National and International Seminar Series 2014
Speaker:
Olov Andersson
Karolinska Insitute
Title:
Drug discovery in zebrafish for pancreatic ? -cell regeneration
Host: Jonas von Hofsten, UCMM
Place: Betula salen, bldg. 6M, NUS
National and International Seminar Series 2014
Speaker:
Frederique Le Roux
Station Biologique de Roscoff, France
Title:
Population, comparative and functional genomics identifies virulence-associated traits in vibrios infected marine invertebrate
Host: Marylise Duperthuy, MolBiol
Place: Betula salen, bldg. 6M, NUS
MIMS Special Seminar
Speaker:
Prof. Matthew K. Waldor
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Havard University
Boston, MA, USA
Title:
Monitoring pathogen population dynamics with deep sequencing
Host: Felipe Cava, MIMS
Place: Major Groove, Department of Molecular Biology, building 6K/L, NUS Campus
After the seminar, we welcome postdoc and PhD students to have a fika with Matthew Waldor while they discuss their last results.
If you are interested, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. describing your motivation to participate in this event
UCMR Extra seminar
Monday, 23 June 14.00, at Thymine, bld 6 K/L NUS
Speaker
Dr. Jordi Torrelles
The Ohio State University
Department of Internal Medicine
Center for Microbial Interface Biology
Title:
"Impact of the human lung mucosa on Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis"
Host:
Olena Rzhepishevska, PhD
Department of Chemistry
Umeå University
Tel. 0046722029918
Room Thymine/Molecular Biology, NUS area
Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Seminar
Speaker:
Lee Makowski
Northeastern University, Boston (MA), USA.
Title:
X-ray solution scattering characterization of the structural ensemble of adenylate kinase
Host: Magnus Wolf-Watz
Room Lilla hörsalen, KB3A9
—————————
KBC / UCMR Seminar
Adam Olsson
McGill University, Canada
Title:
"Acoustic Sensing of Bacterium-Substratum Interfaces"
Room: KB3B3, KBC
Host: Madeleine Ramstedt
Abstract:
Acoustic Sensing of Bacterium-Substratum Interfaces
Adam L.J. Olsson
McGill University
Bacterial adhesion to surfaces and subsequent biofilm formation is an important phenomenon in many areas including, amongst others, biomedical engineering, food processing and water treatment. Since biofilms essentially originate from only a few initial bacterial colonizers, understanding the mechanisms governing the initial bacterial adhesion event may help designing surfaces with the ability to manipulate biofilm formation.
This presentation explores the possibilities to utilize a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) to acoustically sense the mechanical properties of the bacterium-surface interface. The QCM-D is generally considered a mass balance, where a negative shift in the resonance frequency of a quartz crystal sensor is proportional to attached mass. However, in the case of bacterial adhesion, the surface attached bacterium possesses a resonance frequency that couples to the oscillation of the sensor surface. The resulting frequency shift of this “coupled resonance” is either negative or positive, depending on the ratio between QCM-D resonance frequency and the bacterium resonance frequency which, in turn, is determined by its mass and surface contact stiffness. Thus, analyzing bacterial adhesion in QCM-D within the context of “coupled resonance” offers a unique opportunity to monitor mechanical properties of bacterium-surface contacts.
Since the quartz sensor is mounted in a temperature controlled flow module, and because change in resonance frequency of the sensor is monitored in real time, it possible to follow dynamic changes of the bacterium-surface contact during both the initial adhesion event as well as during subsequent biofilm growth. Another important aspect of the method is that the stiffness, which is related to bond strength, is investigated without detaching the bacteria from the surface; hence the method is non-destructive.
National and International Seminar Series
Speaker:
Pierre-Yves Lozach
Dept of Infectious Diseases, Virology, Univ.Hospital Heidelberg, Germany
Title:
Bunyaviruses: host-to-host and cell-to-cell
Host: Anna Överby, ClinMi
Room: Betula Lecture Hall, Bldg 6M, NUS
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Seminar Series
Speaker:
Dr. Esther Bullitt
Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Title:
"Assembly Intermediates of the Shigella Type III Secretion Apparatus: Nascent and Primed Syringe Tips"
Hosts: Bernt Eric Uhlin & Magnus Andersson
Room KB3A9, Lilla hörsalen, KBC
Next generation tools for studying UPEC pathogenesis
Speaker: MD/PhD Swaine Chen, Singapore NRF Fellow, National University of Singapore and Genome Institute of Singapore, Singapore.
Title: "Next generation tools for studying UPEC pathogenesis"
Room: Major Groove
Hosts: Fredrik Almqvist and Sven Bergström
Abstract: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are extremely common infections affecting half of all women and contributing greatly to antibiotic prescriptions and therefore bacterial antibiotic resistance. Most UTIs are caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). The study of how UPEC cause UTIs is greatly facilitated by many genetic and molecular tools available for E. coli in general. However, these tools are usually developed in and for cloning or lab-adapted strains of E. coli, and they are sometimes not usable or not efficient in disease-causing clinical isolates such as UPEC.
