Biology Seminar Series
During the fall and spring semesters, the Department of Biological Sciences hosts a diverse group of speakers from other institutions.
2024-2025 colloquium schedule
You can also join via ZOOM
| Tuesday Oct 08 1pm CKB 303 ONLINE |
Understanding large-scale plant water relations with GRACE/GRACE-FO Suggested reading 1: Evapotranspiration frequently increases during droughts |
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Tuesday ONLY |
Dr. Lidia Szczpak, Universidad de Buenos Aires Transmission of rhythmic signals along the nerve cord Suggested reading 1: Motor neural networks in the leech.
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| Tuesday Oct 22 1pm CKB 303 |
Songbirds learn the rhythms of their songs Suggested reading 1: Birdsong Learning and Culture: Analogies with Human Spoken Language |
| Tuesday Oct 29 1pm CKB 303 ONLINE |
Dr. Pabrita Sahoo, Rutgers Newark Physiological stress granules and their role in axon regeneration. Suggested reading 1: Axonal G3BP1 stress granule protein limits axonal mRNA translation and nerve regeneration |
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Tuesday ONLY |
Dr. Maristela Camargo University of São Paulo SWAB (Spontaneous Wildlife Autonomous Biosampler) - An innovative tool for non-invasive contact-free voluntary wildlife health, pathogens, and welfare monitoring at landscape scale Suggested reading 1: Rigorous wildlife disease surveillance: A decentralized model could address global health risks associated with wildlife exploitation |
| Tuesday Nov 12 1pm CKB 303 ONLINE |
Dr. Dirk Bucher, NJIT Trying to make sense of the neuromodulator soup: co-regulation of receptor expression across different neuropeptides Suggested reading 1: Neuropeptide Receptor Transcript Expression Levels and Magnitude of Ionic Current Responses Show Cell Type-Specific Differences in a Small Motor Circuit |
Dr.
| Tuesday Nov 19 1pm CKB 303 ONLINE |
From connectome to behavior: What can we predict? Suggested reading 1: Synaptic gradients transform object location
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| Dec 3 |
Dr. Paul Katz, UM Amherst Suggested reading 1: Artificial Synaptic Rewiring Demonstrates that Distinct Neural Circuit Configurations Underlie Homologous Behaviors |
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| Dec 10 |
Meet with Phil |
End of the year presentations |
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2023-2024 colloquium schedule (Tuesdays at 1PM — see schedule for location/Zoom information)
TBD
| Date | Speaker |
| Tuesday Sep 11 1pm |
Dr. Eric Fortune, Department of Biological Sciences, NJIT X-PRIZE Rainforest: Competitive conservation IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) |
| Tuesday Sep 19 1pm |
Dr. Tong Qiu, Penn State University Understanding forest regeneration potential in a rapidly changing climate IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) |
| Monday Sep 25 1pm |
Katie Gallman, PhD Candidate in Biological Sciences, NJIT PhD defense: Circadian and ultradian rhythms in fishes IN PERSON, CKB 116 |
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Tuesday Sep 26 |
CANCELLED. Dr. Anthony Geneva, Rutgers-Camden The evolutionary genomics of adaptation enabled by high quality genome assemblies IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) |
| Tuesday Oct 3 1pm |
Dr. Jorge Golowasch, Department of Biological Sciences, NJIT Neuronal membrane capacitance changes daily IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) |
| Tuesday Oct 10 1pm |
Dr. Lily Khadempour, Rutgers Newark. Ants, microbes, and a new conceptual framework for symbiosis IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) |
| Tuesday Oct 17 1pm |
Prof. Farzan Nadim, NJIT The cerebellum modulates the basal ganglia through direct projections to the substantia nigra dopaminergic nucleus IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) and ONLINE (different link from normal). |
| Tuesday Oct 24 1pm |
Dr.Chi Chen, Rutgers University Greening the Earth: Drivers and impacts IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Oct 31 1pm |
Dr. Andrea Roeser, Emory University Dopaminergic error signals retune to social feedback during courtship IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) and ONLINE (different link from normal). |
| Tuesday Nov 7 1pm |
Dr. Brooke Flammang Engineering biology IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) and ONLINE (different link from normal). |
| Tuesday Nov 14 1pm |
Dr. Martin Haesemeyer Coincidence of action and sensation controls attention to temperature in zebrafish IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Nov 21 1pm |
Dr. Petras Swissler, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NJIT The challenges of achieving biological-scale self-assembly in robotics IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Nov 28 1pm |
CANCELLED. Dr. Bruce Carlson |
| Tuesday Dec 5 1pm |
PhD Student Presentations: Grant Bowers and Smita More-Potdar Searching for the cause of small island effect and Long-term constraining effects of neuromodulators on ionic current parameter space IN PERSON, CKB "Swan Room" (4th floor) and ONLINE. |
| WINTER BREAK | |
| Tuesday Jan 30 1pm |
Dr. Phillip Barden, NJIT Emergence and extinction in eusocial arthropods IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Feb 6 1pm |
Dr. Hungtag Ko, Princeton University Collective behavior of insects in dynamic fluid environments IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Feb 13 1pm |
CANCELED DUE TO SNOW. Dr. Jessica Goodheart, American Museum of Natural History Invertebrate pirates: Mechanism and evolution of a stolen defense Will be rescheduled for Fall 2024. |
| Tuesday Feb 20 1pm |
Dr. Michael Lee Creating engaging tools for programming and STEM learning IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Feb 27 1pm |
