Discovery Series
The Discovery Series, launched in 2013, brings eminent scientists, thought leaders and innovators from around the world to the Biodesign Institute to share their research expertise. Discovery Series lectures and interactive discussions which follow exposes our faculty, staff and students to the latest developments in science, technology and medicine, keeping Biodesign researchers abreast of current trends and breakthroughs. Discovery Series events also provide networking and collaborative research opportunities – please join us!
Lectures are open to the community. Seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Past speakers
Substance use disorder: A global problem requiring an effective translational medicine approach
Lecture by
Karen Szumlinski, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology & Neuroscience Research Insitute at University of California, Santa Barbara
Wednesday, April 20, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
Biodesign B105 Auditorium
Substance use disorder is a chronic, relapsing, neuropsychiatric condition that affects 2% of the world’s population. Substance use disorder is the leading risk factor of premature death globally. In addition to the deaths directly attributed to drug over-dose or fatal accidents, substance use increases the risk for many types of cancers, in addition to cardiovascular, metabolic, renal, and hepatic diseases, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, various neuropsychiatric conditions and suicide, accounting for 3-5% of the disease burden in many Western countries.
The work to be discussed in this talk seeks to identify the environmental, genetic, age- and sex-related determinants of alcohol, opioid, and psychostimulant use vulnerability, as well as their co-morbidity with affective, neurocognitive and eating disorders. Using rodent models, we have distinguished between the neurobiological impact of various addictive substances of relevance to the design of substance-specific therapy. We are exploring and validating the therapeutic potential of drugs already approved by the FDA for other uses for neuroimmune modulation as an approach to reduce drug-taking and craving.
Watch the recording here.
Towards orthogonal metabolism for the biomanufacturing of small organic molecules
Lecture by
Ramon Gonzalez, PhD
Professor, Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of South Florida; Program Director, Systems and Synthetic Biology, National Science Foundation
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2-3 p.m.
Click here to join the webinar or type links.asu.edu/DiscoverySeries
Metabolic engineering has endeavored to engineer microbial cells by manipulating the canonical architecture of metabolism, inevitably creating interdependency with native metabolism leading to problematic crosstalk between product-forming and growth-sustaining functions that compete for the same carbon and energy carriers. The Gonzalez laboratory has been addressing these shortcomings beginning with engineering of an iterative pathway for the efficient synthesis of longer-chain alcohols and carboxylic acids. They have also recently created new-to-nature pathways for the synthesis of isoprenoids and polyketides.
In this talk, Dr. Gonzalez will discuss new challenges and opportunities in the development of orthogonal metabolic platforms to efficiently biomanufacture small organic molecules for chemical and pharmaceutical applications.
Watch the recording here.
Understanding the Electronic Properties of Biomolecules: From Fundamentals to Functional Devices
Lecture by
Joshua Hihath, PhD
Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; University of California, Davis
Thursday, Dec. 9, 1-2 p.m.
Biodesign Auditorium
Joshua Hihath’s research is centered at the nexus of engineering, chemistry, biology and physics and focuses on understanding the electrical and mechanical properties of nanoscale and molecular systems for applications in electronics, sensing and energy conversion. Prior to his current post, he was as an assistant research professor in the Biodesign Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors. Hihath earned a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, and master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Arizona State University.
Watch the recording here.
Cyclic dinucleotide signaling: New antibacterial and immunomodulatory therapeutics
Lecture by
Herman Sintim, PhD
Drug Discovery Professor of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette
Thursday, Oct. 21, 2-3 p.m.
Biodesign Auditorium
Herman Sintim studied medicinal chemistry at University College London (BSc), Organic Chemistry (DPhil) at the University of Oxford and performed postdoctoral work in organic chemistry and chemical biology at Oxford and Stanford Universities respectively. He currently serves on the editorial advisory board of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters and as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division. Herman is a co-founder of KinaRx Inc., a start-up focused on developing novel agents against protein kinases, especially secondary mutated kinases that drive relapse in blood cancers.
Watch the recording here.
Innate immune activation in Alzheimer’s disease
Lecture by
Michael Heneka, MD
Director, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease and Geriatric Psychiatry
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 10-11 a.m.
