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SUMMARY:EPFL BioE Talks SERIES  "From Genomically Minimal Bacteria to an R
 NA-Lipid World"
DTSTART:20250324T121500
DTEND:20250324T131500
DTSTAMP:20260406T004537Z
UID:c5d9c2f541d96ab131fe72927e588311d164ff2d7302912574d31dd4
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:James P. Sáenz\, Ph.D.\, Group Leader\, B CUBE Center for Mol
 ecular Bioengineering\, Technical University\, Dresden (D)\nWEEKLY EPFL BI
 OE TALKS SERIES (sandwiches provided)\n\nAbstract:\nThe cell membrane is a
 n organizational hub for essential processes like division and metabolism.
  Deciphering the design principles of living membranes is key to understan
 ding cellular organization and understanding life's origins. In this talk\
 , I will present two approaches my lab is pioneering to decipher the funda
 mental roles of lipids and membranes. First\, we have developed approaches
  to tune and minimize genomically minimal bacterial model organisms\, demo
 nstrating that two lipids are sufficient (but far from optimal) for life. 
 Using these minimal bacteria\, we can explore the role of lipids in cellul
 ar fitness. Second\, we are exploring how lipids can selectively interact 
 with\, and modulate RNA activity\, giving insights into a primordial RNA w
 orld and enabling the design of synthetic membrane sensors and riboregulat
 ory mechanisms. Together\, these approaches provide new insights into the 
 role of lipid diversity and membrane biophysics in the origin and organiza
 tion of life.\n\nBio:\nJames Sáenz is a group leader at the B CUBE Center
  for Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden. His career has taken several 
 turns\, which have been motivated by a passion for understanding how life 
 works and how the co-evolution of life and Earth has led to modern cells. 
 He completed his PhD in chemical oceanography at MIT and the Woods Hole Oc
 eanographic Institution under the guidance of Professors Timothy Eglinton 
 and Roger Summons. There\, he was introduced to the use of lipids as molec
 ular fossils to reconstruct the history of life. James then moved to Dresd
 en for a postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Kai Simons' lab at the Max P
 lanck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG)\, where h
 e investigated the evolution of membrane organization prior to the advent 
 of sterols. Currently James’ lab B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineer
 ing is developing minimal model systems to study the role of lipid complex
 ity in membrane function and exploring how lipid-RNA interactions can be e
 ngineered for riboregulation in synthetic systems and their implications f
 or the origin of life.\n\n\nZoom link (with one-time registration for the 
 whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks\n\n
 \nInstructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students planning to attend this talk\, 
 who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:\nIN CASE you can
 not attend in-person in the room\, please make sure to\n\n	send D. Reinhar
 d a note well ahead of time (ideally before seminar day)\, informing that 
 you plan to attend the talk online\, and\, during seminar:\n	be signed in 
 on Zoom with a recognizable user name (not any alias making it difficult o
 r impossible to identify you).\n\nStudents attending the seminar in-person
  should collect a confirmation signature after the talk - please print you
 r own signature sheet beforehand (69 kB pdf available for download here). 
 IMPORTANTLY: hang on to this sheet as no signature record is being kept by
  anyone else!
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717 https://go.epfl.ch/
 EPFLBioETalks
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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