Events
Past Event
Northwestern Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Degree Recognition Ceremony
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
1:30 PM
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Welsh-Ryan Arena/McGaw Memorial Hall
Details
McCormick School of Engineering PhD Hooding and Master’s Degree Recognition Ceremony
Time
Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Location
Welsh-Ryan Arena/McGaw Memorial Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
BME Seminar Series: Dr. Sheng Xu
McCormick - Biomedical Engineering Department (BME)
4:00 PM
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Tech M345, Technological Institute
Details
“Wearable ultrasound technology”
ABSTRACT:
The use of wearable electronic devices that can acquire vital signs from the human body noninvasively and continuously is a significant trend for healthcare. The combination of materials design and advanced microfabrication techniques enables the integration of various components and devices onto a wearable platform, resulting in functional systems with minimal limitations on the human body. Physiological signals from deep tissues are particularly valuable as they have a stronger and faster correlation with the internal events within the body compared to signals obtained from the surface of the skin. In this presentation, I will demonstrate a soft ultrasonic technology that can noninvasively and continuously acquire dynamic information about deep tissues and central organs. I will also showcase examples of this technology's use in recording blood pressure and flow waveforms in central vessels, monitoring cardiac chamber activities, and measuring core body temperatures. The soft ultrasonic technology presented represents a platform with vast potential for applications in consumer electronics, defense medicine, and clinical practices.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Sheng Xu is an Associate Professor and Jacobs Faculty Scholar at the University of California San Diego. He earned his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Peking University and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Subsequently, he pursued postdoctoral studies at the Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research group is interested in the development of new materials and fabrication methods for soft electronics, with a particular focus on wearable ultrasound technology. His research has been presented to the United States Congress as a testimony to the importance and impact of funding from the National Institutes of Health. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award, NIH Trailblazer Award, Sloan Fellowship, IEEE EMBS Technical Achievement Award, ETH Zürich Materials Research Prize for Young Investigators, MRS Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award, and a finalist of the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. He is an AIMBE Fellow.
Time
Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
Tech M345, Technological Institute Map
Contact
Calendar
McCormick - Biomedical Engineering Department (BME)
March 2024 Monthly Seminar on Physical Genomics - Pietro Berico, New York University
Center for Physical Genomics and Engineering (CPGE)
12:00 PM
Details
3D Chromatin Rewiring During Melanoma Phenotypic Transition
Melanoma intra-tumor heterogeneity is thought to be the root cause of cancer progression and therapy resistance. Melanoma cells can transiently “switch” between different transcriptional states or phenotypes as an adaptive response to microenvironmental cues. Genetic studies in patient cohorts, cell lines and melanoma mouse models have failed to identify drivers of phenotype transition, suggesting that epigenetic deregulation may be primarily responsible for those switches. The melanoma lineage-specific transcription factor MITF plays a key role, with high MITF activity associated with a proliferative melanocytic-like phenotype, while low activity leads to a more invasive mesenchymal-like phenotype. However, MITF silencing or ectopic expression alone are insufficient to trigger a complete phenotype transition, suggesting that other epigenetic factors are required. Chromatin is folded in the nucleus in three dimensional hierarchical structures that increase or decrease enhancer-promoter contact loops to regulate gene expression in a space and time fashion. Alterations in 3D chromatin architecture can contribute to cancer. Still, the molecular factors governing global nuclear topology and its contribution to melanoma phenotypic plasticity are completely unknown. Using “all-vs-all” chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C), we profiled the global 3D chromatin architecture of a large panel of melanoma cell lines representative of distinct phenotypic states and at different time points post-MITF silencing. Analyzing different levels of hierarchical chromatin structures, we observed that MITF alone is unable to modulate topological associated domains (TADs) and major hierarchical structures. On the contrary, we observed a dramatic increase in cis-long contact loops and a decrease of TADs in mesenchymal-like melanoma cells relative to melanocytic, suggesting mesenchymal-like cells may bear a more “flexible” chromatin. In line with this evidence, we are currently testing whether, together with MITF loss, adding mechanical pressure to the nuclei and/or microenvironmental stiffness is required to fully refold the chromatin and allow phenotypic transition. By combining epigenetic and mechanical perturbations on melanoma cells, we aim to demonstrate the novel role of chromatin architecture in driving phenotypic state transitions.
About Pietro Berico, PhD
Dr. Berico is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Eva Hernando-Monge’s lab at NYU. His studies aim to understand how different levels of gene expression regulation, including 3D chromatin organization, transcription factor activity, and epigenetic modulation of non-coding RNAs can drive melanoma phenotypic plasticity underpinning tumor initiation and progression.
Time
Friday, March 29, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Contact
Calendar
Center for Physical Genomics and Engineering (CPGE)
2024 Symposium on Physical Genomics
Center for Physical Genomics and Engineering (CPGE)
9:00 AM
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Simpson-Querrey Auditorium, Robert H Lurie Medical Research Center
Details
The 2024 Symposium on Physical Genomics: Engineering Living Systems at the Convergence of Biological, Physical and Computational Sciences
9:00am to 5:00pm, Friday, April 26, 2024
Simpson-Querrey Auditorium, 303 E. Superior, Chicago, IL
Featuring talks by:
Keynote Lecture: Masashi Narita, Cancer Research UK
Gene Regulation in Cellular Senescence
Karmella Haynes, Emory University
Investigating Gene Activation Dynamics Within Human Polycomb Chromatin with Synthetic Reader-Effectors
Fang Huang, Purdue University
Ultra-High Resolution Imaging Through Deep Tissues and a New Information-Based Theoretical Resolution Limit
Melike Lakadamyali, University of Pennsylvania
Super-Resolution Imaging of Chromatin Structure and Dynamics in Health and Disease
Andrew Spakowitz, Stanford University
Physical Modeling of Nucleosome Clustering in Euchromatin Resulting From Interactions Between Epigenetic Reader Proteins
Allison Squires, University of Chicago
Title TBD
Coffee/tea beginning at 9:00am
There will be a lunchtime open submission poster session; to participate, email abstracts to b-keane@northwestern.edu
Time
Friday, April 26, 2024 at 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Location
Simpson-Querrey Auditorium, Robert H Lurie Medical Research Center Map
Contact
Calendar
Center for Physical Genomics and Engineering (CPGE)
Northwestern Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Degree Recognition Ceremony
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
9:00 AM
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Welsh-Ryan Arena
Details
McCormick School of Engineering PhD Hooding and Master’s Degree Recognition Ceremony
Time
Monday, June 10, 2024 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location
Welsh-Ryan Arena
Contact
Calendar
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Northwestern Engineering Undergraduate Convocation
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
2:00 PM
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Welsh-Ryan Arena
Details
McCormick School of Engineering Undergraduate Convocation
Time
Monday, June 10, 2024 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location
Welsh-Ryan Arena
Contact
Calendar
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science