Zoom
Michael Heneka studied medicine in Tübingen, Lausanne and London from 1990-1996. In the same year, he obtained his medical degree at the Univ. of Tübingen and started his residency at the Dept. of Neurology. In 1999 he joined the Dept. of Neurology at the Univ. of Bonn. In 2004 he became the chair of Molecular Neurology at the Univ. of Münster. In 2008 he was appointed professor for clinical neurosciences at the Univ. of Bonn where he heads the Dept. of Neurodegenerative Disease and Geriatric Psychiatry since 2016. He is affiliated to the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE). His scientific interests focus on the role of immune mechanisms in neurological disorders. In 2011 he received the Christa Lorenz Award for ALS Research and in 2013 the Hans und Ilse Breuer Award for Alzheimer Research.
Prion’s, pathogenesis, and patient-tested therapies: The best is yet to come
Lecture by
Jeffrey Kordower, PhD
Alla V. and Solomon Jesmer Professor of Aging and Neurological Sciences Department of Neurological Sciences,
Rush University
Thursday, Nov. 12, 1-2 p.m.
Zoom
Jeffrey H. Kordower is the Alla V. and Solomon Jesmer Professor of Aging and Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. from The City University of New York as well as an Honorary Doctor of Sciences. Dr. Kordower is an international authority in the area of neurodegenerative diseases especially movement disorders, with special expertise in experimental therapeutics and pathogenesis. He has performed numerous gene and cell therapy preclinical studies that have been translated into clinical trials. Dr. Kordower has published over 400 manuscripts and chapters, 15 of which are citation classics (cited over 400 times) and 4 of which have been cited over 1000 times. He is a Past-President of ASNTR, and both a founding SAB member and two-time Executive Committee member for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Can Analogy Unlock AI's Barrier of Meaning?
Lecture by
Melanie Mitchell, PhD
Davis Professor of Complexity,
Sante Fe Institute
Thursday, March 5, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Dr. Mitchell is a Professor of Computer Science (currently on leave) at Portland State University. Her current research focuses on conceptual abstraction, analogy-making, and visual recognition in artificial intelligence systems. She is the author or editor of six books and numerous scholarly papers in the field of artificial intelligence, cognitive science and complex systems. Her book "Complexity: A Guided Tour" (Oxford University Press) won the 2010 Phi Beta Kappa Science Book Award and was named by Amazon.com as one of the ten best science books of 2009. Her latest book is "Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans" (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).
Defining the Path to Addiction Therapeutics
Lecture by
Kathryn A. Cunningham, PhD
Chauncey Leake Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology,
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
Tuesday, Feb. 18, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Dr. Cunningham is the Director of the Center for Addiction Research and Vice Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. She is a translational scientist with strong collaborations with chemists, cellular biologists, bioengineers, preclinical and clinical scientists with the goal to discover key neuromolecular targets that may be exploited toward the goal of improved diagnostics and therapeutics for SUDs. Dr. Cunningham has extensive and diverse experience in leadership, program building and strategic planning with expertise in the translational biology of substance use disorders (SUDs).
Traversing the valley of death in drug discovery
Lecture by
Paul J. Hergenrother, PhD
Professor, Kenneth L. Rinehart Jr. Endowed Chair,
Natural Products Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2-3 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Dr. Hergenrother established his laboratory in the Department of Chemistry in 2001 with a focus on using small molecules to identify and validate novel targets for the treatment of intractable disease, including cancer, degenerative disorders and multi-drug resistant bacteria. He is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Vanquish Oncology, and an anticancer compound discovered by the Hergenrother lab is now being taken by cancer patients in Phase 1 clinical trials. Hergenrother serves on the editorial/advisory board for multiple journals including Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin and his BS in Chemistry, University of Notre Dame.
Deep molecular phenotyping and precision medicine in neurodegenerative diseases
Lecture by
Carlos Cruchaga, PhD
Scientific Director,
McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1-2 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Carlos Cruchaga is a human genomicist with expertise in multi-omics, informatics and neurodegeneration. He studies the genetic architecture of neurodegenerative diseases with a focus in using human genomic and other omic data to identify and understand the biological processes that lead to Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), frontotemporal dementia and other neurodegenerative processes. He pioneered the use of next-generation sequencing technology to identify novel functional variants implicated on AD and PD. Cruchaga is the scientific director of the McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University. He completed his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Navarra, Spain.
