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Biozentrum Discovery Seminars

Biozentrum Discovery (BZD) is a seminar series, which alternates between talks by renowned guest speakers and seminars given by graduate students and postdocs from the Biozentrum. Since its establishment in 2018, the following seminars have taken place:  

March 15, 2024 
"Mitochondrial behavior"

Guest speaker: Prof. Jodi NunnariUniversity of California, Davis, and Altos, California, USA

Nunnari is a pioneer in the field of mitochondrial biology. The research in her lab is devoted to understanding how the behavior of mitochondria is controlled in cells.

March 8, 2024 (lecture hall U1.131)
“Adjusting organ size during development”

Guest speaker: Prof. Pierre Léopold
Institut Curie and French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm), Paris

Léopold is a developmental biologist and investigates the genetic mechanisms of the mechanisms of growth coordination allowing the maintenance of organ proportions.

March 1, 2024 
"The importance of rare states in RNA biology"

Guest speaker: Prof. Dina Grohmann 
University of Regensburg, Germany

Grohmann’s research focuses on biological heterogeneity and diversity and aims to understand how heterogeneity drives the function of molecular machineries.

February 16, 2024 
"Capturing transcription factors in their native chromatin environment"
Alicia Michael (group Ben Engel)

"A Glitch in the Matrix: how changes in the extracellular matrix impact the regenerative properties of muscle stem cells" 
Timothy McGowan (group Markus Rüegg)

February 9, 2024 
"Intrinsic and extrinsic regulators of choanoflagellate cell biology"

Guest speaker: Prof. Nicole KingUniversity of California, Berkeley, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), USA 

King's research focuses on choanoflagellates, unicellular and flagellate eukaryotes that are the closest living relatives of animals. Her laboratory studies these organisms as a way to reconstruct the origin of many-celled animals.

February 1, 2024 
"Capillary attraction underlies bacterial collective dynamics"

Guest speaker: Prof. Ned WingreenPrinceton University, USA

Wingreen is a theoretical physicist at Princeton University. His current research focuses on modelling intracellular networks in bacteria and other microorganisms, as well as studies of microbial communities.

January 31, 2024  
"The (40 years long) Hox timer"

Guest speaker: Prof. Denis DubouleUniversity of Geneva, Switzerland 

Duboule from the University of Geneva has a longstanding interest in the function and regulation of Hox genes, a family of genes responsible for the organization and evolution of animal body plans. 

January 30, 2024 
Molecular sightseeing on a tomographic tour through the cellular landscape

Prof. Ben Engel
Biozentrum, University of Basel

January 29, 2024  
"Eukaryotic Cell Cycle Control"

Guest speaker: Sir Paul Nurse, Francis Crick Institute, London, UK

Nurse is a geneticist and cell biologist. His research focuses on the molecular machineries that control cell reproduction, cell growth, and cell form. The Nobel laureate discovered how the cell controls its cycle of growth and division.

December 8, 2023 
"ER stress switches PDIA6 from client folding condensates to UPR signaling"
Anna Leder (group Sebastian Hiller)

"The regulatory landscape of 5′ UTRs in translational control during zebrafish embryogenesis"
Madalena Pinto (group Alex Schier)

December 1, 2023 
"The origin of eukaryotes"

Guest speaker: Prof. Laura EmeUniversity of Paris-Saclay, Paris, France

Eme is interested in evolutionary microbiology. She has a strong background in evolutionary bioinformatics and examined problems related to the origin and genome evolution of eukaryotic microbes and archaea.

November 17, 2023 
"Machine-learning guided sequence design for mRNA and gene therapy applications"

Guest speaker: Prof. Georg SeeligUniversity of Washington, Seattle, USA
 

The Seelig group is interested in understanding how biological organisms process information using complex biochemical networks and how such networks can be engineered to program cellular behavior.

November 10, 2023 
"Identification of a novel mTORC1 substrate"
Stefania Battaglioni (group Michael Hall)

"Encasing carbon fixation: the PyShell in marine diatoms"
Manon Demulder (group Ben Engel)

November 3, 2023 
"Design principles of tissue organization: how single cells cross biological scales"

Guest speaker: Prof. Prisca LiberaliFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biochemical Research, Basel

Liberali studies the dynamics of self-organization, and how cellular signaling dictates its spatial-temporal regulation.

