Past Department Seminars
Past Schedules
This is an archive of past speakers of the Distinguished Department Seminars. For a list of current and upcoming presenters, please visit the committee page.
Spring 2019 Speaker Schedule
1/17/2019 | Mary Teruel | Stanford University | “Control of Cell Differentiation by Feedback, Noise, and Oscillation Timing” |
1/22/2019 | Brianne K. Connizzo | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | “Examining Homeostatic Regulation of Tissue Properties and Tendon Pathology Through the Use of Novel Explant Culture Models” |
1/24/2019 | Kristina Haase | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | “Mimicking Nature Tissue Engineering Strategies to Probe Vascular Disease at the Microscale” |
1/31/2019 | Itay Budin | University of California, Berkeley | “Exploring the Private Life of Cell Membranes Through Lipid Engineering” |
2/5/2019 | Ahmet Coskun | Stanford University, School of Medicine | “Multiplex Imaging of Spatial Biology in Single Cells” |
2/7/2019 | Ariel Furst | University of California, Berkeley | “Electrochemistry for Sensors and Energy” |
2/12/2016 | Karina Nakayama | Stanford University | “The Role of ECM Spatial Patterning in Bioengineering Musculoskeletal and Cardiovascular Tissues” |
2/14/2019 | Lin Tian | University of California, Davis | “Watching Brain in Action: Creating Tools for Functional Analysis of Neural Circuitry” |
2/19/2019 | Christopher Schaffer | Cornell University | “Advanced Nonlinear Optical Microscopy for in vivo Studies of Nervous System Function and Dysfunction” |
2/21/2019 | Jacques Bothma | University of California, Berkeley | “Lighting up the Cnetral Dogma in Living Embryos to Uncover How Genomic Sequence Encodes Cell Fate Decisions” |
2/26/2019 | Jianzhu Ma | University of California, San Diego | “Interpreting Genetic Variants Using Network Models of a Cell” |
2/28/2019 | Albert Lee | HHMI, Janelia Research Campus | “The Statistical Structure of Hippocampal Representations” |
3/7/2019 | Anna Devor | University of California, San Diego | “Microscope Foundation of Multimodal Human Imaging” |
Fall 2018 Speaker Schedule
9/21/2018 | Nancy Allbritton | UNC/NC State (Joint Dept of Biomedical Engineering) | “Bioanalytical Microdevices for the Next Generation of Cell-Based Assays” |
10/12/2018 | Boris Hinz | University of Toronto | “Myofibroblasts, Macrophages, Matrix, Mechanics and More” |
11/8/2018* | Elliot Chaikof | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School | “Thrombosis and Bleeding in the Modern Era” *TRB annual distinguished lecture |
12/8/2018 | Christopher Moore | Brown University | “Bioluminescent Tools for Optimal control and Imaging of Cellular Circuits” |
12/13/2018** | John Rogers | Northwestern University | “Soft Electronic and Microfluidic Systems for the Skin” **QBP symposium keynote speaker |
Spring 2018 Speaker Schedule
Spring speakers are all interviewing faculty candidates.
