Department Seminars
If you would like to speak with any of these people during their visit, or need additional information, please contact Stephanie Scoville.
Student Seminar Series: "Defining the Roles of 5’UTR Length and Secondary Structure in Eukaryotic Translation Initiation"
Thomas Ossevoort - Graduate Student
The 5ʹ untranslated region (UTR) of mRNA is known to be a key contributor to translational regulation. However, many of the mechanisms by which the 5ʹUTR regulates translation are poorly understood. To delineate contributions of UTR length and secondary structure, we use non-repetitive unstructured sequences (NUSs) designed by the Mathews lab. We show that variation in 5ʹUTR length has a modest impact on cap-dependent translation in plant and human cellular extracts, indicating that scanning of the 5ʹUTR by the 40S in search of the start codon is not rate limiting. Inhibition of the main translational RNA helicase eIF4A by hippuristanol equally decreases cap-dependent translation of mRNAs with unstructured 5ʹUTRs of various lengths in WGE. Therefore, our data suggests that 40S scanning is a helicase-independent, diffusion-driven process. In collaboration with the Mathews lab, we also explored conserved elements of 5ʹUTR secondary structure that regulate translation initiation in human cells. We focus our studies on a non-canonical cyclin, CCNI, and demonstrate that the computationally identified, evolutionary conserved stem-loop of CCNI 5ʹUTR is involved in translation mediated by a non-canonical initiation factor eIF4G2. The removal of upstream Open Reading Frames (uORFs) combined with the deletion of the stem-loop completely abrogates dependence of CCNI mRNA translation on eIF4G2. Our data is consistent with a model suggesting that the presence of uORFs and elements of secondary structure in the 5ʹUTR enables eIF4G2- mediated translation. Taken together, our studies reveal new roles of 5ʹUTR length and secondary structure in translational contro
Feb 03, 2026 @ 1:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Upper S-Wing Auditorium (3-7619)
“RNA Methylation in Gene Expression Regulation”
Chuan He, PhD - John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Feb 18, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K3-7 (3-6408)
GWIS - “Responsible Conduct of Research with AI”
Jonathan Herington, PhD - Assistant Professor, Departments of Health Humanities and Bioethics, and of Philosophy, University of Rochester
Feb 19, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Adolph Lower Aud (1-7619)
“Understanding and Targeting NUP98 Fusion Oncoprotein Condensates”
Nicole Michmerhuizen, PhD - Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Hematology and Oncology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Mar 04, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K307 (3-6408)
“Insights into RNA Folding In Vivo by Complementary Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches”
Philip Bevilacqua, PhD - Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Mar 11, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K307 (3-6408)
“Target Release During miRNA Silencing”
Leemor Joshua-Tor, PhD - HHMI Investigator; W. M. Keck Professor of Structural Biology; Director of Research, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Mar 18, 2026 @ 1:00 p.m.
School of Medicine and Dentistry | Class of '62 Aud. (G-9425)
GWIS - “Always Looking Forward”
Leemor Joshua-Tor, PhD - HHMI Investigator; W. M. Keck Professor of Structural Biology; Director of Research, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Mar 19, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Adolph Lower Aud (1-7619)
“The RNA Regulation in Nuclear Bodies”
Ling-Ling Chen, PhD - Professor, and Director, State Key Laboratory of RNA Innovation, Science and Engineering (RISE), Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Apr 06, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Lower Adolph Aud. (1-7619)
“Bridging Genome Structure and Function: Linking Chromosome Architecture, Chromatin Modifications, and Gene Expression”
Jill Dowen, PhD - Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, and of Biology; Associate Director, Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB); Member, Integrative Program for Biological & Genome Sciences (iBGS); Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Apr 08, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K307 (3-6408)
“Understanding Transcription in the Context of Genome Organization”
Seychelle Vos, PhD - Associate Professor of Biology, HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar; Department of Biology, MIT, Cambridge, MA
Apr 15, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K307 (3-6408)
GWIS - TBA
Seychelle Vos, PhD - Associate Professor of Biology, HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar; Department of Biology, MIT, Cambridge, MA
Apr 16, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Adolph Lower Aud (1-7619)
“Cancer-Specific Remodeling of the Transcription Machinery Identifies Targetable Vulnerabilities”
Harri Itkonen, PhD - Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, EpiGen, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; EpiGen, Medical Division, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway; Department of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Apr 23, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Lower Adolph Aud. (1-7619)
“Replication and Host Impact of Circular RNAs in Bacteria”
Andrew Varble, PhD - Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Apr 29, 2026 @ 3:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K307 (3-6408)