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Today's date is Thursday, March 28, 2024
School of Molecular Sciences
 January 2019
Wednesday 30
12:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar Series : Prof. Dr. Daniel Werz More Information
Donor-Acceptor Cyclopropanes: - Unique Structural Units to Access Carbo and Heterocyclic Compounds

 February 2019
Monday 04
11:00 - EVENT - Bayliss Seminar Series : Professor Caroline Dean More Information
Epigenetic switching and antisense transcription
Tuesday 05
12:00 - EVENT - Bayliss Seminar Series : Prof. Dr. Stefanie Dimmeler More Information
Regulation and function in non-coding RNAs in cardiovascular disease
Wednesday 06
15:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar Series : Dr Liangzhi Kou More Information
2D Gas Sensors with High Sensitivity and Selectivity: Insight from Theoretical Simulations
Friday 08
12:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar : Junming Ho - School of Chemistry UNSW More Information
Adventures in Computational Chemistry
Wednesday 13
11:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar : Yeast 2.0 - building the world’s first functional synthetic eukaryotic genome More Information
Yeast 2.0 - building the world’s first functional synthetic eukaryotic genome
Thursday 14
12:00 - SEMINAR - Seminar Series : Understanding multidrug resistance: can computational chemistry teach us new tricks for old drugs? More Information
Friday 15
12:00 - SEMINAR - Scott Berry : Understanding gene expression heterogeneity using high-throughput imaging More Information
Friday 22
12:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar Series : Professor Vincent Bulone A journey into the world of Eukaryotic cell walls: structure and biosynthesis of essential polysaccharides More Information
Tuesday 26
13:00 - SEMINAR - Seminar : School of Human Sciences Seminar Series Website | More Information
Jennifer Young (Dual gradient hydrogel systems for mechanobiology applications): The spatial presentation of mechanical information is a key parameter for cell behavior. We have previously developed a method for creating tunable stiffness gradient polyacrylamide hydrogels with values spanning the in vivo physiological and pathological mechanical landscape. Importantly, we created gradients that do not induce durotaxis in human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs), thereby allowing for the presentation of a continuous range of stiffnesses in a single sample without the confounding effect of differential cell migration. Using these nondurotactic gradient gels, stiffness-dependent hASC morphology, migration, and differentiation were studied, providing high resolution data on stiffness-dependent expression and localization. Expanding upon this work, we are utilizing these gradient hydrogel systems to study cancer cell-ECM interactions. Interactions with the surrounding microenvironment have been shown to positively influence cancer cell survival and invasion by conferring adhesion-based resistance in response to chemotherapeutic drugs, and subsequently driving metastasis into surrounding tissues. In order to study a wide range of ECM environments, we produce dual-gradient systems by fabricating a gradient of ligands on top of our previously described stiffness gradient hydrogels. Ligand gradients are produced by either a gradient photomask to which proteins can be coupled to the substrate via a UV-sensitive crosslinker or by depositing a gradient of gold nanoparticles onto the hydrogel to which thiolated peptides can readily attach. Using these dual gradient hydrogels, we can better understand the interplay of substrate stiffness, ligand type, and ligand spacing in regulating adhesion-conferred chemoprotection in cancer cells. Andrew W. Holle (Under pressure: the role of multidimensional confinement in mechanobiology): As bioengineers systematically move from simple 2D substrates to more complex 3D microenvironments, the role of cellular and nuclear volume adaptation in response to these substrates is becoming more appreciated. Long, narrow PDMS microchannels, which recapitulate porous extracellular matrix (ECM) networks found in vivo, confine cells to a single axis of migration and require them to utilize a complex synergy of traction force, mechanosensitive feedback, and subsequent cytoskeletal rearrangement. This process exhibits characteristics of the poorly understood mesenchymal-to-amoeboid transition, in which cells alter their migratory phenotype in order to traverse narrow constrictions and more successfully metastasize. During channel permeation, the volume of the nucleus changes, suggesting that nuclear reorganization and volume adaptation is a key step for successful permeation. Volume adaptation is also an important phenomena in stem cell mechanobiology. 3D GelMA hydrogel scaffolds with linear stiffness gradients were used to confine stem cells in three dimensions, with cells in the soft end more able to deform the matrix and increase their cell volume, while those on the stiff end were more confined. Cells on the soft end, which were able to adapt their volume more efficiently, exhibited markers for osteogenesis, while those on the stiff end became more adipogenic. This trend, which is opposite to what is observed on 2D hydrogels, suggests that volume adaptation, not stiffness, is sufficient for mechanosensitive differentiation in 3D. Ultimately, as volume adaptation is ubiquitous in 3D microenvironments in vivo, new tools will lead the way in analyzing and understanding mechanobiology.
Wednesday 27
12:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar Series : John Lunn - Sucrose signalling and regulation of sucrose by metabolism by trehalose 6-phosphate More Information

 March 2019
Tuesday 26
13:00 - SEMINAR - Improving Immunity to Melanoma : School of Human Sciences Seminar Series Website | More Information
Abstract: Melanoma is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, resulting in ~1500 deaths each year. While extensive public health campaigns have increased community awareness of the importance of sun-safety and skin monitoring, a substantial number of melanomas remain undetected until late-stage progression. New treatments that harness the immune system offer great promise for melanoma treatment, but further advances are required for these approaches to succeed in the majority of patients. Immunotherapy strategies use a variety of approaches to harness T cell immunity to control melanoma. We have recently identified several new settings of effective T cell cancer surveillance, resulting in either complete elimination of malignant cells or the establishment of a dynamic ‘melanoma-immune equilibrium’. This fundamental knowledge should be of value for the development of novel clinical strategies targeting cancer.

