Events

On Friday, February 3, 2023, we are excited to welcome special guest Prof. Eric Wieschaus from Princeton University as he presents "Genes and the Mechanics of Cell Shape Change." ABOUT THE SEMINAR Genes and the Mechanics of Cell Shape Change The early stages of embryonic development provide some of the most visually impressive transformation of shape and form in all of biology. These transformations ultimately depend gene activity in different regions of the embryo. To produce visible morphological changes such gene expression patterns must be translated into local differences in force production and in the passive and active physical properties of cells that respond to those forces. My talk will review the relationship between gene activities and the physical forces that produce epithelial folds and other morphological changes in the early Drosophila embryo. The experiments involve live imaging of cytoskeleton and cell adhesion, as well as novel strategies to measure physical parameters like viscosity and elasticity in living embryos.    ABOUT THE SPEAKER Eric Wieschaus, Ph.D., Squibb Professor of Molecular Biology, Princeton University; Nobel Prize Winner (1995) In the late 1970s, Eric Wieschaus and Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard carried out large-scale mutagenesis screens to identify genes controlling embryonic development in Drosophila.  These screens were designed to identify key components in all pathways governing morphology, patterning and differentiation and established a basic “tool box” of factors that operate in the Drosophila embryo.  His recent work focuses on the mechanics of cell shape change and movement during gastrulation, and on information theory and biophysical measurements to investigate how patterns of gene activity are established in the early embryo.  Wieschaus was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.   ABOUT DR. RICHARD SKALAK Dr. Richard Skalak, who was one of the first researchers in the field of bioengineering, taught at Columbia for more than 40 years. Skalak was among the first researchers to use engineering principles to understand biological problems. He is known for his groundbreaking work in the mechanics of blood flow, bone growth, white blood cell response to infections, and biological implications and responses to implants. Skalak was director of Columbia's Bioengineering Institute from 1978 to 1987. He won numerous significant scientific honors over his career, including election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988. Columbia Engineering hosts the Richard Skalak Bioengineering Lecture in his honor. Click here to view a list of past Skalak Lectures.   ABOUT THE 2022-2023 BME SEMINAR SERIES The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University is proud to host an annual weekly seminar series on the latest developments and research in Biomedical Engineering. The weekly series takes place on Friday mornings at 11:00 AM Eastern and includes a variety of renowned academics from top universities to talk about their specific research and experience. The January 21 seminar is a virtual event.

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to automate and scale solutions to perennial accessibility challenges (e.g., generating image descriptions for blind users). However, research shows that AI-bias disproportionately impacts people already marginalized based on their race, gender, or disabilities, raising questions about potential impacts in addition to AI’s promise. In this talk I will overview broad concerns at the intersection of AI, disability, and accessibility. I will then share details about one project in this research space that led to guidance on human and AI-generated image descriptions that account for subjective and potentially sensitive descriptors around race, gender, and disability of people in images. This is a hybrid event. You can attend online, using Meeting ID: 932 1773 2969 and Passcode: 008132 or in person at:   Biomedical Informatics Conference Room 20-200 Presbyterian Hospital PH-20 (20th floor) 622 W 168th Street New York, NY 10032 For additional information about the Speaker Series, contact Maya Sabatello, LLB, PhD, Associate Professor, Center for Precision Medicine & Genomics and Division of Ethics. For more information about this project, click here. These events are free and open to the public. The location is wheelchair accessible, and the event is captioned. If you need further accommodation, please E-mail Dr. Sabatello at least 7 days in advance and we will do our best to accommodate.

"Vagina Obscura: A Scientific Journey Into the Female Body" For our first Rounds of the spring semester we are thrilled to welcome Rachel E. Gross, award winning science journalist and author of Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage, published by W.W. Norton & Co. in 2022. Rachel will speak to us about her book, in which she "takes on a herculean task," according to the New York Times, "exploring female anatomy from a medical, social and historical perspective... [She takes] readers on an expansive journey across continents, cultures, centuries and even species, [revealing] a stunning disparity in Western medicine and academia: While huge amounts of money and dedication are poured into the understanding of penises, the female body is disregarded. Like lore, this misinformation and shame are still being passed down to girls today." In her journalism, Rachel covers the debates and personalities that shape scientific knowledge, most recently as Digital Science Editor for Smithsonian Magazine. In 2016 she launched a special series at Smithsonian to uncover the stories of women scientists who were written out of history. She now tells these stories as a columnist for the BBC Future series "Missed Genius." In 2019 she received a MacDowell Fellowship to complete research and reporting for her book. Before that she was a 2018-19 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, where she studied reproductive biology, gender, and history of science. In 2016 she traveled to Germany and Poland as a Journalism Fellow at the FASPE program for the study of professional ethics at Auschwitz. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Geographic, WIRED, New Scientist, Slate, Undark, and NPR, among others. Narrative Medicine Rounds are monthly rounds on the first Wednesday of the month during the academic year hosted by the Division of Narrative Medicine in the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Rounds are supported by live captioning. If you have any other accessibility needs or concerns, please contact the Office of Disability Services at 212-854-2388 or disability@columbia.edu at least 10 days in advance of the event. We will do our best to arrange accommodations received after this deadline but cannot guarantee them. A recording of our Virtual Narrative Medicine rounds will be made available following the live session on the Narrative Medicine YouTube channel, and you can watch other recent Rounds events there.

Columbia Stem Cell Initiative (CSCI) Work in Progress (WIP) Series Thursday, February 9 11:30 AM Hammer Room 401   PRESENTERS: Sumin Jang/ Wichterle Lab “Human-specific motor neuron progenitors increase neurogenic timescales and motor neuron production”  Ning Wang/Dieter Egli Lab “DNA Replication Timing Alterations As A Potential Cause of Developmental Abnormalities In Prader-Willi Syndrome   An opportunity for Columbia’s community at large to learn about ongoing stem cell works happening in the labs affiliated with CSCI, and for CSCI trainee to receive feedback from the community. Each event will include two presentations by trainees of 20-minutes each, with time afterward for Q&A. Pizza and refreshments will be provided. For more info: ll3129@cumc.columbia.edu https://www.stemcell.columbia.edu/