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December 01, 2013
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Date:29SundayDecember 2013Lecture
“Development of Peptide-Based Tools to Study Quorum Sensing in Staphylococcus aureus”
More information Time 11:00 - 11:00Title Organic Chemistry - Special Department SeminarLocation Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman BuildingLecturer Dr. Yftah Tal-Gan
Department of Chemistry University of Wisconsin-MadisonOrganizer Department of Molecular Chemistry and Materials ScienceContact Abstract Show full text abstract about Staphylococcus aureus is a dangerous human pathogen that uti...» Staphylococcus aureus is a dangerous human pathogen that utilizes cyclic autoinducing peptides (AIPs) to synchronize group-beneficial phenotypes in a process termed quorum sensing (QS). This deadly pathogen uses an impressive arsenal of virulence factors, all under the control of the accessory gene regulator (agr) QS circuit. To date, four AIP:AgrC pairs have been identified in S. aureus, allowing this pathogen to be organized into four specificity groups. The broad aim of my postdoctoral research is to characterize the agr QS system using chemical based tools and to develop strategies for clearing S. aureus infections using novel QS inhibitors and materials. I initiated my research working on the group-III S. aureus, the causative agent of most toxic shock syndrome cases in humans and emerging as a prevalent contributor to other human infections. To this end, I developed an optimized synthetic route for the preparation of the native AIPs and their analogs. Using these protocols, I was able to conduct an extensive structure-activity relationship study of AIP-III and find potent agr inhibitors that are active in the picomolar range. Notably, these compounds attenuate virulence factor production in wild-type S. aureus at picomolar concentrations; a significant discovery, as compounds that block QS in wild-type bacteria are rare. I addition, structural analysis of representative analogs provided the first molecular-level view of any AIP or analog thereof and suggested a mechanism for AgrC-III receptor modulation. This study could provide new pathway to the development of anti-virulence approaches in S. aureus. -
Date:29SundayDecember 2013Lecture
Solar-Thermal Power Generation - A Reality Check
More information Time 13:00 - 13:00Title AERI - Alternative Sustainable Energy Research Initiative Seminar SeriesLocation Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture HallLecturer Prof. Jacob Karni
Director of the Center for Energy Research, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of ScienceOrganizer Weizmann School of ScienceContact -
Date:29SundayDecember 2013Lecture
The Tousled Kinetochore and the Ins and outs of Mitosis
More information Time 14:00 - 14:00Lecturer Prof. Jill Schumacher
Dept. Genetics MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston TX USAOrganizer Department of Immunology and Regenerative BiologyContact -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Colloquia
Life Sciences Colloquium
More information Time 11:00 - 11:00Title TBDLocation Dolfi and Lola Ebner AuditoriumLecturer Prof. Giulio Superti-Furga Contact -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
JOINT STATISTICAL-CHEMICAL PHYSICS SEMINAR
More information Time 11:00 - 11:00Title An atomistic approach to modeling glass formation over multiple time scalesLocation Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman BuildingLecturer Dr. Joel Berry
UBC & McMaster UniversityOrganizer Department of Physics of Complex SystemsContact Abstract Show full text abstract about Phase field crystal (PFC) models describe dynamics in liquid...» Phase field crystal (PFC) models describe dynamics in liquid-solid systems over diffusive time scales and atomistic length scales. These basic features suggest a potential suitability for examining glass formation over time-temperature ranges inaccessible to conventional atomistic approaches. In this talk, the formulation and study of PFC models for simple colloidal and atomic/molecular glass forming systems will be discussed. It will be shown that models with a few minimal features can produce dynamics consistent with a fragile glass transition and the central predictions of mode-coupling theory. An observed correlation between fragility and a large dynamic-elastic length scale will be discussed. Finally, the issue of access to long times is highlighted by a physically motivated time scaling that results in qualitative agreement with basic glass transition phenomenology across 12 orders of magnitude in time. -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
State of the art of observations of SNe connected with GRBs
More information Time 11:15 - 12:00Location Nella and Leon Benoziyo Physics BuildingLecturer Elena Pian Organizer Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for AstrophysicsContact -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
Cardio-vascular and obesogenic effects of hormonal therapy for prostate cancer
More information Time 13:00 - 13:00Location Wolfson Building for Biological ResearchLecturer Prof. Pinthus Jehonathan
Department of Urology and Surgical Oncology McMaster UniversityOrganizer Faculty of BiologyContact -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
Hall Effect Gyrators and Circulators
More information Time 14:15 - 14:15Location Edna and K.B. Weissman Building of Physical SciencesLecturer David DiVincenzo, Juelich Organizer Department of Physics of Complex SystemsContact Abstract Show full text abstract about I will begin by explaining the very important role that micr...» I will begin by explaining the very important role that microwave circulators play in current microwave quantum optics work. The Faraday-effect circulator was invented in the 1950's, at which time circulators using the Hall effect were also considered. It was "proved"
then that a Hall bar cannot make a good gyrator (a close cousin to the circulator). This proof is flawed, and we have shown that good gyrators are possible for Hall angle -> 90 degrees (aka "quantum Hall state") if the device is contacted capacitively. We predict that the resulting Hall circulator can be much more miniaturized than the Faraday kind. We will discuss the relation of this device functionality to the physics of chiral edge magnetoplasmons in the Hall conductor.
