Class Hours:   Tuesdays:  2:30 – 4:30PM                              Room SAM 105

Course Goal:  This course is a series of seminars covering topics in Science and Math.  Each week, a special speaker will present a topic from basic mathematical concepts to the latest scientific research.  Students will have the opportunity to broaden their learning experience, ask questions and delve into math and science subject manner.

 

Course Content: (subject to possible change due scheduling rearrangements)

April 1 – orientation day

April 8 - Paul Amieux, PhD,  Director UW Microarray Center

April 15th - Gundula Bosch, PhD, UW Chemical Engineering

April 22nd - Katie Gagnon, PhD, Seattle Central Earth Sciences

April 29th – Jonathan Miller, PhD, UW Microbiology and Engineers Without Borders

May 6th - Jay McLean-Riggs, MD, MPH. Seattle Central Global Health

May13th - Timothy Briggs, PhD Candidate, UW Mechanical Engineering

May 20th - Rosalind Billharz, PhD Candidate. UW Viral Research

May 27th Rembrandt J F Haft, PhD Candidate UW Microbiology - ROBOTS!

June 3rd – Tyler Swanger, BS, Former SCCC student, UW Graduate. Cuban Health Care.

June 10th – maybe…

More details on the speakers!

April 8 - Paul Amieux, PhD,  Director UW Microarray Center 

Title: Exploring the Role of the Paleomammalian Brain in Regulating Energy Homeostasis in Mammals.

Abstract: Obesity and problems with energy balance have a huge impact on our society; as our society grows steadily more overweight due to sedentary lifestyles and a constant supply of highly palatable and energy-dense foods, we see more and more medical consequences and costs as we deal with long-term management of co-morbidities associated with being overweight, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. Researchers have made a lot of progress over the past two decades and identified key centers in the brain that integrate signals coming from the rest of the body that carry information about energy stores. As it turns out, signals about energy stores come from fat, from the stomach, from the small intestine, from the pancreas, and from the liver, and these signals converge on a small population of cells located in an area of the brain called the hypothalamus. These special neurons in the hypothalamus integrate all these signals and their final output determines whether we want to eat or not. Obviously, brain centers that can control appetite have caught the interest of researchers and pharmaceutical companies; if we can control appetite, we can control caloric intake and energy balance. One of the projects in our lab that we are actively researching has to do with an enzyme called the cAMP-Dependent Protein Kinase. This enzyme plays many roles in our metabolism and physiology, including regulating sugar and fat metabolism. Intriguingly, this enzyme is expressed in fat and in the part of the hypothalamus responsible for integrating signals about energy balance; mutation of this enzyme in mice results in animals that are hyperactive and resistant to high fat diet-induced obesity. Our current research aims to restore this enzyme to specific parts of the brain and observe what the effects are on energy balance.

April 15th - Gundula Bosch, PhD, UW Chemical Engineering

Studying the C1-utilizing microbial community in a freshwater lake sediment using systems biology methods: The Lake Washington Microbial Observatory

C1-utilizing bacteria have developed unique metabolic properties that allow them to grow on single carbon compounds (such as methane, methanol, some atmospheric pollutants). They are a widespread, environmentally important group, with habitats in marine and freshwater lake sediments, swamps, marshes and various soils; hence their ability to metabolize greenhouse gases and pollutants turns them into key players within the global carbon cycle. To learn about diversity and interplay of the bacterial species participating in C1-metabolic processes, we chose Lake Washington sediment as a microbial observatory. Our lab is applying a set of systems biology techniques (i.e. meta-genomics, -transcriptomics and -proteomics) in combination with detailed studies of single species and key enzymes to develop a more comprehensive model of the most important pathways used by the microorganisms within this complex ecosystem.

This lecture will focus on the proteomics aspects of our work, giving an overview of the experimental setup and procedure (shotgun proteomics), the microorganisms and micro-communities under investigation and provide an outlook of how we will integrate the proteome-level data with the genome- and RNA-microarray data.

April 22nd - Katie Gagnon, PhD, Seattle Central Earth Sciences

Big tsunamis and earthquakes offshore Peru

Campaign geodetic observations demonstrate shallow, interplate coupling along the thrust fault between the converging oceanic Nazca and continental South American plates. Delimiting the width of the seismogenic zone contributes to our understanding of the seismic and tsunamigenic nature of convergent plate boundaries. We were able to locate the updip limit of the seismogenic zone using a combination of the Global Positioning System and acoustic travel time measurements from a ship. There is currently no other method for determining absolute positioning of the seafloor. Two seafloor transponder arrays were positioned in 2001 and 2003, providing plate motion vectors 20 and 50 km landward of the Peru-Chile trench axis at 12S. Comparing these geodetic measurements with three dimensional kinematic models reveals coupling at less than 2 km depth. Seismic records, thermal models, and topographic analyses suggest that transponder array displacements represent shallow, elastic strain accumulation.