Using population-scale genealogical data for Alzheimer's disease gene discovery
Lecture by
John "Keoni" S.K. Kauwe, PhD
Professor, Department of Biology, Brigham Young University
Thursday, Oct. 17, 1-2 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Dr. Kauwe's lab has linked data and over 7 million subjects from the Utah Population Database and the Cache County Study on Memory in Aging. The combination of these studies enables the execution of an innovative design for gene discovery, evaluation of the association between Alzheimer's disease risk and resilience pedigrees, and investigation of key aspects of Alzheimer's disease epidemiology, including relationships with socioeconomic status, cardiovascular disease, cancer and many other characteristics. In his lecture, Dr. Kauwe will present results with respect to genetic relative risk, heritability, and Alzheimer's disease risk and resilience gene discovery.
Sustaining our passion for green innovation: From molecules to manufacturing
Lecture by
Timothy E. Long, PhD
Professor, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech
Thursday, Oct. 10, 1-2 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Global population demands over 600 billion pounds of polymers each year, and polymers continue to improve the quality and quantity of our lives from hydrogels in brachytherapy to high temperatures polyimides for space exploration. As polymer recycling rates fluctuate near only 10%, scientists and engineers must proactively integrate green chemistry and engineering across the continuum of materials innovation. Biology also provides an expanded toolbox of renewable monomers and polymers. Beyond green synthetic methods and bio-inspired stimuli-responsive polymers, Dr. Long will describe additive manufacturing processes for 3D printing of personalized pharmaceuticals.
Design and single molecule analysis of RNA nanomachines: Building bridges from lab to clinic
Lecture by
Nils Walter, PhD
Francis S. Collins Collegiate Professor of Chemistry, Biophysics and Biological Chemistry
College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan
Tuesday, April 23, 10–11 a.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Single-molecule fluorescence microscopy offers a non-invasive tool to probe and ultimately dissect the underlying RNA nanomachines in real-time. The Walter lab has leveraged tools to address the overarching hypothesis that dynamic RNA structures are a major determinant of the outcomes of gene expression. Walter and his team recently combined single-molecule, biochemical and computational simulation approaches to show that transcriptional pausing at a site immediately downstream of a bacterial riboswitch requires a ligand-free pseudoknot in the nascent RNA.
Small molecule control of a rheostat for tau pathology and clinical-trial readiness
Lecture by
Kenneth S. Kosik, MD
Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute
University of California, Santa Barbara
Affiliate, Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Dynamical Neuroscience
University of California, Santa Barbara
Tuesday, April 30, 1–2 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Tau inclusions are a prominent feature of many neurodegenerative diseases and are considered to be a potential therapeutic target. Kenneth Kosik’s team discovered a previously unrecognized pathway leading to tau clearance via the lysosome. Activation of this pathway, by inhibiting the enzyme farnesyltransferase, blocks the attachment of a neuronal protein, Rhes, to the cell membrane.
Electrocatalysis for chemical synthesis and energy conversion
Lecture by
Shannon S. Stahl, PhD
Professor of Chemistry
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019 • 2-3 p.m. p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Shannon Stahl will present his team’s recent efforts to develop electrochemical transformations and electrocatalytic methods inspired by biological energy transduction and enzymatic redox processes. Specifically, his lab takes advantage of electron-proton transfer mediators (EPTMs) that couple the movement of both electrons and protons. These mediators avoid unfavorable charge separation associated with independent electron and proton transfer steps, and they introduce new mechanistic pathways to achieve electrode-driven redox reactions.
Air pollution and human health: Perspectives and new directions
Lecture by
Michelle L. Bell, PhD
Mary E. Pinchot Professor of Environmental Health
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 • 1:30–2:30 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Poor air quality is one of the biggest drivers of public health burdens worldwide. The Global Burden of Disease project estimates that ambient air pollution causes over 5 million deaths each year and ranks air pollution as the fourth highest risk factor for mortality globally. The World Health Organization’s health-based air quality guidelines are exceeded for most of the globe’s population. Michelle L. Bell will cover several key challenges in the study of how air pollution impacts human health. These include transitions to multiple pollutant science, environmental justice, global health and climate change. Addressing these critical research challenges will provide scientific evidence to aid decision-makers in developing and implementing policies to best protect health from air pollution in the present day and under a changing climate.