October 27, 2023 
"Discovery and characterization of splicing regulatory networks implicated in brain disorders"

Guest speaker: Prof. Benjamin Blencowe; Donelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular ResearchUniversity of Toronto, Canada

Blencowe’s research team studies the mechanisms by which genes are regulated and coordinated to provide critical functions in mammalian cells. His work primarily focuses on a step in gene expression referred to as RNA splicing. Link

October 20, 2023 
“Exploring the role of alternative splicing in neuronal plasticity and learning”
Oriane Mauger (group Peter Scheiffele) 

"10 years into super-resolution microscopy - Upgrade to structured illumination microscopy 2.0"
Oliver Biehlmaier (IMCF)

October 6, 2023 (lecture hall U1.131)
"How does the tumour suppressor p53 protect us from cancer?"

Guest speaker: Prof. Andreas Strasser, University of Melbourne, Australia

His laboratory investigates the molecular mechanisms that cause cancer and those that determine the response of malignant tumour cells to diverse anti-cancer agents. Link

September 29, 2023 (lecture hall U1.131)
"Persistence of infant memories in the adult brain"
Maria Lahr (group Flavio Donato)

"Catalytic cycling of human mitochondrial Lon protease"
Niko Schenck (group Jan Pieter Abrahams)

September 1, 2023 (lecture hall U1.131)
"Finding your place: transcription factors as sensors and modifiers of chromatin" 

Guest speaker: Prof. Dirk Schübeler, Director of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI), Basel

Dirk Schübeler has done important work in epigenomics and regulatory genomics, in particular with the dynamics of genome-wide methylation patterns, their role in gene regulation, and the interplay between chromatin state and the actions of transcription factors. Link 

August 18, 2023 
"Translation-dependent mRNA localization during epithelial morphogenesis"
Cristina Tocchini (group Susan Mango)

"How bacteria make complex sugars: insights into the biosynthesis of a glucan virulence factor"
Jaroslaw Sedzicki (group Christoph Dehio)

June 30, 2023 

"Exploring the human condition with organoid and single-cell technologies"

Guest speaker: Dr. Gray Camp; group leader at the Institute of Human Biology (IHB), pRED, Roche, Basel

Camp's research focuses on using single-cell genomic and imaging technologies, together with stem-cell-derived organoids, to understand human development, disease, and evolution. Link

May 12, 2023 
“The small GTPase Arf1 maintains mitochondrial bioenergetics by modulating fatty acid metabolism”
Ludovic Enkeler (group Anne Spang)

“The chosen ones: How a few specialized nuclei maintain the muscle synapse”
Alexander Ham (group Markus Rüegg)

May 5, 2023 
"Super-resolution imaging of transcription in living cells"

Guest speaker: Prof. Ibrahim Cissé; Director of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany

Cissé's research focuses on live cell super-resolution imaging and single molecule characterisation. Link

April 28, 2023 
"Engineering epithelial organoid development"

Guest speaker: Prof. Matthias Lütolf; Scientific Director of the Roche Institute for Translational Bioengineering and a Professor of Bioengineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)

Lütolf is specialized in biomaterials, and in combining stem cell biology and engineering to develop improved organoid models. Link

April 21, 2023 
"Invincible? Surviving Staphylococcus aureus in human deep-seated infections"
Vishwachi Tripathi (group Dirk Bumann)

"Lost in 'co' translation: How a once thought tissue-specific RP paralog widely affects protein stability and degradation"
Arka Banerjee (group Mihaela Zavolan)

March 24, 2023 
"The functional cycle of the human Hsp70 chaperone BiP at atomic resolution"
Guillaume Mas (group Sebastian Hiller)

"Engineered kinases as a tool for phosphorylation of selected targets in vivo"
Katarzyna Lepeta (group Markus Affolter)

February 24, 2023 
"Mitochondrial proteostasis in aged skeletal muscle"
Laura de Smalen (group Christoph Handschin)

"Dynamic mechanism of the nuclear pore complex permeability barrier"
Toshiya Kozai (group Rod Lim)

January 27, 2023 
"Research acceleration with sciCORE scientific support services"
Geoffrey Fucile (sciCORE)

“Cortical control of forelimb movement” 
Wuzhuo Yang (group Silvia Arber)

December 16, 2022 
"Probing principles of gene regulation and genome architecture"

Guest speaker: Prof. Bas van Steensel, group leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam

Van Steensel studies chromatin genomics to gain fundamental insights that are essential for a comprehensive understanding of cancer. Link

December 9, 2022 
"Development and evolution of visual projections"

Guest speaker: Prof. Alain Chédotal, group leader at INSERM  and coordinator of the Department of Development, Vision Institute, Paris

A main focus of his research is the development of retinal connection and optic nerve regeneration. Link

