Molecular Biology Institute

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | James Olzmann, Ph.D. | Hosted by Claudio Villanueva
2022-09-29 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Mechanisms of lipid quality control and ferroptosis”
James Olzmann, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Molecular & Cell Biology; Nutritional Sciences & ToxicologyUniversity of California, Berkeley
Investigator, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub

MBIDP Student Defense | Lauren Thurlow | Mentor: Tracy Johnson
2022-09-20 14:30 - 16:00 | TLSB 1100

MBI Annual Retreat
2022-09-06 08:00 - 2022-09-07 17:00 | Various, United States

MBIDP Student Defense | Yang (Alice) Zhou | Mentor: Lili Yang
2022-08-30 10:00 - 12:00 | 130 Boyer Hall

MBIDP Student Defense | Preston Crowell | Mentor: Andrew Goldstein
2022-08-16 10:00 - 12:00 | Hershey 158

MBIDP Student Defense | Hanyoung Lim | Mentor: Douglas Black
2022-08-03 13:00 - 15:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States

MBIDP Student Defense | Tasha Lin | Mentor: Dinesh Rao
2022-07-27 14:00 - 16:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States

MBIDP Student Defense | Michael Emami | Mentor: Melissa Spencer
2022-07-19 09:00 - 11:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States

MBIDP Student Defense | Emily Yang | Mentor: Melody Li
2022-06-24 14:00 - 15:30 | Hershey 158

MBIDP Student Defense | Geoffrey Pronovost | Mentor: Elaine Hsiao
2022-06-09 10:00 - 12:00 | BSRB 154

MBIDP Student Defense | Nicholas Ramirez | Mentor: Hung Ton-That
2022-06-08 11:00 - 13:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Steven Kliewer, Ph.D. | Hosted by Tom Vallim
2022-06-02 16:00 - 17:00 | WebEx, WebEx
“Alcohol and the Neuroendocrinology of FGF21: A Sobering Update”
Steven Kliewer, Ph.D.
Diana K. and Richard C. Strauss Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center

MBIDP Journey Talk | Dr. D'Juan Farmer
2022-06-01 13:00 - 14:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Diana Hargreaves, Ph.D. | Hosted by Doug Black
2022-05-26 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Remodeling the Chromatin Landscape: SWI/SNF Complexes in Development and Disease”
Diana Hargreaves, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory
Richard Heyman and Anne Daigle Endowed Developmental Chair
Salk Institute for Biological Studies

MBIDP Student Defense | Patrick Chang | Mentor: Gay Crooks
2022-05-24 14:00 - 16:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States

MBIDP Student Defense | Anthony Chau | Mentor: Kathrin Plath
2022-05-24 13:00 - 15:00 | BSRB 383

MBIDP Student Defense | Matt Lowe | Mentor: Amander Clark
2022-05-20 10:00 - 12:00 | 130 Boyer Hall

MBIDP Student Defense | Anya Afasizheva | Mentor: Kathrin Plath
2022-05-19 14:00 - 16:00 | 130 Boyer Hall

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Kumaran Ramamurthi, Ph.D. | Hosted by Hung Ton-That and Emily Peluso Smith
2022-05-12 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Synthetic Bacteria Deliver the Goods (to Cancer Cells)”
Kumaran Ramamurthi, Ph.D.
Deputy Chief and Senior Investigator
Laboratory of Molecular Biology
National Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Nadya Dimitrova, Ph.D. | Hosted by Hilary Coller
2022-05-05 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Long noncoding RNAs: hidden friends and foes in the cancer genome”
Nadya Dimitrova, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
Yale University

MBIDP Student Defense | Weixian Deng | Mentors: Kathrin Plath and James Wohlschlegel
2022-04-29 08:30 - 10:30 | BSRB 383

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | David Schneider, Ph.D. | Hosted by MBI Students and Postdocs
2022-04-21 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Following host trajectories through disease space to understand resilience mechanisms”
David Schneider, Ph.D.
Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
Stanford University

