University of South Dakota Branch of Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer

Thursday, April 7, 2016 Lee Med Room 105 2-3:50 PM

Cyclic dinucleotide and quorum sensing revolutions could solve the antibiotic resistance problem 

Abstract:

Prof. Herman Sintim
Drug Discovery Professor of Chemistry, Drug Discovery Center and Department of Chemistry, Purdue University

According to the US centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), antibiotic<resistant pathogens make over 2 million Americans sick every year and over 23,000 deaths per year could be attributed to these bugs. Worryingly there are a few pathogens, the so<called super<bugs, that are resistant to a plethora of antibiotics. In the last decade most of the antibacterial agents that were approved by the FDA met the same antibiotic resistance fate, probably because these agents were mere derivatives of existing drugs, for which resistant bacterial strains already existed. The current antibiotic resistance crisis and the projection that this problem will worsen calls for immediate action to identify new tactics to tackle multi<drug<resistant bacteria. About three decades ago, Benziman and his colleagues discovered an interesting signaling pathway in bacteria that involved the conversion of GTP into cyclic dinucleotides but this seminal discovery remained largely unexplored until the last few years when scientists began to appreciate that cyclic dinucleotide signaling in bacteria is widespread and that these second messengers control a plethora of processes that affect bacterial fitness. We are currently witnessing a cyclic dinucleotide revolution that promises to usher in a new class of antibacterial agents. In this talk, I will discuss some of our efforts to develop novel antibacterial agents that target bacterial communication networks, including cyclic dinucleotide signaling.

University of South Dakota Branch of Sigma Xi

Distinguished Lecturer

James Van Etten, PhD

William Allington Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Giant Viruses Change the Perception of Viruses

A research paper appeared about a year ago in the Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA entitled “Thirty-thousand-year-old distant relative of giant icosahedral DNA viruses with a pandoravirus morphology“, which generated a lot of public interest including being mentioned on CNN news and written about in the New York Times. One reason for the interest was that the virus had been frozen for at least 30,000 years and an infectious virus was recovered.  This general talk will focus on the relatively recent discovery of giant viruses (giruses) that have from 400 to 2500 protein encoding genes.  In contrast, HIV and influenza viruses encode about 12 genes and viruses that infect higher plants usually have even fewer genes.  To put these numbers into perspective, the smallest symbiotic bacterium has about 160 protein-encoding genes and the smallest bacterium that can be grown in culture has about 500 genes; the smallest symbiotic eukaryotic organism has less than 2000 genes.  Finally, we will finish up with a few comments on the question: will viruses that are a threat to animal and human health be uncovered in frozen permafrost regions as the climate warms?

Tuesday, April 1, 2015

Lee Med Room 105

2-3 PM

 James Van Etten is the William B. Allington Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Van Etten received his PhD in 1965 from the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Illinois. After spending a year as a NSF postdoc in the Department of Genetics at the University of Pavia (Italy), he joined the UNL Plant Pathology Department. His early research at UNL focused on two topics, the biochemistry of fungi, primarily spore germination, and the characterization of the unusual bacteriophage phi6. For the last 30+ years, his research has focused on the isolation and characterization of large icosahedral, dsDNA-containing, plaque-forming viruses that infect certain unicellular, eukaryotic chlorella-like green algae. These viruses are ubiquitous in fresh water from all over the world. The chlorella viruses have genomes as large as 370 kb that contain as many as 400 protein encoding- and 16 tRNA encoding-genes.

NEW DATE for January Lecture

Sigma Xi Lecture on November 13

Welcome to Sigma Xi

Fall Lecture November 13, 2014 - 5 pm

Sigma Xi Banquet and Speaker

The 2014 Sigma Xi banquet will be held at The Old Lumber Company, on Thursday, April 3, at 6 PM.  Our chapter has invited Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Dennis Norman to discuss his research interests with our group. The title for Dr. Norman’s talk is: “500 years of Health Disparities..The Story”. 

The banquet is open to anyone with interest in the topic, and you do not have to be a member of Sigma Xi to attend, so please feel free to distribute this information within your department. The cost to attend the banquet is $20, and a cash bar will be available. If you plan to attend this event, please RSVP to Victor Huber (victor.huber@usd.edu) by March 21^st. 

University of South Dakota Branch of Sigma Xi Open Forum with Distinguished Lecturer Dennis K. Norman Faculty Chair, Harvard University Native American Program

Friday, April 4, 2014Lee Med Room 1059:30-11 AM

Dr. Norman’s interests focus on the history of Native American health, starting with pre-colonization anecdotes, early colonial status, the movement to reservations and the evolving relationship with the national government in responding to its trust relationship with native Nation and their health care. While the early history with colonial settlements was characterized by a massive loss of life due to infectious disease and wars, subsequent health disparities have positioned American Indians at the top of the US population in terms of overall mortality and poor health outcomes. A review of current American Indian status in terms of population, location, identity identification will provide the back-drop for examining the current Indian Health Service, the rise of Tribal health services and the various challenges concerning diabetes, obesity, chronic illnesses, suicide and substance abuse. Factors will be discussed about pipeline issues that make it difficult for American Indians youth to attain education and professional training to address these issues without significant assistance from non-Native caregivers.