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Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
Non-commutative computation (and more)
More information Time 14:30 - 14:30Location Jacob Ziskind BuildingLecturer Avi Wigderson
Institute for Advanced StudiesOrganizer Faculty of Mathematics and Computer ScienceContact -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
Defining the role for prefrontal cortex in memory-guided sensory decision-making
More information Time 15:00 - 15:00Location Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Brain ResearchLecturer Prof. Tatiana Pasternak
Dept of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of RochesterOrganizer Department of Brain SciencesContact Abstract Show full text abstract about : I will discuss how sensory information is represented and ...» : I will discuss how sensory information is represented and utilized in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during memory for visual motion tasks. During such tasks, monkeys compare either directions or speeds of two sequential motion stimuli separated by a delay and report whether a current stimulus is the same or different from another held in working memory. We analyzed spiking activity in DLPFC during such tasks, identifying putative local interneurons and putative pyramidal projection neurons, a likely source of top-down influences DLPFC may be exerting on upstream sensory neurons. This analysis revealed that neurons of both types are selective for the speed and the direction of motion, with tuning reminiscent of that recorded in the motion processing area MT. Throughout the memory delay, many DLPFC neurons showed anticipatory rate modulations as well as transient periods of activity reflecting the preceding stimulus, and this activity was represented primarily by the putative pyramidal neurons. During the comparison stimulus, responses of both cell types showed modulation by the remembered stimulus and their activity was highly predictive of the animals’ behavioral report. The similarity in the way DLPFC neurons represent different sensory dimensions provide evidence for the existence of generalized mechanisms in the DLPFC sub-serving all stages of sensory working memory tasks, shedding light on top-down influences this region may be providing to the upstream sensory neurons during such tasks.
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Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
Contracting the boundary of a Riemannian 2-disc
More information Time 16:00 - 16:00Location Jacob Ziskind BuildingLecturer Alexander Nabutovsky
University of TorontoOrganizer Faculty of Mathematics and Computer ScienceContact -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Lecture
מפגשים בחזית המדע
More information Time 19:30 - 21:15Location Davidson Institute of Science EducationOrganizer Science for All UnitHomepage Contact -
Date:30MondayDecember 2013Cultural Events
Jerusalem Ballet - Othello
More information Time 20:30 - 20:30Title Ballet based on the play by William ShakespeareLocation Michael Sela AuditoriumContact -
Date:31TuesdayDecember 2013Lecture
KCNH CHANNEL REGULATION: A STRUCTURAL POINT OF VIEW
More information Time 10:00 - 11:00Location Wolfson Building for Biological ResearchLecturer Dr. Yoni Haitin, Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle Organizer Department of Biomolecular SciencesContact Abstract Show full text abstract about The KCNH voltage dependent potassium channels are key regula...» The KCNH voltage dependent potassium channels are key regulators of cellular excitability,
involved in cardiac long QT syndrome type 2 (LQTS2), epilepsy, schizophrenia and cancer. The
intracellular domains of KCNH channels are structurally distinct from other voltage-gated
channels, and include an amino-terminal eag domain, composed from a Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS)
module and a PAS-cap region, and a carboxy-terminal cyclic nucleotide-binding homology
domain (CNBHD), connected to the pore domain through a C-linker domain. These specialized
intracellular domains are the site of many disease-causing mutations and bestow unique gating
and regulation on KCNH channels. Using fluorescence, x-ray crystallography and
electrophysiological approaches, we determined and validated the structure of the intracellular
complex of mEAG1 channel. Harboring many LQTS2 and cancer-associated mutations, the eag