My lab has developed two new tools with clinical strains in mind to improve our ability to study UTI. The first improves our ability to manipulate the UPEC chromosome. We have developed a general and modular negative selection (counterselection) system that functions without optimization in multiple clinical isolates of E. coli and Salmonella. Furthermore, this system functions up to 1000x better than all other reported systems in lab strains of E. coli. This system now enables the convenient creation of definitive genetic constructs directly in UPEC.
The second project improves our ability to detect UPEC during infection. We have designed a new GFP protein which we term vGFP that demonstrates a 30-50% improvement in bulk brightness while simultaneously enabling rational control of dimerization state. vGFP is therefore a better chromosomal reporter than other GFP variants and should improve our detection sensitivity of UPEC, which is paramount for tracking UPEC as they move through minor niches during infection.
Together these tools improve our ability to translate our mouse studies into human disease. I will conclude with our plans for performing niche-specific, single-cell resolved, simultaneous host and pathogen transcriptional profiling in direct UTI samples. In the future, this will hopefully allow us to do a full genomic translation of our lab studies into knowledge about human disease.
National and International Seminar Series 2014
Speaker:
Jose Perez Ortin
University of Valencia, Spain
Title:
Genome-wide studies of yeast mRNA turnover
Host: Tracy Nissan, Molecular Biology
Room: Lecture hall Betula, bldg 6M
National and International Seminar Series 2014
Speaker:
Matthias Gunzer
University of Essen, Duisburg, Essen
Title:
Immune Dynamics
Host: Constantin Urban, MIMS
NOTE ROOM:
Lecture room E04 Unod R1
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Seminar Series 2014
Speaker:
Andres Floto
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, and Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK.
Title:
The role of nerve growth factor in immunity to Staphylococcus aureus
Place: Lecture Hall KB3A9 – KBC building, 3rd floor
Host: Tor Ny
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
UCMR- Molecular Biology - Extra seminar
Speaker:
Andrew Darwin
Department of Microbiology, NYU Langone Medical Center, NY, USA
Title:
Surviving secretion: the Psp stress response of Yersinia enterocolitica
Host: Matthew Francis
For more information on Andrew Darwin's research follow the link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Darwin%20AJ[Author]&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23853578
Room Thymine, Department of Molecular Biology, Bldg 6K/L, floor1
National and International Seminar Series Spring 2015
Speaker:
Bernhard Singer
Institute of Anatomy, University Hospital Essen, Germany
Title:
CEACAMs (CEA-related Cell Adhesion Molecules): multifunctional receptors with therapeutic potential to combat inflammation, infection and cancer.
Host: Marene Landström
Room: Hörsal B, Unod T08, NUS
STINT Workshop at Department of Chemistry and UCMR
9:30-10:00
Speaker
Prof Thereza A. Soares
Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil
Title:
Molecular Models of Lipopolysaccharide Membranes
-----------
10:15-10:45
Speaker:
Alexandre José Macedo
Department of Pharmacy, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Title:
Brazilian biodiversity compounds against bacterial adhesion
Host:
Madeleine Ramstedt
Room: KB3A9
Abstracts (pdf-file)
More about Thereza Soares
http://www.dqf.ufpe.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=337%3Aprofa-thereza-soares&catid=1&Itemid=247
More about José Macedo:
http://www.ufrgs.br/lbdim/inicio/inicio-en/
National and International Seminar Series 2015
Speaker
Cristina Prat Aymerich
Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol/ Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Title:
Bridging clinics and research in infectious diseases
Host:Olena Rzhepishevska, Clinical Microbiology
Room: Betula bldg 6M, NUS
National and International Seminar Series 2015
Speaker:
Prof. Kenn Gerdes
Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen
Title:
Magic Spot and Bacterial Persistence
Host: Vasili Hauryliuk, MolBiol
Room: Hörsal B, UnodT 9, NUS
National and International Seminar Series 2015
Speaker:
Silvia Nicolis
Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences University of Milano-Biocca, Italy
Title:
The Sox2 transcription factor in brain development and in neural tumors: genome-wide studies in neural stem cells
Contact: Lena Gunhaga, UCMM
Room: Lecture Hall Betula, Bldg 6M
Abstract:
Sox2 is a transcription factor essential for pluripotent stem cells, also active in stem cells of different tissues. Silvia Nicolis' group investigates the role of Sox2 in the development of the nervous system, in particular of the brain, analysing the molecular mechanisms of its action. In parallel, they also study the possible role of Sox2 in brain tumors. One aim of their studies is to better understand, through the functional investigation of Sox2, its role in the hereditary pathology of the nervous system and in brain tumors, with possible implications for therapy.
National and International Seminar Series 2015
Speaker:
Irene Miguel Aliaga
Clinical Sciences Center, MRC, UK
Title:
Hungry Brains and Clever Guts
Host: Cedric and Alexandros, UCMM
Room: Betula , Bldg 6M