Nerd Nite No 59: Hydrography, Drosophila, and Mitochondria! Music by Pat Finnerty!
Yo Nerds! Remember to get to this great event early if you want seats, as it’s first come first serve! $5 cover gets you in to hear these talks:
Arindam Basu: “Of head, body, limbs and wings: Lessons learned from the fruit flies.”
Have you ever wondered why we have one head, two feet and two arms or how some babies are born with two heads and four arms? It is all about how those specific genes that produce specific proteins throughout our development. And guess what! We know a lot about us from what goes on within the fruit flies.. Yes, those annoying little flies on our bananas, oranges and grapefruit can substitute humans in research labs. Don’t kill ’em coz the more you know about them, the more you will know about yourself!
BIO: Arindam Basu finished his PhD at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore India and came to UPenn and joined Dr. Michael Atchison’s lab as a postdoc. In the past few years his research has focused on understanding how YY1 facilitates DNA binding by Polycomb group proteins. Later on his focus became long range DNA interaction and chromosome looping during different stages of B cell development.
Suraiya Haroon: “Mitochondria disease: From worms to humans”
The mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell. When they become dysfunctional, they disrupt bioenergetics and this is felt most severely by high-energy consuming cells: neurons and muscles. In fact, dysfunctional mitochondria are known to cause various neuromuscular diseases in humans. These have been studied in mice but therapies have been difficult to come by. We have developed a worm model that allows us to study the disease (by essentially racing them!) and conduct rapid experiments. Thus far, we have identified exciting new avenues of therapy.
BIO: Suraiya Haroon is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia after traversing the field of genetics in Berkeley and Madison. She is a lover of all model organisms, specially yeast, fruitflies, frogs, mice and now worms. Suraiya is always willing to rant about science in exchange for beer, whiskey, cheese or dried meats.
And Laura Guertin: “The Search for Captain America Began with Surveying the Ocean Floor!”
When Captain America crashed the Hydra bomber in the Arctic, how did Howard Stark begin the search? It started on the ocean floor, with hydrographic surveying. Learn how we map our oceans and use existing charts to help with navigation.
BIO: Laura Guertin, or “Dr. G” as her students refer to her, is a marine geologist and teaches at Penn State Brandywine. She is a passionate educator that cares deeply about increasing the scientific literacy of students pursuing non-science degrees. Dr. G loves the outdoors, visiting natural National Parks, geocaching/Earthcaching, and is a #NASASocial alum. Find her on Twitter @guertin and on the web at http://about.me/drlauraguertin
Plus local musician Pat Finnerty playing during intermission!
The details:
Wednesday, April 6th.
Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Avenue in the heart of Fishtown.
$5
7:30pm/doors open at 4pm. We recommend you get there early to ensure that you snag a seat.
BE THERE AND BE SQUARE!
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