Monthly Seminar Program
Guest Speakers:
Dr. Hugo van den Berg
Short talk:
Warwick Portfolio
Phd Speakers:
Jason Piper
Jessica Hearn
Fiona Loftus
11th January 2013
Seminar program
Time
12:30-13:20
Session
Lunch
Location
Common room
13:20-14:20
Invited guest speaker - Dr Hugo van den Berg
MOAC Seminar room
14:30-14:55
Walk to Humanities
Warwick Portfolio short talk
Humanities H0.60
PhD Presentation 1
Jason Piper
Humanities H0.60
15:20-15:40
Walk to Systems and break
WSB 325 & 336
15:40-16:20
PhD Presentations 2 & 3
Presentations consist of 15 minute talk (including questions) and audience rotates between two
rooms
WSB 325 & 336
Jessica Hearn
Fiona Loftus
WSB 325
WSB 336
Wine and Cheese
Common room
15:00-15:20
16:20 onwards
1
Presentation Description
Guest Speaker Session
Dr Hugo van den Berg
T cell modulation
T-cells are a vital type of white blood cell travelling around our bodies and
scanning for cellular abnormalities and infections. They recognise diseaseassociated antigens via a surface receptor called the T-cell antigen receptor
(TCR). If there were a specific TCR for every single antigen, no mammal
could possibly contain all the T-cells it needs. This seems absurd and suggests that T-cell recognition must, to the contrary, be highly degenerate. Yet
highly promiscuous TCRs would appear to be equally impossible: they are
bound to recognise self as well as non-self antigens. We review how contributions from mathematical analysis have helped to resolve the paradox of the
promiscuous TCR. Combined experimental and theoretical work shows that
TCR degeneracy is essentially dynamical in nature, and that the T-cell can
differentially adjust its functional sensitivity to the salient epitope, “tuning
up” sensitivity to the antigen associated with disease and “tuning down”
sensitivity to antigens associated with healthy conditions. This paradigm
of continual modulation affords the TCR repertoire, despite its limited numerical diversity, the flexibility to respond to almost any antigenic challenge
while avoiding autoimmunity.
Short talk
Warwick Portfolio
Warwick Portfolio for Postgraduate Researchers
Postgraduate researchers can now get support with their skills development
through a new initiative from the Graduate School, the Warwick Portfolio.
Through the Portfolio, postgraduate research students can access information on skills training opportunities and resources from across the University, including training offered at faculty level. In addition, the Portfolio
offers a private online space to maintain a record of training, experience and
achievements, as well as providing a place to reflect on and compile evidence
of skills development to show to potential employers.
Find out more and get started at go.warwick.ac.uk/warwickportfolio .
Any questions or comments after today’s presentation can be sent to
warwickportfolio@warwick.ac.uk .
Phd Session 1:
Jason Piper
Forays into digital genomic footprinting
Genomic DNase hypersensitivity assays have provided an unbiased glimpse
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into regions of open chromatin in Eukaryotic cells. In the last few years,
more sophisticated analyses of these data has allowed us to predict proteinDNA interactions with sub-20bp resolution. Here I will demonstrate an
algorithm and software framework developed in the first year of my PhD
(which is being prepared for publication) that objectively performs better
than previous approaches.
Phd Session 2:
Jessica Hearn
The Magical World of Drug Development
Although platinum-based anticancer drugs, like cisplatin, have shown exemplary success in the clinic, patients often suffer from inherent or acquired
drug resistance and severe side effects. The Sadler Group aims to develop
alternative, organometallic chemotherapy agents using a variety of transition metal-based complexes. This talk will discuss the benefits of using these
novel complexes, and the progress made to date at advancing them through
the drug development pipeline.
Phd Session 3:
Fiona Loftus
Spatio-temporal activity patterns in electrically excitable tissues
Tissues composed of electrically excitable cells such as those of the heart,
uterus and nervous system exhibit complex patterns of spatio-temporal activity that supports a variety of different physiological functions. In smooth
muscle, such as the uterine myometrium, Ca2+ ions control cell contraction.
Confocal imaging of slices of contracting uterine tissue loaded with Ca2+ sensitive dye allows the visualisation of Ca2+ dynamics. Accurate measurements of the calcium signal in a particular part of the muscle as a function of
time would enable further investigation of the relationship between changes
in the calcium concentration and muscle contraction. In order to obtain
these measurements, computer-vision algorithms are used to track motion
within the contracting tissue slice. The image stacks can then be processed
so that the transitory movement is removed and the localised calcium signal
in any area can be measured.
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