Internal Seminar: Bandi Unit and Satoh Unit

Join us for October's 2nd Internal Seminar Series, from 17:00 to 18:00 in B503. This month's seminars feature the Collective Interactions Unit (Mahesh Bandi) and the Marine Genomics Unit (Nori Satoh).

Collective Interactions Unit (Mahesh Bandi)

Speaker : Aryesh Mukherjee

Title : Hydrodynamics of a spherical fishbot

Abstract : Animals that live in fluid environments, which include fish and insects, use numerous techniques to survive in a hostile environment. At small scales insects have to beat their wings many times a second, which does not allow much time for neuronal control to quickly change their flight patterns. However by using their wing elasticity they can passively change their flight modes within a short time scale. Motivated by such observations, we borrowed such passive techniques to design a small swimming robot, equipped with a flexible tail. The robot is capable of swimming at high speeds, but more importantly its thrust is maximized at a frequency where the elasticity of the tail couples strongly with the fluid environment. In this talk we will discuss the physical principles that governs the kinematics of this robotic device.

Marine Genomics Unit (Nori Satoh)

Speaker : Eiichi Shoguchi

Title : Comparative genomics of symbiotic algae in corals

Abstract : We are interested in endosymbiotic relationships between corals and Symbiodinium. The dinoflagellates, Symbiodinium, are known for their ability to sustain corals as symbiotic, photosynthetic partners. These unicellular eukaryotes, members of the Alveolata that also includes ciliates and apicomplexans, are characterized by a plethora of unique genome properties. These include permanently condensed liquid-crystalline chromosomes and immense nuclear genome sizes, often several times the size of the human genome. To develop genomic approach for exploring the molecular mechanisms of the symbiotic relationship, we have decoded the first draft genomes from both coral and Symbiodinium. In this seminar, I will briefly introduce about the genus Symbiodinium and the major findings from the draft genome as follows: (1) the genome comprises approximately 42,000 protein-coding genes, including highly duplicated genes for regulator-of-chromosome-condensation proteins. One-third of these have eukaryotic orthologs, whereas the others have similarities to those of bacteria. (2) Symbiodinium genes are enriched in spliceosomal introns (average 18.6 introns/gene), in which donor and accepter splice sites are unique. (3) The Symbiodinium genome displays unidirectionally aligned genes throughout the genome, forming a cluster-like gene arrangement. Then, I will discuss these and other recent works with the additional Symbiodinium genomes.