April 29th – Jonathan Miller, PhD Candidate, Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to partnering with disadvantaged communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life through the implementation of environmentally and economically sustainable, equitable engineering projects while developing responsible engineers and engineering students. The EWB motto is “to build a better world, one community at a time”. The University of Washington EWB student chapter was formed in May of 2005.  Since then, we have grown to over 50 active members with a listserv of 300; partnered with the Puget Sound Professional Chapter on an irrigation project in Susudel, Ecuador; taught with our mentor two seminar classes each year on sustainable engineering in an international development environment; and collaborated on projects in Haiti, Uganda, and Mexico. We recently partnered with the two other Seattle area chapters to host the Engineers Without Borders International Conference. We are undertaking a new project in Suriname involving heavy metal-contaminated water, as well as a local project in the San Juan islands. However, our primary focus remains Yanayo, a remote village located high in the Andean mountains of Bolivia. Here, an indigenous population of about a hundred ekes out a subsistence lifestyle growing mostly wheat and potatoes in poor soil, and living in thatched-roof houses lacking electricity, toilets, water, or chimneys to ventilate their open-fire cooking. Drought conditions over the past decades have led to decreasing crop yields, forcing villagers to leave their community and look for employment elsewhere. We completed a very successful implementation trip last summer to Yanayo, as well as a recent follow-up assessment trip. We are preparing a return trip this summer. I will talk about EWB and our work with the villagers of Yanayo to improve their situation, taking the approach of improving health through engineering. To put this project in some context, I will present a select overview of some of the leading global health issues we face today.

 

May 6th - Jay McLean-Riggs, MD, MPH. Seattle Central Global Health

A presentation of the current issues and ideas dominating the Global Health arena, with some background into the top five or six issues and followed by a discussion. This will include an update on the state of the three biggest infectious diseases : Malaria, TB (especially resistant-TB) and HIV, and a discussion of new ideas around effective implementation Global Health.

 

May13th - Timothy Briggs, PhD Candidate, UW Mechanical Engineering

In-service static and fatigue loading, compounded by residual thermal, moisture and mechanical stresses, all contribute to premature failure of critical engineering components. As a result, this leads to loss of property, environmental disaster, injury or sometimes even death. In order to design these components to withstand foreseen (and sometimes unforeseen) loading conditions, a detailed knowledge of the materials response is necessary. Through experimental stress analysis, the engineer is able to characterize the mechanical behavior of materials under controlled laboratory settings. As damage is developed in a material system the failure process initiates and always follows the path of least resistance. Some of the activated mechanisms include excessive plasticity for ductile metals, delamination and fiber fracture for fiber reinforced composites and the creation of new surfaces by fracture for brittle solids. Each of these failure mechanisms dissipates mechanical energy as damage develops and grows in a stable manner, and the load is constantly redistributed until, finally, catastrophic failure occurs. This talk will focus on engineering materials, stress-strain constitutive models, micro and macroscopic mechanics, energy absorption mechanisms and applications to academia, industry and everyday life.

May 20th - Rosalind Billharz, PhD Candidate. UW Viral Research

H5N-What? A Perspective on the Last Ten Years of Avian Influenza 

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (‘bird flu’) killed 6 people and led to the culling of millions of domestic poultry in Hong Kong in 1997. Ten years and more than 200 human casualties later, the threat of a pandemic still looms. Of special concern is the knowledge that, in some cases, the virus causing avian influenza has acquired resistance to all of the antiviral drugs currently available to treat infection. Similarly, there is no vaccine that is approved and available for widespread use to protect against avian influenza. The Katze Laboratory at the University of Washington is interested in the virus-host interactions that characterize influenza infection. We have infected mice and macaques with human isolates of avian influenza that vary in their degree of virulence and pathogenesis. In macaques, we have also compared avian influenza with viruses containing genes from the 1918 ‘Spanish Flu.’ Using microarrays, we have identified patterns of gene expression in the peripheral leukocytes of macaques infected with avian influenza that mirror the early response to infection seen in the lungs (where virus is actually present). In addition, our data suggest that type II pneumocytes play a pivotal role in the pro-inflammatory response to infection, which in turn contributes to the severe tissue destruction and overall lung pathology associated with avian influenza infection.  

May 27th – Rembrandt Haft, PhD Candidate, UW Microbiology – ROBOTS!

From Mendel’s understanding of the heritability of pea flower coloration to current work on HIV vaccine design, mathematical models have played key predictive roles in diverse areas of biology.  The advent of robotics has given scientists the chance to embody their algorithms and equations in an explicitly physical form, allowing them to test hypotheses in ways that were heretofore impossible.  We will consider two recent reports of robot-based experiments with substantial biological relevance.

            The first report (1) uses communication among robots as a model for communication in social organisms.  The experimenters began with model robots that had the necessary equipment for movement and communication, but lacked any cogent software.  The group allowed software to evolve from a random starting point, and found that different conditions led to the emergence of different kinds of communication.  In all cases, the robots learned to communicate and used information from their fellows to help them make decisions

            The second report (2) considers robots that interact with real animals: cockroaches, in this case.  By daubing their small robots with pheromones the experimenters effectively made them part of a cockroach population.  Different kinds of programs specifying cockroach-like behavior allowed the robots to affect, and be affected by, their cockroach compatriots.  The experimenters found that properly-programmed robots can affect the behavior of actual cockroaches some of the time - though sometimes, the robots took their cues from the cockroaches, instead.

