Quantitative effects on gene expression levels (dosage) underlie much of the genotype-to-phenotype pathway. In this talk, I will introduce “analog genomics,” which seeks to combine quantitative experimental and computational tools to understand gene regulation in human variation and disease. I will first discuss genetic studies of variation in human face and brain shape that revealed a key role for transcription factors (TFs) acting in facial progenitor cells. I will then describe an experimental approach to precisely modulate TF dosage and its application in dissecting the role of the dosage-sensitive TF SOX9 in craniofacial variation and disease. Future work will build upon these findings to understand mechanisms dictating dosage sensitivity and robustness in transcriptional networks across diverse developmental contexts.
Event Details
The new year is often a time of reflection and planning. With this in mind, we asked several members of the Georgia Tech community to share what they are looking forward to — personally or professionally — in 2023.
“My lab moved to Cherry Emerson late last year. So, this year I am looking forward to hallway conversations with my new neighbors, and I am hoping to strike up some new collaborations at the interface between biophysics, microbiology, and evolutionary biology.”
—Peter Yunker, associate professor, School of Physics
“I’m looking forward to shaping a more fulfilling and engaging employee experience at Georgia Tech. In Human Resources, we’ve been working tirelessly to develop programs and practices that will help Tech recruit, support and develop our talented workforce. I’m excited for faculty and staff to experience positive culture shifts and hope we inspire enthusiasm as we share and celebrate the deep love that exists for working at Tech.”
—Skye Duckett, vice president and chief human resources officer, Georgia Tech Human Resources
“Personally, I am looking forward to spending more time with my wife, Amanda, and our dog, Buzz, at our family place on the coast. I'm also looking forward to watching my fellow 2001 alumnus, Coach Brent Key, lead our Yellow Jackets this fall!”
—William Smith, director, Office of Emergency Management and Communications
“I am very much looking forward to taking the Cultivate Well-Being strategic focus to the next level as we are able to start planning and implementation in earnest, guided by our roadmap. I am also excited about the prospect of enhancing our efforts to promote student belonging and facilitate student success as we launch the new John Lewis Student Leadership Pathways and move toward making the Black cultural center a reality. I am also planning to visit the Georgia Tech-Europe campus for the first time! On the personal front, I can’t wait for Season 7 of Outlander (Starz) or Season 2 of Shadow and Bone (Netflix). I also get to celebrate my blue point Siamese kitten turning one year old in February.”
—Luoluo Hong, vice president for Student Engagement and Well-Being
“I am looking forward to all that 2023 has to offer me personally. I am the one who’s usually immersed in my professional career and family and friends. However, this year, it’s all about me, and accomplishing some of the personal goals that I’ve set for myself. So, I am excited and looking forward to the completion of my first children’s book series. I have been working on it for a few years and it’s finally coming together. It will be released in August 2023.”
—Quinae’ A. Ford, administrative manager, GTRI Project Management Office
“The Georgia Tech Alumni Association has named this the Year of Engagement. I am excited about connecting with even more alumni and inviting them to gather on campus and with Yellow Jackets in their community, to grow together with our professional education programs, and to give back to each other and the Institute. We are closing in on 200,000 living alumni this year, so we are grateful for the partnerships we enjoy across campus to help us reach our vast constituency. We are striving to build an Alumni Association that is with our alumni in 2023 and for a lifetime. Go Jackets!”
—Dene Sheheane, MGT 1991, president of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association
Dr. Grochau-Wright will present an interactive seminar on how his teaching philosophy connects biostatistics to a general biology curriculum and to training undergraduate biologists holistically.
Hosted by: Dr. Chrissy Spencer and Dr. Shana Kerr
Event Details
Live via Zoom
ABSTRACT
Wiring an animal brain requires a staggering number of neurons (~1011 in humans) to precisely connect with a specific set of synaptic partners. Errors in this process are associated with disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. During the incredibly complex process of neuronal circuit formation neurons go through several, complex developmental steps. The steps involved are neuron-type specific and need to occur at precise times in development. This requires neurons to express the right set of genes at the right time, but how do developing neurons know which genes to express when?
