BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Fundamental laws governing dynamics in living systems
DTSTART:20190925T171500
DTSTAMP:20260506T080530Z
UID:dc0658f88ca4680ec7ef05e1fd5156140dfc6edb700efab7da79dca9
CATEGORIES:Inaugural lectures - Honorary Lecture
DESCRIPTION:Professor Sahand Jamal Rahi - School of Basic Sciences\nLife e
 merges from the interaction of a large number of different molecules and c
 ells. While important to research\, technology\, and medicine\, the dynami
 cs of these networks is often unpredictable. Our laboratory seeks to uncov
 er the laws governing the dynamics of genetic and cellular networks. We co
 mbine theory and experiment\, tying our predictions to reality using the y
 east Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Current
 ly\, we are asking:\nA) What sets the time scale of cellular replication?\
 nB) Why do checkpoints fail and what sets the timescale of failure?\nC) Wh
 en is the dynamics of genetic networks unstable and fragile?\nD) How can w
 e uncover hidden internal states in neuronal networks?\n\nProf. S. J. Rahi
  Bio\nSahand J. Rahi graduated with a BA (majors: biochemistry\, mathemati
 cs\, and physics) and MS (chemistry) from the University of Pennsylvania (
 2001-2005). During this time\, he devised an algorithm for mapping protein
  surfaces onto simpler surfaces of the same genus and proposed a simple so
 lvation model for amino acids.\nIn his PhD studies at the Massachusetts In
 stitute of Technology (MIT) (2005-2010)\, he switched to theoretical conde
 nsed matter physics. He derived a general closed-form expression for the i
 nteraction energy of objects in space which arises due to quantum fluctuat
 ions of the electromagnetic field. He applied the formula to a variety of 
 intractable geometries and proved a general instability theorem for these 
 forces.\nFascinated by the open questions in biology\, he took up an indep
 endent fellowship at the Center for Studies in Physics and Biology at The 
 Rockefeller University. There\, he established that there is one central b
 iochemical clock controlling major parts of the cell cycle system. Further
 more\, he showed that two types of highly prevalent networks in living sys
 tems\, which are topologically different but show similar behaviors to man
 y perturbations\, can be discriminated by way of dynamic signatures.\nBefo
 re starting at EPFL\, he spent another year at the Department of Physics a
 t Harvard University\, where he created novel genotypes of the worm C. ele
 gans for investigating neuronal information processing.
LOCATION:CM 1 4 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==CM%201%204
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR