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| Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
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5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
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“Catchers in the Rye: Ecology, Society, and Climate Change”
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| Description: |
Biolabs Lecture Hall, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Ave,
Cambridge, MA
With the human population now exceeding seven billion, links between ecosystem conditions and human health, security, and well-being are increasingly clear. Human activities continue to alter natural systems at local through global scales, and these actions feedback to profoundly affect society. Ecology has an important role to play in managing these links, as our capacity to reliably forecast the consequences of our actions will depend on a detailed understanding of the specific properties of ecological systems (e.g. ecology and natural history). And yet ecology, as a discipline, will need to more expansive, collaborative, and responsive if it is to have a strong voice in directing our response environmental issues. Here I describe attempts in my lab to address these issues. I focus primarily on the impacts of climate change, at scales ranging from thermal physiology of insects to global food security. The research I describe provides an example of the importance of broad collaborative frameworks that are often needed for ecology to influence policy. Throughout, I focus on the importance of integrating specific knowledge (natural history) with portable knowledge (general mechanism and theory) as a blueprint for an ecologist’s contribution to evidence based decision making.
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| Contact: |
Lisa Matthews
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| Wednesday, October 12, 2011
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10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
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Tufts University Neuroscience Seminar
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| Description: |
Speaker: Sheena Josselyn, PhD, Hospital for Sick Kids/University of Toronto
Title: “Continuing the Search for the Engram”
Location: Sackler B09, Tufts University, 145 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
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| Contact: |
Laila Lee
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| Thursday, October 13, 2011
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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Longitudinal studies of Aggressive Periodontal Disease in a vulnerable population: past present and future trends
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| Description: |
Speaker: Dr. Daniel H. Fine, UMDNJ Graduate School
Location: The Forsyth Institute, Seminar Room A, 245 First Street, 17th Floor, Cambridge
Abstract: Our model tests the hypothesis that oral carriage of Aa precedes initiation of localized aggressive periodontitis. We screen children from 11-16 years old for the presence of Aa and periodontal disease, enroll healthy Aa positive and Aa negative students and then follow them every 6 months for 2-3 years. In addition, we collect saliva and plaque and crevicular fluid from molar sites and retrospectively analyze students who progress from health to disease as well as controls who remain healthy. Thusfar we have screened 2,002 students and followed 92 Aa-negative and 72 Aa-positive students one year or more. 68 (54 were Aa-positive) of 164 developed attachment loss of 2 mm or greater. 14 students (all of whom were Aa-positive) developed bone loss, while 9 other students had disease at screening and thus were not followed longitudinally. In total 3.9% of students were categorized as having LAP. Over 80% of students were African American or Hispanic. In the longitudinal study of 25 cytokines evaluated in saliva MIP 1a was significantly elevated 6 months prior to bone loss. Lactoferrin iron concentration was significantly lowered in students prior to bone loss and at the time of loss. We are currently assessing site specific crevicular fluid levels in those subjects. In a subset of students who developed bone loss a consortium of microbes including Dialaster pneumosintes, Filofactor alocis and Parviromonas micra were elevated at specific sites prior to bone loss. In contrast, several species of Strep and Veillonella were depressed at these sites prior to bone loss. We are continuing to explore the relationship between these organisms in the category of potential disease.
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Pam Quattrocchi
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4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
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5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
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Week of Sunday, October 9, 2011
