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 Virtual Talks
UPCOMING
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 at 4:00pm
Meeting ID: 871 5020 0933
"Role of the microbiome in modulating limb regeneration"
Aki Ohdera
Goentoro Lab
The role of the microbiome is increasingly recognized in various aspects of animal physiology, but remains understudied in regeneration. In a moon jellyfish model, response to limb amputation is generally marked by a remodeling of body symmetry in conjunction with wound healing. We have been successful in inducing partial regeneration, but we have yet to achieve full limb growth. Interestingly, we found natural variation in the microbiome to correlate with limb regeneration. Utilizing genome-scale metabolic network reconstruction of the dominant bacterial species, we predicted potential metabolites underlying the regenerative phenotype. By manipulating the microbiome, we explore host-microbe interactions regulating regeneration and explore methods to improve limb regeneration.
"microPublication Biology: Publishing single experimental results"
Daniela Raciti
microPublication Biology, Sternberg Lab
microPublication Biology is an online, peer-reviewed, open access journal published by the Caltech Library. microPublication Biology presents a welcome alternative in scholarly communication, focusing on the publication of single experimental results. Starting with articles focused on nematode biology, we have expanded to many more organism communities, including Drosophila, Dictyostelium, and Yeast species. Upon publication, atomized data is delivered directly to authoritative databases for each community (e.g., WormBase, Flybase, PomBase), ensuring timely delivery to biological knowledgebases for deep data integration. Articles published in microPublication Biology are findable in PubMed. We will give an overview of our journal and present our latest publishing metrics.
Social Events
In addition to MicroMorning, CEMI sponsors social events during the academic year:
CEMI Spring Celebration of Science: This hour-long science program features 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.
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 (early January): 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 (early April): 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!).
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