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
We discuss a class of graph embeddings into Minkowski space R^{2,2} = C^{1,1}, called t-surfaces, which arise in the study of the planar dimer model. A t-surface consists of a (perfect) t-embedding together with its associated origami map. Perfect t-embeddings were recently introduced as a key tool for proving that the gradient of the dimer height function converges to that of the Gaussian Free Field in a canonically associated metric, under suitable technical assumptions. After introducing the notion of a t-embedding, we will describe a construction of perfect t-embeddings for regular hexagons of the hexagonal lattice. In which the corresponding t-surfaces converge to space-like maximal surfaces in Minkowski space R^{2,1}. As a consequence, these constructions yield a new proof of convergence of fluctuations of the dimer height function to the Gaussian Free Field in the conformal structure induced by the limiting maximal surface.
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\r\nOrganized by the Vice-Presidency for Education (VPE), these sessions aim to foster dialogue between experts from various disciplines and the campus community, particularly students. We hope, therefore, to explore ideas and questions that stimulate our imagination, challenge our sensibilities, and shed light on our fears and expectations. The discussions will be moderated by journalist Anne Laure Gannac.
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\r\nFor the session on Thursday, November 5, we’ll tackle a question that is as fascinating as it is mind-boggling: “When does consciousness begin?” Neuroscience, machine learning, and the humanities will come together to try to answer it.
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\r\nThe discussion is open with:\r\n
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
UNIL+EPFL Health Days 2026 invite you to dedicate some time to your physical and mental well-being from 28 September to 8 October. Over the course of these two weeks, a wide range of inspiring conferences, workshops and activities will take place at various times throughout the day. Some events will be open to the general public and offered in French and/or English.
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\r\nMembers of the university community will be able to take advantage of the health screenings and assessments available at the Health Village, hosted during the first week on the EPFL campus and during the second week on the University of Lausanne campus. They will also have access to information stands run by services and partners committed to promoting a comprehensive, 360-degree approach to health and well-being.
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\r\nThe programme will be available at the end of August on the dedicated website: https://jours-sante.ch/.
Triple S (Super Sandwich Seminar) will feature three speakers per week, each giving a 15-minute presentation followed by a 5-minute Q&A session.
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","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-10-01T19:29:55","last_modification_date":"2026-10-01T19:32:36","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"CH G1 495","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==CH%20G1%20495","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/2/?format=json"],"speaker":"Tobias Lau (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin) ","organizer":"Christoph Bostedt","contact":"christoph.bostedt@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":"pcseminar","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/122025/","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/5/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/14/?format=json"]},{"id":72741,"title":"PChem Seminar - Malte Rösner","slug":"pchem-seminar-malte-rosner","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/pchem-seminar-malte-rosner","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33956/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33956/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33956/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-12-03","end_date":"2026-12-03","start_time":"17:00:00","end_time":"19:00:00","description":"Title TBA
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","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-10-01T19:35:51","last_modification_date":"2026-10-01T19:38:16","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"CH G1 495","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==CH%20G1%20495","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/2/?format=json"],"speaker":"Camila Bacellar (PSI, SwissFEL) ","organizer":"Christoph Bostedt","contact":"christoph.bostedt@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":"pcseminar","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/122027/","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/5/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/14/?format=json"]}]}