The Department hosts many guest speakers and lecturers every term who speak about a variety of research and related topics.
Recent Speakers
Biochemistry Seminars are Online
Yesterday the Department had its first ever online student seminar. Nick Ostan from the Moraes lab presented his work on Lactoferin, LbpA and LbpB. This was followed by Richard Liu from the Kahr lab who spoke to us about structural studies on VPS16B and VPS33B. Despite a few technical difficulties, it was a success by […]
Biochemistry Department Retreat 2019
The 2019 Biochemistry Retreat was a huge success. Members of the department spent September 4th to the 6th up at Geneva Park where they heard talks from students, postdocs, faculty and invited speakers. In the midst of all this, department members partook in a scavenger hunt, fireside singing and other group activities. the department also […]
Kit Pogliano, “How to build an endospore and develop faster ways to find antibiotics”
As part of our Connell Seminar series, Kit Pogliano, Professor and Dean of the Graduate Division of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego, spoke to us about using high trough-put imaging of sporulating bacteria to discover how antibiotics work.
Andy Martin “Substrate processing and mechanochemical coupling of the 26S proteasome – a fine-tuned molecular machine”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Prof. And Martin from UC Berkeley gave a seminar on how proteasomes recognize and degrade ubiquitinated proteins.
Bob Varelas, “Polarity regulated Hippo Pathway signaling in lung development and disease”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Bob Varelas from Boston University spoke to us on how the Hippo Pathway regulates various aspects of lung development.
Wolfgang Baumeister, “The Molecular Machinery of Protein Degradation – Structural Studies ex situ and in situ”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Prof. Wolfgang Baumeister from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry gave a seminar on a cryo-EM based investigation of proteasomes in cells.
The second annual Biochemistry Departmental Retreat at the Kempenfelt Centre
The second annual Biochemistry Departmental Retreat was held at the Kempenfelt Centre on August 30-31st, 2017. The retreat not only allowed the Department to celebrate our newest scientific discoveries, but also to allow everyone to see old friend and meet new colleagues. It also allowed incoming graduate rotation students to sample all of the exciting […]
Bill Martin: “The physiology and habitat of the first cells on Earth”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Dr. Bill Martin from the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf gave a seminar on the prebiotic origins of life on earth.
David Sabatini: “Regulation of Growth by the mTOR Pathway”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Dr. David Sabatini from MIT gave a seminar on how mTOR signalling, which controls cell growth, is regulated by the metabolic state of the cell.
Joseph Mougous: “Bacterial warfare in close quarters: molecular mechanisms underlying interbacterial antagonism”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Dr. Joseph Mougous from the University of Washington gave a seminar on bacterial transport systems that are used for bacterial warfare.
Susan Buchanan: “Structural insight into the biogenesis of beta barrel membrane proteins”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Dr. Susan Buchanan from the NIH gave a seminar on bacterial transporter proteins.
Dr. Sue Jaspersen “‘Pore-ing’ into the yeast nucleus”
As part of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Dr. Sue Jaspersen from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research gave a seminar on how the spindle pole body duplicates in budding yeast, and how membrane-bound proteins enter the inner nuclear envelope.
Dr. Stephen Scherer – “Molecular Imbalance in Autism and Related Disorders”
As part of the 25th Anniversary of the Connell Lecture Seminar Series, Dr. Stephen Scherer from SickKids gave a seminar on the newest findings in genomics as applied to the understanding of complex diseases such as autism.
The 66th Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists
The local organizing committee (LOC) cordially invites you to the University of Toronto for the 66th Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists, to be held between Sunday June 12th and Wednesday June 15th. The LOC has identified symposia topics that will be of interest to CSM members within the three central themes of […]
Dr. Gia Voeltz – Unraveling new functions for the ER at organelle contact sites
As part of our George Connell Seminar Series, Dr. Gia Voeltz, Associate Professor, MCD Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder described how ER contacts with mitochondria and endosomes regulate organelle fission events.
Special Dept. of Biochemistry Seminar – Eric Minikel and Sonia Vallabh
The Department heard a remarkable account of Eric Minikel and Sonia Vallabh’s response to the news that she carries the same mutation in the prion protein gene that led to her mother’s premature death from fatal familial insomnia. Prior to this, Eric had graduated from MIT and worked in transportation planning and Sonia had completed Harvard […]
Cole Haynes – Adaptations to mitochondrial dysfunction via inter-organelle communication
Dr. Cole Haynes, Associate Member, Cell Biology program at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute gave a fascinating account of the mitochondrial response to stress (the mitochondrial Unfolded Protein Response signaling pathway) as part of our George Connell Seminar Series.
Anindy Dutta – MicroDNAs, tRFs and lncRNAs: novel nucleic acids revealed by high throughput sequencing
Dr. Anindy Dutta, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, gave an intriguing presentation in our George Connell Seminar Series that focused on a variety of most unusual nucleic acids.
11th Annual Benjamin Schachter Memorial Lecture
From 1934-1939 Dr. Benjamin (Benny) Schachter worked in the Department of Biochemistry conducting research on female sex hormones, isolating and identifying conjugated oestrone sulphate (Premarin). To honour Benny Schachter’s memory, a donation was made to the Department by his family. The funds are being used to support an annual lectureship in his memory. The BGSU […]
Nikolaus Grigorieff: “Optimizing Image Contrast for Cryo-EM”
Nikolaus Grigorieff from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus presented his latest work to the Department in the George Connell Lecture Series.
Ramanujan Hegde: “Biosynthesis and quality control of membrane proteins”
Ramanujan Hegde from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK gave a tour-de-force presentation in our George Connell Seminar Series that focused on the quality control surveillance of tail-anchored membrane proteins and their insertion into ER and mitochondrial membranes.
Michael Terns “CRISPR-Cas: Small RNA-Guided Prokaryotic Immune Systems”
Michael Terns from the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Microbiology at the University of Georgia gave a presentation for our George Connell Seminar Series entitled CRISPR-Cas: Small RNA-Guided Prokaryotic Immune Systems. For more on his work, visit the Terns Lab Website.
GPD Hosts Special Seminar with Alum Dr. Gregory Block
On July 27, 2015, Biochemistry alum Dr. Gregory Block spoke about “Carving a path to cure FSH Muscular Dystrophy: from molecular mechanisms to patients” which included: 1) complex molecular genetics of FSHD, 2) active role that disease-specific non-profits are playing in the development of treatments for rare diseases and 3) transition from academia to scientific development in the […]
GPD Hosts Special Seminar with Biochemistry Alum Dr. Richard Kim
After his Biochemistry PhD at the University of Toronto, Dr. Richard Kim accrued his industry scientific experience at NCI, Wyeth, Novartis and TTP LabTech. On July 9, 2015, he entertained close to 60 graduate students and PDFs during his GPD talk on his career pathway as Pharma Scientist and Sales Manager. His discussion highlighted the […]
Scott Prosser and Oliver Ernst organize 16th GPCR Retreat
Scott Prosser and Oliver Ernst are organizing this year’s Great Lakes GPCR Retreat at Hockley Valley Resort (80 km northeast of Toronto). A workshop “Tools for Structural Neurobiology” organized by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Structural Neurobiology precedes the GPCR Retreat.