Michelle Bell’s research investigates how human health is affected by atmospheric systems, including air pollution and weather. Much of this work is based in epidemiology, biostatistics and environmental engineering. The research is designed to be policy-relevant and contribute to well-informed decision-making to better protect human health.
Sustainable Synthesis of Polyester Fiber and Bottles: Bioinspired Synthesis From Glucose or Plasma Refining of Carbon Dioxide/Methane
Lecture by
John Frost, PhD
University Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018 • 2–3 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
The world produces more than 60 billion kilograms of terephthalic acid for polymerization to polyethylene terephthalate, or polyester PET, which is used in the manufacture of plastic bottles, fibers and a myriad of other consumer products. Sustainable synthesis of terephthalic acid entails the bioinspired design of pathways enabling microbes to synthesize chemicals such as muconic acid, isoprene and acrylic acid from glucose. These intermediates are then converted chemically into terephthalic acid.
John Frost will present a very different strategy that entails plasma refining of methane and carbon dioxide to acetylenemonocarboxylic acid. This intermediate undergoes a catalyzed chemical reaction to form terephthalic acid. PET and its precursor terephthalic acid serve as an intriguing test case for formulation of sustainable syntheses of large-volume chemicals within the context of a world that could have a population of 13 billion people by the year 2100.
View Video Lecture
Normalizing transformed cancer cells with rigidity sensing | Super-resolution imaging of Salmonella pathogenesis
Lecture co-presented by
Michael Sheetz, PhD
Director, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
Linda Kenney, PhD
Principal Investigator, Mechanobiology Institute, National University Singapore
Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018 • 1:30–2:30 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
The shapes of cells, organs and whole organisms are determined by forces on and from the immediate environment, which is either extracellular matrix or adjacent cells. Sheetz discovered motor proteins and determined how they translate chemical energy into motion. Sheetz and Kenney bring together the latest technologies of engineers and physicists to address big challenges in biology and medicine in an open environment to discover important aspects of the biological systems that underlie disease and regeneration in humans and animals in a new field called “mechanobiology.” This work uses novel techniques in microscopy, which bends the limits of traditional techniques, permitting researchers to peer into cells under low-light conditions without traditional cellular damage caused by bright-light microscopic techniques. These studies reveal processes in living cells never seen before.
Sheetz uses these tools to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in a variety of phenomena from cancer metastasis to brain function by measuring cell forces at the molecular level, which reveal how cells can both generate and respond to external forces. He quantifies the steps involved in cell adhesion and spreading on a matrix-coated surface. Using a variety of cell lines that are missing proteins in various motility pathways, enabling the generation of a detailed model of the process for further studies of how cells differentiate, regenerate tissues or metastasize.
Kenney’s laboratory is working in signal transduction and the regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes. In particular, the two-component regulatory system EnvZ/OmpR that regulates the expression of outer membrane proteins as well as many other genes. Current work is focused on how OmpR activates genes required for systemic infection (located on Salmonella pathogenicity island 2) in Salmonella enterica.
Exploring Novel Mechanisms of Alzheimer’s Disease Pathogenesis
Lecture by
Robert Vassar, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. There are currently more than 5 million AD patients in the United States, but this number is expected to grow dramatically as a result of the aging population. Currently, there are no therapies that treat the underlying biological mechanisms of AD. If such disease-modifying treatments are not found, the ensuing AD epidemic will threaten the social and economic welfare of the nation. Central to the development of Alzheimer’s disease-modifying therapies is a deep and comprehensive understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of AD pathogenesis. Robert Vassar will summarize several themes of his lab’s ongoing research, including BACE1 as a therapeutic target for AD, the calcium hypothesis and dystrophic neurite formation, and explorations of the mechanisms of two recently discovered AD-associated genes, UNC5C and ACE1. AD is a complex multifactorial disease, and we must understand the entire AD pathogenic pathway in exquisite detail in order to identify appropriate points of therapeutic intervention and stage of disease to attack. Moreover, combination therapies that target disease pathogenesis at several points will have the highest likelihood of success.
Taming the Distinctive Bacterial Microbiota of Social Bees
Lecture by
Nancy Moran, Ph.D.
Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin
Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Animals are associated with communities of microorganisms that can have a major influence on the evolution and phenotypes of their hosts. The extent to which these microbial lineages coevolve with hosts and with each other is often unclear, as are the kinds of genetic changes that accompany this evolution. Social bees are associated with a set of well-defined and host-restricted bacterial lineages that make up the gut microbiota. Genomic analyses on the bee gut microbiota indicate a long, shared evolutionary history of several distinctive bacterial lineages with their hosts, including honey bees, bumble bees and stingless bees. Experiments show that these communities have effects on host metabolism and resistance to pathogens, and that disruption can result in increased mortality. The bee microbiota system promises insights into and the kinds of genetic changes that have accompanied the evolution of host-associated bacterial communities.
A Broad and Inclusive Cybersecurity Community
Lecture by
Zachary Staples
Commander, U.S. Navy; Director, Naval Postgraduate School Center for Cyber Warfare
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
The U.S. Navy’s mission is to win wars, deter aggression and maintain freedom of the seas. During an all-out cyberattack, these defenses must be performed by machines. We will be asked by our country to make good decisions on vast amounts of data that can only be fully analyzed by autonomous systems.
We need to prototype and test such decisions to quickly adapt our way of fighting. Creating and adopting such innovative, diverse and fast practices in cybersecurity will help us reach the creative potential needed to defend our digital shores.
Protecting the Proteome in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease
Lecture by
Richard Morimoto, Ph.D.
Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology, Director of the Rice Institute for Biomedical Research, Northwestern University
Wednesday, March 1, 2017 • 10 a.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
A common feature of disease and aging is the accumulation of damaged proteins that accumulate in aggregates and amyloid species. The appearance of this molecular clutter is a consequence of protein metastability and the direct result of failure of the quality-control machinery that leads to the accumulation of these damaged proteins, which over time interferes with cellular function.
View Video Lecture
Getting More out of the Sunlight:
Overcoming Constraints on Photosynthetic Energy Conversion Efficiency
Lecture by
Andreas Weber, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biology, Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Heinrich Heine University
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017 • 10 a.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Life on earth depends on the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis. Typical crops convert light energy to biomass with efficiencies of approximately 2 to 3 percent, which is less than half of the theoretically achievable maximum. In his seminar, Andreas Weber will discuss constraints on photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency and synthetic biology approaches to overcome these constraints.
Regulated Mutation and Evolution and Deep Translational
Discovery of Cancer Gene Functions in Bacteria
Lecture by
Susan Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Ben F. Love Chair in Cancer Research and Professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Susan Rosenberg will describe her work with the molecular mechanism of stress-induced mutation in E. coli and the parallels in other organisms, including human cancer; discuss anti-evolvability drugs that could be aimed at targeting mutagenesis and delaying the evolution of cancer progression; and share engineered proteins that trap, label, quantify and map in genome-specific DNA intermediates in genome instability.
Antibiotic resistance genes in recycled water:
Harmonizing challenges in sustainable water infrastructure and public health
Lecture by
Amy Pruden, Ph.D.
W. Thomas Rice Professor of Engineering, Virginia Tech
Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017 • 11 a.m
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Water reuse is a key strategy for water sustainability. To support continued advancement, research into potential health concerns needs to keep pace. In particular, antibiotic resistance is a growing global health concern and water reuse is one potential avenue that could contribute to its spread. Hear Pruden discuss implications of the growing body of research on antibiotic resistance genes in the water cycle and how it can inform best practices in the future direction of water infrastructure to advance sustainability and protect public health.
Late Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Implicates Microglial Function?
Lecture by
Alison Goate, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Center on Alzheimer’s Disease, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017 • 11 a.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Until recently the genetics of late onset Alzheimer’s disease was poorly understood. Apolipoprotein E genotype was the only replicated genetic risk factor. High-throughput technologies such as genomewide association studies and next-generation sequencing approaches are transforming our understanding with more than 30 loci identified in the last few years. The challenge for the field is to translate this knowledge into an improved understanding of the biology of disease.
View Video Lecture
Mutation, Drift and the Origin of Subcellular Features
Lecture by
Michael Lynch, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Biology, Indiana University – Bloomington
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017 • 11 a.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Information on spontaneous mutations, obtained from whole-genome sequencing of mutation-accumulation lines, implies an inverse scaling of the mutation rate (per nucleotide site) with the effective population size of a species. This pattern is thought to arise naturally as natural selection pushes the mutation rate down to a lower limit set by the power of random genetic drift.
