Future Seminars
Seminar Colour Guide:
| EMBL - Sapienza Lecture | Postponed - Friday, 2 October 2020, 11:00Epigenetics of stress allostasis: somatic mechanisms for germ cell programming of offspring developmentTracy L. Bale, Center for Epigenetic Research in Child Health and Brain Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USAHost: Cornelius Gross / Andrea MeleSapienza Università di Roma - Aula Odeion - Museo dell'Arte Classica - P.le Aldo Moro, 5 - Roma, EMBL Rome Abstract: Epigenetics of stress allostasis: somatic mechanisms for germ cell programming of offspring developmentTracy L. Bale, J. Chan, C. Morgan, N.A. Leu, S. Ament, B. Garcia, M. Kane, C.N. Epperson Parental lifetime exposures to perturbations such as stress, infection, malnutrition, and advanced age have been linked with an increased risk for offspring disease, including a strong association with neurodevelopmental disorders. Our studies have focused on identifying the causal biological mechanisms whereby information in the environment can be transmitted in sperm. In these studies, we demonstrate a causal role for somatic-to-germline transmission of stress information capable of altering fetal neurodevelopment via extracellular vesicles (EVs) in a preclinical model, and we further establish the translational potential of this model in a human cohort. We identified broad histone and transcriptomic alterations in mouse epididymal epithelial cells (EECs) in vivo, with corresponding persistent changes in miRNA and proteomic extracellular vesicle cargo secreted from pure caput EEC populations in vitro. In these studies, the transmission of paternal stress and changes in epigenetic marks only occur following a stress recovery period suggesting a cellular allostatic shift in chromatin programming. Using a transgenic approach, we demonstrated in vivo that the EEC glucocorticoid receptor, a central node of cellular stress mechanisms, serves a key role in this cellular programming where genetic knockdown of this receptor rescued the germline transmission of the offspring stress phenotype. We further established the causal involvement of EEC EVs utilizing intracytoplasmic sperm injection of caput sperm incubated with EVs secreted following stress treatment recovery. Translationally, we have examined similar stress programming changes in human sperm miRNA content. We utilized within and between human subject comparisons of sperm samples and neuropsychiatric perceived stress reports collected repeatedly over six months to identify a distinct miRNA expression pattern from subjects showing a post-stress recovery state. |
| Science and Society | Monday, 5 October 2020, 11:00Understanding urban environments in relation to population health Manuel Franco, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain, SpainHost: Lucia von Bredow / Cornelius GrossVirtual seminar, EMBL Rome Abstract: The Heart Healthy Hoods (HHH) project aimed to study the associations between the social and physical features of the urban environment and population cardiovascular health in the city of Madrid. The HHH project characterised Madrid social and physical urban environment in terms of tobacco, alcohol, food and physical activity, applying different quantitative, qualitative, GIS and participatory methodologies. The HHH team included pre-doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, co-investigators and technicians from the fields of public health, epidemiology, primary care, geography, sociology, anthropology, nursing and biology.
The HHH project has a unique and high-risk design combining urban exposure measurements with health outcomes data collected from the primary care system in the whole city of Madrid. A longitudinal cohort population-based study with 1720 participants aged 40-75 has been stablished in collaboration with over 400 primary care professionals. A follow up study of the anonymised electronic health records of 1,4 million aged 40-75 Madrid citizens who are primary care users. |
| Career Event | Friday, 16 October 2020, 11:00EMBL Careers Webinar | Non-PI tracks in academic researchPhilippe Bun, INSERM, Institut of Psychiatry and Neurosciences of Paris (IPNP), France | Selina Storm, Diamond Light Source, UK | Yasemin Turkyilmaz-van der Velden, TU Delft, NetherlandsHost: EMBL Fellows' Career ServiceVirtual seminar, EMBL Rome |
| Faculty Seminar | |
| Career Event | Friday, 30 October 2020, 11:00EMBL Careers Webinar | Careers in science communicationLucas Sanchez, Scienseed, Spain | Sophie Lutter, OXGENE, United KingdomHost: EMBL Fellows' Career ServiceVirtual seminar, EMBL Rome |
| Faculty Seminar | |
| Career Event | Friday, 13 November 2020, 11:00Applying to postdoc fellowshipsIna Huppertz, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany | Barbara Pauly, Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), France | Luca Scorrano, Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine, ItalyHost: EMBL Fellows' Career Service + EMBL Grants ServicesVirtual seminar, EMBL Rome |
| External Faculty Speaker | |
| Faculty Seminar | |
| Career Event | Friday, 27 November 2020, 11:00EMBL Careers Webinar | Careers in European science policy and administrationNadia El-Mjiyad, European Research Council, Belgium | James Morris, Science Europe, BelgiumHost: EMBL Fellows' Career ServiceVirtual seminar, EMBL Rome |
| Career Event | Friday, 4 December 2020, 11:00EMBL Careers Webinar | Applying to group leader positions Monica Bettencourt-Dias, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Portugal | Jason Chin, MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, UK | Patrick Meraldi, Universite de Geneve, SwitzerlandHost: EMBL Fellows' Career ServiceVirtual seminar, EMBL Rome |
| External Faculty Speaker | |
| Science and Society | Friday, 11 December 2020, 11:00Livestock, the Global Environment, and COVID-19: a reflection on Livestock Systems before and after the PandemicAlessandra Falcucci, Lead Geographic Information Systems analyst, Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM), Food & Agricultural Organisation of the UN, ItalyHost: Lucia von BredowVirtual seminar, EMBL Rome Abstract: This talk will explore livestock, the global environment, and COVID-19, and will reflect on livestock systems before and after the pandemic.
The sustainability of the livestock systems is the focus of growing public debate, extensively discussed in the media and increasingly on the agenda of high-level political meetings. Over the last 30 years, consumption of meat, milk and eggs in lower middle-income countries has more than tripled. Population growth, urbanisation, income gains and globalisation continue to fuel the âlivestock revolutionâ. According to FAO projections, under a business-as-usual scenario, demand for meat will increase by a further 60% by 2030, compared to 2006, and by over 200% by 2050. This represents a big source of challenges and opportunities on how to reduce environmental impacts, while continuing to meet societyâs needs. |
| EMBL Distinguished Visitor Lecture | |
| EMBL - Sapienza Lecture |