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The Decision Tree with Wired editor Thomas Goetz

Marin Science Seminar visited Kishore Hari’s Down to a Science cafe in San Francisco last week and participated in a fun game-show style presentation on using technology to make and track personal medical decisions.  One of the kids got to play the part of a basketball player with a genetic heart condition which might preclude him from continuing his lucrative career.  Wisely, he chose not to continue playing so he wouldn’t suddenly drop dead.  Wired editor Thomas Goetz  ran the show while explaining how new technologies can help us to make better medical and personal health choices.  He then entertained a lively discussion on health care, bioethics and physician vs. patient access to expertise.  Here is a pic of some of the MSS young people with Kishore and Thomas, and a copy of Thomas’s book The Decision Tree, which he very generously signed and gave to each of the game-show participants.  A edutaining time was had by all!

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Sun, Skin Cancer, and the Highlands of Guatemala with James Cleaver, PhD of UCSF

Dr. Cleaver will describe the discovery of a Guatemalan village with a high incidence of skin cancer and his lab’s plans for their care. The genetic cause is a failure to repair sunlight damage to DNA. Repair of DNA is a mechanism our bodies possess for protection against all kinds of environmental exposures. DNA repair defects are involved in many kinds of cancer and neurodegenerative disease. Get the flyer here. (April 21, 2010)
 

Dr. Cleaver gained his BA and PhD at the University of Cambridge, England. He spent two years as a postdoctoral student at Harvard, and joined the faculty of UCSF in 1966 in the Laboratory of Radiobiology and Environmental Health, and became the research director. He discovered that the basis of xeroderma pigmentosum was a DNA repair deficiency in 1968, and has worked on this and related diseases ever since. He was granted Emeritus status at UCSF in January 2004, but continues to carry out research.  His appointments as Professor are held in the Departments of Dermatology and of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and he is a member of the UCSF Cancer Center.
Dr. Cleaver is an internationally recognized expert on the molecular mechanisms of environmentally-induced and genetically-determined human cancers. He demonstrated as early as 1968 that cancer can be viewed as a genetic disease and his revolutionary work on xeroderma pigmentosum has led to breakthroughs in our understanding of the link between DNA repair efficiency and human disease. His pioneering work has resulted in more than 350 papers and reviews. He received research awards from the Radiation Research Society (1973), American Academy of Dermatology (1976), the Phycological Society (1991), Harvard University JB Little award (2003), the UCSF Faculty Research lectureship (2004) and the American Skin Association (2006), He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999.
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Analysis and Dating of Ancient Chinese Jade with Sam Bernstein

March 3, 2010
Analysis and Dating of Ancient Chinese Jade with Sam Bernstein

Mr. Sam Bernstein will lecture on the topic of stylistic and physical examination techniques utilized in authenticating ancient Chinese Works of art. The usefulness of art historical and scientific testing techniques give us a valuable tool kit for understanding how ancient artists worked. Get the flyer here. (March 3, 2010)
 

Sam Bernstein is an internationally recognized authority on Chinese jades. His company, S. Bernstein & Co., deals in Chinese jade, antiquities, and rare books on China and jade. It is located on the first floor of the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco.
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Why are there Stars?

with Steven Stahler, Ph.D.
Wed. February 24, 2010

On a clear night, the sky is filled with countless stars. Our Sun is one of them. How do these objects form? In recent decades, astronomers have begun answering this very old question. This progress has occurred despite the fact that the youngest stars are invisible to the eye and even to most telescopes. Along the way, we have learned how planets like the Earth are created as part of the stellar birth process. (February 24, 2010) Get the flyer here.
 

Dr. Steven Stahler is an astrophysicist at U. C. Berkeley. Raised in Maryland, he attended graduate school at UC-Berkeley in physics. He was a professor at MIT before returning to the Bay Area in 1992. His research centers on the problem of star formation, and he recently coauthored the first comprehensive textbook in the field (“The Formation of Stars,” Stahler & Palla, Wiley-VCH, 2004). Trained as a theoretical physicist, Steve especially delights in the esthetic aspect of his research, which he tries to convey in his numerous public talks.

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“We Are Stardust: Genesis of the Elements” with Mary Barsony, Ph.D.

Marin Science Seminar Presentation: “We Are Stardust: Genesis of the Elements” Dr. Barsony’s talk focuses on how stars shine and how they have generated the elements. (February 3, 2010) Get the flyer here.
One of the fundamental goals of astronomy and astrophysics is to understand how the Universe and its constituent galaxies, stars, and planets formed, how they evolved, and what their destiny will be. Dr. Barsony’s research is focused on the formation of stars out of the raw material provided by tenuous interstellar gas found in frigid clouds in our Galaxy. Since the present birthplaces of stars are hidden by interstellar dust mixed in with the gas, exploring the detailed mechanisms involved in star (and planetary system) formation requires observations at wavelengths whose passage is relatively unimpeded by the intervening dust: radio, millimeter, submillimeter, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths. 
Through submillimeter observations in the early ‘90’s, Dr. Barsony helped identify the first true protostar—an object surrounded by infalling gas that is in the process of accumulating the mass it will have as a full-fledged star. Such objects are rare, and the focus of intense current (and future) study, with space-based observatories such as the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Herschel Observatory, and the planned JWST (Hubble’s replacement that wil operate at infrared wavelengths). 
Dr. Barsony is Adjoint Professor of Physics & Astronomy at San Francisco State University and a Research Scientist at the Space Science Institute. She earned her Ph.D. from CalTech and her S.B. from MIT.
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Meet the Researcher: Sophie Boddington of UCSF

“Monitoring Stem Cell Based Therapies with MR and Optical Imaging”  
with Sophie Boddington of UCSF Dept. of Radiology

January 27, 2010

Ms. Boddington will go over new methods to monitor stem cell therapies with Magnetic Resonance (MR) and Optical Imaging. She will give a brief description of new understandings in stem cell biology with an emphasis on advancements in the field of stem cell tracking. (January 27, 2010) Get the flyer here.
 