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Using Epigenomic Approaches to Identify Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets for Alzheimer’s Disease
Lecture by
Li-Huei Tsai, Ph.D.
Director, The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory; Picower Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Senior Associate Member, Broad Institute Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Hear about how Li-Huei Tsai and her team use cutting-edge transcriptomic and epigenomic approaches to study Alzheimer’s disease mouse models and human brain samples. These analyses reveal dysregulation of novel pathways that can be targeted for therapeutic intervention.
View Video Lecture
The Complex Science of Cybersecurity
Lecture by
Stephanie Forrest, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, University of New Mexico
Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
See how ideas from biological defense systems can be applied to solve cybersecurity problems. Learn how tools of complexity science can be used to understand today's technological networks and their linkages to human behavior, social norms and economic incentives, which can help us address global scale cybersecurity problems.
Written in Blood: Nanopore-enabled Peptidomic Analysis and its Application in Disease Detection
Lecture by
Tony Hu, Ph.D.
Core Director, Peptidomics Nanoengineering Core and Assistant Professor of Nanomedicine, Institute for Academic Medicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute
Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016 • 1:30 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Hear about developing and validating the integrated nanotechnique-based strategies to perform marker discovery and molecular diagnostics from peripheral blood and to provide a translatable solution for personalized medicine.
View Video Lecture
Resolvin’ Tumor Growth with Resolvins
Lecture by
Dipak Panigrahy, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Instructor in Surgery, Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children’s Hospital; Member of Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Panigrahy’s studies show that enhancing endogenous clearance of tumor cell debris represents a new biological target to complement current cancer therapy.
Colorectal Cancer: Familial Risk, Screening and Prevention
Lecture by
N. Jewel Samadder, M.D.
Assistant Professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine
Thursday, October 8, 2015 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Learn about colon cancer syndromes, their genetic basis and clinical management and the unique resources available in Utah to study familial clustering of cancer and health care resource utilization.
Epigenetic Mechanisms in Memory Formation
Lecture by
J. David Sweatt, Ph.D.
Evelyn F. McKnight Chair, Department of Neurobiology and Director of the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Monday, June 8, 2015 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Conservation of epigenetic mechanisms for information storage represents a unifying model in biology, with epigenetic mechanisms being utilized for cellular memory at levels from behavioral memory to development to cellular differentiation.
Reconstructing the First Few Human Tumor Cell Divisions (Big Bang Tumorigenesis)
Lecture by
Darryl Shibata, M.D.
Professor of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Tuesday, May 12, 2015 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Darryl Shibata is interested in cancer evolution with a focus on using genomic data to infer human somatic cell ancestral trees.
Atherosclerosis, Cancer and Wound Healing: A Systems Biology Connection
Lecture by
Alexandra Lucas, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Ethel Smith Chair in Vasculitis Research, and Director of Vascular Research Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Florida
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Alexandra Lucas’s research has examined the roles of serine protease inhibitors (serpins) as well as the glycocalyx and chemokines in transplant vasculopathy. She is a practicing interventional cardiologist in addition to running an active basic research lab in vascular inflammatory research.
Super-resolution Fluorescence
Microscopy
Lecture by
Jörg Enderlein, Ph.D.
Professor of Biophysics and Complex Systems, Third Institute of Physics at the Georg-August University Göttingen
Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015 • 1 p.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Although Jörg Enderlein has a wide scope of interests, his research explores single molecule spectroscopy and imaging, from fundamental aspects to biophysical applications. Come to hear about the latest super-resolution microscopy techniques from someone who uses them.
Decoding Omics Data:
Disease Pathway and Drug Target Discovery
Lecture by
John Quackenbush, PhD
Director, Center for Cancer Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Professor, Biostatistics and Computational Biology, and Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Harvard School of Public Health
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015 • 9:30 a.m.
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Dr. John Quackenbush provides broad-based bioinformatics support to the local research community using a collaborative consulting model. His research is focused on developing new methods for integrative genomic data analysis and inference of gene networks as well as understanding the role that variation plays in the defining phenotype.
Animal Microbiomes and the Origin of Species
Lecture by
Seth R. Bordenstein, PhD
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Seth Bordenstein is a biologist who probes the rules of symbiosis and evolution, and
their inseparable connections. Key questions guiding his science include
• What is the role of the microbiome in the origin of species?
