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Virginia Tech Life Science Seminars

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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

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
Sarah Gunter
Kristy Murray
Kristy Murray

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

Read more about the talk


Zhu

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

Read more about the talk
Watch the recording


Shahid

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

Read more about the talk


Denise

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

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

Read more about the talk
Watch the Recording


Masri

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

Read more about the talk


Karla Kaun

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*
VTLSS_instructions_spring2023.pdf

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 Email
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