(1)        D. Floreano et al.  2007.  Evolutionary conditions for the emergence of communication in robots.  Current Biology 17: 514-519.

(2)        J. Halloy et al.  2007.  Social integration of robots into groups of cockroaches to control self-organized choices.  Science 318: 1155-1158.

June 3rd – Tyler Swanger, BS, Former SCCC student, UW Graduate. Cuban Health Care.

            Tyler was a student at SCCC several years ago.  Upon completion of the transfer requirements for the UW, Tyler became a student at the UW.  While at the UW, Tyler did research with UWEB (University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials) and has published his findings: http://www.uweb.engr.washington.edu/education/pdf/JURIBE2006TableofContents.pdf.  Since graduating from the UW, Tyler has spent 5 months in Cuba documenting the Cuban Health Care system and the emphasis on prevention.  Please welcome Tyler back to SCCC. He was an amazing student when he was here and now he has gone onto great things! I have seen the video – you should too.

What happens if you are a student in this class…..

 

Attendance:  Students are expected to attend every class session.  If a student misses a class session, then it is the student's responsibility to obtain an excused absence.  The best way to get an excused absence is to notify the instructor before the intended absence and get an excuse at that time.  Excused absences may include such instances as family tragedies, extreme illness (doctor’s note), or situations the instructor assess as excused. If a student must miss class due to a prolonged illness or unexpected circumstance, the student should notify the instructor as soon as possible to make arrangements.

 

Grading: 

            Grades will be tentatively assigned as follows:

For every un-excused absence, the grade will drop one grade point average.  Late arrivals and leaving early without an excuse will also result in grade penalties.

The grade will be determined by your attendance (50 points) and one written report pertaining to a guest speaker presentation.  The report is worth 50 points and should contain the following:

            The guest speaker’s topic you are writing about.

            An introduction, which should include a brief description/summary of the topic you are writing about.

            A body of writing where you elaborate on one or more of the following:

                        Why you found the topic interesting.

                        How you can apply this topic to your everyday life, school life, or future parts of you life.

                        What else you would like to know about this topic.

                        Other research you have done on this topic and how it relates to the presentation.

                        Where you see this topic/research going in the future?

                        You may check with the instructor if there are other things you would like to include.

            A conclusion should have a short recap of what you have written about.

These reports should be double-spaced, about 3 pages (more is fine) in length, margins no bigger than one inch, font no larger than 12 points and include any outside references you have used in writing the report.

 

Reports are due the 13th of June no later than noon to Wendy Rockhill.

 

4.0 = 95% +       3.4 = 89%           2.8 = 79%           2.2 = 70%           1.6 = 61%              1.0 = 52%

3.9 = 94%           3.3 = 88%           2.7 = 78%           2.1 = 69%           1.5 = 60%              0.9 = 50%

3.8 = 93%           3.2 = 85%           2.6 = 76%           2.0 = 68%           1.4 = 59%              0.8 = 48%

3.7 = 92%           3.1 = 83%           2.5 = 74%           1.9 = 66%           1.3 = 58%              0.7 = 46%

3.6 = 91%           3.0 = 81%           2.4 = 73%           1.8 = 64%           1.2 = 56%              0.6 = 44%

3.5 = 90%           2.9 = 80%           2.3 = 71%           1.7 = 62%           1.1 = 54%              0.5 = 42% etc.

 

Additional Presentations:

Thursday May 1st at SCCC at 2:30pm, room TBA. 

Dr Robert Winglee

University of Washington

Chair, Department of Earth and Space Sciences
Director, Research Institute for Space Exploration
Director, Washington NASA Space grant Consortium


Thursday May 15th @2:30pm, room TBA. 

Graciela Matrajt

Department of Astronomy

University of Washington

She obtained her BS in Mexico, PhD in France and now working on the Stardust project here as a post-doc.

http://thedaily.washington.edu/photo/2007/04/17/843/

 

Thursday June 5th @2:30pm, room  105

Madeline Nieves-Cintron, PhD

University of Washington

Department of Physiology & Biophysics

 

Mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in vascular smooth muscle during hypertension.


Abstract

The function of arteries is to deliver blood to all organs of the body. To achieve this, arteries regulate their diameter to match blood flow to the physiological needs of a particular organ. Arteries have the intrinsic ability to respond to changes in intravascular pressure by constricting or dilating. This regulation of artery diameter is achieved via a dynamic interplay of different ionic channels. The change in artery diameter is sense by stretch-activated cation channels in the surface membrane of smooth muscle cells. Once activated, these channels depolarize arterial myocytes, which activates voltage-dependent calcium channels and thus increases intracellular calcium. This initiates a signaling cascade that culminates in vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction is opposed by the activation of potassium channels.  During hypertension intracellular calcium as well as artery constriction is increased. Potassium channels expression, however, is been shown to decrease during hypertension. The goal of my research is to understand the molecular mechanisms leading to decreased potassium channel expression in arterial smooth muscle during the development of hypertension.