From childhood, Susan Gardner has had an interest in how the world works, developing a sense of curiosity that would later fuel her work and inspire her research. Recently, Gardner, a professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, played an important role in a study that was responsible for the discovery of a wave in the Milky Way Galaxy.
http://www.stat.osu.edu/~lkubatko/
Host: Dr. Catherine Linnen
Sponsored by Department of Biology Ribble Endowment
*Refreshments served at 3:45
Speaker: Dr. Dan Simberloff
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/peopletwo/daniel-simberloff
Host: Luc Dunoyer
Sponsored by Department of Biology Ribble Endowment
*Refreshments served at 3:45
Speaker: Dr. David Samson
Duke University
Host: Dr. Bruce O'Hara
Sponsored by Department of Biology Ribble Endowment
*Refreshments served at 3:20
Helen Blau, PhD
Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor
Director, Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology
Helen Blau’s research is focused on the regulation of cell fate. In the 1980s her lab challenged and changed the dogma that the mammalian differentiated state was"terminal", i.e., fixed and irreversible. The Blau lab fused cells of two different species in different ratios to form stable non-dividing syncytia (heterokaryons). These experiments demonstrated that by altering the balance of cytoplasmic proteins, programs of gene expression could be changed. For example, the genes characteristic of a muscle cell could be activated in a human liver cell. This body of work was remarkable, as it showed that genes silenced in the course of differentiation and development in humans,could be readily reawakened and expressed. Moreover, these major changes in gene expression occurred in the absence of cell division and DNA replication. These findings surprised the scientific community by showing that in mammals the typically stable state of a differentiated cell (liver does not normally beget muscle) is governed by mechanisms that are continuously active and governed by the balance of proteins present in the cytoplasm at any given time. These discoveries extended the findings and fundamental principles of gene regulation described for the Operon in prokaryotes by Jacob and Monod to higher eukaryotes. Moreover, they now provide the foundation for the diverse approaches to nuclear reprogramming that are the crux of the burgeoning field of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.
Celebrated authors Joy Castro and Leslie Jamison will make their first appearance together at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference for a reading, conversation and a book signing.
Excitement is building as construction begins for the University of Kentucky’s new Academic Science Building.
Former UK student Amanda Fickey is back at her alma mater this summer, teaching Appalachian history and culture to 60 high school students from Eastern Kentucky as part of UK’s Robinson Scholars Honors Program.
I was born and raised in Lexington, KY. I graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2012 where I earned my BS in Community Communications and Leadership Development (Agriculture Communications). I began working at UK in 2010 as a student worker in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. I moved to STEPS in 2012 before becoming an employee in the College of Arts and Sciences this past June. I will be married a year in August to my husband Matt and we live here in Lexington. We have a 7 year-old Australian Shepherd/Border Collie named Oliver.