Using a combination of single-cell RNA-Seq and classical genetics, we recently described a unique global temporal regulator in developing fly visual system neurons. We found that the steroid hormone Ecdysone induces synchronous expression of several dynamic transcription factors (TFs) during development across all neuron-types. While the hormone induces the same TFs across all visual system neurons, these factors control a cell-type specific set of target genes and depend upon neuron-type specific TFs for target gene specificity. This work demonstrates a general principle wherein timing is controlled by cell-extrinsic cues (such as hormones and stimulation of neuronal activity), which work with neuron-type specific transcription factors to ensure the proper timing of wiring-regulating genes.
Host: Dr. Patrick McGrath
Event Details
Live via Zoom
ABSTRACT
Neurons are highly specialized cells that face unique biological challenges to build our brains and nervous systems. To support rapid communication, neurons connect through synapses: specialized, asymmetric junctions capable of extremely fast signal transfer. Fundamentally, it is the location and properties of synapses that define the function of neural circuits and nervous systems. My research aims to determine molecularly how neurons build their synapses.
I have found that phase separation of core presynaptic scaffold molecules is a key mechanism in synapse formation. Biological phase separation is a phenomenon where proteins demix from the cytoplasm into dense, but fluid, condensates – a mechanism useful for concentrating and compartmentalizing cytoplasmic components. I found core active zone scaffold proteins, including SYD-2/Liprin-α, were capable of phase separation in vitro and in vivo at nascent synapses. Mutations that blocked phase separation resulted in defective synapse assembly and synaptic transmission, indicating phase separation is critical for synaptic development and function. Crucially, I found the defects were rescued when a phase separation motif from an unrelated protein was reintroduced into mutant SYD-2. Finally, I found presynaptic phase separation is activated through phosphorylation by the SAD-1 kinase, which relieves an autoinhibitory interaction within SYD-2. Together these results provide in vivo evidence that presynapses form through phase separation during development and indicate that condensate formation is a central assembly hub for synapse formation.
Host: Dr. Patrick McGrath
Event Details
Returning March 10–25, 2023, the Atlanta Science Festival is an annual public celebration of local science and technology. Curious people of all ages will explore the science and technology in our region and see how science is connected to all parts of our lives.
Join us as we partner with Science ATL to bring STEAM events to curious community members of all ages! The Georgia Tech Science and Engineering Day will occur as part of the festival on Saturday, March 11 in the Georgia Tech Bioquad area.
Visit atlantasciencefestival.org for more details about the festival and to find events near you.
Event Details
Registration is open for the Ocean Visions Biennial Summit 2023, Innovating Solutions at the Ocean-Climate Nexus, scheduled for the 4th-6th of April 2023 at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Through the 15th of February you can reserve your spot early and take advantage of our special early bird rates. Both in-person and virtual attendance options are being offered, with all plenary sessions streamed.
Space is limited so register now!
The Ocean Visions Biennial Summit 2023 will be a significant opportunity to advance the sharing of knowledge and solutions to critical challenges at the ocean-climate nexus.
The ocean is under threat from a host of pressures, but none loom larger than those caused by greenhouse gas pollution, which drives overheating and acidification. Ocean heating is in turn causing deoxygenation, sea level rise, and disruption of critical marine ecosystem functions and services.
In order to address this ocean-climate crisis, the world needs to generate and scale innovative solutions much more effectively and quickly.
Summit participants will share and discuss cutting-edge advancements in ocean sciences, engineering, policy, governance, and economics that support trajectory-changing solutions to the dangerous climate impacts on the ocean within 7-10 years.
The Summit will be held at Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia from 4-6 April 2023 and offers online attendance options. We welcome a diversity of solutions-oriented participants, including scientists, academics, policymakers, entrepreneurs, those with indigenous knowledge of oceans and solutions, innovators, and funders.
The conference is designed to be highly interactive with a mix of session types such as plenaries, lightning presentations, posters, an innovation showcase, and other networking interactions. The conference is structured around five core topical tracks, which will be addressed through concentrated, half-day sessions, in addition to other schedule session times.
