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| Monday, November 29, 2010
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Noon - 1:30 PM
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Northeastern University Biology Colloquium
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| Description: |
Dr. John Hogenesch (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine)
Title: Systematic and systems approaches to understand the circadian clock
Location: 90 Snell Library, Northeastern University
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| Contact: |
Laura McGann
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4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
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The Singleton Lectures: Geometry and the Brain Series: Shape, symmetries, invariants and statistics
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| Description: |
Speaker: L. Mahadevan, Visiting Professor, BCS, MIT
Location: MIT 46-3002
Brain anatomy is immediately distinguished by its geometrically complex rugged landscape of sulci and gyri. Brain function is associated with how neurons are wired together and how they fire. Understanding the origins of the structure and connectivity in the brain requires the natural language of shape, i.e. geometry, combined with aspects of physics. This set of four lectures will provide a brief (and biased) introduction to some questions about the geometry of the brain and geometry in the brain. How can one describe these features quantitatively? How can one understand their origin? How might we compare brains from different organisms in a species and across different species? How can we characterize the patterns associated with sensory modalities in different cortii? And what is the current state of answers to these and related questions.
http://bcs.mit.edu/newsevents/calendar.php
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| Contact: |
Kathleen Dickey
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| Tuesday, November 30, 2010
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12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
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| Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
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Plants in New England (PINE)
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| Description: |
Plants in New England
(formerly NEAM)
When: Wednesday December 1, 2010, 6 pm.
Where: Whitehead Institute McGovern Auditorium
(http://www.wi.mit.edu/about/directions.html)
Speakers:
Mary Gehring (Whitehead Institute)
Pam Weathers (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Levi Yant (Kramer Lab, Harvard University)
Talks will begin a bit after 6 pm lasting about 35 minutes each with a 5 minute break in between. Pizza and beverages will be available beginning at 5:45 pm.
Please keep the following dates open for future meetings:
Feb 2, 2011 WPI
Apr 6, 2011 location TBA
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| Contact: |
chip celenza
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| Thursday, December 2, 2010
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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Clostridium phytofermentans: A novel biocatalyst for cellulosic ethanol production
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| Description: |
Location: The Forsyth Insitute
245 First St., 17th Fl., Seminar Room A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Speaker: Susan B. Leschine, PhD
Professor, Dept. of Microbiology
University of MA Amherst
Abstract: Plant biomass is the most abundant and renewable alternative to petroleum on Earth; however, the costs of converting cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals currently impede its widespread use. Clostridium phytofermentans is a novel microbe isolated from forest soil near Massachusetts' Quabbin Reservoir that actively and efficiently decomposes plant biomass producing ethanol as the primary product of fermentation. C. phytofermentans possesses exceptional nutritional versatility and is capable of decomposing all fermentable components of biomass, including cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and starch. Reflecting its nutritional versatility, the genome of this microbe includes a remarkable variety of genes encoding glycoside hydrolases and numerous ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-family sugar transporters. The genome also encodes three different polyhedral microcompartments with the capacity to compartmentalize portions of fermentation pathways that divert intermediates to various products. Whole genome expression profiles have confirmed the importance of ethanol production in the overall metabolism of the microbe. Additionally, C. phytofermentans adjusts its metabolism and the production of degradative enzymes in response to growth substrate. Facile adaptation of metabolism to different feedstocks is a major strength of this microbe for fuel and chemical production. The properties of C. phytofermentans indicate its value of as a model organism for understanding the direct conversion of cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals, a biomass-processing scheme in which enzyme production, plant biomass decomposition and fermentation are consolidated in a single step, yielding significant economic advantages.
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| Contact: |
Pam Quattrocchi
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2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
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The Singleton Lectures: Geometry and the Brain Series: Morphogenesis of the brain Biophysics of growth, folding and vascularization patterns
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| Description: |
Speaker: L. Mahadevan, Visiting Professor, BCS, MIT
Location: MIT 46-3002
Brain anatomy is immediately distinguished by its geometrically complex rugged landscape of sulci and gyri. Brain function is associated with how neurons are wired together and how they fire. Understanding the origins of the structure and connectivity in the brain requires the natural language of shape, i.e. geometry, combined with aspects of physics. This set of four lectures will provide a brief (and biased) introduction to some questions about the geometry of the brain and geometry in the brain. How can one describe these features quantitatively? How can one understand their origin? How might we compare brains from different organisms in a species and across different species? How can we characterize the patterns associated with sensory modalities in different cortii? And what is the current state of answers to these and related questions.
http://bcs.mit.edu/newsevents/calendar.php
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| Contact: |
Kathleen Dickey
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| Friday, December 3, 2010
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1:40 PM - 2:45 PM
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Week of Sunday, November 28, 2010