Sophie Boddington graduated from the University of Colorado in 2005 with a double major in Psychology and Pre-Med and a certificate in Neuroscience.  She is an author on several scientific papers and currently works as a Lab Manager and Junior Specialist at the UCSF Dept. of Radiology. 
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“Infectious Disease and the H1N1 Virus”

with Charles Chiu, M.D. Ph.D
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Research in the Chiu laboratory explores (1) the replication, biology, and pathogenesis of human cardioviruses and (2) detection of known and novel viral agents in acute diseases suspected to have an infectious etiology.
The Chiu lab is actively validating the Virochip and “deep” sequencing for use in clinical diagnostics and in outbreak investigation. Current projects include (1) a prospective longitudinal study of respiratory infections in immunocompromised patients at UCSF, (2) a metagenomics analysis of H1N1 influenza A strains, and (3) design of a respiratory / stool subtyping microarray for use in diagnosis of acute respiratory infections and gastroenteritis.
Dr. Chiu is currently Director of the UCSF Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center and Assistant Director of the UCSF Microbiology Laboratory.
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How to Bring Solar Energy to Seven Billion People

“How to Bring Solar Energy to Seven Billion People” with Cyrus Wadia, Ph.D.
November 4, 2009


Dr. Wadia is a pioneer in bringing a multidisciplinary approach to solving the complicated issue of renewable energy. Join him in a lively discussion on the promise -and the pitfalls – of solar energy. Download the flyer here.
 

In the city of San Rafael, the only way solar energy can be cost-effective is if the local government provides generous subsidies. That’s true just about everywhere in the world. But what if there were a photovoltaic technology that was so cheap and so easy to install that even the poorest and most remote villages of the world could gain access to electricity? In this presentation, learn about discoveries of new materials that can make solar energy a reality for billions.
By exploiting the powers of nanotechnology and taking advantage of non-toxic, Earth-abundant materials, Cyrus Wadia has fabricated new solar cell devices that have the potential to be several orders of magnitude less expensive than conventional solar cells. And by mastering the chemistry of these materials – and the economics of solar energy – he envisions bringing electricity to the 1.2 billion people now living without it.
Dr. Wadia holds an MS in Chemical Engineering from MIT and a PhD in Energy Resources from UC-Berkeley. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Berkeley. Dr. Wadia spent six years in the high tech industry, has specialized in launching new technologies to market and has completed several successful new product introductions. Presently, Cyrus continues his work helping companies take technology to market as part of an independent consulting practice he began in 2001.

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Making Faces: Developmental Mechanisms of Craniofacial Evolution

“Making Faces: Developmental Mechanisms of Craniofacial Evolution“
with Rich Schneider, Ph.D. 
October 28, 2009


Dr. Schneider will overview experiments in his laboratory that have revealed molecular and cellular processes involved in facial patterning. He will describe how his studies to understand the basis for skull shape in breeds of dogs led him to create a cell transplant system whereby duck embryos develop with quail beaks. He will bring an assortment of skulls.


Dr. Schneider is on the faculty of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF, and in 2004 he was made Director of the Department’s Molecular & Cell Biology Laboratory on the Parnassus Heights campus.

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“Stimulating the Brain with Electricity and Stem Cells”

“Stimulating the Brain with Electricity and Stem Cells”
with Daniel Lim MD PhD
October 21, 2009

Dr. Lim will discuss Neurosurgery for Parkinson’s Disease and other Tremor Disorders, treatments for such disorders ranging from Deep Brain Stimulation (delivery of electrical currents), and the future of stem cell based therapies of such disorders.

Dr. Lim is Assistant Professor in Residence of Neurological Surgery and Director of Restorative Neurosurgery at the UCSF School of Medicine. The focus of his research is on neural stem cells and neurogenesis. He is particularly interested in the molecular biology of the population of neural stem cells found in the subventricular zone (SVZ). For neural stem cells to make neurons, daughter cells need to express certain sets of genes while repressing others. The maintenance of such lineage-specific transcriptional programs is in part regulated by chromatin structure – the “packaged” state of DNA with histone proteins. Recently, Dr. Lim’s work has revealed that the chromatin remodeling factor called Mixed Lineage Leukemia-1 (MLL1) is essential for postnatal neural stem cells to make new neurons. Currently, his work focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which MLL1 specifies a transcriptional program instructive for neurogenesis. In the future he hopes to define the genetic programs and molecular mechanisms that guide the formation of neurons and glia from SVZ neural stem cells, and translate these discoveries into cell-based and genetic therapies for human neurological diseases.
In addition to his basic science interests, Lim has a clinical interest in stereotactic neurosurgery and has worked to study deep brain stimulation for movement disorders including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and atypical tremors resulting from multiple sclerosis or stroke.
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