- Ocean-Based Contributions to Global Decarbonization
- Ocean-Based Contributions to Carbon Dioxide Removal
- Ocean Ecosystem Repair and Regeneration
- Human Adaptation to a Changing Ocean
- Building a Global Community of Solvers at the Ocean-Climate Nexus
Event Details
Dear Astrobiology, Origins of Life, and Space Exploration Enthusiasts,
The ExplOrigins early career group invites you to join the 2023 Exploration and Origins Colloquium! This colloquium will have events on two days: a poster session and reception on the evening of February 9th and talks throughout the day on February 10th. Talks and the poster session will be held in person at Georgia Tech, with a possible virtual viewing/presenting option for talks. We are thrilled to feature keynotes from Dr. Amy Williams and Dr. Heather Abbott-Lyon. Our aim is to bring together researchers from around the Atlanta regional area, and to highlight early career projects from any field that explore, conceptualize, celebrate, and discover pieces of space, life’s origins, and astrobiology. Through this colloquium, we hope to:
- forge relationships between diverse individuals of various fields, experience levels, and backgrounds
- expand our awareness of local work and innovations
- encourage collaboration and interdisciplinary understanding
- provide a professional growth opportunity for early career individuals including undergraduates, graduates, and post-docs
General registration and abstract submission are through this form. All early career individuals (undergrads, grads, postdocs, research scientists, and more) are highly encouraged to submit abstracts, due by noon on January 19th. Late submissions for posters will be accepted through February 8th. To prepare your abstract you will need a title, author/affiliation list, and one descriptive paragraph. Announcement of selected speakers will be made on January 20th.
ExplOrigins’ inclusion of a wide breadth of fields joins our commitment for inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, and experience.
If you have any questions about the abstract submission process or any other aspect of the colloquium, please email the conference organizers at gtexplorigins@gmail.com.
Thank you for your consideration. We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
The organizing committee
Christina Buffo, Claire Elbon, Tatiana Gibson, Becca Guth-Metzler, Emmy Hughes, Sarah Kingsley, Jordan McKaig, Vahab Rajaei, Micah Schaible, and Sharissa Thompson
Event Details
Join Portal Atlanta's Life Sciences Startup Careers Networking Night!
Growing ecosystems require great companies and great people - and Atlanta life sciences is growing!
If you're a job seeker looking to break into the life sciences ecosystem in Atlanta, we would love to invite you to attend our upcoming event.
February 16th, 2023, 5pm
Ventanas, 275 Baker St, Atlanta, GA 30313
Founders, CEOs, and HR employees of local biotech and med tech startups that plan on hiring in the next 6 months will be in attendance, so it will be a great place to meet and network. Light bites and drinks will be served.
Questions?
Please reach out to Suna Lumeh (suna.lumeh@portalinnovations.com) for any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you there!
To learn more about Portal Atlanta, click here!
Event Details
Andrew Alexander, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Boston University
Livestream via Zoom
Dr. Alexander will present: The association cortex spatial transformation network
Spatial transformation is a critical neural computation in which the locations of stimuli in the external world, experienced via disparate sensory processes, are registered across distinct coordinate systems. During navigation, information about the configuration of external features is initially acquired via sensory modalities in egocentric coordinates, but is then transformed into a map-like internal model of locations, landmarks, and goals relative to the external world (i.e. allocentric coordinate frame) that can subsequently be utilized to guide actions. Here, I present work investigating the role of association cortices in spatial transformations including during ethologically-inspired predation behavior. These experiments reveal computational building blocks for mediating transformations between egocentric and allocentric coordinate frames, including the discovery of a subpopulation of retrosplenial cortex neurons that map the position of external features in egocentric coordinates. I have also explored how these signals could be synchronized with hippocampal processing in a state-dependent manner via network oscillations. Future work will utilize projection-specific neuroimaging and optogenetics to characterize and perturb dynamics in these neural circuits in both navigation and memory tasks, including during performance of a novel target pursuit assay designed to test the flexibility of navigation computations.
Host: Dr. Patrick McGrath
Event Details
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