We will welcome two new faculty members, Marcelo Melo from BMB and Will Jay from Physics, who will give short presentations describing their current research interests. Recognizing the significance of the recently announced Nobel Prizes, Will and Marcelo will briefly draw connections to the Prizes in Physics and Chemistry respectively. Continuing this theme, Tai Montgomery from Biology will discuss the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. We will then have an opportunity for informal conversation. The room is booked until 4:15.

Refreshments will be provided.

Faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows are welcome to attend.

From snapshots to movies: Exploring the shape and dynamics of biomolecules
Speaker: Marcelo Melo, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biology is dynamic, but capturing details of molecular motions remains a challenge. Computational methods allow us to explore, with atomic detail, the interactions and transformations that molecules undergo to keep cells alive and responsive to their environments.

The Standard Model and Beyond
Speaker: William Jay, Department of Physics
What are the basic building blocks of nature? Answering this question requires understanding how particles like protons and neutrons arise from the dynamics of their constituent elementary particles. Emergent processes like these can be understood using the theory of the strong subnuclear force—quantum chromodynamics.

A Nobel Prize for MicroRNAs
Speaker: Tai Montgomery, Department of Biology
The discovery of small gene-regulating molecules known as microRNAs earned Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. But what exactly are microRNAs, and why was this discovery so important?