Biomedical & Biological Sciences Signature Seminars
Tuesday, March 29, 2022, Dr. Arturo Casadevall (Virtual)
"On Virulence"

Professor of Medicine, Chair of Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Hosted by: Cynthia Leifer, Microbiology & Immunology
Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D., is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and Alfred and Jill Summer Chair of the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from New York University. He completed his internship/residency in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital and specialized in Infectious Diseases at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The author of over 900 papers, books and chapters, his major research interests are in fungal pathogenesis and the mechanisms of antibody action. He is editor-in-chief of mBio, Deputy Editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and serves on several editorial boards. He has served on the National Science Board for Biosecurity and the National Commission on Forensic Science. He is currently chair of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific arm of the American Society for Microbiology. He has received numerous honors including election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Academy of Physicians, American Academy of Microbiology, Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
Tuesday, April 5, 2022, Dr. Erika Pearce- LIVESTREAM LH4
"Mitochondrial Shape-Shifting in the T cell Response"

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Department of Oncology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Hosted by: Theodore Clark, Dept of Microbiology and Immunology
Research in my laboratory focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control immune responses, with a particular emphasis on how metabolism governs this process. Currently our work is focused on the role of metabolism in T cell differentiation and function, as well as in regulating other immune cell types. My laboratory is committed to using a wide variety of approaches to address key questions in immune cell metabolism in vitro and in vivo, and how this impacts protective immunity to infection and cancer. We hope that our work will allow us to develop new ways to target immune cell longevity, differentiation, and function through metabolism, with a long-term goal of mitigating human disease.
Tuesday, April 26, 2022 (In Person LH4)
"Germline and Somatic Genetics of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations: A Human Genetics Story"
Watch Recording here: https://cornell.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=2957da7e-4a62-4078-8847-ae8300f75543

Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biology
Duke University
Hosted by: Praveen Sethupathy, Center for Vertebrate Genomics
The Marchuk lab has spent the last 22 years identifying genes that cause Mendelian syndromes of vascular dysmorphogenesis through its human studies. Researchers have identified seven different genes that cause a variety of vascular malformations (capillary malformations, venous malformations, arteriovenous malformations, cavernous malformations). They have learned that in addition to the inherited mutation, somatic mutations in these same genes appear to be required to initiate the focal lesion development. The Marchuk lab is continuing these genetic and genomic studies with vascular malformation tissue.
"Check out a recent article in The Atlantic on his work!"
Tuesday, May 3, 2022, Dr. Gisou van der Goot Special Time: 12:00pm - Virtual
What Anthrax toxin teaches us about the role of ER-Golgi membrane contract sites in the control of plasma membrane lipid nanodomains
Professor of Cell and Membrane Biology
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne
The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Hosted by: Maurine Linder, Molecular Medicine
The van der Goot lab studies various aspects of cell and membrane biology. These include membrane properties of the endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane particularly focusing on the dynamics of S-palmitoylated proteins, membrane contact sites, host cell pathways that are hijacked by toxins, and endogenous and pathological roles of anthrax toxin receptors.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022, Dr. Sigolène Meilhac (Virtual) Special Time: 12:00pm, Virtual
"Shaping the heart tube to establish a double blood flow"
INSERM Research Director
Institut Imagine, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
Hosted by: Natasza Kurpios, Molecular Medicine
My lab addresses the mechanisms of morphogenesis, using the mouse heart as a model. We are interested in the mechanisms shaping the embryonic heart tube and how they uncover the origin of structural congenital heart defects. We develop tools to quantify morphogenesis and asymmetry in 3D, at the genetic and anatomic level.