The ATC (Assistive Technology Challenge : EPFL Assistive Techn... - Project - MAKE) welcomes you to discover this year's six prototypes designed by the students' teams ! Join us for this unique occasion to exchange with them about their work, meet challengers, and get a glimps at how they overcame the challenges !
","image_description":"Des étudiantes et un professeur examinent un prototype.","creation_date":"2026-05-18T16:00:17","last_modification_date":"2026-05-21T10:45:59","link_label":"ATC","link_url":"https://make.epfl.ch/projects/56/make-epfl-assistive-technologies-challenge-56","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"SPOT Atrium","url_place_and_room":"","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/1/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/2/?format=json"],"speaker":"","organizer":"","contact":"Quentin Delval (quentin.delval@epfl.ch)","is_internal":"True","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"handicap, technologie d'assistance, MAKE, ATC","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120794/","category":{"id":19,"code":"PUBLICSCIENCE","fr_label":"Evènements scientifiques grand public","en_label":"Public Science Events","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/8/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/21/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/79/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/145/?format=json"]},{"id":71892,"title":"Bacterial Immune Systems: From Molecular Mechanisms to Next-Generation Biotechnology","slug":"bacterial-immune-systems-from-molecular-mechanisms","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/bacterial-immune-systems-from-molecular-mechanisms","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33210/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33210/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33210/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-05-26","end_date":"2026-05-26","start_time":"12:15:00","end_time":"13:15:00","description":"Immense evolutionary pressure has driven bacteria to innovate a diverse arsenal of immune systems that defend against parasitic mobile genetic elements, including bacteriophages and plasmids. The study of these systems has proven extraordinarily fruitful for biotechnology: CRISPR-Cas9, originally discovered as a bacterial defense mechanism, has revolutionized genome editing and demonstrated the transformative potential of mining bacterial immunity for molecular tools.
\r\nYet the diversity of bacterial defense extends far beyond CRISPR. Bacteria have evolved numerous strategies to recognize and destroy foreign DNA, many of which remain poorly understood at the mechanistic level. A central question is how these systems distinguish self from non-self — and how the underlying molecular logic of DNA targeting is encoded in protein structure and biochemistry. We combine cryo-electron microscopy, quantitative biochemistry, and in vivo genomics to characterize newly discovered defense systems and dissect their targeting mechanisms. This work is revealing unexpected principles of foreign DNA recognition, with implications both for our understanding of bacterial immunity and for the development of next-generation biotechnological tools for genome editing and beyond.
The BIOP and SV Communications teams invite you to a Seminar and an afternoon of hands-on sessions on best practices and tools for communicating your data.
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\r\nProgram
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\r\n12:00 - 13:15 - Seminar\r\n
Biofilm is an important lifestyle of bacteria where bacterial cells collectively form surface-associated aggregates embedded in a polymeric matrix they secrete. Important in industry and medicine, biofilms also represent a unique form of growing active matter with unique physical and material properties. In this talk, I will highlight our recent work on developing a platform for imaging live, growing biofilm at single-cell resolution, using Vibrio cholerae as the model organism. I will show how bacterial cells physically communicate with each other and the environment to form ordered architecture reminiscent of liquid crystals. Moreover, I will talk about our recent discovery that heterogeneity in gene expression leads to unexpected pattern formation in biofilm through a drag-based sorting mechanism. I will also highlight ongoing research in the lab on extending the imaging capability to more natural environments including marine animal hosts. I will end by showing our recent findings on the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix that underlie the architecture of the biofilm.
