Tuesday September 26, 2017
12:30–1:30 pm
Science Complex, Physics Building, Room 101
Abstracts:
Dr. Marcia O’Connell, Department of Biology:
“From a wine bottle to…a rocking chair?: or how to convert an embryo with radial symmetry to an organism with bilateral symmetry”
In our lab we investigate the molecular regulation of early development in vertebrates. In particular we are interested in understanding the molecular regulation of pattern formation, and as such are studying the process by which a zebrafish embryo acquires bilateral symmetry. Our current model explores the way in which the synthesis of a particular protein – one we believe is required to make the dorsal side of the embryo – is temporally regulated so that this protein is made exactly when the embryo needs to form its embryonic backbone.
Dr. Paul Wiita, Department of Physics:
“Quasars and Blazars: Spectra, Variability and Relativistic Jets”
During a year-long sabbatical based at Stanford University I worked on over a dozen papers related to the spectral energy distributions and variability of active galaxies and what they can tell us about their structure and the physical mechanisms producing their immense powers. Ground based and space based measurements made in the radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma-ray bands were often combined to better understand the complex physics that can yield large brightness changes that can occur over observed timescales of days and even hours. Jets of plasma moving at close to the speed of light that are launched from very close to a supermassive black hole at a galaxy’s center are required to explain these phenomena. Not having to teach or attend meetings meant that I could also dabble in mathematical biology and linguistics and spend several weeks working in Bangalore and Shanghai and attend a conference in Nepal.
During a year-long sabbatical based at Stanford University I worked on over a dozen papers related to the spectral energy distributions and variability of active galaxies and what they can tell us about their structure and the physical mechanisms producing their immense powers. Ground based and space based measurements made in the radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma-ray bands were often combined to better understand the complex physics that can yield large brightness changes that can occur over observed timescales of days and even hours. Jets of plasma moving at close to the speed of light that are launched from very close to a supermassive black hole at a galaxy’s center are required to explain these phenomena. Not having to teach or attend meetings meant that I could also dabble in mathematical biology and linguistics and spend several weeks working in Bangalore and Shanghai and attend a conference in Nepal.
