Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Innate Immunity

If you missed The Center for Comparative Medicine's Symposium on  the Evolution of Common Molecular Pathways Underlying Innate Immunity, audio/visual power point presentations from the speakers (two of whom are Nobel Laureates) have been released.  I have provided the links below for the presentations, but you can also visit The Center for Comparative Medicine's website for additional information and upcoming events/seminars/symposia.

• "The Drosophila Host Defense: A Model for the Study of Innate Immunity"  by Jules Hoffmann, PhD, 2011 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg

• “Creating Immune Deficiencies by Random Mutagenesis in Mammals” by Bruce Beutler, MD, 2011 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas

• “The Rice XA21 Receptor Recognizes a Conserved Bacterial Signaling Molecule” by Pamela Ronald, PhD, Professor Department of Plant Pathology, UC Davis Genome Center, University of California, Davis

• “Toll-like Receptors and Inflammasomes:  Key Drivers of Inflammatory Diseases” by Luke O'Neill, PhD, Professor School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College, Dublin

Storer Life Sciences Endowment Seminar Series

The Major Issues in Modern Biology (MIiMB) seminar series was established by the College of Biological Sciences in 1986 to focus attention on important issues that influence the direction of modern biology. In 1990, the Tracy and Ruth Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences endowment began funding the seminar series to bring to Davis eminent biologists whose current work represents the cutting edge of their fields of inquiry. The series features speakers whose work has had a major impact in their field and is of broad appeal to the campus community of biologists.

The series generally consists of 4-6 seminars scheduled at intervals throughout the academic year. Each speaker presents a single seminar.

Dance your Ph.D.

For the past few days I have been contemplating what topic should be used to induct SYNAPSE into the blogging community.  In retrospect, I never should have stressed over the decision because it was a no-brainer; it just took time to form the synaptic connection!  Since the mission of this blog is to provide "chemically balanced connections to, from, and about MCIP graduate students at UC Davis" the first post is going to highlight one of our very own, Kristina (Kristi) Bezold.  She came to UC Davis with Dr. Samantha Harris and quickly integrated herself into the core muscle fibers of the MCIP graduate group.  She is best known for her diligent planning and seamless execution of the Napa Valley wine trips that have recruited many students to our graduate group.  In October of 2011, Kristi submitted a video to 'Dance Your Ph.D.'  She has a unique ability to make science engaging!  Here is her video on how myosin binding protein C helps regulate cardiac contraction.  Thank you Kristi for your energy, enthusiasm and commitment to MCIP!


CMyBP-C PhD dance from Kristi Bezold on Vimeo.

Procrastinating?  Check out some of this year's video submissions, they are a GREAT educational waste of your valuable time!  The winning videos can be found here.

Improving your Mentoring Skills:
Another shameless Kristi promotion - starting February 2nd through March 7th she is organizing an HHMI supported seminar on 'Improving your Mentoring Skills'.  Bagels and coffee are provided along with valuable information on the importance of quality mentoring.  This seminar is open to graduate students, postdocs, and even professors who want to enhance their abilities as a mentor.  There will be 6, weekly, 1-hour seminars covering topics common to all mentoring relationships.

Benefits of participating in the Mentoring Seminar:

1. Enhance your mentoring abilities through awareness and tools for effective mentoring
2. Gain perspective on all mentoring relationships, including your own student/PI relationship
3. Put on your CV that you took a HHMI Entering Mentoring Seminar
4. Free coffee and bagels on Wednesday mornings!

Details:
Time:  Wednesday mornings from 9:00am to 10:00am
Dates: February 2nd through March 7th (6 weeks long)
Place:  148 Briggs Hall

Tentative weekly schedule will focus on the following topics:

1. Establishing a good mentoring relationship, and elements of a good research project
2. Learning to communicate effectively and adaptively
3. Setting goals and expectations, and developing trust
4. Identifying and resolving challenges in mentoring
5. Evaluating your progress as a mentor
6. Developing a mentoring philosophy and drawing parallels in mentoring

To sign up, subscribe to the EnteringMentoring listserve at:  https://lists.ucdavis.edu/sympa/info/enteringmentoring or email Brandon Zipp or Kristi Bezold for more information.