A playlist brought to you by Women’s Center staff member, MJ Jalloh Jamboria

As we approach the end of Women’s History Month, I wanted to share a playlist I made for a Women’s History Month Empowerment Program. The playlist features some throwbacks, a few current jams, Beyoncé (more than once) and I throw in Kelis’ “Milkshake” just for fun!

Get up and dance like this kid

Check it out on Spotify or YouTube below!

DJ Rekha: Ambassador of Bhangra

I will present DJ Rekha’s “Basement Bhangra Anthem” and discuss the various influences this piece reflects. DJ Rekha is a New York-based DJ, producer, educator, and curator. The New York Times called her the “Ambassador of Bhangra.” Bhangra is a style of folk music and dance from the Indian state Punjab. DJ Rekha is known for being one of the first DJs to merge the classic sounds of Bhangra and Bollywood with contemporary hip-hop and dance-hall beats. One of her notable songs is “Basement Bhangra Anthem.” Musician and composer Wendy Carlos can be seen as an influence. Carlos popularized the Moog synthesizer with the release of her 1968 album Switched-On Bach, which featured Bach compositions played on a Moog synthesizer as well as film scores in a more popular musical language. Carlos combined classical music with electronic music. DJ Rekha is also a musical pioneer. She was raised in an Indian family and faced criticism for being passionate about hip-hop. She took her passion for music and made a career out of it by fusing different musical styles to create a new musical genre. I am investigating the cultural melting pot of her music.

Probing the Secondary Structure of the Monomeric Conformation in the HIV-1 5`-Leader RNA by NMR Spectroscopy

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the AIDS pathogen, proliferates within infected human helper T cells, compromising an otherwise healthy and responsive immune system. Viral replication is mediated by the 5`Leader (5`L) element in viral genomic RNA. This 5`-L RNA exists in an equilibrium of two structural conformers – monomer and dimer, by which it directs and mediates viral assembly and replication. Here, we demonstrate an approach to probe for and characterize secondary structure in the 5`-L monomeric conformer by high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a technique used for high-resolution biomolecular structural studies. Signal assignment and validation of characteristic peaks in NMR experiments designed to explore the through-space interactions of base-paired residues provide evidence to support the formation of distinct secondary structures in our proposed model. Our study of the HIV-1 5`-L monomeric conformer structure and the processes that this highly conserved RNA sequence mediates in retroviral replication not only provide further insight into our current understanding of the functional and dynamic nature of three-dimensional RNA structure, but also highlight potential therapeutic value in the monomer as a drug target in clinical medicine.

Using DNA Sequences to Determine the Geographic Origins of Agriculturally Important Invasive Leafmining Flies

The increased global movement of people and goods has resulted in introduction of agricultural pests into new areas. Understanding the patterns and processes of colonization by introduced species is crucial in planning interventions and management strategies. However, determining the origin and colonization patterns of invasive species can be difficult. Molecular markers such as DNA sequence data can help determine the history of movement by an invasive species. Liriomyza huidobrensis is a leafmining fly that feeds within leaf tissue of crops, including potatoes and beans. Although native to South America, it has spread throughout the world and is of great concern. Understanding the origin and pathways of dispersion can determine the means of spread, possibly leading to the development of interception and control programs. We analyzed 2125 base pairs of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase genes (COI & COII) in a phylogeographic approach to uncover distribution of genetic variation of L. huidobrensis. Our phylogeographic analysis of mitochondrial COI and COII found substantial geographic structure within L. huidobrensis in its native range, but almost none within and between invasive populations around the world.The data suggest that the invasive populations trace to the Peru/Ecuador region. We are collecting additional data to test this hypothesis.

Nicholas Rogers, who graduated in December 2015 and worked in the Blaney Lab, was selected to receive a 2016 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. Nick's proposal focused on using excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) of dissolved organic matter (DOM) to identify leaking wastewater infrastructure in urban settings.  His selection was based on his demonstrated potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise.  

• Candidate should be a full-time, degree-seeking student at UMBC, enrolled in her/his sophomore year with a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
• Candidate will be required to submit a resume and an unofficial transcript.
• Candidate should submit a 500-word essay explaining actions that she/he has participated in that have contributed to improving the lives of Baltimore City youth.

Application Materials can be submitted to:

Application Deadline:

Questions?

Contact Lori Hardesty at lhardesty@umbc.edu

Reverse Engineering of Dynamic Regulatory Networks
from Morphological Experimental Data

Prof. Daniel Lobo, Biological Sciences, UMBC
3:00pm 11:00am April 7 6th,  ITE Building, Room 325b

Many crucial experiments in developmental, regenerative, and cancer biology are based on manipulations and perturbations resulting in morphological outcomes. For example, planarian worms can regenerate a complete organism from almost any amputated piece, but knocking down certain genes can result in the regeneration of double-head phenotypes. However, the inherent complexity and non-linearity of biological regulatory networks prevent us from manually discerning testable comprehensive models from patterning and morphological results, and existent bioinformatics tools are generally limited to genomic or time-series concentration data. As a consequence, despite a huge experimental dataset in the literature, we still lack mechanistic explanations that can account for more than one or two morphological results in many model organisms. To bridge this gulf separating morphological data from an understanding of pattern and form regulation, we developed a computational methodology to automate the discovery of dynamic genetic networks directly from formalized phenotypic experimental data. In this seminar, I will present novel formal ontologies and databases of surgical, genetic, and pharmacological experiments with their resultant morphological phenotypes, together with artificial intelligence tools based on evolutionary computation and in silico simulators that can directly mine these data to reverse-engineer mechanistic dynamic genetic models. We demonstrated this approach by automatically discovering the first comprehensive model of planarian regeneration, which not only explains at once all the key experiments available in the literature (including surgical amputations, knock-down of specific genes, and pharmacological treatments), but also predicts testable novel pathways and genes. This approach is readily paving the way for understanding the regulation (and dis-regulation) of complex patterns and shapes in developmental, regenerative, and cancer biology.

Daniel Lobo is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research aims to understand, control, and design the dynamic regulatory mechanisms governing complex biological processes. To this end, his group develops new computational methods, ontologies, and high-performance in silico experiments to automate the reverse-engineering of quantitative models from biological data and the design of regulatory networks for specific functions. They seek to discover the mechanisms of development and regeneration, find therapies for cancer and other diseases, and streamline the application of synthetic biology. His work has received widespread media coverage including Wired, TechRadar, and Popular Mechanics.