1/9/2018 | Lyla Isik | MIT postdoc |
“The Computational and Neural Basis of Social Vision: Perceiving Human Actions and Interactions” |
1/11/2018 | Deblina Sarkar | MIT postdoc |
“Low-power Electronics for Neural Engineering” |
1/18/2018 | Laura Lewis | Harvard, MGH junior fellow |
“Fast Multimodal Imaging for Tracking Whole-Brain Dynamics in Sleep and Wake” |
1/23/2018 | Abhyudai Singh | University of Delaware associate prof |
“Systems Biology in Single Cells: A Tale of Two Viruses” |
1/25/2018 | Katheryne Wilson | Stanford School of Medicine instructor of Radiology |
“Early Detection of Breast Cancer Using Light and Sound” |
2/1/2018 | Hadi Nia | MGH postdoc |
“Solid Stress and Elastic Energy as New Measures of Tumor Mechanopathology “ |
2/6/2018 | Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez | MIT postdoc |
“Engineering Biology to Make Novel Medicines” |
2/8/2018 | Jose Alvarado | MIT postdoc |
— Cancelled– |
2/15/2018 | Ariel Lesa Furst | University of California, Berkeley postdoc |
“Electrochemical Biosensors” |
2/20/2018 | Aaron Aguirre | Harvard Medical School, MGH assistant prof |
“Cardiac Imaging at Cellular Resolution: New Frontiers for Intravital Optical Microscopy” |
2/22/2018 | Krishna Jayant | Columbia University postdoc |
“From Synapse to Soma: Nanoelectrode Physiology for Mapping Brain Activity Across Scales” |
2/27/2018 | Michael Economo | HHMI/Janelia Research Campus research scientist |
“Wiring the Brain: New Approaches for Studying Long-range Neural Circuits in Motor Control and Beyond” |
3/1/2018 | Aditya Kunjapur | Harvard Medical School postdoc |
“Expanding the Microbial Chemistry Repertoire by Engineering Selective Processes” |
Fall 2017 Speaker Schedule
9/8/2017 | John Dabiri | Stanford University | “The role of fluid dynamic forces in aquatic animal morphogenesis” |
10/27/17 | Peng Yin | Harvard University | “Nanoscale construction and imaging with DNA” |
11/3/17 | Cristina Canavesi | LighTopTech Corp. | “Real-time in-vivo cellular imaging” |
12/1/2017 | Danielle Basset | University of Pennsylvania | “Perturbation and control of human brain network dynamics” |
12/15/2017 | Jef D. Boeke* | NYU Langone Medical Center | “Writing genomes” |
Fall 2016 Speaker Schedule
9/9/2016 | Jay Keasling | University of California, Berkeley | “Engineering Microbial Metabolism for Production of Chemicals and Fuels” Synthetic & Systems Biology |
9/16/2016 | Lihong Wang | Washington University in St. Louis | “Redefining the Spatiotemporal Limits of Optical Imaging: Photoacoustic Tomography, Wavefront Engineering, and Compressed Ultrafast Photography” Optics/Instrumentation (*joint with ME) |
10/14/16 | Roger Tsien | University of California, San Diego HMMI, 2008 Nobel Prize Winner |
—passed away in August 2016– |
10/21/16 | Kristi Anseth | University of Colorado, Boulder | –cancelled– |
11/4/2016 | Susan Marguiles | University of Pennsylvania | “Mechanisms of Pediatric TBI – Integrating Computational and Experimental Approaches to Understanding Brain Injury” Biomechanics |
11/18/2016 | David Cook | Seres Therapeutics | “The Human Microbiome: A Target for Ecobiotic Drugs” Non-academic (Biotech Industry) |
12/13/16 | Michael Levin* | Tufts University | “Endogenous Bioelectric Circuits that Determine Anatomical Remodeling: Biomedical Opportunities for Decoding Somatic Pattern Memories” *QPB-TRB Symposium |
Fall 2015 Speaker Schedule
9/25/2015 | Arup Chakroborty | MIT | “How to hit HIV where it hurts” Synthetic & Systems Biology |
10/9/2015 | Rebecca Richards-Kortum | Rice University | “Translating New Biomedical Technologies to Low Resource Settings” Optical Diagnostics |
10/30/2015 | Julius Lucks | Cornell University | “Controlling Cells through RNA Folding: Towards Design Principles for RNA Engineering” Wildcard |
11/20/2015 | Kapil Bharti | National Eye Institute | “Induced to Cure: Developing and Autologous iPS Derived RPE Based Cell Therapy for Macular Degeneration” Government |
12/11/2015 | Chris Schaffer | Cornell University | “In vivo Imaging of Cell Dynamics in Animal Models of Neurological Disorders” Neuroengineering |