I will overview recent efforts towards developing methods to assess confidence in published findings in the literature using AI. These efforts serve the broader aim of supporting efficient scientific processes in light of the last decade’s replication crisis and ongoing open science movement. We will end with the vision of a computable scholarly record.
Speaker: Sarah Rajtmajer | College of Information Sciences & Technology
In this special edition of the Millennium Café, we will have a panel discussion with researchers from different disciplines to consider the ethical, social, legal and cultural implications of innovative biomedical research for patients, people, animals, and populations. We will specifically discuss the human microbiome with panel experts and the audience.
The more we learn about the human microbiome—bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoans that live on and in the human body and their genetic material—the more our view of humans is being challenged. Instead, we are invited to reconceptualized the human being as a superorganism and the human body as an ecosystem. This poses unique ethical, social, and legal questions, including how integral is the microbiome to our conception of self? How does knowledge about microbiome impact what we think it means to be healthy? To what extent do we own our microbes, and should our microbiome information be shared with healthcare providers or insurance companies? Who has the rights to benefit?
Panelists
Jennifer Wagner | Law, Policy, and Engineering
Emily Davenport | Biology
Moderator
Laura Weyrich | Anthropology and Bioethics
I will highlight recent advances in our group in the engineering of functional, topographically-, and chemically-patterned polymer coatings via light-mediated surface-initiated polymerization. Oxygen tolerance, mild reaction conditions, and the use of visible light make this approach user-friendly in its application for the design of e.g., anti-microbial surfaces, anti-fogging coatings, and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).
Presenter: Christian Pester | Chemical Engineering
Humans are colonized by highly diverse communities of microbes which shape our health. While diversity is correlated with health, it is often not clear why. This Bisanz lab uses lab-built microbial communities and germ-free animal models to understand the mechanisms through which diverse microbes interact with each other and the host. We seek to conduct mechanistic research with real world applications. Current research includes how healthy gut microbes impact resistance to infectious disease, pharmaceutical therapy, and exposure to environmental chemicals.
Presenter: Jordan Bisanz | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rare earth elements are a group of 17 metals with very similar sizes but unique roles in technologies that are essential for a clean-energy future. As a result, efficiently separating one from another is a long-standing challenge and a modern imperative. In this talk, I will describe some of the fundamental insights that natural rare-earth-binding proteins have yielded into how to differentiate between these very similar elements. I will also illustrate how these insights are guiding the development of protein-based separation processes, towards the holy grail of efficient separation of rare earths adjacent to each other on the periodic table.
Speaker: Joseph Cotruvo | Chemistry