CALL AUDITORIUM KENNEDY HALL

OCTOBER 11, 2011

WEILL INSTITUTE SYMPOSIUM

CELL SIGNALING AND MOLECULAR DYNAMICS

ABOUTTHE WEILL INSTITUTE

Welcome to the 2nd biennial symposium of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular

Biology. Founded in 2007 and endowed through a generous gift by Joan and Sanford Weill, the institute is an interdisciplinary research center in the heart of Cornell’s Ithaca campus focusing on cell and molecular biology. The goal of the institute is to build a vibrant center of scientific excellence in basic biology, integrated with existing outstanding programs in chemistry and chemical biology, physics, plant biology, computational biology, and engineering. Presently, there are nine faculty members in the institute. In addition to Scott Emr (Director) and Anthony Bretscher (Associate Director), the seven junior faculty are Chris Fromme, Fenghua Hu, Jan Lammerding, Yuxin Mao, Adrienne Roeder, Marcus Smolka and Haiyuan Yu.The Weill Institute will ultimately consist of 12 faculty residing in Weill Hall, a state-of-the-art life sciences research building dedicated in October, 2008 and designed by renowned architect Richard Meier ‘57. Weill Hall has earned Cornell’s

first LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Scientists in the institute are developing and applying approaches and instrumentation needed to characterize the structure, function and dynamics of the molecular machines required to keep all cells alive. Furthermore, in an effort to enhance the strength of graduate education in cell biology at Cornell, the institute provides some support to graduate fields, allowing them to sponsor a greater number of students. This support serves to reinforce ties between institute faculty and graduate programs across campus. The Weill Institute also seeks to help disseminate cutting-edge research throughout the Cornell community. By sponsoring and organizing events such as the Keck Biomembrane Retreat, videoconference seminars with Weill Cornell Medical College, inter-departmental seminar groups, and distinguished symposia such as this one, the institute is helping to advance Cornell’s leadership in the life sciences revolution.

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8:30 - 9:00 AM Symposium Check-in & Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 9:15 Scott D. Emr, Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular BiologyOpening Remarks

Session 1 Chair

9:15 - 9:55

Marcus Smolka, Weill Institute

Stephen Elledge, Harvard Medical School, HHMIAdventures in Mammalian Genetics

10:00 - 10:40 Angelika Amon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, HHMIConsequences of Aneuploidy

10:45 - 11:10 Co!ee Break

Session 2 Chair

11:10 - 11:50

Chris Fromme, Weill Institute

Scottie Robinson, University of CambridgeMachinery for making clathrin-coated vesicles

11:55 - 12:35 Michael Rosen, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, HHMIRegulation of Actin Assembly by WASP Family Proteins: From Angstroms to Microns

12:40 - 1:45 PM Lunch Break

Session 3 Chair

1:45 - 2:25

Yuxin Mao, Weill Institute

Bonnie Bassler, Princeton University, HHMIManipulating Quorum Sensing to Control Bacterial Pathogenicity

2:30 - 3:10 Pascale Cossart, Institut PasteurThe infection by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes: from cell biology to epigenetics

3:15 - 3:35 Co!ee Break

Session 4 Chair

3:35 - 4:15

Haiyuan Yu, Weill Institute

Gary Ruvkun, Harvard Medical SchoolXenobiotic surveillance and countermeasures by C. elegans small RNA pathways

4:20 - 5:00 Robert Lefkowitz, Duke University Medical Center, HHMI7 Transmembrane Receptors

5:10 - 6:30 Reception in Weill Hall

WEILL INSTITUTE SYMPOSIUM | OCTOBER 11, 2011

BIOSSPEAKER

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9:15 AM STEPHEN ELLEDGE Professor of Genetics Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Harvard Medical SchoolStephen Elledge received his Ph.D. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine and has won the National Academy Award in Molecular Biology, the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research and the Dickson Prize in Medicine. He is currently an HHMI investigator and professor at Harvard Medical School.Dr. Elledge’s research centers on regulators of the cell cycle that become deregulated during cancer. His research also focuses on proteins that safeguard the genome by monitoring the presence of DNA damage, ensuring chromosomal integrity before cells divide. Many of these genes when mutant lead to genomic instability and cancer. More recently, he has developed technology to perform genetic screens in mammalian cells to explore growth regulatory pathways that are deregulated in cancer.

10:00 AM ANGELIKA AMON Professor of Biology Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyAngelika Amon received her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. She completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute and was subsequently named a Whitehead Fellow for three years. In 1999, she joined the MIT Center for Cancer Research and the Department of Biology where she is currently an HHMI investigator. Amon was the 2003 recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award. Amon also shared the 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research and won the 2008 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.The goal of research in the Amon lab is to obtain a detailed molecular understanding of the regulatory circuits that control chromosome segregation and what happens to cells in which these mechanisms fail and hence become aneuploid. They use the budding yeast S. cerevisiae as a model system to study chromosome segregation and the effects of aneuploidy on cell physiology, and probe discoveries made in yeast in the mouse.

