SVC Research Seminar Series offers 12 talks throughout 2019

The Senior Vice Chancellor’s Research Seminar Series for 2019 got started last week with a talk by Erik Wright, assistant professor of biomedical informatics and of computational and systems biology in the School of Medicine, on “Piecing Together the Puzzle of Antibiotic Resistance through the Lens of Big Data.”

The 12 talks, hosted by Dr. Arthur S. Levine, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of medicine, provide a look into the research of early-career scientists from across the Pitt community. Levine also leads a Q&A at the end of each lecture.

SVC lectures are live streamed for people with Pitt log-in credentials, but the lectures will not be available after they have ended. A link to the live stream and more information on the lectures will be available at svc-seminar.pitt.edu two weeks prior to the event.

This year’s talks, all at noon in Scaife Hall’s Lecture Room 6, include:

Feb. 8: Bokai Zhu, assistant professor (endocrinology and metabolism), School of Medicine, on “Unveiling ‘Musica Universalis’ of the Cell: A Brief History of 12-Hour Biorhythms.”

March 22: Rebecca B. Price, assistant professor of psychiatry, School of Medicine, and assistant professor of psychology, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, on “Targeting Neurocognitive Profiles in Anxiety and Depression: Toward Psychobiological Intervention.”

Apri 12: Dr. Hawre Jalal, assistant professor of health policy and management, Graduate School of Public Health, on “Changing Dynamics of the Drug Overdose Epidemic in the United States: 1979-2016.”

April 26: Anthony J. St. Leger, assistant professor of ophthalmology and of immunology, School of Medicine, on “Alleviating Ocular Disease by Manipulating the Microbiome.”

May 10: Peng Liu, assistant professor of chemistry, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, and assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, on “Predictive Models for Transition Metal-Catalyzed Organic Reactions.”

Because of upcoming construction in Scaife Hall, the location for the lectures in the second half of the year is subject to change.

June 14: Yvonne S. Eisele, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology), School of Medicine, on “Shape Shifters: Protein Aggregation at the Crossroads of Health and Disease.”

July 12: Miler T. Lee, assistant professor of biological sciences, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, and assistant professor of computational and systems biology, School of Medicine, on “Transcriptional Reprogramming in the Developing Embryo.”

Sept. 13: Dennis Kostka, assistant professor of developmental biology and of computational and systems biology, School of Medicine, on “Computational Genomics Yields Insights into Developmental Gene Regulation.”

Oct. 4: Amantha Thathiah, assistant professor of neurobiology, School of Medicine, on “Selective Modulation of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Function in Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Nov. 15: Jacob Stewart-Ornstein, assistant professor of computational and systems biology, School of Medicine, on “Dynamics in DNA Damage Signaling Regulate the Response to Radiation.”

Dec. 6: Dr. Jeremy S. Tilstra, assistant professor of medicine (rheumatology and clinical immunology), School of Medicine, on “T Cell Exhaustion at the Crossroads of Autoimmunity and Cancer.”