December 2, 2022 
"Single-cell analysis of bacterial gene expression dynamics during starvation"
Théo Gervais (group Erik van Nimwegen)

" 'I’m A Survivor': The mechanisms of drug tolerance in a human pathogen"
Isabella Santi (group Urs Jenal) 

November 4, 2022 
"TreeKnit: Inferring Ancestral Reassortment Graphs of influenza viruses"
Pierre Barrat (group Richard Neher)

“Adipose mTORC2 is essential for sensory innervation in white adipose tissue”
Irina Frei (group Mike Hall)

September 30, 2022 
"Keeping the balance: A role for Bone Morphogenic Proteins in controlling neuronal networks"
Zeynep Okur (group Peter Scheiffele)

"Genomics Facility Basel - Technologies, Applications & Opportunities"
Christian Beisel (Genomics Core Facility)

September 23, 2022 
"Stem cell-derived organoids model human disease"

Guest speaker: Prof. Hans Clevers, Head pRED Roche, and group leader at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Clever is a pioneer in organoid research. His lab developed a technique to grow stem cells into organoids. Link

August 19, 2022 
"Polarized secretion from killer cells of the immune system"

Guest speaker: Prof. Gillian M. Griffiths; group leader at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Cambridge, UK

Griffiths was one of the first to show that immune cells have specialized mechanisms of secretion, and identified proteins and mechanisms that control cytotoxic T lymphocyte secretion. Link

June 17, 2022 
"Exploring behavioral functions of human sleep disorder genes"
Will Joo (group Alex Schier)

“Give it a shot! – A bacterial nanoweapon for a silent spread inside eukaryotic cells” 
Miro Plum (group Marek Basler)

June 3, 2022 
"Nanobacteria: Key players in the earth’s carbon cycle"

Guest speaker: Prof. Stephen Giovannoni, Head of the Oregon State University Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, USA

The marine microbiologist studies how biology interacts with the atmosphere and the oceans to change global patterns in the movement of carbon and other elements. Link

May 13, 2022
"Studying host-microbiome ecology in humans using mathematical models and data collected from hospitalized patients"

Guest speaker: Dr. Joao Xavier; group leader at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA

Xavier combines computation and experiment to investigate how cells interact with each other to produce complex cell group behaviors. Link

April 22, 2022 
"SEEDing the genome to manipulate the proteome. A novel method for scarless gene tagging"
Gustavo Aguilar (group Markus Affolter)

"Setting an Evolutionary Trap with Phages"
Anouk Bertola (group Médéric Diard)

April 1, 2022 
"Decoding Transcriptional Processes and Kinetics with Single-Cell Transcriptomics"

Guest speaker: Prof. Rickard Sandberg, group leader at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Sandberg’s team is studying global aspects of gene regulation by combining genome-wide experimental and computational techniques to deepen the understanding of the molecular nature of cell identities in development and disease. Link

March 25, 2022 
“An AAV/CRISPR tool for functional gene interrogation in adult skeletal muscle”
Marco Thürkauf (group Markus Rüegg)

"T3 Pharma - bugs as drugs"
Christoph Kasper (T3 Pharmaceuticals)

March 18, 2022 
"Spatial transcriptomics/genomics: dissecting the neurobiology of olfaction"

Guest speaker: Prof. Bogdan Bintu, group leader at the Department of Bioengineering and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, USA

Bintu develops and applies new imaging tools to understand how gene regulation information propagates across scales from the molecular events within the nucleus to the organization of cells into tissues, organs and organisms. Link

February 25, 2022
"Emergent properties of bacterial swarming behavior"
Hannah Jeckel (group Knut Drescher)

"Mechanistic insights into the regulation of Neurofibromin, a molecular switch of cellular proliferation"
Malik Chaker-Margot (group Timm Maier)

November 25, 2021  
“Germ cell migration: Finding the path toward immortality”

Guest speaker: Prof. Ruth Lehmann, Director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

Lehmann studies the biological origins of germ cells, and how they transmit the potential to build a completely new organism to their offspring. Link

November 19, 2021 
“Mapping high-resolution cell states in single-cell RNA-seq data”
Pascal Grobecker (group van Nimwegen)

"How microRNAs regulate stem cell proliferation and fate decisions in the adult stem cell niche"
Fabrizio Favaloro (group Doetsch)

October 29, 2021 
“Cooperation, competition and warfare in bacteria: from model systems to the microbiome”