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11:55 AM MICHAEL ROSEN

Professor of Biochemistry Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

UT Southwestern Medical Center at DallasMichael Rosen received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Harvard University. After serving on the faculty at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He is currently Chair of the Department of Biophysics at UT Southwestern. He was an Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young investigator, and a Kimmel Scholar of the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research.Research in the Rosen lab is directed toward understanding the physical mechanisms that underlie the signaling pathways that control the actin cytoskeleton. Their long-term objective is to understand quantitatively how the integration of diverse signaling inputs affords precise control of the cytoskeleton and coordination with processes including gene expression and membrane trafficking.

11:10 AM SCOTTIE ROBINSON

Professor of Clinical BiochemistryWellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow

University of CambridgeMargaret “Scottie” Robinson received her Ph.D. in cell biology from Harvard University. She was awarded a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship in 1999 at the University of Cambridge Department of Clinical Biochemistry, where she is currently a professor of clinical biochemistry. Robinson is a fellow of the Acadamy of Medical Sciences and member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO).Research in the Robinson lab focuses on the cell biology of membrane traffic pathways, specifically how coat proteins package cargo into vesicles for delivery to other parts of the cell.

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1:45 PM BONNIE BASSLERProfessor of Cell Biology and Neurobiology Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Princeton UniversityBonnie Bassler received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University. She joined the Princeton faculty in 1994. In 2002 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Bassler was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2006 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007. Bonnie Bassler is currently an HHMI investigator.The research in Dr. Bassler’s laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms that bacteria use for intercellular communication. This process is called quorum sensing. Her group works to understand how bacteria produce and detect multiple cues and how processing of this information results in collective behaviors. She is also developing strategies to interfere with quorum sensing for use as novel anti-microbials.

2:30 PM PASCALE COSSARTHead, Bacteria-Cell Interactions Unit Director, Cell Biology & Infection DepartmentInstitute PasteurPascale Cossart received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Paris. She holds the title of professor and head of the Unité des Interactions Bactéries-Cellules at the Pasteur Institute of Paris. Dr. Cossart is the recipient of several awards, including the Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology, Richard Lounsbery Award, the Louis Pasteur Gold Medal, and the Robert Koch Prize. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and French Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and an HHMI international scholar alumna.Dr. Cossart is investigating infection by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, one of the best models for studying intracellular parasitism, host tissue tropism, and crossing of host barriers. She is characterizing the molecular strategies Listeria uses to infect cells, disseminate into tissues, and breach the host’s intestinal, placental, and blood-brain barriers.

BIOSSPEAKER

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3:35 PM GARY RUVKUNProfessor of Genetics

Harvard Medical SchoolGary Ruvkun received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and is currently a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. He is a recipient of the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science. Ruvkun was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2008.Dr. Ruvkun’s research has explored two major themes: the role of small RNAs, including microRNAs, in regulation of developmental and physiological processes, and control of longevity and metabolism by insulin and other endocrine pathways. These studies have revealed a neuroendocrine system that surveils and detoxifies antagonists to core conserved elements of cells.

4:20 PM ROBERT LEFKOWITZ

Professor of Receptor BiologyInvestigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Duke University Medical CenterRobert Lefkowitz received an M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is a professor of biochemistry and the James B. Duke professor of medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1976 and was an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association from 1973 to 1976. Dr. Lefkowitz has received numerous awards including the American Heart Association Research Achievement Award, National Medal of Science, the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, and the Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal of the National Academy of Sciences.Dr. Lefkowitz’s research program is concerned with the molecular properties and regulatory mechanisms that control the function of plasma membrane receptors for hormones and drugs under normal and pathological circumstances. Receptors are the cellular macromolecules with which biologically active substances (e.g., hormones, drugs, neurotransmitters, growth factors, viruses, lipoproteins) initially interact.

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LunchBox lunches will be distributed just outside Call Alumni Auditorium in Kennedy Hall at the beginning of the lunch break, scheduled for 12:45 PM. All registered participants may pick up a box lunch. There are a number of locations nearby Kennedy Hall where you may wish to eat your lunch. The plaza in front of Bailey Hall and the Big Red Barn (highlighted light orange above) would each make good locations, depending on the weather. You may also go to Trillium (Kennedy Hall) or Synapsis Cafe (Weill Hall). In addition, extra seating may be found in the Science Lounges in the Weill Institute (2nd, 3rd and 4th !oors of Weill Hall’s South Wing).

To learn more about Weill Hall and Life Sciences Initiatives at Cornell

visit www.icmb.cornell.edu

&www.campaign.cornell.edu/lifesciences

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Lecture hall generously provided by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Symposium organized by Caitlin Haskell,Assistant to the Director and Associate Director of the Weill Institute

Photography by University Photography (front cover, 1, 2, 9, back cover), Tony Bretscher (3), and respective symposium speakers (5, 6, 7, 8).