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Manu Platt, Ph.D. | Co-hosted by MBI and SEDS
2022-04-14 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Powers (and Problems) of Proteases in Tissue Destructive Diseases”
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract: Dr. Platt’s research centers on proteolytic mechanisms of tissue remodeling during disease progression using both experimental and computational approaches. Many of his diseases of focus are health disparities in the U.S., but global health concerns: pediatric strokes in sickle cell disease, HIV-mediated cardiovascular disease, predictive medicine for breast cancer, and also COVID-19. His research has taken him to South Africa and Ethiopia for collaborative work to find solutions for low resource settings, which have broadened opportunity and forced creative solutions. Centered agents are the cysteine cathepsins, which are the most potent mammalian collagenases and elastases, but cathepsin pharmacological inhibitors continue to fail human clinical trials, mostly due to unexpected side effects. This suggests there are underlying regulatory behaviors or feedback loops yet to be elucidated. During this seminar, Dr. Platt will discuss 1) experimental and computational tools to better quantify and model protease activity, 2) concept of a proteolytic network in tissue destructive diseases, and 3) fundamental insights and consequences of the underlying enzymology to improve pharmacological targeting and application for multiple diseases.

Bio: Dr. Manu Platt received his B.S. in Biology from Morehouse College in 2001 and his Ph.D. from the Georgia Tech and Emory joint program in biomedical engineering in 2006. He finished his postdoctoral training at MIT prior to returning to Georgia Tech and Emory in the joint department of Biomedical Engineering in 2009. His research centers on proteolytic mechanisms of tissue remodeling during disease progression using both experimental and computational approaches. These diseases of focus are health disparities in the U.S., but global health concerns: pediatric strokes in sickle cell disease, personalized and predictive medicine for breast cancer, and HIV-mediated cardiovascular disease, which has taken him to South Africa and Ethiopia for collaborative work to find solutions for low resource settings. His work has been funded by NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, International AIDS Society, Georgia Cancer Coalition, and the National Science Foundation. Integrated with his research program are his mentoring goals of changing the look of the next generation of scientists and engineers. Aligned with that goal, Dr. Platt, with Bob Nerem, co-founded and co-directs Project ENGAGES (Engaging the Next Generation At Georgia Tech in Engineering and Science), a program paying African-American high school students from Atlanta Public Schools to be researchers in Georgia Tech labs since 2013.
http://www.platt.gatech.edu
@DrPlattLab

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Beronda Montgomery, Ph.D. | Hosted by Beth Lazazzera
2022-04-07 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Shaping Up and Responding: Color Vision and Light-Dependent Development in Cyanobacteria”
MSU Foundation Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Michigan State University

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, Ph.D. | Hosted by Joseph Loo
2022-03-31 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Guiding Clinical Decisions with Chemical Information Provided by Direct Mass Spectrometry Technologies”

Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Surgery
Baylor College of Medicine

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Cosimo Commisso, Ph.D. | Hosted by Edward De Robertis
2022-03-17 16:00 - 17:00 | WebEx, WebEx
“How Does Glutamine Stress Influence Tumor Progression and Therapy?”
Cosimo Commisso, Ph.D.
Director Associate Professor, Cell and Molecular Biology of Cancer Program
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Katey Rayner, Ph.D., F.A.H.A. | Hosted by Tom Vallim
2022-03-10 16:00 - 17:00 | WebEx, WebEx
Katey Rayner, PhD, FAHAAssociate ProfessorMember, College of the Royal Society of Canada
Director, Biochemistry Graduate ProgramDepartment of Biochemistry, Microbiology, Immunology
Faculty of MedicineUniversity of Ottawa Heart Institute

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Sundeep Kalantry, Ph.D. | Hosted by Kathrin Plath
2022-03-03 16:00 - 17:00 | 159 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Tracing the Evolutionary Origins of X-chromosome Inactivation”
Sundeep Kalantry, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Human Genetics
University of Michigan

MBI Thursday Research Seminar | Guojun Bu, Ph.D. | Hosted by Chao Peng
2022-02-24 09:00 - 10:00 | Zoom
“Pathobiology of APOE in Alzheimer’s disease”
Guojun Bu, Ph.D.
Mary Lowell Leary Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience
Jorge and Leslie Bacardi Associate Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine
Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville

MBIDP Student Defense | Xiaorui Fan (Mentor: James Wohlschlegel)
2022-02-22 12:00 - 14:00 | Zoom