Dennis Norman is the Chief of Psychology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Faculty Chair for the Harvard University Native American Program, and Associate Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School. He is Board Certified in both Clinical and Child and Adolescent Psychology. He received his doctorate in Human Development, Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard University and also has an M.A. in Child Development from Tufts University, Child Study Department. His special interest has been cross cultural psychology, coping with chronic illness and human development with a special focus on American Indian/Alaskan Natives. He is Past Chair of the Board of Registration for Psychology, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr. Norman directs the Harvard University Native American Program Health Initiative teaches field research for Native communities at the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

2013-2014  Sigma Xi Lecture Series

Fall, 2013 Presentations: 5-6 PM in room 22A of the Lee Medical Building

October 17: Meghann Jarchow (Biology Department)

“Prairies versus corn for bioenergy: agronomic and environmental tradeoffs"

Cellulosic bioenergy production provides opportunities to utilize a range of cropping systems that can enhance the multifunctionality of agricultural landscapes. In this lecture, I will discuss ongoing research comparing prairie systems to corn-based cropping systems managed for bioenergy production.  We are finding that corn-based cropping systems are likely to play an important role in maintaining the high productivity of agricultural landscapes on fertile land, but alternative cropping systems, such as prairies used for bioenergy production, can produce substantial yield and require minimal externally-derived inputs.

November 12: Grigoriy Sereda (Chemistry Department)

December 10: Dongming Mei (Physics Department)

Spring Sigma Xi Banquet open to members, new initiates and friends 

Tuesday April 9th 6:30 pm at Valiant Vineyards Winery 

1500 W Main St  Vermillion, SD 57069

(605) 624-4500 


Buffet Menu: 
Salad: Spring Mix, Tortellini
Entre: Beef Bourguignon, Chicken Marsala
Vegetable: Potato Souffle, Mixed Vegetables
Dessert: Cheesecake, Rum Bread Pudding
Cash Bar

$18/per person (Send Checks by 4/5/13 to Doug Goodman, Computer Sciences)

“Confessions of a Neuroimager:  
What can we actually do with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?” 

Since functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was introduced to the research community in the early 1990’s, its use in addressing questions relating brain functioning to behavior has expanded at a phenomenal rate.  Not only is this research tool one of the fastest growing fields in cognitive neuroscience, it also has impacted research from a wide variety of disciplines including biomedical and health sciences, business and marketing, forensics, and education, to name a few. fMRI has been widely adopted within the research community because it utilizes a safe, non-invasive magnetic field to take a picture of the brain while it is working.  Specifically, neuronal activity is able to be localized with high spatial resolution, typically on the order of less than 1/10 of an inch.  By combining this functional information with a conventional magnetic resonance image (MRI) we can provide an accurate depiction of how patterns of brain activity support our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions.  This presentation will discuss what is involved in performing fMRI research, as well as some of the common mistakes or misconceptions that surround this exciting research tool.

Lee Baugh came to the USD in December of 2011 after completing post-doctoral training at the Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada.  He completed graduate training at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg Manitoba, with an M.A. in 2005 and a PhD in 2010, both in Brain and Cognitive Sciences.  Dr. Baugh’s primary research interests are in examining the cognitive and neuropsychological foundations of skilled movement, and deficits in such movement that can arise both from healthy aging and neurological damage.  This question is one of fundamental importance in cognitive neuroscience, breaching the gaps between the brain, the mind, and the outside world. To address this topic, Dr. Baugh utilizes a multi-disciplinary approach that encompasses traditional cognitive psychology methodologies, neuropsychological patient investigations, fMRI paradigms, EEG, EMG, and the detailed analysis of movement kinematics.

Join Us for Talk III 

South Dakota's Ground Water

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 4:30 pm, Room 107 Lee Med

It’s probably safe to say that many of us take our drinking water for granted. This presentation will show why ground water is important to South Dakota and will briefly examine the major sources of ground water in the state. Some potential sources of ground-water contamination will be mentioned and an example of the vulnerability of one of the state’s major aquifers to contamination will be shown. Lastly, some results of testing from one of the best ambient ground-water quality monitoring networks in the country will be given.

Derric Iles

Derric Iles is the State Geologist and Administrator of the Geological Survey Program, South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. He has held this position for 15 years and is responsible for the planning and direction of the activities of the Geological Survey Program. He received a B.A. in Geology in 1975 from the University of Northern Iowa and an M.S. in Geology in 1977 from Iowa State University. Previous work experience includes employment with the Geological Survey from 1977-1984 and 1986-1998 as a geologist and hydrologist, and with Twin City Testing Corporation from 1984-1986 as a senior hydrologist/project manager. Mr. Iles is a certified professional geologist and is a member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, the Association of American State Geologists, and the National Ground Water Association.

Welcome to the USD Chapter of Sigma Xi. We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions for activities, speakers and connections. Watch this blog for upcoming events.

Join Us! 

USD Sigma Xi 2013 Lecture Series

Talk II: Monday, Feb 4, 5 PM Lee Med 105

 Math Emporium at USD: 

Why the Change and How Has It Performed?

Success rates in introductory math courses are of grave concern all across the country.  It is easily the one subject that prevents many students from obtaining a college degree.  In this talk I will discuss a new method of delivery for introductory math courses which has been termed the "Math Emporium" approach and why it has received so much traction across the nation.

Dan Van Peursem came to USD in 1997 after receiving his degree from UNL in applied mathematics.  His thesis area was in analytical modeling of groundwater flows with recirculation wells but he has since been interested in problems in the field of mathematical biology.  He became chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences in 2004 and is serving in that role.


Thanks to our Fall 2012 Speaker (Talk I)