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.

Brian Altman, University of Rochester
The MYC oncogene disrupts circadian rhythms in cancer
September 1 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person and on Zoom (NOT recorded), Hosted by Carla Finkielstein

Shihuan Kuang, Purdue University
Metabolic regulation of stem cell regeneration in muscle
September 8 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person and on Zoom (NOT recorded), Hosted by Sally Johnson

Naola Ferguson-Noel, University of Georgia
NGenome Plasticity in Mycoplasma spp. - Inventing Your Niche
September 15 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person and on Zoom (will be recorded), Hosted by Margie Lee

Debashish Bhattacharya, Rutgers University
Foodfight among the likes of plant and pathogens in Apoplastopolis
September 22 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
Zoom only (will be recorded), Hosted by Frank Aylward

Josh Strable
Ethylene signaling in the maize shoot apex at single cell resolution
September 29 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person ONLY, Hosted by Nicholas Santantonio

Harmit Malik, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Genetic conflicts during meiosis drive rapid evolution of essential chromatin proteins
October 6 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person and on Zoom (will be recorded, recording only accessible with a VT login), Hosted by Daniela Cimini

Colleen Doherty, North Carolina State University
Effects of climate change on plants and plant solutions to climate change
October 20 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Bas Bargmann

Steven Haase, Duke University
Network Control of Rhythmic Behavior: From Cell Division to Infectious Disease
October 27 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Shihoko Kojima

John Tyson, Virginia Tech
Time-Keeping and Decision-Making in the Eukaryotic Cell Cycle
November 3 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person and on Zoom (will be recorded), Hosted by Silke Hauf

Jianhua Xing, University of Pittsburgh
Systems biology in the era of machine learning and big data
November 10 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Jing Chen
Ellie Heckscher, University of Chicago
Talk Title TBD
November 17 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Sweta Agrawal

Lynmarie Thompson, University of Massachusetts
Protein stabilization plays a key role in signaling by bacterial chemoreceptor complexes
December 1 - 12:00p - Fralin Hall Auditorium
In-person, Hosted by Birgit Scharf
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 |