Seminars
are held on Tuesdays from 4:00 p.m. at 114 Dana Research
Center, with refreshments served beforehand at 3:45.
All are welcome to attend!
April 10, 2007, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"The Ultimate Challenge of Drug Discovery: Developing Compounds Against Specialized Survivor Cells"
By:
Professor Kim Lewis
Northeastern University
Host: Professor Alain Karma
ABSTRACT:
April 4, 2007, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"Songbirds and Synfire Chains"
By:
Professor Henry Greenside
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Texas, Brownsville
Host: Professor Mark Williams
ABSTRACT:
Many species of songbirds do not sing instinctively but learn
their songs by a process of auditory-guided vocal learning
that starts with a kind of babbling that converges over
several months and through tens of thousands of iterations to
a highly precise adult song. How the neural circuitry of the
songbird brain recognizes, generates, and learns temporal
sequences related to song are important questions for
neurobiologists and also interest an increasing number of
physicists with backgrounds in nonlinear dynamics, condensed
matter physics, and device physics. I will discuss some of the
fascinating questions posed by recent experiments on
songbirds, especially in regard to extremely sparse neuronal
firing associated with song production. I will then discuss a
theoretical model known as a synfire chain that my group [1]
and others have invoked as a possible explanation for some
features of the experimental data.
[1] "Stable Propagation of a Burst Through a
One-Dimensional Homogeneous Excitatory Chain Model
of Songbird Nucleus HVC", Meng-Ru Li and Henry
Greenside, Physical Review E 74:011918 (2006).
February 6, 2007, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"The Phase Chip: Manipulating Phase Diagrams with Microfluidics"
By:
Professor Seth Fraden
Brandeis University
Host: Professor Mark Williams
ABSTRACT:
December 2, 2006, 2006, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"Nanoscale Imaging of Intracellular Fluorescent Proteins: Breaking the Diffraction Barrier"
By:
Samuel T. Hess
University of Maine
Host: Professor Mark Williams
ABSTRACT:
November 28, 2006, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"Interfacial Phenomena in the Formation of Nanoporous Gold by Dealloying"
By:
Professor Jonah Erlebacher
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
John Hopkins University
Host: Professor Alain Karma
ABSTRACT:
October 17, 2006, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"Monte Carlo Simulations of Supercoiled DNA With Intrinsic Bends"
By:
Andreas Hanke
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Texas, Brownsville
Host: Professor Mark Williams
ABSTRACT:
November 28 , 2006, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"Interfacial Phenomena in the Formation of Nanoporous Gold by Dealloying"
By:
Professor Jonah Erlebacher
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
John Hopkins University
Host: Professor Alain Karma
ABSTRACT:
December 5, 2006, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"Nanoscale Imaging of Intracellular Fluorescent Proteins: Breaking the Diffraction Barrier"
By:
Samuel T. Hesse
University of Maine
Host: Professor Mark Williams
ABSTRACT:
February 6, 2007, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:"The Phase Chip: Manipulating Phase Diagrams with Microfluidics"
By:
Seth Fraden
Brandeis University
Host: Professor Alain Karma
ABSTRACT:
X-ray diffraction of protein crystals reveals protein structure; information needed to advance fundamental understanding of protein function and to aid in drug development. Currently the physical process of crystallization is the bottleneck in protein structure determination.
We describe a microfluidic device denoted the Phase Chip, on which different microfluidic components have been fabricated in order to precisely meter, mix, and store nanoliter volumes of sample, solvent, and other reagents. Hundreds of nanoliter drops of different protein solutions can be stored in individual wells using a total of 1 microgram of protein. Each well is in contact with a reservoir through a dialysis membrane through which water, but not salt and protein can pass. Controlled kinetic manipulation of the solution chemical potential decouples the non-equilibrium processes of nucleation and growth, which is crucial for optimizing protein crystallization.
Movies illustrating the Phase Chip in action are available online.
http://www.elsie.brandeis.edu/
April 3, 2007, 4:00 pm Tuesday CIRCS Seminar
TITLE:TBA
By:
Professor Henry Greenside
Duke University
Host: Professor Alain Karma
ABSTRACT:
