Virginia Tech Life Science Seminars

The Virginia Tech Life Science Seminars (VTLSS) is a university-wide seminar series funded by the Fralin Life Sciences Institute. The seminars take place on Fridays at 12:00pm at the Fralin Auditorium in Fralin Hall. These interdisciplinary seminars are open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. You are not required to be in life sciences to attend; if a subject matter is of interest to you, we welcome your participation.
Seminars are given by renowned scientists from the US and abroad whose research connects to the life sciences disciplines at Virginia Tech. Some past seminars are available on our Youtube playlist.
Seminars will be in-person, hybrid, or virtual.
Virtual and hybrid seminars will be hosted at this Zoom link:
https://virginiatech.zoom.us/j/81458701257
Students and postdocs, if you are interested in having lunch with the speaker, please contact each respective host.

Brandon Ogbunu, Yale University
Living, Learning, & Adaptive Landscapes: How Evolutionary Biology Can Help us Navigate it All
Jan 20 - 12:00p - Steger Conference Center
In-person and on Zoom, Hosted by Ignacio Moore


Sarah Gunter and Kristy O. Murray, Baylor College of Medicine
Investigation into vector-borne diseases in Belize through the Acute Febrile Illness Surveillance network
Jan 27 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Jonathan Auguste and Sarah Gouger

Jay Jun Zhu, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Vibrio cholerae’s gut feelings
Feb 3 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Zhaomin Yang

Shahid Mukhtar, The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Foodfight among the likes of plant and pathogens in Apoplastopolis
Feb 10 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by John McDowell

Denise Tieman, University of Florida
Improving tomato flavor using biochemistry, genomics and breeding
Feb 17 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Song Li
Watch the Recording (VT users only)

Dior Kelley, Iowa State University
Influences of auxin on maize root morphogenesis
Feb 24 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Bas Bargmann

Selma Masri, University of California, Irvine
Cancer and Circadian Rhythms: A focus on Metabolism, Genome Instability, and Stemness
Mar 3 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Carla Finkielstein

Karla Kaun, Brown University
Plasticity underlying escalation of alcohol use
Mar 17 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Lina Ni
Read more about the talk
Watch the Recording (Requires VT login)

Gabriela S Schlau-Cohen, Department of Chemistry at MIT
Crossing the membrane: Conformational dynamics in signal transduction
Mar 24 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Birgit Scharf
Read more about the talk
Watch the Recording (Audio Issues are resolved around 4:05)

Marcos Sotomayor, The Ohio State University
The Molecular Machinery of Hearing
Mar 31 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Daniel Capelluto

Trevor Charles, University of Waterloo
Phytobiome management for crop production under controlled environment conditions
Apr 7 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Boris Vinatzer
Watch the Recording

Karyn Frick, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Neural mechanisms underlying estrogenic regulation of memory consolidation
Apr 14 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Tim Jarome

Peggy Cotter, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Bordetella filamentous hemagglutinin: a phagocyte-specific toxin delivery system?
Apr 21- 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Stephen Mellville

David Moreno-Mateos, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Restoring ecosystem complexity in a changing environment
Apr 28 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by J. Leighton Reid
In order to nominate a speaker please fill out the form found here. Please note that only VT faculty are allowed to nominate and host VTLSS speakers. The VTLSS faculty committee will review the nomination and email the faculty member with permission to extend a formal invitation to the nominated speaker. Faculty are allowed to submit multiple nominations, but each faculty member is only allowed to invite and host one speaker per semester.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Krystal Turner.
The VTLSS faculty committee consists of:
Committee Member | |
---|---|
Michelle Olsen | molsen1@vt.edu |
Silke Hauf | silke@vt.edu |
Clay Caswell | caswellc@vt.edu |
Tim Jarome | tjjarome@vt.edu |
Ryan Senger | senger@vt.edu |
Jim Westwood | westwood@vt.edu |
Joel McGlothlin | joelmcg@vt.edu |