​Microbes are an incredible source of diverse enzyme chemistries. This reflects an unrelenting evolutionary pressure to develop catabolic and biosynthetic pathways that allow microbes to survive, and even thrive, in diverse environments. Such pathways allow microbes to extract nutrients from a wide array of substrates, as well as defend themselves from other organisms through 'chemical warfare'. With recent advances in whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics, the microbial world has become a happy hunting ground for the enzymologist who is interested in finding unusual enzymes. This seminar will focus on two programs that are driven by genomics driven discovery of new enzyme reactions. The first involves the enzymatic cleavage of the C-P bonds found in phosphonates, while the second involves the enzymatic synthesis of C-F bonds. Recent advances in these two programs will be presented. 

Fisher Scientific and BioTek would love to invite you to a Technical Seminar on March 22nd (10am-11am, Wednesday) at  Biosciences Complex (Room 3110). We are very excited to introduce the Cytation-a new and advanced tool for your smarter target and phenotypic-based research. Light refreshment and coffee will be provided. Information is attached.
 
Is this new technology useful or applicable for your research? See the attached applications diversity of Cytation. If you are doing any of these specific applications, you will be interested in hearing about this new tool.  You will not be disappointed if you come to join us!
 
The new Cytation imaging multi-mode reader combines automated digital microscopy with conventional multi-mode microplate detection to provide phenotypic cellular information with well-based quantitative data. 

​Key features:
• Combined digital microscopy and multi-mode detection
• Hybrid Technology: filter and monochromator-based optics
• UV/Vis Absorbance/Photometry
• Fluorescence Intensity and FRET
• Glow/Flash Luminescence and BRET
• Time-Resolved Fluorescence
• Fluorescence Polarization
• AlphaScreen/AlphaLISA
• Variable bandwidth monochromators for fluorescence
• Laser-based excitation for AlphaScreen assays
• CO2/O2 control, incubation and shaking
• 2 μL measurements of nucleic acids and proteins with Take3 Plates
• Powerful, easy-to-use Gen5 software

​Plants defend against viruses using several mechanisms including RNA silencing and by the recognition of specific viral proteins by NB-LRR proteins. Most plants encode at least four Dicer-like (DCL) proteins and ten different Argonaute (AGO) proteins, which are specialized to function in different RNA silencing-related mechanisms. We have previously shown that AGO2 plays an important role in protecting plants against viruses, including resistance to Potato virus X (PVX) in Arabidopsis. Further investigation has shown that natural variation in the AGO2 gene plays a very important role in susceptibility to viruses and to determining virus host range. Although AGO2 appears to be a central actor in defence against viruses, additional AGO proteins also play roles in antiviral. However, the efficacy of these other AGO proteins differs against different viruses, suggesting that the ability of different AGO proteins to target viral RNA may be affected by viral replication and/or silencing suppression strategies. Induced defence against viruses is conferred by nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) proteins, which make up an important branch of the plant innate immune system. Elicitation of NB-LRR proteins results in the repression of translation of viral transcripts and, in many cases, the eventual activation of programmed cell death. Using several experimental systems we have investigated the role of translational control in NB-LRR signalling. This approach has uncovered a link between translational control and the growth-to-defence switch as well as identifying a number of new actors involved in plant defence.

The ability of animals to generate goal oriented motor behaviors ensures their survival. Combining molecular genetics and optogenetics, we have begun to reveal the molecular and circuit mechanisms that drive the motor behaviors of C. elegans, an animal with a small nervous system. I will present our unpublished results that describe the molecular and cellular origins of the rhythmicity of C. elegans locomotion. These results provide evidence for functional compression when a nervous system is constrained by cell numbers, a property that allows small animals to serve as compact models to dissect the organizational logic of circuits.