Weekly BioEngineering Talks ( Lunch Provided)
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\r\nINVITED SPEAKER:
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\r\nA full-stack viral toolkit for systems neuroscience
\r\nProf. Lief Fenno, University of Texas at Austin
\r\nHost: Prof. Yoon Seok Kim
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\r\nAbstract:
\r\n Understanding and manipulating neural circuits requires technologies enabling access to specific cells, manipulation of genome structure, and delivery of increasingly complex genetic programs. I will describe viral technologies developed by my group that address each of these challenges. These include INTRSECT, a Boolean viral targeting strategy for cell-type- and circuit-specific access; VESPA, a novel split-AAV platform that enables efficient reassembly and expression of genetic payloads too large for a single AAV; and CRISPR/Cas9-based strategies for precise, cell-type- and circuit-specific gene knockdown. Together, these tools form an integrated viral toolkit for programmable access to and manipulation of neural circuits across multiple levels of biological complexity.
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\r\nBio:
\r\nDr. Lief Fenno is a physician-scientist at The University of Texas at Austin and Dell Medical School. His research integrates systems neuroscience, synthetic biology, and bioengineering to develop genetic, viral, and neuromodulation technologies for programmable control of neural circuits in vivo. His laboratory develops molecular and viral platforms for selectively accessing and manipulating defined neural populations, alongside approaches for neural stimulation and emerging therapeutic applications. His work spans fundamental circuit neuroscience, neurotechnology, and the translation of biological tools to treatment of brain disorders. Dr. Fenno is also a board-certified addiction psychiatrist, Chair of the American Psychiatric Association Council on Addiction Psychiatry, and is active in commercial scientific translation and biotechnology innovation.
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\r\nBioEngineering Talks mandatory EDBB Seminar Attendance (1st-Year PhD Students)\r\n
Weekly BioEngineering Talks (Lunch Provided)
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\r\nINVITED SPEAKERS:
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\r\nOrganic electrochemical transistors for enhanced potentiometric sensing of neurochemicals
\r\nDr. Emily Schafer, EPFL Laboratory of Chemical Nanotechnology
\r\nHost: Prof. Nako Nakatsuka
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\r\nFollowed by
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\r\nData-driven protein engineering for sensing and biosynthesis of new-to-nature thioesters
\r\nDr. Sebastian Barthel, EPFL Laboratory of Synthetic and Applied Microbiology
\r\nHost: Prof. Markus Jeschek
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\r\nBioEngineering Talks mandatory EDBB Seminar Attendance (1st-Year PhD Students)\r\n
Thesis Director: Prof. V. Panaretos,
\r\nMathematics doctoral program
\r\nThesis Nr. 11953
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\r\nTo take part in the public defense, please contact directly the speaker
Wave functions describing bound states of electronic systems satisfy high-dimensional Schrödinger equations whose potentials exhibit Coulomb singularities at particle-collision configurations. These singularities generate cusps that limit the global regularity of the wave function in spectral Barron spaces, which are particularly relevant to the analysis of Fourier-based approximation methods and neural networks.
\r\nIn this talk, we study the effect of extracting a truncated Jastrow factor designed to capture the leading coalescence singularities while preserving the asymptotic behavior of the wave function at infinity. We show that the resulting quotient gains one full order of spectral Barron regularity: whereas the original wave function typically belongs to spaces of order (s<1), the Jastrow quotient belongs to those of order (s<2). An explicit hydrogenic example shows that the threshold (s=2) is natural.
\r\nThe proof relies on conjugating the Hamiltonian by the Jastrow factor and carrying out a global Fourier-space analysis. It combines resolvent estimates, precise control of singular coefficients, and a fixed-point argument separating low and high frequencies.
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\r\nThe electronic structure reading group brings together researchers and students interested in mathematical aspects of electronic structure problems and adjacent topics, including:\r\n
Prof. Emilio Carlos de Lucca Junior - Associate Professor at Institute of Chemistry – University of Campinas
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