Internal Seminar: Price Unit and Brenner Unit

Join us for October's Internal Seminar Series, from 17:00 to 18:00 in the Auditorium.
This month's seminars feature the Developmental Signalling Unit (Mary Ann Price) and the Molecular Genetics Unit (Sydney Brenner).

Developmental Signalling Unit (Mary Ann Price)

Speaker : Olga Elisseeva

Title : The tale of a lymphocyte

Abstract : Lymphocytes (type of a white blood cells) are the specialized cells of our immune system. They are the guardians of our well-being, responsible for keeping us safe from infections, allergies… and cancer. From the time of the first vaccine invention by Louis Pasteur humanity learned a lot about the function of human immune system. But our inability to fight still long list of infectious and non-infectious ailments (latest outbreak of Ebola is a good example) call for a better understanding of lymphocytes, that create an intricate world within our body. My talk will focus on how signaling mechanisms that are active during embryonic development affect functions and fate of adult human lymphocytes and how it could be applicable in modern medicine.

Molecular Genetics Unit (Sydney Brenner)

Speaker : Oleg Simakov

Title : Evolution of genome architecture in metazoans

Abstract : Over the past years, the broad sequencing of metazoan genomes has shed light onto the genomic diversity across the clade. While showing high conservation at the gene family level, the analyses reveal highly dynamic gene linkage (synteny) and non-coding region evolution. In my presentation, I will describe the different types of variation we observe, focusing on variation in synteny as well as repetitive element content, and their effect on transcription and development. I will discuss the importance of this data for the long-term evolutionary inferences. I will primarily focus the presentation on the recent insights from the genomic analyses of the hemichordate Saccoglossus kowalevskii (Deuterostomia) and the cephalopod Octopus bimaculoides (Lophotrochozoa).