Speaker: Dr. Jason Waithman is a molecular and cellular immunologist having obtained his PhD in 2008. His training was completed in outstanding institutions that include the University of Melbourne, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research under the guidance of multiple international leading immunologists. He relocated to Perth in 2012 to establish and run an independent, original research program at the Telethon Kids Institute. He has successfully attracted fellowship support from 2010-21 and has attracted project funding from multiple sources to support his research program. He is currently working closely with an industry partner and the host institute to develop innovative therapeutic techniques for cancer patients as part of the discovery and translation pipeline associated with his research program.
Thursday 28
10:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar Series : Adventures in Total Synthesis from the Gracilioethers to Serrulatane Natural Products More Information

12:00 - SEMINAR - [email protected] : Skeletal genetics and transcriptomics More Information

13:00 - SEMINAR - The Search for a function of the melanoma tumour antigen melanotransferrin: Iron binding molecule turned pro-tumourigenic signalling protein : School of Human Sciences Seminar Series Website | More Information
Melanotransferrin (MTf) is a membrane-bound transferrin homologue that is found in melanoma cells and was one of the first melanoma tumour antigens to be characterized. It possesses an iron-binding site like the iron-binding protein in the blood, transferrin, but does not play a role in normal cellular iron metabolism. This was shown by Richardson through a variety of studies in vitro in cell culture and in vivo using purpose generated melanotransferrin knockout and transgenic mice. However, Richardson later demonstrated that melanotransferrin stimulates melanoma growth, proliferation and migration and more recently appears to play an exciting role in oncogenic signalling via down-regulating the metastasis suppressor protein, NDRG1. Intriguingly, over-expression of NDRG1 can down-regulate MTf. The studies over a period of 20 years will be discussed.

 April 2019
Friday 05
12:00 - SEMINAR - [email protected] : Targeting P-glyoprotein, endocytosis and the lysosome compartment as a novel anti-cancer stragegy of overcome cancer cell resistance More Information
Thursday 11
12:00 - SEMINAR - Seminar Series : Analysis of Imaging Mass Spectrometry Data in Proteomics and Cancer Research More Information
Friday 12
12:00 - EVENT - Bayliss Seminar Series : Towards machine learning in computational spectroscopy for isomers More Information
Towards machine learning in computational spectroscopy for isomers
Tuesday 23
12:00 - SEMINAR - Bayliss Seminar Series : Markus Muellner - Tailor-made nanoparticles from molecular polymer brushes More Information
Friday 26
13:00 - SEMINAR - Phenotypic consequences of mutation accumulations on mitochondria : School of Human Sciences Seminar Series Website | More Information
Abstract: Professor Dufresne France - Phenotypic consequences of mutation accumulations on mitochondria. Mitochondria are essential organelles that generate ATP necessary to sustain life via the oxidative phosphorylation. The mitochondrial genome is known to be sensitive to the accumulation of deleterious mutations due to its highly mutagenic environment. Yet we lack a complete understanding of the impact of spontaneous DNA mutations on heritable damages within the germ line and how these affect mitochondrial functions. Exposure to mutagenic environmental contaminants can accelerate mutation accumulation. However, little is known about how mutagenic compounds affect the scope and extent of the phenotypic effects of spontaneous mutations on the mitochondria. In this talk, I will present our recent work on the effects of mutation accumulations (MA) on mitochondrial traits and fitness in the microinvertebrate, Daphnia pulex. We used lines of Daphnia that were bottlenecked every generation for 120 generations under mild copper and benign conditions. We compared life history traits, mtDNA copy number and mitochondrial respiration in bottlenecked Daphnia lines to those of control lines (Daphnia that were kept in large numbers for the same period of time). Our results are the first to empirically demonstrate the alleged sensitivity of mitochondria to mutational load and point at modulation of mtDNA content as an important mitigation mechanism of mutational impacts.

Bio: France Dufresne is a professor of genetics at the Université du Québec à Rimouski. She obtained her Ph.D. in zoology from the university of Guelph. She held postdoctorate fellowships at the Université Laval and at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (San Diego). She has major interests in genome size evolution, and more specifically in how increases in genome size through polyploidy affects adaptation to cold environments. Another major aspect of her studies is the evolution of sexual reproduction. She applies genetic and genomic tools to examine the evolutionary consequences of a lack of genetic recombination in her model system, Daphnia. Other areas of expertise in her laboratory include genetic connectivity and local adaptation in various marine invertebrate species and algae.

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