• How do viruses subsist in obligate intracellular bacteria?
• What interactions shape maternal microbial transmission?
Bordenstein’s research is inspired by the Carl Sagan quote that "Life looks for life.” He is the founding director of the international citizen science program Discover the Microbes Within! The Wolbachia Project.
The HPV-associated Cancer Epidemic
and Our Path Forward
Lecture by
Erich Sturgis, MD
Professor, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Erich Sturgis is the program director of the MD Anderson Oropharynx Program, an eight-year clinical and translational research effort supported by a $10-million gift by Charles and Daneen Stiefel to the MD Anderson Head and Neck Program. He is also the administrative leader of the MD Anderson Pilot Moon Shot for HPV-associated Malignancies. His research interests include HPV and molecular epidemiology of carcinomas of the head and neck region, while his clinical focus is sarcomas of the head and neck region as well as thyroid cancer.
Crossing Barriers in Alzheimer’s
Drug Development
Lecture by
Ryan Watts, PhD
Director and Senior Scientist, Department of Neuroscience, Genentech
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Ryan Watts leads 10 Genentech laboratories focused on developing therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, ALS, pain and other neurological disorders. His research on the blood-brain barrier focuses on the ability of large molecules to transverse it. This effort has led to a new Alzheimer’s therapy and a pipeline of large molecule drugs focused on diseases affecting the central nervous system.
Precision Medicine for the Critically Ill
is Feasible and Necessary
Lecture by
Joe “Skip” Garcia, MD
Senior Vice President, Health Services; Interim Dean, College of Medicine; Endowed Professor of Medicine at University of Arizona
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Skip Garcia is internationally recognized for his genetic-based research on lung disease and for development of novel therapies for critically ill patients with acute inflammatory lung disease.
A key member of the University of Arizona’s senior executive team, Garcia provides academic leadership for the Arizona Health Sciences Center colleges: the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix, the UA College of Pharmacy, the UA College of Nursing and the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. He also has direct leadership oversight of the UA Cancer Center.
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Quantifying Biomolecular Interactions Using Nanopores: Not Seeing and Believing
Lecture by
Meni Wanunu, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Physics and Chemistry/Chemical Biology. Northeastern University/p>
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Meni Wanunu researches subtle changes in the chemical structure of biomolecules. These changes, called mutations, are sufficient to cause disease by producing a malfunctioning protein. Many of the ways miniscule chemical changes affect biomolecular function are still unknown.
To address these questions, the Wanunu Lab is developing novel techniques that probe how small molecular changes affect the global properties of macromolecules and biomolecules. Using various tools enabled by nanotechnology, the team investigates biomolecular structure and dynamics at their corresponding size scale.
Glucocorticoid Receptor:
Regulatory Selectivity, Logic and Allostery
Lecture by
Keith Yamamoto, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California-San Francisco, Executive Vice Dean of the School of Medicine, and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Keith Yamamoto's research is focused on signaling and transcriptional regulation by intracellular receptors, which mediate the actions of several classes of essential hormones and cellular signals. He uses both mechanistic and systems approaches to pursue these problems in pure molecules, cells and whole organisms.
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Design a Life for Yourself:
One Little Step at a Time
Lecture by
Story Musgrave, PhD
Landscape architect, businessman and former astronaut
ASU Biodesign Institute, Auditorium B105
727 E. Tyler St., Tempe, AZ 85287
Story Musgrave was an NASA astronaut for more than 30 years and flew on six spaceflights. He performed the first shuttle spacewalk on Challenger's first flight, was a pilot on an astronomy mission, conducted two classified Department of Defense missions, was the lead spacewalker on the Hubble Telescope repair mission, and on his last flight, he operated an electronic chip manufacturing satellite on Columbia.
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Gut Microbes and Their Role
in Obesity and Malnutrition
Lecture by
Rob Knight, PhD
Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Colorado Boulder
ASU Biodesign Institute Auditorium
727 E. Tyler St.
Rob Knight's research is focused on understanding biological evolution at scales ranging from individual molecules to whole ecosystems. He uses a combination of techniques drawn from fields ranging from computer science to molecular biology to understand the evolution, structure and function of the human microbiome (the microbes that inhabit each of our bodies) and, at a more fundamental level, the evolution of biochemical functions in random-sequence pools of RNA molecules.