Seminar Series

Fall Semester 2020

Hosted Remotely Wednesdays: 1:10 p.m.

September 16, 2020

Susan Elias, Vector-borne Disease Lab, Maine Medical Center Research Institute (Host: Barry Logan)

Of ticks and Monhegan

September 30, 2020

Nina O. Therkildsen, Cornell University

Contemporary Evolution and Adaptive Divergence in Open Ocean Environments:  New Insights and Applications to Fisheries Management

October 14, 2020

Jared Talbot, University of Maine (Host: Bill Jackman)

Muscle development and differentiation in zebrafish offer insights into human diseases

October 21, 2020

Nikki Trailer-Knowles, University of Miami (Host: Justin Baumann)

Understanding coral immunity and its applications for coral reef restoration

November 4, 2020

Veronica Flores, Furman University (Host: Hadley Horch)

The experienced palate is a smart palate: A behavioral and neural investigation of taste learning

November 18, 2020

Beronda Montgomery, Michigan State (Host: Barry Logan)

Seeing The Light: Plant Color Vision and Developmental Acclimation

December 2, 2020

Alix Howell, Dartmouth College and the VA Medical Center, White River Junction (Host: Anne McBride)

CRISPR/Cas:  A method for removing viral genomes from infected cells

January 31, 2020
P.J. Lariviere, Northeastern University (Host: Anne McBride) 
Division with a twist: Linking the bacterial cytoskeleton to cell wall synthesis

February 7, 2020
Muneer Hasham, Jackson Labs (Host: Jack Bateman and Dani Calles)
From basic biological concept to a clinical trial

February 14, 2020
Rytas Vilgalys, Duke University (Host: Bruce Kohorn) 
Communication and coevolution between forest trees and their sympbiotic fungi 

February 21, 2020
Daniel Powell, Brandeis University (Host: Patsy Dickinson)
Is coupling between fast and slow oscillator circuits in Cancer borealis temperature compensated?

February 28, 2020
Christopher Bennett, Harvard University (Host: Erika Nyhus)
Investigating functional vision in cerebral visual impairment using virtual reality and neuroimaging

March 6, 2020
David Schulz, University of Missouri (Host: Patsy Dickinson) 
Variability, plasticity and identity of neurons in “simple” circuits

September 12, 2019
Jason Aloisio, Wildlife Conservation Society
Green roof ecosystems and their role in establishing resilient cities

September 19, 2019
Jarod Rollins, MDIBL
Dietary restriction promotes longevity though post-transcriptional regulation

October 3, 2019
Tim Divoll, Indiana State University
Foraging niche overlap in two forest-dependent bats (Myotis)

October 24, 2019
Tom Wessels, Antioch University
Self-organization, Co-evolution, Resiliency and Stability

October 31, 2019
Gerald Downes, UMass Amherst
From swimming to seizures: Zebrafish behavioral mutants as models for human epilepsies

November 14, 2019
Gary Langham, Chief Scientist for Audubon
Climate Change and the Power of Everyday Actions

November 21, 2019
Rachel Hovel, University of Maine
Community-based research reveals diverse fish migrations in the changing Arctic

February 7, 2019
Michelle Green, Bates College (Host: Erika Nyhus)
From photons to categories: representational transformations enabling high-level vision

February 14, 2019
Tom Daniel, University of Washington (Host: Amy Johnson)
A swell idea: molecular views of radial motions during muscle contraction

February 28, 2019
David Conover, Compass Light Productions (Host: Brittany Jellison)
Behold the Earth: A Cinematic Reply to Edward O. Wilson’s Appeal

March 7, 2019
Julie Wells, Jackson Labs (Host: Stephanie Richards)
Using Mouse Models to Understand Cancer Biology

March 28, 2019
Brian Cheng, UMass Amherst (Host: Brittany Jellison)
A cross-scale approach to exploring global change in the ocean

April 4, 2019
Sara Wasserman, Wellesley College (Host: Patsy Dickinson)
State-dependent decision making in flying Drosophila

April 11, 2019
Kristy Townsend, University of Maine (Host: Rick Thompson)
Remodeling in the Adult Brain: Impacts on Appetite and Calorie Burning

April 18, 2019
Gerry Carter, Ohio State University (Host: Patty Jones) 
Cooperative relationships in vampire bats