Prof. Kevin Foster, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,

October 22, 2021 
"Shortening of 3’ UTRs in most cell types composing tumor tissues implicates alternative polyadenylation in protein metabolism"
Dominik Burri (group Zavolan)  

“Cryo-ET: The Power of Visualizing Cellular Processes in situ at Nanoscale”
Dr. Ashraf Al-Amoudi (group Maier)   

October 15, 2021 
"The RNA exosome complex: the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of RNA degradation"

Prof. Elena Conti, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany
Host: Camilo Perez 

September 24, 2021 
“Mechanistic basis of choline import involved in pneumococcal teichoic acid modification"
Natalie Baerland  (group Perez) 

"Midbrain locomotor region involved in more than just locomotion"
Harsh Kanodia (group Arber)

June 25, 2021 
"From bacteriophage defense systems to novel genetic tools and back"

David Bikard, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

June 18, 2021 
"Deciphering mechanisms of human brain size determination using cerebral organoids"

Madeline Lancaster, MRC Lab of Molecular Biology, Cambridge

June 11, 2021 
"Sense, aim and fire - bacterial response to cell-cell contact"
Lin Lin (Basler group)

"Diving into the zone of uncertainty, its role in fear learning"
Ed Li (Zan group)

May 28, 2021 
"Mitotic chromosome mechanics"

Daniel Gerlich, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA), Vienna, Austria

May 21, 2021 
"Barcoding the structural proteome"

Paola Picotti, ETH Zurich

April 30, 2021 
"Topogenesis of membrane proteins: more than hydrophobicity"
Marco Janoschke (Spiess group)

"Karyopherin composition alters nuclear pore complex barrier function"
Joanna Kalita (Lim group)

April 16, 2021 
"Brain mitochondria and metabolism on the links between stress, anxiety and motivation"

Carmen Sandi, EPFL, Lausanne

April 9, 2021 - cancelled
"Explorations of brain dynamics in reptilian sleep and cuttlefish camouflage"

Gilles Laurent, Director, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt a. M., Germany

March 26, 2021 
"Combinatorial action of temporally segregated transcription factors as a mechanism for cell diversification"

Luisa Cochella, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria

March 19, 2021 
"Tasting from within: a new sensory interface with the cerebrospinal fluid"

Claire Wyart, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle epiniere, ICM, Paris

March 12, 2021 
" 'Zoom'ing in on organelle communication - systematic exploration of contact sites"

Maya Schuldiner, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

March 5, 2021 
"Manipulation of host protective immune activation by pathogenic mycobacteria"
Tan Hop Huynh (Pieters group)

"Gene families with stochastic exclusive gene choice underlie cell adhesion in mammalian cells"
Simone Faravelli (Becskei group)

February 19, 2021 
"Genome regulation during developmental transitions: New views of old questions"

Eileen Furlong, EMBL Heidelberg

February 12, 2021 
"A switch protein generates bimodal distribution of nucleotide second messenger"
Margo van Berkum (Jenal group)

"Research Instrumentation - A new core for the NBZ"
Ludovit Zweifel (Biophysics Facility)

February 5, 2021
"Synthetic Developmental Biology - Interspecies comparison and manipulation of organoids"

Miki Ebisuya, EMBL Barcelona

January 29, 2021 
"Cell-type specialization is encoded by specific 3D genome structures"

Ana Pombo, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin

December 11, 2020 
"Inhibitor or substrate? Getting the answer through structural biology"
Dongchun Ni (Stahlberg group)

"Unleashing the therapeutic potential of mTOR inhibition"
Stefan Imseng (Aukera)

November 20, 2020 
"A tale of two fish: how gene family evolution underlies cell type diversification"
Dr. Max Shafer (Group Schier)

"Chopsticks to produce bacterial second messenger"
Dr. Raphael Teixeira (Group Schirmer)

October 16, 2020 
"Distinct roles of Dpp/BMP morphogen dispersal and signaling during Drosophila wing development"
Dr. Shinya Matsuda (Affolter group)

"Arginine promotes liver cancer"
Dr. Dirk Mossmann (Hall group)

September 18, 2020 (
"Transient interactions in the early wiring of cortical circuits: from neuronal guideposts to immune cells"

Sonia Garel, Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Superiore, IBENS, Paris

September 11, 2020 
"From membrane repair to metabolism – unexpected insights from a muscular dystrophy"
Dr. Regula Furrer, Group Christoph Handschin

"High pressure switches ß1-adrenergic receptor to the active state in the absence of G protein"
Dr. Layara Abiko, Group Stephan Grzesiek

