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DTSTAMP:20261002T094642
DTSTART;TZID=America/Detroit:20261113T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Detroit:20261113T170000
SUMMARY:Lecture / Discussion:Alan J. Hunt Memorial Lecture-U-M Biomedical Engineering
DESCRIPTION:2026 Alan J. Hunt Memorial Lecture\n\nPhysical principles of cardiac sarcomere organization in health and disease\n\nAbstract:\nThe remarkable capabilities of living tissues reflect the self-assembly of biological macromolecules into structures far larger and more complex than their individual components. The Dunn laboratory seeks to understand the physical principles that allow molecular interactions to produce organized\, functional tissues. In this talk\, I will focus on cardiomyocytes\, whose contractile machinery provides a striking example of biological self-assembly. Using single-molecule force spectroscopy\, we find that α-actinin-2\, a core component of the sarcomeric Z-disc\, binds actin in a strongly force- and direction-dependent manner. This behavior suggests a mechanism by which forces generated during contraction can help organize and stabilize sarcomeric architecture. In parallel\, we are investigating how inherited cardiomyopathy mutations perturb sarcomere mechanics and organization. Genetically encoded force sensors reveal how disease-associated myosin mutations alter force propagation within sarcomeres\, while cryo-electron tomography shows how these mutations disrupt sarcomere order at the molecular scale. These and other data suggest that alterations in sarcomeric organization may be intimately linked to the development of cardiomyopathy. Finally\, I will describe emerging approaches for scaling single-molecule biophysics from measurements of individual interactions to systematic surveys of hundreds of molecular variants. These approaches open the door to studies of mechanobiology at scale and to the design and characterization of new molecular mechanosensors.\n\nBio:\nAlex Dunn is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. His research focuses on understanding how living cells sense mechanical stimuli\, with particular interests in stem cell biology and tissue engineering. Dr. Dunn worked as a postdoctoral scholar with James Spudich in the Department of Biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology under the direction of Harry Gray\, where his work focused on understanding the catalytic mechanism selective C-H bond oxidation by cytochrome P450 enzymes. His work has been recognized with numerous awards\, including the Hertz Fellowship\, the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface\, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award\, and the HHMI Faculty Scholar Award.
UID:153197-21915407@events.umich.edu
URL:https://events.umich.edu/event/153197
CLASS:PUBLIC
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CATEGORIES:Research,Basic Science,Biointerfaces,Biology,biomedical,biomedical engineering,Bioninterfaces,Biosciences,Biotechnology,bme,Discussion,engineer,engineering,In Person,Lecture,Medicine,Michigan Engineering
LOCATION:Gerald Ford Library - Auditorium
CONTACT:
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DTSTAMP:20261026T085513
DTSTART;TZID=America/Detroit:20261113T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Detroit:20261113T160000
SUMMARY:Lecture / Discussion:HET Seminar | Euclidean Wormholes and Axion Cosmology
DESCRIPTION:Axions arise ubiquitously in theories of particle physics and quantum gravity and may play important roles in cosmology\, from inflation and dark matter to dark energy. This raises a basic question: does quantum gravity constrain the allowed parameter space of axions\, and can such constraints have observable consequences? I will discuss how Euclidean wormholes provide a surprising connection between these questions and quantum gravity. I will first review the axionic Weak Gravity Conjecture (aWGC)\, including the importance of its order-one coefficient for axion phenomenology\, and then describe how Euclidean wormholes may give rise to this bound. I will discuss the perturbative stability of axion wormholes and their explicit realization in string theory\, both in flat space and in AdS. Finally\, I will present recent work showing that the aWGC can arise directly from the nonperturbative fragmentation of Euclidean wormholes into charged defects. Requiring such fragmentation to lower the Euclidean action fixes the action-to-charge bound and its order-one coefficient\, and reveals a direct connection to the Imaginary Distance Bound. This suggests that quantum-gravitational constraints on axions can be understood as conditions on the non-perturbative stability of gravitational saddles\, with implications for axion cosmology and the consistency of effective field theories.
UID:151162-21910993@events.umich.edu
URL:https://events.umich.edu/event/151162
CLASS:PUBLIC
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CATEGORIES:Talk,Seminar,Science,Physics,Lecture,High Energy Theory Seminar
LOCATION:West Hall - 340
CONTACT:
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