Invited Speaker Series

Talk: BLAST to the Future: A Story of Sequences in Biology

Speaker: David J. Lipman, senior science advisor for bioinformatics and genomics at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

Date: Tuesday, November 26

Time: 4–5 p.m.

Location: ESJ 1224 — Zoom Link

Abstract: The kinds of questions we study with DNA and amino acid sequence data have evolved alongside advances in biological knowledge and sequencing technology. This presentation traces the historical trajectory of molecular sequencing, from foundational protein sequencing methods to modern high-throughput DNA sequencing, highlighting how each era has demanded specialized tools and resources and led to novel biological insights. Despite monumental advancements in sequencing capacity, computational power, sophisticated algorithms, and the latest generative AI techniques, I will argue that the essence of discovery remains rooted in the principles of classical comparative biology.

Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Time: 4 p.m.

Location: BRB 1103

Save the Date – Microbiome Symposium

When: Friday, March 21, 2025

Our second annual one-day symposium will take place at the University of Baltimore next year. More details coming soon.

News of Interest

A Call to Action: Microbial Solutions Must Be Deployed Against Climate Catastrophe

A new article in Nature articulates a collective call from joint scientific societies, institutions, editors and publishers, requesting the global community and governments to take immediate and decisive emergency action against climate change, while proposing a clear and effective framework for deploying these solutions at scale. Read here.

NSF Funding Opportunities

Building Synthetic Microbial Communities for Biology, Mitigating Climate Change, Sustainability and Biotechnology

Deadline: Monday, February 3, 2025

The National Science Foundation is accepting applications for projects that use a model synthetic microbial community to better understand the formation, maintenance, or functionality of natural communities and to understand a natural community’s impact on the host. It also seeks projects that create synthetic communities with novel capabilities and aim to understand the biological underpinnings for these capabilities. Learn more.

Microorganism-Mediated Organismal Resilience to Climate Change

Deadline: Thursday, January 23, 2025

The National Science Foundation is seeking proposals of microorganism-mediated organismal resilience to climate change. The overarching goal is to leverage the power of microorganisms to develop practical solutions for mitigation and adaptation to climate change and build a resilient planet, leveraging systems-level approaches to query microorganism resilience and the dynamic dialogue across the host-microorganism continuum, which ultimately regulates microorganism-mediated resilience to environmental change across temporal (e.g., lifespan) and/or spatial (e.g., landscape) scales. Learn more and reach out to Mihai Pop if interested in a joint proposal.

To have your research, events, or other resources included in the next newsletter, contact the center's program coordinator Gabi Steinbach at gabis@umd.edu.