Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for April
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USC SleepHuB Special Seminar
Wed, Apr 03, 2024 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jerone A. Dempsey, Ph.D., Professor at University of Wisconsin, Madison
Talk Title: Sleep Apnea Pathogenesis and Cardiovascular Consequences
Abstract: Sleep apnea prevalence continues to expand throughout the world, even within general, non-clinical populations. We will examine two aspects of the problem. First we will present evidence to support the concept that obstructive sleep apnea is as much attributable to neurochemical control of the stability of central respiratory motor output as it is to upper airway collapsibility. Secondly we will explore the complex, controversial question of the cardiovascular sequelae of sleep apnea through examination of evidence in both humans and animal models supporting the sustained “after-effects” of chronic , intermittent hypoxemia on both sympathetic, vasoconstrictor activity and on the vascular endothelium.
Biography: Jerry Dempsey, Ph.D., is a world-renowned respiratory physiologist, who is currently Professor Emeritus of Population Health Sciences, Physiology and Kinesiology, and previously, Director of the John Rankin Laboratory of Pulmonary Medicine, at University of Wisconsin (UW), Madison. He has made many invaluable contributions towards unraveling the biological mechanisms underlying a diverse set of problems in respiratory physiology. These include: the time-dependent sensitization of carotid chemoreceptors in acclimatization to altitude; the limits of the healthy and diseased human pulmonary system for gas transport, respiratory muscle function and ventilatory output during exercise; and the role of chemical and non-chemical influences on the regulation of breathing and autonomic cardiovascular function during sleep, particularly in the pathogenesis of sleep apnea and the effects of novel treatments on these factors. His research has been funded continuously for over 45 years with grants from NIH, AHA, VA, DOD and UW. Dr. Dempsey was past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Physiology and Cross Talk Editor for the Journal of Physiology.
Host: BME Professor Michael Khoo, Co-Host CHLA Pulmonology & Sleep Medicine
More Info: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/363758496 (passcode: learn)
Location: Childrens Hospital (CHL) - Stauffer Conference Room A
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
Event Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/363758496 (passcode: learn)
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Apr 05, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Huimin Zhao, Ph.D., Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Biophysics and computational Biology, University of Illinois, IL
Talk Title: Synthetic Biology 2.0: the Dawn of a New Era
Abstract: Synthetic biology aims to design novel or improved biological systems using engineering principles, which has broad applications in medical, chemical, food, and agricultural industries. Thanks to the rapid advances in DNA sequencing and synthesis, genome editing, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), and laboratory automation in the past two decades, synthetic biology has entered a new phase of exponential growth. In this talk, I will highlight our recent work on the development of a self-driving biofoundry and AI/ML tools for synthetic biology applications and next-generation genome editing tools. Examples include but are not limited to: (1) BioAutomata: a self-driving biofoundry for pathway engineering and protein engineering, (2) ECNet: an AI tool for enzyme engineering, (3) CLEAN: an AI tool for enzyme function prediction, (4) FAST-RiPP & FAST-NPS: an automated and scalable platform for rapid discovery of bioactive natural products, and (5) zCRISPR-Cas12: a new tool for precise gene knock-in and highly efficient multiplex genome editing.
Biography: Dr. Huimin Zhao is the Steven L. Miller Chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), director of NSF AI Institute for Molecule Synthesis (moleculemaker.org), and Editor in Chief of ACS Synthetic Biology. He received his B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1992 and his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1998 under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Dr. Frances Arnold. Prior to joining UIUC in 2000, he was a project leader at the Industrial Biotechnology Laboratory of the Dow Chemical Company. He was promoted to full professor in 2008. Dr. Zhao has authored and co-authored over 430 research articles and over 30 issued and pending patent applications. In addition, he has given over 490 plenary, keynote, or invited lectures. Thirty-seven (37) of his former graduate students and postdocs became professors or principal investigators around the world. Dr. Zhao received numerous research and teaching awards and honors such as AIChE Daniel I.C. Wang Award, AIChE FP&B Division Award, ECI Enzyme Engineering Award, ACS Marvin Johnson Award, and SIMB Charles Thom Award. His primary research interests are in the development and applications of synthetic biology, machine learning, and laboratory automation tools to address society’s most daunting challenges in health, energy, and sustainability.
