Events
CEMINAR
The most important community-oriented activity we sponsor is CEMINAR, formerly MicroMorning, a monthly seminar series where students and postdocs in the CEMI program present their work. Usually 2 individuals present 20-25 min talks (+ 5 min questions) to fill the hour, but on rare occasions we invite an outside speaker. CEMINAR is primarily designed to provide CEMI students and postdocs with an opportunity to practice giving a formal talk to a friendly Caltech audience. Numerous collaborations have been sparked between labs at Caltech thanks to creative connections made during these seminars. View past CEMINARS
CEMINAR
4:00-5:00pm B180 BBB
5:00-5:30pm Socializing (snacks and drinks will be provided)
UPCOMING
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 4:00pm
Location: 4:00-5:00pm B180 BBB (Take the stairs behind the lily pond by the Beckman Laboratories of Behavioral Biology (BBB) building and enter the doors)
5:00-5:30pm Socializing (Snacks and drinks will be provided)
"Towards a thermally self-regulating living material"
Lealia Xiong
Kornfield Lab
Engineered living materials (ELMs) containing E. coli retain desirable characteristics of the living component, such as exponential growth and responsiveness to external stimuli. Varying ambient temperature presents a challenge in deploying ELMs outside of a laboratory environment, because E. coli experience optimal growth near 37°C. We develop a genetically-encoded mechanism for autonomous temperature homeostasis in ELMs containing E. coli by engineering circuits that change expression of a light-absorptive chromophore in response to seasonal changes in temperature. We measure the ability of centimeter-scale ELM-like patches of E. coli to grow in a custom lighted incubator by observing patch diameter and thickness.
The role of context-dependent metabolite toxicity in organizing microbial communities
Steven A. Wilbert
Newman Lab
We can image the strikingly beautiful compositions of natural microbial communities, but we still lack an understanding of the factors that shape their organization. Understanding the drivers of these structures at the microscale may allow us to better predict and control large-scale community functions in dynamic natural environments. Here we built a synthetic community reflecting a metabolic pathway often partitioned between members found in nature: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) strains with a denitrification pathway genetically split at the nitric oxide (NO) node. We characterized the growth of a strict consumer and a strict producer of NO and found that PA metabolizes NO in a manner that supports growth, a previously underappreciated energy conservation strategy. However, increasing local oxygen flips this interaction from beneficial to detrimental by increasing toxicity. Whether imaged under agar pads, or in an engineered wheat rhizosphere system, these principles drive context-dependent cellular organization. This work underscores the contributions of partitioned metabolic pathways, redox-active metabolites, and dynamic micro-niches to the organization of microbial communities.
Social Events
In addition to CEMINAR, CEMI sponsors social events during the academic year:
Fall Poster Sessions: All CEMI labs present one or more posters on their lab’s research. This helps incoming/current students and postdocs remain up-to-date on that latest research projects going on across the campus. One attractive feature of Caltech is that students admitted in any graduate program are welcome to rotate in any lab (as long as the lab is taking students), so this poster session can open up new interests and areas for exploration. It also can spawn new collaborations between labs.
Winter Lectures and Evening Gala: To celebrate the start of the calendar year, we invite a keynote speaker from outside Caltech to give a seminar, plus a few shorter talks by assistant professors or postdocs at Caltech and other local universities. These “Winter Lectures” are open to anyone interested. As a companion event, we hold a formal gathering for a limited number of CEMI sponsors, faculty, and students and postdocs currently being supported by CEMI grants. The evening’s entertainment is organized by a different CEMI lab each year, and the evening culminates with a presentation of the “CEMI Oscars” (we are close to Hollywood, after all…), roasting CEMI members for notable achievements in the past year, all in good fun. View past winter lectures
Spring Happy Hour: In recognition of the fact that sometimes the most inspired ideas come when we least expect them, we promote casual conversation between all members of the CEMI community supplemented with drinks and food at the start of the spring term (no posters required!).
CEMI Spring Celebration of Science: This hour-long science program featured short lightning talks from CEMI graduate students and postdocs followed by time to talk with the speakers and socialize with our CEMI colleagues. The inaugural event was held on May 12, 2021.
Workshops
CEMI occasionally supports training courses at Caltech that provide members of the CEMI community with an opportunity for intensive training in a particular area. Any member of the CEMI community is welcome to suggest a topic for a workshop. Please contact the CEMI administrator if you have an idea. View past workshops