Sean Dowd, Senior Associate Dean of Students, NJIT NO COLLOQUIUM. This is a presentation for biology graduate students. IN PERSON, CKB 303. |
| Tuesday Mar 5 1pm |
Dr. Xiaonan Tai, NJIT TBA IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| SPRING BREAK | |
| Tuesday Mar 19 1pm |
Dr. Sophia Tintori, New York University Using nematodes to study natural variation in sensitivity to mutagens IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Mar 26 1pm |
Dr. Franne Kahmi, Denison University Neural mechanisms of foraging in varying ecological contexts IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Apr 2 1pm |
Dr. Michael Granatosky, NYIT Leveraging tetrapod grasping as an opportunity for student research and STEM outreach IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Apr 9 1pm |
Dr. Zachary Calamari, City University of New York Horn and antler gene expression dynamics and evolution ONLINE but with a watch party in CKB 303. |
| Tuesday Apr 16 1pm |
Dr. David Lipshutz, Flatiron Institute Statistical learning algorithms for biological neural networks IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Apr 23 1pm |
Dr. Michael Layden, Lehigh University "Sea-ing" neurobiology through the lens of an anemone IN PERSON, CKB 303 and ONLINE. |
| Tuesday Apr 30 1pm |
Dr. Bruce Carlson, Washington University of St. Louis Shifting sensorimotor integration during seasonal and evolutionary change in behavior ONLINE. |
2022-2023 colloquium schedule (Fall: Mondays at 3pm. Spring: Tuesdays at 1PM — see schedule for location/Zoom information)
| Date | Speaker |
| Monday Sep 12 3pm |
Dr. Toni Guillamon, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Spain Optimal transition from damped to sustained biological oscillations through response functions. |
| Monday Sep 26 3pm |
Dr. Claudio Mirasso, Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB), Palma de Mallorca, Spain On the role of inhibitory neurons in the information processing capacity of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. |
| Monday Nov 7 3pm |
Dr Beatriz Baño-Otàlora, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Brighten up your circadian clock: Impact of daytime light intensity on behaviour and clock function in a diurnal mammal. |
| Monday Nov 28 3pm |
Dr. Julia Hyland Bruno, NJIT Department of Humanities A comparative-species perspective on vocal interactivity. IN PERSON AND ONLINE |
| Monday Dec 5 3pm |
Dr. Kristina Wicke, NJIT Department of Mathematics Mathematical approaches to biodiversity conservation: Some recent developments and challenges in phylogenetic diversity research. IN PERSON AND ONLINE |
| WINTER BREAK | |
| Tuesday Jan 17 1pm |
Dr. Katelyn Mike, University of Chicago Past, present, and future molecular evolution of fish. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Jan 24 1pm |
Dr. Isabella Muratore, NJIT From brain structure to collective architecture: Behavioral adaptations in ants. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Jan 31 1pm |
Dr. Heather Bruce, Marine Biology Labs, Woods Hole Arthropod appendages: Novelty and homology over hundreds of millions of years. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Wednesday Feb 1 2:45pm |
Dr. Jaya Krishnan, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City Life in the dark illuminates the path to metabolic resilience. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Feb 7 1pm |
Dr. Larry Band, University of Virginia Integrated modeling and assessment of urban form and infrastructure impacts on runoff, nutrient loading, and carbon cycling: Prospects for environmental restoration. ONLINE |
| Wednesday Feb 8 2:30pm |
Dr. Megan Corty, Vollum Institute & Oregon Health Science Institute How and why do glia wrap axons? IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Thursday Feb 9 1pm |
Dr. Allison Edgar, The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, St. Augustine Fashionably late and ready to party: Late specification and early maturation of germline cells in the phylum Ctenophora. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Thursday Feb 16 1pm |
Dr. Carolyn Elya, Harvard University Secrets of the zombie fly: Neural mechanisms of fruit fly behavioral manipulation by the killer fungus Entomophthora muscae. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Feb 28 1pm |
Dr. Ashlee H. Rowe, University of Oklahoma Scorpion toxins and ion channel targets: Neurophysiological mechanisms of adaptive pain resistance in predators. ONLINE |
| Tuesday Mar 7 1pm |
Dr. Melissa Ingala, Fairleigh Dickinson University Metagenomic collaboration between bats and their gut bacteria. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| SPRING BREAK | |
| Tuesday Mar 21 1pm |
Audrey Biondi-Kellogg, NJIT DISSERTATION DEFENSE. A biologically inspired fin for underwater robotics: A study of Mola mola swimming mechanics. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Mar 28 1pm |
Dr. Dora Biro, University of Rochester Collective knowledge in animal groups: From the ‘Wisdom of the Crowd’ to cultural evolution. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Apr 4 1pm |
Dr. Jason Yang, Rutgers NJMS Interpretable machine learning for mechanistic discovery and biomedical translation. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Apr 11 1pm |
Dr. Ioana Carcea, Rutgers Brain Health Institute Oxytocin neurons enable the social transmission of maternal behavior. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday Apr 18 1pm |
Christine Sosiak, NJIT DISSERTATION DEFENSE. How to survive a mass extinction: Detangling drivers of extinction in deep time. IN PERSON, CKB 303 |
| Tuesday May 2 1pm |
Dr. Clinton Jenkins, Florida International University Frontiers in our understanding of global biodiversity. ONLINE ONLY |