","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-05-05T13:16:32","last_modification_date":"2026-05-05T13:17:16","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"SV 1717","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/2/?format=json"],"speaker":"Professor Jing Yan, Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University","organizer":"Professor Alexandre Persat","contact":"elke.holderbeke@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120654/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/9/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/111/?format=json"]},{"id":70929,"title":"BMI Distinguished Seminar // Manish Saggar","slug":"bmi-distinguished-seminar-manish-saggar","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/bmi-distinguished-seminar-manish-saggar","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32317/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32317/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32317/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-09-09","end_date":"2026-09-09","start_time":"12:15:00","end_time":"13:15:00","description":"","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-01-21T16:42:23","last_modification_date":"2026-02-16T13:33:32","link_label":"Web Page","link_url":"https://profiles.stanford.edu/manish-saggar","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"SV 1717","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717","url_online_room":"https://epfl.zoom.us/j/64813563657","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/2/?format=json"],"speaker":"Manish Saggar, Stanford University","organizer":"SV BMI Host: K. Hess Bellwald","contact":"brain_mind@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":2,"fr_label":"Public averti","en_label":"Informed public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/119405/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/88/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/1/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/9/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/19/?format=json"]},{"id":70928,"title":"BMI Distinguished Seminar // Yvette Fisher: Flexibility of visual input to the Drosophila head direction network","slug":"bmi-distinguished-seminar-yvette-fisher-flexibilit","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/bmi-distinguished-seminar-yvette-fisher-flexibilit","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32316/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32316/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32316/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-06-24","end_date":"2026-06-24","start_time":"12:15:00","end_time":"13:15:00","description":"Many plasticity rules rely on adjusting the strength of synapses between pairs of cells based on their coincident activity. We uncovered a new mechanism for coincidence detection in the Drosophila head direction network. To maintain an accurate sense of direction, head direction neurons that signal orientation during navigation must learn to anchor to relevant external sensory cues in novel environments. Yet the synaptic mechanism for this form of unsupervised learning is unknown in any organism. In Drosophila, GABAergic visual inputs converge onto head direction neurons, and these inhibitory synapses change strength with experience to learn the relationship between visual landmarks and head direction. However, how coincident pre- and postsynaptic activity is detected across this inhibitory synapse is not understood. We discovered that neurons which release the monoamine octopamine close a feedback loop that conveys postsynaptic head direction activity onto presynaptic terminals of visual inputs. This octopamine pathway is required for anchoring the head direction network to visual cues. Furthermore, pairing structured activation of octopamine neurons with a visual cue is sufficient to drive rapid plasticity, even without postsynaptic head direction cell activity. Previous work has extensively characterized coincidence detection mechanisms at excitatory synapses; our work defines a novel mechanism for coincidence detection at an inhibitory synapse, in which postsynaptic activity is relayed via a neuromodulatory neuron onto presynaptic terminals.
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Abstract:
\r\nOlfactory navigation emerges from dynamic interactions among sensory input, brain activity, and the animal’s own movements. In C. elegans, a compact nervous system enables brain-wide imaging in behaving animals exposed to controlled olfactory environments, and undulatory locomotion reduces navigation to transitions among forward runs, reversals, and turns. Here, we used brain-wide tracking microscopy to record neural activity in freely crawling worms navigating spatial odor gradients or isotropic environments, and in immobilized worms responding to temporal odor pulses. Across conditions, we identified strongly correlated brain-wide activity patterns spanning olfactory sensory neurons, interneurons, and premotor neurons. Motor-state transitions and brain-wide correlation structure differed between freely moving and immobilized animals, demonstrating that olfactory sensory representations depend jointly on sensory input, motor activity, and behavioral context. Together, these findings show that brain-wide representations of olfactory behavior are extensively reconfigured by sensory input, self-motion, and behavioral context.
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BRIDGE is a joint programme conducted by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. It offers new funding opportunities at the intersection of basic research and science-based innovation, thereby supplementing the funding activities of the two organisations.
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\r\nBRIDGE Proof of Concept projects support young researchers (see eligibility criteria on the website) who aim to develop an application or service based on their own research findings. These projects may feature any type of innovation or research field.
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\r\nSubmission deadline: \r\n
You can apply to participate and find all the relevant information (speakers, abstracts, program,...) on the event website: https://www.cecam.org/workshop-details/bridging-biomolecular-simulations-and-experiments-across-time-and-length-scales-from-single-molecules-to-entire-organelles-1493.
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\r\nRegistration is required to attend the full event, take part in the social activities and present a poster at the poster session (if any). However, the EPFL community is welcome to attend specific lectures without registration if the topic is of interest to their research. Do not hesitate to contact the CECAM Event Manager if you have any question.
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\r\nDescription
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\r\nMolecular simulations are firmly established as a central tool in the life sciences over the last few decades. This is evident from the now-standard use of molecular dynamics simulations by molecular biologists and biophysicists, and the remarkable success of AlphaFold, which has convinced even the most skeptical of the critical role of these methods in contemporary biological research.
\r\nHowever, new challenges are emerging. It is increasingly apparent that to understand biomolecular function, we must move beyond studying isolated molecules. The focus is now shifting towards examining large, dynamic complexes of biomolecules within their complex native environments, complete with post-translational modifications. Embracing this complexity is crucial for understanding how biological functions and cellular structures emerge and adapt.
\r\nThis workshop will address existing and emerging frontiers, discussing both current challenges and the future of molecular simulations needed to meet them. It will gather simulation experts that have been actively developing methods that can increase simulation accuracy and extend their applicability range across multiple scales, as well as experimentalists performing advanced studies that can address outstanding challenges occurring at computationally accessible time and length scales. A main aim will be to discuss how to improve the accuracy of simulations, integrate simulations and cutting-edge experiments, and how to best take advantage of innovative enhanced sampling and machine learning-based approaches.
\r\nThe workshop will seize the opportunity to celebrate the outstanding scientific achievements of Gerhard Hummer, a prominent leader in the field, on his sixty’s birthday. Many of the participants that have already expressed their intention to attend and support the workshop or past or current theoretical and experimental scientist that have been either collaborators and co-authors, mentored by, or inspired by Gerhard’s ideas and expertise.