April 25, 2019
Derrick Morton, Emory University (Host: Anne McBride) 
Using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Genome Editing to Model Human Neurological Disease in Drosophila

May 2, 2019
Carol Lee, University of Wisconsin (Host: Mike Palopoli)
Rapid Genomic Evolution during Habitat Invasions

September 13, 2018
Richard Mooi, California Academy of Sciences (Host: Amy Johnson)
Deep time and deep seas: Enigmatic urchins and starfish and what bizarre animals can tell us about life on Earth

September 24, 2018
Tom Fleischner, Natural History Institute (Host: Nat Wheelwright)
Natural History: Reciprocal Healing and the Path of Delight

September 27, 2018
Barbara Mellone, University of Connecticut (Host: Jack Bateman) — Honors Talk
Centromeres: Getting a Grip of Chromosomes

October 4, 2018
Andrew Reinmann, Environ. Sci. Initiative CUNY & Hunter College (Host: Barry Logan)
The Forgotten Season: Winter Climate as an Important Mediator of Forest Response to Climate Change

October 25, 2018
Erik Peterson, University of Alabama (Host: Crystal Hall, DCSI)
Finding the Organism in Computational History of Biology

November 1, 2018
Carlos Prada, University of Rhode Island (Host: Dave Carlon)
Reconstructing the Past to Predict the Future of Caribbean Corals Under Climate Change

November 8, 2018
Terence Capellini, Harvard (Host: Mike Palopoli) 
When Evolution Hurts: The Regulatory Control of Knee Development and Osteoarthritis Risk

November 15, 2018
Peter Buston, Boston University (Host: Dave Carlon)
Behaviors of coral reef fishes provide strong support for some major new ideas about the evolution of cooperation.

November 29, 2018
Amy Newman, University of Guelph (Host: Patty Jones) — Honors Talk
Stress and Sex in the Wild: How the Early-life Environment Influences Adult Stress Physiology

December 6, 2018
Ruth Jacobson Franklin, Yale University (Host: Anne McBride)
The Immune System Beyond Host Defense

February 1, 2018
Sarah Kingston (Bowdoin College)
Omic-scale inference in a changing ocean:  from genotype and phenotype to adaptation and speciation

February 8, 2018
Alix Purdy (Amherst College)
Bacterial regulatory networks controlling both host and microbial metabolism: a tale in two Vibrios

February 15, 2018
Brian Beliveau (Wyss Institute)
Oligo-based technologies for visualizing genome organization in individual cells

February 22, 2018
Gary Mawe (University of Vermont)
Serotonin as a dynamic and therapeutically relevant signaling molecule: Lessons from the little brain in the gut

March 1, 2018
Eve Marder (Brandeis University)
Individual Variability and Robustness to Environmental Perturbations in a Rhythmic Motor System

March 8, 2018
Barbara Mellone (University of Connecticut)
Centromeres: Getting a Grip of Chromosomes

March 29, 2018
Yui Suzuki (Wellesley College)
Growing back a leg: lessons learned from beetle limb regeneration

April 12, 2018
Hellen Hou (Columbia University)
The Brainstem Hub: Central Neural Control of Brain-Body Coordination”

April 26, 2018
Lee Goldstein (Boston University)

May 3, 2018
Joe Thompson ‘91 (Franklin and Marshall)
The consequences of shape: Non-uniform muscle dynamics in hollow, cylindrical muscular organs

September 7, 2017
Mike Webster, Cornell University
Exploring the Sexual Phenotype

September 21, 2017
Leah Wilson, Bowdoin College
Staying close for comfort; investigating the neural mechanisms that promote grouping behavior

September 28, 2017
Paula Schlax, Bates College
RNA decay in Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease

October 5, 2017
Benjamin Harrison, University of New England
Structural Dynamics of Adult Peripheral Neurons

October 12, 2017
Brett Huggett, Bates College
Structure and Function of Whole-tree 3D Xylem Networks in Response to Past, Present and Future Drought 

October 19, 2017
Eric Joyce, University of Pennsylvania
Unraveling the molecular basis of chromosome interactions

November 2, 2017
Sean Mullen, Boston University
Disentangling population history and mimetic wing pattern evolution among hybridizing butterfly lineages

November 16, 2017
Nichole Price, Colby College & Bigelow Laboratory
Can local mitigation strategies buffer coastal acidification?

