"Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters"
by Dr. Donald Prothero, Occidental College
Friday, January 28, 2011 from 12:30-2pm in SM313

Speaker Info: Donald R. Prothero is professor of geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and lecturer in geobiology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He earned a M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D.degrees in geological sciences from Columbia University in 1982, and a B.A. in geology and biology (highest honors, Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Riverside. He is currently the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 28 books and over 250 scientific papers, including five leading geology textbooks and four trade books as well as edited symposium volumes and other technical works. He is on the editorial board of Skeptic magazine, and in the past has served as an associate or technical editor for Geology, Paleobiology and Journal of Paleontology. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, thePaleontological Society, and the Linnaean Society of London, and has also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Science Foundation. He has served as the President and Vice President of the Pacific Section of SEPM (Society of Sedimentary Geology), and five years as the Program Chair for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. In 1991, he received the Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society for the outstanding paleontologist under the age of 40. He has also been featured on several television documentaries, including episodes of Paleoworld (BBC), Prehistoric Monsters Revealed  (History Channel), Entelodon and Hyaenodon (National Geographic Channel) and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts (BBC).

"Dengue Virus: An Emerging Source of the 21st Century"
by Dr. Richard Kuhn, Purdue University
Friday, February 11, 2011 from 10:30am-12pm in SM313

Speaker info: Dengue virus has emerged as the most important arthropod-transmitted virus in the world. The World Health Organization estimates between 50 and 100 million human infections per year.  These occur predominantly in tropical countries, but the virus continues to expand into new regions. Recent research into the biology of dengue virus and related flaviviruses such as West Nile virus and yellow fever virus has revealed fascinating insights into the structure, assembly, and replication of these viruses. These findings are providing substantial knowledge relating to the nature of disease, susceptibility of human hosts, and the host components that are usurped by the virus for replication and spread.  Although no vaccines or antivirals are available to treat dengue virus infection, this rapid research progress is the basis of new approaches for virus intervention therapy.  These topics will be the focus of the seminar presentation.

Dr. Kuhn is a professor and head of the Biological Sciences Department at Purdue University. He earned his Ph.D. in 1986 from State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr.Kuhn's current research focus is on understanding the biology of viruses that infect humans. Specifically, his lab is interested in viruses that contain a lipid bilayer membrane and contain plus strand RNA as their genetic material. These viruses are grouped in the Togaviridae and Flaviviridae families; some representative members include Sindbis and Ross River for Togaviruses, and yellow fever, West Nile and hepatitis C virus for the Flaviviruses. Viruses within these two groups pose significant risks to large segments of the population, and methods for controlling infection and disease are few. His goal is to understand all aspects of their replication cycle at the molecular level by integrating techniques from molecular genetics, biochemistry and structural biology.

Dedication: Dr.Kuhn has dedicated this lecture to his friend Dr.Richard McCullough for his dedication and more than 30 years of service to Saddleback College. Dr.Richard McCullough was a professor in the Biological Sciences Department, Dean of the Math, Science and Engineering Division, and President of Saddleback College from 2004-2008.

Manya: A Living History of Marie Curie
by Susan Marie Frontczak
Friday, February 25, 2011 from 10:30am-12:30pm in SM313
(Special 2-hr program with 10 minute intermission)

Join us in celebrating a preeminent woman of science, Madame Curie, during the 100th year anniversary of her second Nobel Prize. This special two-hour program is a one-woman drama that exposes the struggles and triumphs of Polish scientist Marie Curie. From the political oppression of her childhood, to scientific emergence and fame to the tragedy that forced her into further world prominence. This is a life that challenges our assumptions about what one person can achieve and the responsibilities of science.

The Manya program pays tribute to Madame Curie: the first European woman to earn a doctorate in the sciences; the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize (1903 Physics, discovery of radioactivity); the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne; and the first person to receive a second Nobel Prize (1911 Chemistry, a feat not to be repeated for another 50 years). Through this performance the audience witnesses the origins of scientific discoveries that are now taken for granted. They re-live the remarkable collaboration between husband and wife, Pierre and Marie, and honors her scientific achievements.
For more information, visit: http://www.storysmith.org/manya/

"Genetic Neurodegenerative Diseases: Huntington's Disease as a Paradigm"
by Dr. Leslie Thompson, UC Irvine
Friday, March 4, 2011 from 10:30am-12pm in SM313

Speaker info:

"Model Organisms and Human Disease"
by Dr. Farhad Imam, Harvard University
Friday, March 25, 2011 Time/Place: 10:30am-12pm in SM313

Speaker info: Since the advent of large-scale sequencing, striking similarities have been found between genomes of humans and many simple model organisms, such as mice, fish, flies, worms, and even yeast. Scientists have been able to exploit the powerful tools and rapid timelines available in the simpler models to expand our knowledge of genes and pathways that control normal development and disease states, such as cancer and infection. Dr. Imam will discuss genetic, pharmacologic, and genomic strategies available in the zebrafish, Danio rerio, and the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as two examples of how straightforward studies in model organisms can identify and characterize key disease genes and pathways.

Dr. Farhad Imam is a clinical fellow in newborn medicine in the Harvard Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship Training program. Dr. Imam is also an instructor of Pediatrics in the Deparment of Newborn Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston. Dr. Imam earned his B.A. in Human Biology at Stanford University, and continued at Stanford in the Medical Scientist Training Program. In 2004, Dr. Imam earned both his M.D. from the School of Medicine and his Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University. He then moved to Boston to complete a combined residency program in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School at Children's Hospital Boston. Dr. Imam has received several academic honors including the NE Perinatal Society Award and Harvard MCB Department Annual Award.

