Time: Thursday 17 June 2021 at 19:30

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be delivered online. More details can be found here.

DNA repair in focus:
Utilising fluorescence microscopy to study early DNA damage processes

In each cell of a human body, a copy of the entire genome is tightly packaged into the nucleus. Over the period of a life-time, the genetic material, DNA, can be damaged multiple times and left unrepaired, can result in the development of cancer. The tight packaging of the DNA within a cell can make it difficult to repair, therefore there are cellular systems in place to modulate the packaging and promote efficient repair. As manipulating these repair pathways is a common feature in the treatment of cancers, understanding how they work is essential for improving current treatments or in the development of new treatments. In this talk, Rebecca will present how her lab used fluorescent microscopy to gain insight into very early DNA repair events and how this work has helped identify new candidates for chemotherapy.

Dr Rebecca Smith completed a BSc (2011) and PhD (2015) in Biochemistry at Massey University, New Zealand.  She then moved to Europe to undertake post-doctoral studies at the LMU in Munich, Germany and the University of Rennes, France to continue investigating DNA repair processes with a variety of advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques. She currently works at the University of Rennes, France where her research currently focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of one of the earliest steps of DNA repair, poly-ADP-ribosylation, and how modulating this pathway can alter the efficacy of chemotherapeutic therapies.

Time: Thursday 20 May 2021 at 19:30

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be delivered online. More details can be found here.

An Uncertain Mission: Decision Making for Robots

Autonomous systems such as robots and voice assistants are becoming increasingly capable of performing useful actions such as moving between two locations or looking up information from a website. To go beyond single actions, an autonomous system needs an algorithms that can produce sequences of actions which allow it to achieve a user-specified goal (such as collecting then delivering a package, or booking a holiday).  Within the field of AI, such a capability is often referred to as mission planning. Creating mission planning algorithms to control robots is particularly challenging because the effects of robot actions are often uncertain, i.e. they only achieve the desired outcome with some probability. In this talk I’ll present our recent work on mission planning algorithms that model the uncertainty of robot actions, and talk about how we’ve applied the algorithms to controlling robots in a range of domains from greeting people in a hospital, to inspecting nuclear waste stores.

Professor Nick Hawes completed a BSc (1999) and PhD (2004) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the University of Birmingham, before completing post-doctoral positions at MIT’s Media Lab Europe in Dublin, and in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. From 2009, he led a research group around AI applied to robotics at Birmingham, progressing to the title of Reader in Autonomous Intelligent Robotics. Nick moved to Oxford in September 2017, joining the Oxford Robotics Institute as an Associate Professor and Pembroke College as a Tutorial Fellow.

Time: Thursday 15 April 2021 at 19:30

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be delivered online. More details can be found here.

Title: Plant Roots: A Ground-Breaking Perspective

Plants are incredible. They use a greenhouse gas to constructure their parts, are the basis of most food and medicine on Earth, and release a proportion of the oxygen that we depend on. In this talk I will focus on roots, which are a crucial organ that extract resources needed for growth and to anchor plants to soil. As well as extracting resources, they secrete molecules that can attract fungal partners to boost their growth. This fungal relationship has been shown to connect whole ecosystems such as forests. This network forms a protective buffer against hardship. The key molecules within this secretion are carbohydrates, and of particular interest polysaccharides (complex long-chain sugars) that can glue surrounding soil to the root surface. By maintaining this interface plants can secure resource uptake during drought. Some plants can even regulate this interface by tightening and loosening their grip on soil through polysaccharides

Speaker: Andrew Galloway

Andrew is a plant scientist, botanist and horticulturist. Andrew studied his undergraduate degree in horticulture at a Harper Adam University. During his time at university, he managed to get sponsored by a commercial grower to conduct research on growing tomatoes under polytunnel films that could enhance yield. Andrew also received his masters degree and decorate, as well as completing his first postdoc at the University of Leeds. His research specialised in plant-soil interaction. Andrew also completed a postdoc at the University of Tromsø, Norway studying plant-plant parasitism. At present Andrew works as the Research Coordinator for the Neuroimaging Centre at the University of Oxford.

Time: Thursday 18 March 2021 at 19:30

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be delivered online. More details can be found here.

Title: Computational Biology in Drug Target Discovery

The field of computational biology has exponentially grown in recent years, enabling novel insights into biological mechanisms underlying human disease. This is a diverse field, ranging from the use of advanced genetics methods to machine learning applications. Computational biology has revolutionised the way in which we can identify and develop new drugs for human disease. In this talk we will discuss how advanced analytics of large biological and clinical datasets can be used to gain insight into cardiometabolic disease. We will then discuss how we can use these insights to identify and test novel drug targets.

Speaker: Zahra McVey

I am a Research Scientist working for the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. I currently work in a Computational Biology team at Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford (NNRCO), where our focus is the discovery of new drug targets in cardiovascular and metabolic (cardiometabolic) disease. Prior to joining the team in Oxford, I worked in a Data Science team in Copenhagen, where Novo Nordisk’s headquarters are located. I have a diverse background, having completed my PhD at the University of Oxford in leukaemia stem cell biology. Based at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, I worked in the lab as a scientist, while developed my skills in computational biology. My scientific interest is in the use of computational biology to advance our biological understanding of disease, and ultimately develop effective treatments for patients.

Time: Thursday 18 Feb 2021 at 19:30

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be delivered online. More details can be found here.

TITLE: Mars – Why we can’t get enough

There have been 49 spacecraft missions to Mars – more than anywhere else beyond Earth. What is it about Mars that we find so fascinating? Why do we continue to return? What remains to be understood about our nearest neighbour in the Solar Systems that has not already been uncovered? With 2020 seeing the launch of three Mars missions, landing in 2021, this talk explores the importance of Mars to mankind, and discusses the impact of the most recent missions to the red planet.

SPEAKER: Rain Irshad

Dr Rain Irshad is the Autonomous Systems Lead at RAL Space and works on large innovation projects for the Science and Technology Facilities Council. She has been involved in numerous space missions over the past 18 years and was the Planetary Protection Officer for the SEIS-SP instrument on NASA’s InSight Mission. Her research also looks at terrestrial applications of space technology including robotics for Agritech and the Mine Action Sector.