BIG Summer Research Seminar: Brunilda Balliu, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Computational Medicine at UCLA

ZOOM CA, United States

TITLE: "FastGxC: a statistical framework for mapping context-specific regulatory variants using bulk and single-cell RNA-seq data." ABSTRACT: Recent studies suggest that context-specific eQTLs underlie genetic risk factors for complex diseases. However, methods for identifying them are still nascent, limiting their comprehensive characterization and downstream interpretation of disease-associated variants. In this talk, I will introduce FastGxC, a method to efficiently and powerfully […]

BIG Summer Research Seminar: Eric Deeds, Associate Professor, Integrative Biology & Physiology – Vice Chair, Life Sciences Core at UCLA

Boyer 159 611 Charles E. Young Dr. E., Los Angeles, CA, United States

TITLE: "A lack of distinct cellular identities in scRNA-seq data: revisiting Waddington’s landscape." ABSTRACT: Single-cell RNA sequencing is revolutionizing our understanding of development, differentiation and disease. Analysis of this data is often challenging, however, and tasks like clustering cells to uncover distinct cellular identities sometimes yields results that fail to align with existing biological knowledge. We analyzed […]

BIG Summer Research Seminar: Xia Yang, Professor, Integrative Biology and Physiology Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA

Boyer 159 611 Charles E. Young Dr. E., Los Angeles, CA, United States

TITLE: "Single Cell Multiomics Integration to Understand Complex Diseases." ABSTRACT: Recent advances in single cell multiomics technologies such as single cell RNA-seq, single cell ATAC-seq, and spatial transcriptomics have brought enormous opportunities that enable our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of pathophysiology at a single cell or cell type resolution. However, integrative analysis across single […]

BIG Summer Research Seminar: Xianghong Jasmine Zhou, Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UCLA

Boyer Hall 159

TITLE: "Liquid Biopsies for Precision Oncology." ABSTRACT: Liquid biopsies are new diagnostic approaches to profile molecular features of solid tumors by blood, saliva, urine, and other body fluids. Such approaches offer non-invasive options in early cancer detection, tumor sampling, continuous monitoring, and designing personalized therapeutic options. Therefore, liquid biopsies have the potential to transform the […]

BIG Summer Research Seminar: Jimmy Hu, Assistant Professor in the Division of Oral Biology & Medicine at the UCLA School of Dentistry

Boyer 159 611 Charles E. Young Dr. E., Los Angeles, CA, United States

TITLE: "Building a tooth from transcriptome to tissue morphogenesis" ABSTRACT: During craniofacial development, the oral epithelium begins as a morphologically homogeneous tissue that gives rise to locally complex structures, including the teeth, salivary glands, and taste buds. How the epithelium is initially patterned and later shaped to generate diverse organ and cell types remains largely […]

QCBio Research Seminar: Andras Gyorgy, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering – NYU Abu Dhabi

Boyer Hall 130

TITLE: “Inducible plasmid copy number control and a blueprint for a synthetic genetic feedback optimizer” ABSTRACT: The ability to control gene expression has been paradigm shifting for all areas of biological research, especially for synthetic biology. This talk will focus on two recent advancements in gene expression control. First, TULIP (TUnable Ligand Inducible Plasmid) is presented: a self-contained plasmid with inducible copy […]

Research-in-Progress (RIP) Seminar: Amantha O’Keeffe (Park), Graduate Student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

ZOOM CA, United States

TITLE: "Quantification of Absolute Metabolite Concentrations in T cells by Shotgun Metabolomics." ABSTRACT: Quantitative understanding of immunometabolism underlies improving immune functions and developing successful immunotherapies. Kinetic and thermodynamic laws rely on absolute, not relative, metabolite concentrations to map metabolism. However, until now, comprehensive absolute metabolite quantification has been inaccessible due to the need for iterative analytical […]

Research-in-Progress (RIP) Seminar: Alexis Weber (de la Torre-Ubieta and Geschwind), Graduate Student in Human Genetics

ZOOM CA, United States

TITLE: "Defining molecular dysregulation in Down Syndrome neocortex and neural progenitor cells." ABSTRACT: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common form of genetic, intellectual disability, which occurs 1 in 700 newborns and presents in patients as cognitive deficits, particularly diminished in learning, memory, and language development.1,2,3 DS symptoms result from impaired cortical development, which is […]