Friday Lecture Series

Jerry A. Weisbach Memorial Lecture

Marvin Minsky, Ph. D.,

Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and professor of electrical engineering and computer science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

March 19, 2010

3:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. (Refreshments, 3:15 p.m., Abby Lounge)

Caspary Auditorium

Recommended Articles:

McCarthy, J., M. Minsky, A. Sloman, L. Gong, T. Lau, L. Morgenstern, E. T. Mueller, D. Riecken, M. Singh, and P. Singh. 2002. An architecture of diversity for commonsense reasoning. IBM Systems Journal 41, (3): 530-539. Request this article from the Library

Minsky, M. 2007. 1956-1966 how did it all begin? – issues then and now. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 4314 LNAI, : 437-438

Minsky, M. 2007. Into the mind [10]. Commentary 124, (2): 12+14-15. Request this article from the Library

Minsky, M. 2000. Commonsense-based interfaces. Communications of the ACM 43, (8): 67-73. Request this article from the Library

Minsky, M., P. Singh, and A. Sloman. 2004. The St. Thomas common sense symposium: Designing architectures for human-level intelligence. AI Magazine 25, (2): 113-124.  Request this article from the Library

Minsky, M. 2000. Time for an aspirin [4]. Nature 403, (6770): 592

Popularity: 3% [?]

A quest that began over a decade ago with a chance observation has reached a milestone: the identification of a gene that may regulate regeneration in mammals. The absence of this single gene, called p21, confers a healing potential in mice long thought to have been lost through evolution and reserved for creatures like flatworms, sponges, and some species of salamander.  A report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence that mice lacking the p21 gene gain the ability to regenerate lost or damaged tissue.

Popularity: 5% [?]

University of California Irvine biologists Robert Steele and Hans Bode, along with nine other UCI scientists and an international team of researchers, have describes the genome sequence of  Hydra, an organism that continues to advance research on regeneration, stem cells and patterning.

The team discovered Hydra to have about the same number of genes as humans, sharing many of the same ones. Surprisingly, they also found genes linked with Huntington’s disease and with the beta-amyloid plaque formation seen in Alzheimer’s disease — two areas in which UCI has traditionally strong research programs — suggesting the possible use of Hydra as a research model for these two diseases.   Report of their discoveries was reported March 14  in NATURE.

Popularity: 5% [?]

A public workshop will be held to examine the perceived value of genetic and genomic technologies, both present and future, in clinical practice from different stakeholder perspectives.

This workshop will build on the concepts of clinical utility, personal utility, public utility, and economic value, and explore these different types of value through questions such as:  

-How do different stakeholders define the value of genetic and genomic technologies?   

-How do stakeholders evaluate the weight of one kind of value in relation to another? 

-How do people assess relative values to make health care decisions?

-How do these types of value relate, or not relate, to the monetary cost of the technologies? 

Presentations and discussions will explore the concept of value in regards to genomics and genetics, and how it affects the view of stakeholders and the way they make decisions about using these technologies. Stakeholders, including patients, payers, policy makers, and others will present their perspectives.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Friday Lecture Series

Ph. D. Recruitment Lecture

Antibodies in Immunity and Cancer

Michel C. Nussenzweig, M.D., Ph.D.,

Sherman Fairchild Professor, senior physician and head, Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Rockefeller University;investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

March 12, 2010

3:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. (Refreshments, 3:15 p.m., Abby Lounge)

Caspary Auditorium

Recommended Articles:

Callén, E., M. C. Nussenzweig, and A. Nussenzweig. 2007. Breaking down cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair during antigen receptor gene assembly. Oncogene 26, (56): 7759-7764

Dudziak, D., A. O. Kamphorst, G. F. Heidkamp, V. R. Buchholz, C. Trumpfheller, S. Yamazaki, C. Cheong, et al. 2007. Differential antigen processing by dendritic cell subsets in vivo. Science 315, (5808): 107-111

Jankovic, M., A. Nussenzweig, and M. C. Nussenzweig. 2007. Antigen receptor diversification and chromosome translocations. Nature immunology 8, (8): 801-808

Mietzner, B., M. Tsuiji, J. Scheid, K. Velinzon, T. Tiller, K. Abraham, J. B. Gonzalez, et al. 2008. Autoreactive IgG memory antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus arise from nonreactive and polyreactive precursors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, (28): 9727-9732

Tiller, T., E. Meffre, S. Yurasov, M. Tsuiji, M. C. Nussenzweig, and H. Wardemann. 2008. Efficient generation of monoclonal antibodies from single human B cells by single cell RT-PCR and expression vector cloning. Journal of immunological methods 329, (1-2): 112-124

Wardemann, H., and Nussenzweig, M. C. 2007. B-cell self-tolerance in humans. Advances in Immunology 95: 83-110

Popularity: 11% [?]