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - DRB 146
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Thu, Apr 11, 2024 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michel Sadelain, MD, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Talk Title: CD 19 CAR T cells: A paradigm for the living Drug Concept
Abstract: Natural immune responses fall short of eradicating tumors in most cancer patients. The genetic engineering of T cells offers a means to repurpose immune cells to remedy these limitations. The first successful embodiment of engineered immunity is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy targeting CD19. CARs are synthetic receptors that redirect and reprogram T cells to engage and eliminate cancer cells. CARs that target CD19, a cell surface molecule found in most leukemias and lymphomas, have produced remarkable responses in patients with refractory B cell malignancies. Four CD19 CAR therapies are currently approved by the US FDA. Over 1000 CAR therapy trials are currently listed on the clinicaltrials.gov website. Despite high complete remission rates obtained following a single CAR T cell infusion in patients with relapsed hematological malignancies, a number of patients will eventually relapse, pointing to the need to further improve CAR design and T cell engineering strategies to increase the antigen sensitivity and functional persistence of CAR T cells. Recent studies on the antigen sensitivity of CAR T cells have yielded valuable insights into the antigen density requirements and the role of scFv affinity and costimulatory structures incorporated into CARs to enhance tumor recognition and limit antigen escape. A novel family of CARs, termed HIT receptors, provides greater sensitivity, allowing to target tumors that escape conventional CARs. Logic-gated CAR T cells offer the prospect of more selective tumor targeting, exemplified by IF-BETTER gating. Novel CAR designs, such as 1XX, aim to reconcile the effector potency of CD28-based CARs with the greater T cell persistence afforded by 4-1BB based CARs. Genome editing is emerging as a valuable tool to transcriptionally control CAR expression, remodel the T cell receptor (TCR) and enable epigenetic programming to extend the functional persistence of immune effector cells. CAR T cells thus embody a novel paradigm for immunotherapy, providing “living drugs” for patients who fail to generate effective tumor immunity through active immunization or checkpoint blockade. The success of CD19 CAR therapy in cancer further provides a foundation for evaluating CAR T cells in other pathologies such as senescence-associated disorders and autoimmunity.
Biography: Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Cell Engineering and the incumbent of the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Sadelain’s research focuses on human cell engineering and cell therapy to treat cancer and hereditary blood disorders. His laboratory has made several seminal contributions to the field of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), from design to clinical translation. His group was the first to publish dramatic molecular remissions in patients with chemorefractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia following treatment with CD19 CAR T cells.
Host: Peter Wang, Dr. Lerman, Dr. C. Meltzer
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91924460032
Location: Harlyne J. Norris Research Tower (NRT) - Aresty Auditprium HSC
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91924460032
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Apr 12, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 11:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Tim Swager, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, MIT
Talk Title: Optical and Electronic Biosensors from Chemistry on Dynamic Colloids
Abstract: This lecture will focus on the design of systems that make use of colloidal materials to create sensors. In one theme, we make use of the reconfiguration of complex liquid emulsions (droplets) and related materials can be triggered chemically, biochemically, or with magnetic fields. Complex liquid droplets behave as optical lens systems and small changes in surface tensions can change focal lengths or cause systems to switch between optically transmissive or scattering states. Central to this scheme is that the fluids in the droplets have different densities and hence are aligned by the earth’s gravity. The induced optical changes can be triggered with chemical, photochemical, or biochemical stimuli and thereby create new generations of sensors. Demonstrations of these methods for the detection of enzyme concentrations, pathogens, and antibodies will be presented. In other efforts, we have used complex colloids to create functionalized versions of polymers that would ordinarily be insoluble and impossible to uniformly functionalize and create high quality nanocomposites. Thiol-Michael reactions were found to be highly efficient on different forms of poly(aniline) and poly(pyrrole). Functionalized poly(pyrrole)s can be deposited on porous cellulosic materials and we have used bioconjugated variants to create new generations of electronic lateral flow assays that are intrinsically quantitative and highly sensitive. These assays can be smart phone readable and promise to greatly expand the utility of this class of biosensors.
Biography: Timothy M. Swager is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A native of Montana, he received a BS from Montana State University in 1983 and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1988. After a postdoctoral appointment at MIT he joined University of Pennsylvania 1990-1996 and returned to MIT in 1996 as a Professor of Chemistry and served as the Head of Chemistry from 2005-2010. He has published more than 550 peer-reviewed papers and more than 120 issued/pending patents. Swager’s honors include: Election to the National Academy of Sciences, an Honorary Doctorate from Montana State University, National Academy of Inventors Fellow, The Pauling Medal, The Lemelson-MIT Award for Invention and Innovation, and Election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research interests are in design, synthesis, and study of organic-based electronic, sensory, energy storage, membranes, liquid crystals, and colloids. He has founded five companies (DyNuPol, Iptyx, PolyJoule, C¬2 Sense and Xibus Systems).
Host: Maral Mousavi
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100 B
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
