Integrated Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science

The Frontiers In Science (FIS) program is intended to introduce students from all disciplines and academic levels to the beauty and fun of scholarly pursuits in the natural and physical science disciplines, and to engage faculty in interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research activities. The foundation of the FIS program are monthly seminar presentations on leading-edge interdisciplinary research in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics, and open discussions on opportunities in science as a career, research training internships for students, and faculty research collaborations.

Seminar Location

• California State University San Marcos - CSUSM Directions & Maps
• Science Building 2, Rm 243 (SCI2, Rm243)
• 12:00 (noon) - 1 pm
• Refreshments (soda, pizza) are served (starting ~ 11:45 am)

Seminars are generaly held the third Thursday of every month throughout the academic school year. But always check the schedule below for exact days, because the schedule is always adjusted for recognized holidays, semester breaks and final exam schedules.

Fall 2008 Seminars

• August 28, 2008
  • Pulling Single Molecules Apart by Laser Tweezers, Atomic Force Microscopes and Nanopores: Theory and Experiment, Olga Dudko, PhD., Asst Professor, CTBP & the Department of Physics, UCSD
  • Mechanical forces are generated during nearly every facet of the living cell cycle. Recent advances in experimental techniques enable experimentalists to exert forces on individual molecules and observe their response in real time. These experiments have spectacular resolution of piconewton forces and sub-nanometer extensions, and thus have the potential to provide unprecedented insights into structure, dynamics, interactions and mechanical properties of individual molecules. However, interpretation of the experimental observables in terms of the underlying molecular interactions and structures is an extremely challenging task because the applied force drives the system out of equilibrium. I will present a theory for extracting microscopic information from single-molecule pulling experiments. The use of the theory will be illustrated by analyzing the nanopore unzipping of individual DNA hairpins and the unfolding of single protein molecules with an atomic force microscope.
  
  
• September 25, 2008
  • TBA,Ben-Zhou Lu, PhD., Post-Doctoral Scholar (Prof Andy McCammon's Research Group - Molecular Biophysics), CTBP, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSD
  
  
• October 16, 2008
  • TBA, Paul Whitford, PhD. Candidate/Graduate Student (Prof Jose Onuchic's Research Group - Molecular Biophysics), CTBP & the Department of Physics, UCSD
  
  
• November 20, 2008
  • Information Maximization in the Retina, Yuan Sophie Liu, PhD., Post-Doctoral Scholar (Prof Tatyana Sharpee's Research Group), CTBP & The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Spring 2008 Seminars

• January 31, 2008
  • MicroRNAs: Microprocessors that Fine-Tune Tissue Development, Peter McHale, PhD., Post-Doctoral Scholar (Prof Herbie Levine's Research Group - Biological Dynamics of Cellular Systems), CTBP & the Department of Physics, UCSD
  
  
• February 28, 2008
  • Molecular Machines in RNA and Protein Synthesis, Stefan Klumpp, PhD., Post-Doctoral Scholar (Prof Terry Hwa's Research Group), CTBP & the Department of Physics, UCSD
  
  
• March 27, 2008
  • Computations in the Visual Cortex, Minjoon Kouh, PhD., Post-Doctoral Scholar (Prof Tatyana Sharpee's Research Group), CTBP & The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
  
  
• April 24, 2008
  • Genetic Networks , Terence Hwa, PhD., Professor, Department of Physics & CTBP, UCSD

Fall 2007 Seminars

• August 30, 2007
  • Computer Simulations of Proteins and Nucleic Acids using Implicit Solvent Models, David Case, PhD., Prof., Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute
  
  
• September 13, 2007
• Perspectives on a Graduate School Education
  An open forum on opportunities, experiences and perspectives on graduate school in the mathematical, physical, and life sciences. Hosted by faculty and graduate students ar CSUSM and UCSD/CTBP


• September 20, 2007
  • Dynamics and Energetics of the Large-Scale Conformational Transitions of Proteins suggest a New View of Allostery, Karunesh Arora, PhD., Post-Doctoral Scholar, Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute
  
  
• October 18, 2007
  • Nervous Systems as Seen by Physicists, Henry Abarbanel, PhD., Prof., Department of Physics & Institute for Nonlinear Science, UCSD
  • Biological nervous systems are nonlinear collections of neruons with links made of dynamical synapses that collectively perform important functions for animals. Physicists can contribute to their study in an essential quantitative manner.
    After describing how nervous systems work and how physicists can productively contibute to their study, I will describe one really interesting system: the development and maintenance of birdsong.
  
  
• November 8, 2007
  • Which way to go ?: Modeling Cell Movement Wouter-Jan Rappel, PhD., Senior Scientist, CTBP & the Department of Physics, UCSD
  • Directed cell movement, or chemotaxis, plays an important role in many key biological processes, including wound healing, fetal development and cancer metastasis. In this talk, I will give an overview of our efforts to use tools from physics to help us understand how cells direct their motion.

Spring 2007 Seminars

• January 31, 2007
  • Astrocytes: Eavesdropping on Neuronal Conversations, Suhita Nadkarni, PhD., Post-Dostoral Fellow (Prof Herbie Levine's Research Group - Biological Dynamics of Cellular Systems), UCSD
• February 21, 2007
  • Engineering in Biology: designer circuits, re-wired pathways and dN/dt", Matt Scott, PhD., Post-Doctoral Fellow (Prof Terry Hwa's Research Group - Statistical Biophysics), UCSD
• March 21, 2007
  • A Critique of Pure Vision - Terrence J. Sejnowski, PhD., Prof., Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Sciences
• April 18, 2007
  • Connecting Physical Models to Biological Phenomena, Charles L. Brooks, III, PhD., Prof., Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute
• April 25, 2007
• Using the Physics of Electric Charges to Understand Diseases, Kristin Purdy, PhD., Adj. Prof., Department of Physics, CSUSM

  Biological cells are full of long flexible charged polymer filaments. Because of their charge, these biopolymers, like DNA and filamentous actin protein, interact with each other in specific ways. Studying the structures of these charged biopolymers in the presence of attraction inducing agents has lead to a better understanding of multiple genetic diseases. In this talk I will discuss how we can use the physics of electrostatic attractions and repulsions to better understand two genetic diseases: 1) a form of genetic deafness, in which the attractive interactions within the stereocilia of ear hair cells, which mechanically respond to sound, are weakened, and 2) Cystic Fibrosis, a disease in which charged biopolymers aggregate airways (lungs) of patients.

Fall 2006 Seminars

• October 27, 2006
  • Using Physics to Understand Biology, Jose Onuchic, PhD., Professor, Department of Physics & the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, UCSD
• November 29, 2006
  • Quantitative Analysis of Genomic Data, Wei Wang, PhD., Asst. Prof., Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCSD