“A novel apoptotic-like cell death pathway in bacteria and its biological significance”

Date: Monday, 16  April 2012
Time: 11:00
Location: IMP Lecture Hall
Host: Renée Schroeder

Structural biology of kinetochores

Date: Thursday, 19  April 2012
Time: 11:00
Location: IMBA/GMI Lecture Hall
Type: VBC Regular Seminar
Institute: Harvard Medical School
Host: Thomas Marlovits

Date: Thursday, 24  April 2012
Time: 17:00
Location: IMBA/GMI Lecture Hall
Type: VBC Lecture Series
Institute: IMP/MFPL

The cellular and molecular basis for planarian regeneration

Date: Thursday, 26  April 2012
Time: 11:00
Location: IMBA/GMI Lecture Hall
Type: VBC Postdoc Seminar
Institute: MIT Biology
Host: VBC Postdocs

Date: Monday, 30  April 2012
Time: 12:30
Location: GMI Orange Seminar Room (4th Floor)
Type: GMI Seminar
Institute: International Atomic Energy Agency
Host: Magnus Nordborg

Presenting your research to colleagues is a challenge. Finding a comprehensible and entertaining way to explain your work to a general audience is even harder. 6 MFPL postdocs will rise to this challenge on 21st March and explain their projects to a 350-strong audience. The audience will declare the most understandable and entertaining presentation the winner.

The event is called a ‘Science Slam‘ and offers a stage for scientists to present their work to an interested lay audience. The format, inspired by the tradition of poetry slams, was brought to Austria by Bernhard Weingartner, a physicist at Vienna’s Technical University, and is supported by the Ministry for Science and Research. Presenters only have a view minutes to explain their complex research topics and may not use powerpoint. Instead, they use everyday objects or construct models to help the audience to understand what they are talking about. Previous slams have seen wine bottles, hula hoops, bone saws and ice-cream sellers on stage.

Science slams aim to encourage discussion of the research featured, so space for discussion is built into the program. The audience have to discuss the presentations with their neighbours and award points in the categories of content, comprehensibility and creativity. The presenter with the most points wins the slam, and, in the case of the 21st March, an i-Pad.

The event will take place on 21.03.2012, 19:00 at the Metropol, Hernalser Hauptstraße 55, 1170 Vienna.

Tickets are complimentary and are available from karten(at)scienceslam.at.

How primary neurons can be protected against ‘ischemia in vitro’ by mild changes in mitochondrial function

They have identified how modest changes in mitochondrial function can induce protective compensatory mechanisms in primary neurons prior ‘ischemic insult’.

Petronela Weisová  (Group Friedrich Propst) did her PhD with Manus W. Ward at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). She has started to work as VIPS fellow in 2011 after her previous postdoctoral stay in the lab of prof. Jochen Prehn (RCSI, Ireland).

Weisová P, Anilkumar U, Ryan C, Concannon CG, Prehn JH, Ward MW.

Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Centre for the Study of Neurological Disorders, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland;

Max F. Perutz Laboratories, University of Vienna, Dr. Bohr-Gasse 9, 1030 Vienna, Austria.

Abstract

The preconditioning response conferred by a mild uncoupling of the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψ_m) has been attributed to altered reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uptake within the cells. Here we have explored if altered cellular energetics in response to a mild mitochondrial uncoupling stimulus may also contribute to the protection. The addition of 100nM FCCP for 30 min to cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) induced a transient depolarization of the Δψ_m, that was sufficient to significantly reduce CGN vulnerability to the excitotoxic stimulus, glutamate. On investigation, the mild mitochondrial ‘uncoupling’ stimulus resulted in a significant increase in the plasma membrane levels of the glucose transporter isoform 3, with a hyperpolarisation of Δψ_m and increased cellular ATP levels also evident following the washout of FCCP. Furthermore, the phosphorylation state of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) (Thr 172) was increased within 5min of the uncoupling stimulus and elevated up to 1 h after washout. Significantly, the physiological changes and protection evident after the mild uncoupling stimulus were lost in CGNs when AMPK activity was inhibited. This study identifies an additional mechanism through which protection is mediated upon mild mitochondrial uncoupling: it implicates increased AMPK signalling and an adaptive shift in energy metabolism as mediators of the preconditioning response associated with FCCP-induced mild mitochondrial uncoupling.

Bianca M. Mladek was previously working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK, where she already held a Marie Curie Inter-European Fellowship. Before that, she pursued her PhD in Computational Physics at the TU Wien, which she finished sub auspiciis presidentis. Her current researche addresses questions of understanding and controlling self assembly in soft and biological matter systems.

Marie Curie Career Integration Grants are awarded to researchers aiming to permanently integrate themselves in the European Research landscape. By offering researchers their own research budget, this grant thus contributes to the scientific success of the scientists’ research career.

Mladek’s Marie Curie project will last for 2.5 years and aims to computationally study protein-RNA complexes.

In practice, questions such as “I’m not sure if I’m really suited to lead a group”, “In conflicts, I am often overwhelmed”, “I do not know if I really want to go abroad”, “I am so frustrated and may not motivate myself anymore”, “My life consists only of work”, etc. could be addressed.

A coaching hour comprises 50 minutes. Based on an initial interview with the coach that clarifies the question of the coachee an approximate estimate of the number of coaching sessions is given. The meetings are held in the premises of the coaches separate from the campus in order to establish the necessary confidentiality.
The coaching will be held in one-to-one meetings.

The coaches are:

Monika Bachler, PhD: molecular biologist, coach und psychotherapist under supervision
Uwe von Ahsen, PhD: molecular biologist, coach and managing consultant

To get in contact with the coaches please write an e-mail to: vbc_coaching@gmx.at

Robert Prevedel, who began his research at MFPL in September, was previously based at the University of Waterloo, Canada where he held an Erwin-Schroedinger Fellowship from the FWF.  His PhD in Quantum Optics and Quantum Information was supervised by Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna.

His current research is in quantum effects in biological systems and in new imaging tools for circuit neuroscience research.

The Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowships are awarded to researchers working in countries outside Europe irrespective of nationality. They provide support the scientist’s work at a European partner institution for 1 or two years. The fellowship consists of a salary, plus some allowances for travel and research expenses

Prevedel’s Marie Curie project will last for 2 years and will investigate the use of quantum-entangled photon states in microscopy in order to probe light-sensitive biological systems.