent protein-based biosensors for imaging of cell signalling and metabolism. Protein engineering, using a combination of rational protein design and directed protein evolution, is the most effective and versatile approach for generating new genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors. By exploiting structure-guided design, iterative cycles of high-throughput fluorescence image-based screening of bacterial colonies, and lower throughput testing of promising variants in mammalian cells, we are developing a growing selection of fluorescent protein-based biosensors with improved properties. In this seminar I will present some of our most recent efforts to engineer an improved generation of biosensors. Specifically, I will provide an update on the expanding palette of calcium ion biosensors, and describe how we are using similar engineering efforts to make biosensors for neurotransmitters, ions, and key metabolites.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pinn Hall, 3016 Cell Bio Large Conference Room
[Event Details...]
Title: Membrane quality control by dedicated sensors
Speaker: Dr. Robert Ernst
Professor, Medical Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Universität des Saarlandes UKS
Host: Dr. Ilya Levental
Note: Time will be 11:00 a.m. EST / 17:00 GMT
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Direct label-free imaging of nanodomains in biomimetic and biological membranes by cryogenic electron microscopy
Speaker: Dr. Fred Heberle
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Host: Dr. Ilya Levental
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Shaping lipid membranes with proteins and cytoskeleton: deciphering mechanisms with reconstituted systems
Speaker: Dr. Patricia Bassereau
Group Leader “Membranes and Cellular Functions”
PhysicoChimie Curie
Institut Curie
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Visualization of HIV membrane fusion inhibition by Serinc5 at multiple length scales
PhD Thesis Defense
Amanda Ward
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: ABC Transporters in Nutrient Uptake and Pathogenesis
Speaker: Heather W Pinkett, PhD
Irving M. Klotz Research Professor , Associate Professor
Department of Molecular Biosciences
Northwestern University
Host: Dr. Linda Columbus
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Mechanisms of microtubule nucleation and organization studied by in vitro reconstitutions.
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Surrey
Group Leader, Surrey Lab
Cell and Developmental Biology,
Center for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain
Hosts: Dr. Todd Stukenberg and Dr. Stefanie Redemann
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Towards a mechanistic understanding of cilia biology with CLEM and Cryo-EM
Speaker: Dr. Gaia Pigino
Research Group Leader
Max Planck Institute
Host: Dr. Anne Kenworthy
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Towards common solutions to uncommon (rare) diseases
Speaker: Dr. Henry Colecraft
Molecular Physiology of Voltage-Dependent Calcium Channels
Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University Medical Center
Host: Dr. Linda Columbus
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
The First Protein Crystallography PhDs: Dorothy Hodgkin And Max Perutz
A special seminar organized by the Graduate Students of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, hosted by the Center for Membrane and Cell Physiology seminar series.
Speaker: Georgina Ferry, Writer, Publisher, Podcast and Radio Host
Website: mgf.longferry.co.uk
Dorothy Hodgkin and Max Perutz were two of the first PhD candidates to practice x-ray crystallography – ultimately paving the way for structural biology as we know it today. Georgina Ferry has catalogued their lives and work in excellent detail.
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Coupling lipid synthesis to ER and nuclear envelope dynamics
Speaker: Shirin Bahmanyar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Host: Stephanie Redemann, Ph.D.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Disordered protein networks as physical drivers of membrane remodeling and traffic
Speaker: Jeanne Stachowiak, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Banks McLaurin Faculty Fellow
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology
The University of Texas at Austin
Host: Anne Kenworthy, Ph.D.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: “The exocyst complex is an essential component of the mammalian constitutive secretory pathway”
Speaker: David Gershlick, Ph.D.
Sir Henry Dale Fellow
Group Leader
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Cambridge University
Host: Ilya Levental, Ph.D.
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Zoom (Note the 11:00 a.m. time)
[Event Details...]
Title: Mitochondrial Behavior
Speaker: Jodi Nunnari, Ph. D.
Department Chair; Distinguished Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, UCDavis
Host: Stefanie Redemann, Ph.D.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
TO BE RESCHEDULED-Title: Looking under the hood of cells: from single molecule dynamics to whole cell organelle reconstructions
Speaker: Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Ph.D.
Senior Group Leader and Interim Head of Janelia’s 4D Cellular Physiology
Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA
Host: Anne Kenworthy, Ph.D.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]
Title: Imaging subcellular dynamics from molecules to multicellular organisms
Speaker: Tomas Kirchhausen, Ph.D.
Senior Investigator, Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
Professor of Cell Biology, Springer Family Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Host: Lukas Tamm, Ph.D.
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Snyder Room 314
[Event Details...]
Title: Autophagy and regulation of metabolism
Speaker: Rajat Singh, M.D.
Professor, Department of Medicine, Endocrinology
Professor, Department of Developmental & Molecular Biology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Host: Dr. Eyleen O’Rourke
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Zoom
[Event Details...]