July 3, 2020 
Ninja Warrior: How a bacterial pathogen hijacks host signaling
Dr. Isabel Sorg, Group Christoph Dehio

The dynamic brain of a future mother: adult neurogenesis during pregnancy
Dr. Zayna Chaker, Group Fiona Doetsch

June 19, 2020
Diverse organization & lamina-induced stretching of embryonic chromosomes
Dr. Ahilya N. Sawh, Group Susan Mango

Technology news from Biophysics, FACS and Imaging Core Facilities
Tim Sharpe, Janine Bögli and Alexia Loynton

June 5, 2020 
Eating and self-eating: targeting autophagy to endosomes
Dr. Valentina Millarte, Group Martin Spiess

The dynamic mechanism of 4E-BP1 recognition by mTORC1
Dr. Raphael Böhm, Group Sebastian Hiller

May 15, 2020 
Restoring muscle scaffolding for a stable future: Towards a gene therapy for LAMA2 neuromuscular disease
Dr. Judith Reinhard, Group Markus Rüegg

FERARI: a platform involved in endocytic recycling
Harun-Or Rashid, Group Anne Spang

February 21, 2020
Proteomics is coming of age - can it retire the Western Blot?
Dr. Alexander Schmidt, Head Proteomics Core Facility

Bacterial kinase activation by second messenger induced domain liberation
Elia Agustoni, Group Tilman Schirmer

December 6, 2019
Less is more when it comes to mTORC1 and muscle aging, 
Dr. Daniel Ham, Group Markus Rüegg

The transcriptional biography of developing tissues
Dr. Yiqun Wang, Group Alex Schier

November 28, 2019
"Sorting of small RNAs for secretion in human exosomes"

Nobel laureate Prof. Randy Schekman, University of California, Berkeley 

November 8, 2019
Observing bacterial pathogen evolution with long read sequencing, 
Dr. Nicholas Noll, Group Richard Neher

Control of neuronal synapse specification by alternative splicing, 
Dr. Lisa Traunmüller, Group Peter Scheiffele

October 21, 2019
"Dynamic structural biology: Bringing the structures of nucleic acids to life" 

Prof. Hashim M. Al-Hashimi, Duke University
October 4, 2019
"Heterogeneity in host-pathogen encounters: single cell activities of Salmonella in infected host tissues", Francesca Cianfanelli, Group Dirk Bumann

"Identifying a good animal model for age-related muscle loss in humans", Anastasiya Börsch, Group Mihaela Zavolan
September 27, 2019
"The self-assembling brain - through the eye of a fly", Prof. Robin Hiesinger, Institute of Biology, Free University Berlin, Host: Peter Scheiffele
September 6, 2019
"A.I. in microscopy: Deep learning in image restoration and analysis", Oliver Bielmaier, IMCF

"Targeting Coronin 1 to kill and tolerate", Rajesh Jayachandran, Group Jean Pieters
June 21, 2019
"The first steps in vision: cell types, circuits and repair", Prof. Botond Roska, Director Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) Host:Fiona Doetsch
June 7, 2019
"Brainstem circuits for diversification of skilled forelimb movements", Ludwig Ruder, Group Silvia Arber

"Finding n.e.m.o. RNAi" Jadiel Wasson, Group Susan Mango
May 3, 2019
"Going too fast to notice anything", Thomas Julou, Group Erik van Nimwegen

"When death is not enough: The evolution of the T6SS as a lytic weapon in microbial warfare", Andrea Vettiger, Group Marek Basler
March 29, 2019
"The structure of discoidal high-density lipoprotein particles", Stefan Bibow, Group Sebastian Hiller

"PERsuading muscle to move around the clock", Julien Delezie, Group Christoph Handschin

February 22, 2019
"Fat, friend or foe?: Regulation of glucose homeostasis", Mitsugu Shimobayashi, Group Michael Hall

"Fat: friend and foe! How cholesterol fine tuning is required for development", Carla Cadena del Castillo, Group Anne Spang

February 1, 2019
"Long-term single cell quantification: New tools for old questions", Prof. Timm Schroeder, D-BSSE, ETH Zurich, Host: Prof. Fiona Doetsch
December 7, 2018
"Should I stay or should I go: Bacterial decision-making for host colonization", Benoit Laventie, Group Urs Jenal

"Motivation to socialize: Recognizing others through reward", Hanna Hörnberg, Group Peter Scheiffele
November 27, 2018
"How synapses work: Architecture and mechanisms of neurotransmitter receptors and transporters", Eric Gouaux, Vollum Institute, OHSU, USA, Host: Camilo Perez