"How Comparative Proteogenomic Studies Resulted in the Discovery of a Gene"
by Dr. Donald Puppione, UC Los Angeles
Friday, April 1, 2011 from 10:30am-12pm in SM313

Speaker Info: In the introduction of my talk, I will explain why there is neither good nor bad cholesterol in our blood. You may have read newspaper article or have been told by your physician that there are two types of cholesterol.  In fact, this is a confused attempt to explain that cholesterol has two carriers in the blood.  One of these carriers is called HDL for high density lipoproteins and the other is LDL for low density lipoproteins.  Because higher HDL concentration are associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and the opposite being the case for LDL, the ideal situation is to have high HDL and low LDL.  Actually, as it turns out, the bulk of cholesterol in the circulation is not free, but covalently esterified to fatty acids.  What type of fatty acids form this ester bond may prove to be very important in the future.  This maybecome apparent very soon depending on the findings of a current clinical trial of a drug that inhibits an enzyme that rapidly transfers cholesteryl esters from HDL to less dense, low density and very low density lipoproteins.  The second part of my talk will deal with our measurements of the molecular masses of the proteins on the surface of HDL.  In our research we have examined the HDL in a variety of mammals.  Using the mass spectrometer, my colleagues and I have been able to determine the molecular masses of the proteins, known as apolipoproteins, to within plus or minus three hydrogen atoms.  I will conclude by discussing our recent discovery showing that all great apes except humans have an active gene for one of these apolipoproteins.  In so doing, a combination of protein and genomic data were used to make this discovery.  Interestingly, this gene had previously been thought to be inactive for about 40 million years.

"What Can Scorpions Tell Us About How
Neural Networks Encode the Natural World?"
by Dr. Douglas Gaffin, University of Oklahoma
Friday, April 8, 2011 from 10:30am-12pm in SM313

Speaker Info: Dr. Gaffin is a Professor of Zoology and Dean of the University College at University of Oklahoma. He earned his bachelors in science from UC Berkeley and in 1994 he received a Ph.D. in Zoology & Neurophysiology from Oregon State University. Dr. Gaffin's research laboratory is interested in how animals acquire and process information about their sensory environments. His research focus is on sand scorpions, owing to their clean native habitat, slow walking behavior, and fluorescent epicuticle. The chemo-, mechano-, and visual sensory systems of these animals are all approachable to physiological investigation and they use a combination of behavioral, morphological, and electrophysiological techniques to deduce circuitry and neural coding of sensory information in this ancient group of animals.

ABSTRACT: Male scorpions find mates across large expanses of sand using elaborate “tongues” on their bellies. They locate prey with exquisite seismic detectors on their ankles. They detect light with their eight eyes, with their tail, and perhaps their whole body. They can taste with hairs on the bottom of their feet and detect humidity with pits on the tops of their feet. They appear to detect minute temperature changes with structures on their claws and they may even sense objects through a form of echolocation. How do they accomplish such feats with just a few cubic millimeters of neural tissue? The tricks they use might tell us how to make artificial sensors and robots to do the same tasks.

"Automated Wearable Artificial Kidney (AWAK): From Concept to Animal Trials"
by Dr. Martin Roberts, UC Los Angeles & LA VA Hospital
Friday, April 15, 2011 from 10:30am-12pm in SM313

Speaker Info: Dr. Martin Roberts is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a dialysis consultant with the VA Healthcare System. Together with Dr. David B.N. Lee, a professor of medicine at the Geffen School and a consultant nephrologist at the VA, they have developed a design for an automated wearable artificial kidney (AWAK) that avoids the complications patients often suffer with traditional dialysis. The design for the peritoneal-based artificial kidney — which is "bloodless" and reduces or even eliminates protein loss and other dialysis-related problems — is summarized in an article published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Nephrology, available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10157-008-0050-9.
UCLA–VA has also signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the Singapore-based company AWAK Technologies Pte. Ltd. to develop a commercial wearable kidney based on the design by Dr. Roberts and Dr. Lee. The new technology would allow patients to go about their regular business while undergoing dialysis.

"The Great Escape: Hypervelocity Stars "
by Dr. Juna Kollmeier, Carnegie Institute of Science
Friday, April 29, 2011 from 10:30am-12pm in SM313

Plus real lunar rocks from the Earth's Moon will be on display!

Speaker Info: Dr. Kollmeier is an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institute of Science. Her current research involves theoretical astrophysics concerning the growth of cosmic structure on all scales. She earned a B.S. in Physics from California Institute of Technology and her Ph.D in Astronomy from Ohio State University in 2006.

In conjuction with Dr. Kollmeier's talk on black holes, we will have moon rocks on display! The moon rocks are on loan to the college for a short period of time, so don't miss out! There are currently three sources of Moon rocks on Earth: 1) those collected by US Apollo missions; 2) samples returned by the Soviet Union Luna missions; and 3) rocks that were ejected naturally from the lunar surface by cratering events and subsequently fell to Earth as lunar meteorites.

Read about the Spring 2010 lecture series at http://www.saddleback.edu/mse/lectureseries2010.html