All graduate students registered in MCB*6100 and MCB*6200 for the Fall and Winter semesters are required to attend these weekly lunchtime "brown bag" graduate seminar presentations.

Fridays @ noon in SCIE 1511

Winter 2012

Jan 20, 2012
12:00 p.m. Zhenhua Xu (Advisor: S. Rothstein) - Involvement of microRNAs in response to nitrogen and phosphorus limitation in maize
12:45 p.m. - no seminar

Jan 27, 2012
12:00 p.m. Chevonne Carlow (Advisor: A. Nassuth) - Investigation of the CBF gene family in Vitis
12:45 p.m. John McLean (Advisor: L. Mutharia) - Diversity of free-living amoeba as an indicator of pathogens and potential tool for pathogen surveillance in dairy farms and fish aquaculture

February 3, 2012
12:00 p.m. Katie Holland (Advisor: A. Clarke) - Development of a novel assay to study peptidoglycan biosynthesis and characterize membrane-bound lytic transglycosylase (MltF)
12:45 p.m. Jessica Erickson (Advisor: S. Rothstein) - Evaluating a role for the senescence-associated NAC family transcription factor NAC087 in abiotic stress response and cross-talk between stress induced signaling pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana

February 10, 2012
12:00 p.m. Kathleen Murphy (Advisor: C. Khursigara) - Effects of environmental stimuli on the composition and function of Pseudomonas aeruginosa outer membrane vesicles
12:45 p.m. Emily Vis (Advisor: C. Khursigara) - Investigating the biofilm forming potential of probiotic bacteria

February 17, 2012
12:00 p.m. Sean White (Advisor: M. Kimber) - Enzymatic and structural analyses of PA5540: a γ-carbonic anhydrase of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1
12:45 p.m. Claire Martin (Advisor: N. Jones) - Generation and characterization of podocyte cell lines with altered Nck expression

March 2, 2012
12:00 p.m. Francesca Herlihey (Advisor: A. Clarke) - Characterization of the C-terminal domain of the flagellar protein FlgJ from Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium
12:45 p.m. Rebecca Whitney (Advisor: A. Clarke) - Modifying the reaction mechanism of endoglucanase Cel6A from Cellulomonas fimi from inverting to retaining by site directed mutagenesis and chemical alkylation

March 9, 2012
12:00 p.m. Ian Brown (Advisor: E. Allen-Vercoe) - Assessment of prebiotic properties and the influence of enterotype on novel maize resistant starches
12:45 p.m. Cameron Harris (Advisor: N. Jones) - Evaluating the role of Nck adaptor protein signaling in cardiovascular development and EnMT

March 16, 2012
12:00 p.m. Adam Mark (Advisor: A. Clarke) - Characterization of a cellulase module and screening for enhanced cellulolytic activity
12:45 p.m. Jahdiel Larraguibel (Advisor: T. Van Raay) - Investigating the role of Wnt8 in NKD1’s activation and localization

March 23, 2012
12:00 p.m. Talya Amor (Advisor: R. Lu) - Determining the role of transcription factors Luman and LRF in HPA axis stress signalling
12:45 p.m. Sarah Massey (Advisor: M. Emes) - Investigation of protein phosphorylation and protein complex formation in mutants of maize and their influence on starch synthesis

March 30, 2012
11:45 a.m. Lily Nasanovsky (Advisor: I. Tetlow) - Branching enzymes as agents for modifying glucan structure in industrial processing
12:30 p.m. Laura New (Advisor: N. Jones) - Nephrin tyrosine phosphorylation is required for maintenance of podocyte foot process architecture and response to injury
12:45 p.m. Jim Cooper (Advisor: N. Jones) - Investigation into a putative role for the phosphotyrosine adaptor protein ShcD in neoplastic dedifferentiation, metastasis, and invasion


Fall 2011

Oct 7
12:00 p.m. Rabih Rafouyel (Advisor: R. Mosser) - Regulation of heat-induced cell death by pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins
12:45 p.m. Priya Dhanoa (Advisor: R. Mullen) - Distinct pathways mediate the sorting of tail-anchored proteins to the plastid outer envelope

Oct 14
12:00 p.m. Anna Quach (Advisor: A. Bendall) - Testing the functional equivalence of Dlx5 & Dlx6 proteins
12:45 p.m. Mahsa Vazin (Advisor: R. Nazar) - Transcript termination by RNA polymerase I in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Oct 21
12:00 p.m. Agata Zienowicz (Advisor: D. Mangroo) - Investigating the function of NOL11 in the mammalian nuclear tRNA export process
12:45 p.m. David Marom (Advisor: D. Mangroo) - Investigation of nucleolar import mechanism of tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase in S. cerevisiae

Oct 28
12:00 p.m. Melora Mackey (Advisor: J. Robb) - Localization of Verticillium resistance in tomatoes using tissue-specific promoters 
12:45 p.m. David Sychantha (Advisor: A. Clarke) - X-ray crystallographic determination of peptidoglycan O-acetyltransferase B2 from Bacillus cereus

Nov 4
12:00 p.m. Sergio Jaramillo-Tatis (Advisor: G. Harauz) - Characterization of the Golli-Interacting Protein and its interactions with BG21 and the 21.5 kDa isoform of MBP
12:45 p.m. Jennifer Knapp (Advisor: M. Baker) - Investigating the role of Rad51 in ectopic homologous recombination in mouse hybridoma cells

Nov 11
12:00 p.m. Brittany Hunt (Advisor: C. Whitfield) - Characterization of WbbF, a putative glycan synthase involved in the assembly of O:54 antigen from Salmonella enterica sv Borreze
12:45 p.m. Madhulika Sareen (Advisor: J. Mathur) - Understanding the Arp2/3 complex mediation in F-actin dependent ER organization

Nov 18
12:00 p.m. Kyla Cochrane (Advisor: E. Allen-Vercoe) - Is Fusobacterium nucleatum an enabling pathogen?  Investigating a role for Fusobacterium nucleatum in synergistic infections
12:45 p.m. Naheda Sahtout (Advisor: J. Wood) - The importance of the cytoplasmic carboxyl terminal sequence of ProP for ProP function, localization and interaction


MCB*6100 Research Topics in Molecular and Cellular Biology

The development and refinement of the skills of scientific communication, emphasizing writing skills, in the context of developing a thesis proposal. This course is mandatory for all students in the MCB graduate program and is normally completed within the first two (2) semesters of the program.

MCB*6200 Scientific Communication in Molecular and Cell Biology

The development and refinement of the skills of scientific communication emphasizing oral presentation. Students will present a public seminar on a contemporary subject in the molecular biosciences culminating in a description of the proposed research. This course is mandatory for all students in the MCB program.

Past Seminars

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