A study published online March 4, 2010 in Science Express reports the discovery that gut microbes may alter behavior and promote obesity and metabolic syndrome.  HHMI investigator Rob Knight at the University of Colorado did the analysis that led to this conclusion.  His study also showed that these bacteria may be transmissible between people.

Popularity: 12% [?]

11 February 2010

Popularity: 15% [?]

ScienceDirect (Elsevier) publishes quarterly lists of the most highly downloaded papers.  ScienceDirect, Elsevier’s full text platform, offers access to over 2000 peer reviewed science/technology/medical journals.   You may subscribe to custom lists of “hottest” articles by choosing subject categories or individual journal titles.    Sign up to receive email notices at “TOP25.” Congratulations to Paul Bieniasz and other members of the Aaron Diamond research team on being among the latest “TOP25″ in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology for their article in CELL on the activity of tetherin in HIV-1 infection.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Monday Lecture Series

Exploring the Evolution and Genetics of Adaptation and

Speciation in Tropical Butterflies

Marcus Kronforst, Ph.D.,

Bauer Fellow, FAS Center for Systems Biology

Harvard University

March 15, 2010

Welch Hall,  Level Two

4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m

Recommended Readings:

Chamberlain NL, Hill RI, Kapan DD, et al.  2009.  Polymorphic Butterfly Reveals the Missing Link in Ecological Speciation. SCIENCE   326(5954):847-850

Wheat CW, Watt WB.  2008.  A mitochondrial-DNA-based phylogeny for some evolutionary-genetic model species of Colias butterflies (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) . MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION    47(3):893-902

Salazar C, Jiggins CD, Taylor JE, et al.  2008.  Gene flow and the genealogical history of Heliconius heurippa . BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY    8:Article Number  132

Allen CE, Beldade P, Zwaan BJ, et al.  2008.  Differences in the selection response of serially repeated color pattern characters: Standing variation, development, and evolution. BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY    8:Article Number  94

Kronforst MR .   2008.  Gene flow persists millions of years after speciation in Heliconius butterflies. BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY   8 :Article Number 98

Kronforst MR, Gilbert LE.  2008.  The population genetics of mimetic diversity in Heliconius butterflies. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES    275(1634):493-500

Frentiu FD, Bernard GD, Sison-Mangus MP, et al.  2007.   Gene duplication is an evolutionary mechanism for expanding spectral diversity in the long-wavelength photopigments of butterflies. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION    24(9):2016-2028

Kronforst MR, Young LG, Gilbert LE.   2007.  Reinforcement of mate preference among hybridizing Heliconius butterflies.    JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY   20(1):278-285

Kronforst MR, Kapan DD, Gilbert LE.   2006.  Parallel genetic architecture of parallel adaptive radiations in mimetic heliconius butterflies. GENETICS   174(1):535-539

Parchem RJ, Perry MW, Patel NH.   2007.  Patterns on the insect wing. CURRENT OPINION IN GENETICS & DEVELOPMENT    17(4):300-308

Popularity: 19% [?]

Monday Lecture Series

The Birth, Life and Death of an Army Ant Superorganism

Daniel Kronauer, Ph.D.,

Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows

Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University

March 8, 2010

Welch Hall,  Level Two

4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m

Recommended Readings:

Kronauer DJC, Schoning C, d’Ettorre P, et al.   2010.  Colony fusion and worker reproduction after queen loss in army ants. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 277(1682):755-763

Tarapore D, Floreano D, Keller L.   2010.   Task-dependent influence of genetic architecture and mating frequency on division of labour in social insect societies. BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY 64(4):675-684

Kronauer DJC.   2009.   Recent advances in army ant biology (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) . MYRMECOLOGICAL NEWS 12:51-65

Powell S.    2009.   How ecology shapes caste evolution: linking resource use, morphology, performance and fitness in a superorganism. JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY   22(5):1004-1013

Berghoff SM, Kronauer DJC, Edwards KJ, et al.  2008. Dispersal and population structure of a New World predator, the army ant Eciton burchellii. JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY 21(4):1125-1132

Kronauer DJC, Berghoff SM, Powell S, et al.  2006.   A reassessment of the mating system characteristics of the army ant Eciton burchellii. NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN 93(8):402-406

Kronauer DJC, Johnson RA, Boomsma JJ.   2007.  The evolution of multiple mating in army ants. EVOLUTION 61(2):413-422

Kronauer DJC, Schoning C, Pedersen JS, et al.  2004.  Extreme queen-mating frequency and colony fission in African army ants.  MOLECULAR ECOLOGY 13(8):2381-2388      Request full article from Markus Library.

Popularity: 23% [?]