February 9, 2017
Dr. James Olson, Wright State (Hadley Horch host)
The Good and the Bad of Brain Cell Volume Regulation

February 16, 2017
Shannon Elf, Harvard (Anne McBride host)
Dissecting the molecular mechanism of mutant calreticulin in bone marrow cancers

February 23, 2017
Ruth McCole, Harvard (Jack Bateman host)
Ultraconserved elements: a 300 million year old mystery

March 2, 2017
Bradley Woodworth, University of Geulph (Nat Wheelwright host)
Full annual cycle population ecology of a migratory songbird

March 30, 2017
Robert Cluss, Middlebury College (Barry Logan host)
The Acetylproteome of the Lyme Disease Pathogen: Implications for Host Adaptation and Pathogenesis

April 6, 2017
David Rand, Brown University (Mike Palopoli host)
Genes and Environment in Evolution and Disease: Common features from our different genomes

April 13, 2017
Robert Johnston, Johns Hopkins University (Jack Bateman host)
Stochastic patterning of photoreceptor in fly and human retinas

April 20, 2017
Hannah ter Hofstede, Dartmouth (Hadley Horch host)
Sensory Ecology: the acoustic world of bats and insects

May 4, 2017
Andrew Mountcastle, Bates College (Amy Johnson host)
Bumper Bees: How flying insects cope with a lifetime of wing collisions

September 15, 2016
Manuel E. Diaz Rios (Patsy Dickinson host)
Identification and characterization of trunk-controlling neural networks in mammals 

September 22, 2016
David Van Vactor, Harvard University (Jack Bateman host)
Regulation of Synapse Development in Drosophila 

September 29, 2016
Jonathan Losos, Harvard University (Mike Palopoli host)
Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Evolution of Anoles

October 6, 2016
Robert Ross, University of New Hampshire (Erika Nyhus host)
Genetic variation and individual differences in recognition memory

October 13, 2016
Kevin Bonham, Harvard University (Jack Bateman host)
Extensive Horizontal Gene Transfer in Cheese-Associated Bacteria

October 20, 2016
Becca Selden, Rutgers (Amy Johnson host)
Climate, fishing, and marine food webs: predator-prey interactions in a changing ocean

October 27, 2016
Dan Cristol, William & Mary College (Nat Wheelwright host)
Oh Shenandoah: Mercury and songbirds in a changing world

November 3, 2016
Sandra Rieger, MDI Biological Laboratory (Bill Jackman host)
Jekyll & Hyde functions of hydrogen peroxide: At the crossroads of sensory axon de- and regeneration

November 17, 2016
Hernan Garcia, U.C. Berkeley (Jack Bateman host)
In the Shadow of the Fly: Molecular Mechanisms of Shadow Enhancers in Development

December 1, 2016
Thew Suskiewicz, University of Laval (Dave Carlon host)
Dynamic times for the coastal ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine: how can we predict future when what we see now isn’t the way it used to be?

December 8, 2016
Carolyn Tepolt, Smithsonian Institution (Dave Carlon host)
Adaptation in the sea: insights from marine invaders

March 3, 2016
Daniel Mennill, University of Windsor, Ontario  (Nat Wheelwright)
Love Songs and Battle Cries:  Cooperative and Competitive Acoustic Signals in Birds

March 10, 2016
Sharon Swartz, Brown University (Amy Johnson)
Bats Aren’t Birds or Bugs: Skin, Stretching, Sensing, Spindles and Spinning in Evolution’s Youngest Flapping Flyers

March 31, 2016
Melissa Pespeni, University of Vermont (Mike Palopoli)
Evolutionary Genomics in a Diverse and Changing World: Studies in Sea Urchins and horned beetles

April 7, 2016
Geoffrey Ganter, University of New England (Hadley Horch)
How Fruit Flies Might Help Treat Chronic Pain

April 14, 2016
Clare Bates Congdon, Bowdoin College
Computational Inference of Regulatory Elements for Genes Important in Kidney Development

April 21, 2016
Robert Jackman, Boston University (William Jackman)
Finding the Tumor-Secreted Factors that Cause Whole-Body Muscle Loss in Cancer

May 5, 2016
Melissa Maginnis, University of Maine, Orono (Anne McBride)
Cellular Determinants of Viral Infection: Proper ID Required