domain-CNBHD interface involves three important regions: (i) the “intrinsic ligand” motif, a
unique structural feature of the CNBHD; (ii) the post-CNBHD region, known to mediate EAG
channels regulation by a variety of cellular signaling events; and finally, (iii) the PAS-cap region,
which constitutes the first 25 amino acids of the eag domain, and forms a highly conserved
amphipathic helix (αCAP). Together, this work provides a detailed physiological and
pathophysiological description of the intracellular domain of the KCNH family. -
Date:31TuesdayDecember 2013Lecture
The incidence and cross methods for efficient radar detection
More information Time 11:00 - 11:00Location Jacob Ziskind BuildingLecturer Shamgar Gurevich
University of Wisconsin-MadisonOrganizer Faculty of Mathematics and Computer ScienceContact -
Date:31TuesdayDecember 2013Lecture
Elucidating the genetic basis of amino acids metabolism in Arabidopsis and Maize seeds
More information Time 11:15 - 11:15Location Ullmann Building of Life SciencesLecturer Dr. Ruthie Angelovici
Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, USAOrganizer Department of Plant and Environmental SciencesContact -
Date:31TuesdayDecember 2013Lecture
LBP and TGFβ1 control divergent responses of MSCs to TLR activation: a possible mechanism to prevent loss of the stem cell pool
More information Time 12:15 - 12:15Location Wolfson Building for Biological ResearchLecturer Sarit Levin Organizer Department of Molecular Cell BiologyContact -
Date:31TuesdayDecember 2013Cultural Events
Northern Exposure
More information Time 12:30 - 12:30Title Music at NoonLocation Michael Sela AuditoriumContact -
Date:31TuesdayDecember 2013Lecture
The Simultaneous Type/Serial Token Model of temporal attention and working memory encoding, with applications in brain-computer interaction and lie detection
More information Time 12:30 - 12:30Location Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture HallLecturer Prof. Howard Bowman
Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems University of Kent at Canterbury, UKOrganizer Department of Brain SciencesContact Abstract Show full text abstract about The Simultaneous Type/ Serial Token (STST) model [Bowman &am...» The Simultaneous Type/ Serial Token (STST) model [Bowman & Wyble, 2007] was developed as a theory of how attention is deployed through time and how working memory representations are formed. It provides a neural explanation of perceptual phenomena, particularly those observed using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), e.g. attentional blink, repetition blindness, temporal conjunction errors and perceptual episodes, e.g. see [Wyble et al, 2011]. Its activation dynamics have also been tied to the P3 event related potential component [Craston et al, 2009], which has been argued to be an electrophysiological correlate of conscious perception. I will describe the STST model and its behavioural and electrophysiological verification. Finally, I will highlight applications of these RSVP-P3 effects in brain computer interaction and lie detection. I will also discuss what I consider to be the motivation for computational modelling.
[Bowman and Wyble, 2007] The simultaneous type, serial token model of temporal attention and working memory. H. Bowman and B. Wyble. Psychological Review, 114(1):182-196, January 2007.
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/pubs/2007/2419/index.html
[Wyble et al, 2011] Attentional episodes in visual perception. B.Wyble, M.Potter, H. Bowman, and M.Nieuwenstein. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General, 140(3):182-196, August 2011.
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/pubs/2011/3205/index.html
[Craston et al, 2009] The attentional blink reveals serial working memory
encoding: Evidence from virtual & human event-related potentials. Patrick Craston, Brad Wyble, Srivas Chennu, and Howard Bowman. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(3):182-196, March 2009.
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/pubs/2009/2715/index.html
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Date:31TuesdayDecember 2013Lecture
"The antiviral molecular machinery of human cells"
More information Time 13:30 - 14:30Title Guest SeminarLocation Wolfson Building for Biological ResearchLecturer Prof. Giulio Superti-Furga
Scientific Director, CeMM -Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna, AustriaOrganizer Department of Systems ImmunologyContact