Fri 28 Feb 08:45: Investigating the role of Influenza virus neuraminidase activity on the host immune response
Mahmoud graduated in 2014 from the school of Veterinary Medicine at Cairo University. In 2015, he started working in virology, as a teaching assistant of virology and immunology in the dep of Virology, Cairo University; earning a Master of Virology degree in 2019 and was promoted to assistant lecturer in 2020. During that time, he worked on many projects for development of modern sensitive molecular diagnostic techniques for detection of many animal and human viruses, including SARS -CoV-2 and Influenza viruses. One of these projects was to use Nanopore sequencing as a field test for non-targeted diagnosis of respiratory disease complex in chicken. Concurrently he was enrolled in other projects for development of vaccines against Foot and Mouth Disease virus (FMDV), Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV), and SARS -CoV-2.
In 2023, he enrolled as a PhD student at the Dep of Veterinary Medicine, Cambridge University, to start investigating the role of influenza virus neuraminidase in the host immune response.
Chaired by Mark Owusu (with Laurence Tiley) Talk will be recorded
- Speaker: Mahmoud Elgamal, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 28 February 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Wed 11 Dec 10:30: Southern Ocean Centennial Oscillations and Response to Climate Forcing
Key features of the Southern Ocean (such as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and meridional overturning circulation) show centennial oscillations in many of the CMIP6 models. These oscillations can be linked to changes in convection and formation of dense water which go on to influence the state of the whole Southern Ocean. This seminar will briefly discuss the range of behaviour seen in the pre-industrial control runs for these models, before examining the response of Southern Ocean centennial variability to climate forcing. The response to a range of CMIP6 warming scenarios will be examined, demonstrating a cessation of the oscillations and a significant reduction in the production of dense water, even in weaker forcing scenarios. These changes will then be examined further through novel idealised forcing simulations with gradual 1% annual increases in CO2 as well as abrupt warming and cooling scenarios. There will also be a discussion of how these oscillations affect our future projections and how we should consider the uncertainty in these projections.
- Speaker: Jonathan Rosser; BAS / LSE
- Wednesday 11 December 2024, 10:30-11:30
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 330b; https://bas-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/96257339921.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Fri 28 Feb 17:30: Wayfinding through the Human Genome
In this special lecture to honor the legacy of Charles Darwin at the University of Cambridge, Dr. Keolu Fox, the first Native Hawaiian Ph.D. in genomic sciences and a National Geographic Explorer and Wayfinder Award winner, presents a pioneering perspective that blends Indigenous knowledge with modern genomic research. Drawing on the rich history of Polynesian wayfinding and Darwin’s evolutionary theories, Dr. Fox introduces the concept of “Indigenous Futurism”—a movement to harness scientific and technological advancements to empower Indigenous communities.
Fox’s research uses genetic data to rewrite the narratives of Indigenous people, emphasizing that the human genome, much like the vast Pacific Ocean, contains clues about our history, health, and future. By studying the genomes of Polynesian descendants of ancient navigators, his work not only highlights the complex migration patterns that brought them to distant islands like Hawaii and Tahiti but also offers insights into modern health challenges faced by these communities.
In this lecture, Fox will discuss how genomics can serve as a tool for land reclamation, public health improvements, and cultural preservation. He emphasizes the need for ethical, community-driven research models that prioritize benefit-sharing and cultural sustainability over extractive scientific practices. By incorporating Indigenous values and decision-making, his approach seeks to return agency to the communities that have historically been marginalized in genomic studies.
Fox’s vision extends beyond academia, with aspirations to develop mobile genomic technologies that could bring research directly to remote communities, revolutionizing conservation genetics and healthcare delivery. Through this fusion of ancient wisdom and cutting-edge science, Dr. Fox continues the Darwinian legacy of exploring human evolution—this time with a focus on the resilience and future of Indigenous peoples.
This lecture will provide a fascinating look at how the past informs the future, offering a new path forward in genomics that aligns with the global push toward inclusivity, equity, and sustainability in science.
Keolu Fox is Co-Founder of the Native BioData Consortium, a nonprofit research institute led by Indigenous scientists and tribal members. He is also an assistant professor at the University of California San Diego, where he is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the UCSD Indigenous Futures Institute. Growing up as an avid waterman, Keolu Fox was immersed in stories about his ancestors, Polynesian navigators, and the men who led the first Hōkūleʻa voyage to Tahiti in the late 1970s. As the first Native Hawaiian with a Ph.D. in genomic sciences, Fox tells us how genetic data can help reveal powerful narratives about the history of Indigenous people and their achievements, and empower communities to use data to improve public health and preserve their culture.
- Speaker: Dr Keolu Fox, University of California, San Diego
- Friday 28 February 2025, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.
Thu 20 Mar 16:00: Professor Awen Gallimore, Co-Director of Systems Immunity Research Institute, Cardiff University
This Cambridge Immunology and Medicine Seminar will take place on Thursday 27 March 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)
Speaker: Professor Awen Gallimore, Co-Director of Systems Immunity Research Institute, Cardiff University
Title: TBC
Host: Tim Halim, CRUK , Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Professor Awen Gallimore, Co-Director of Systems Immunity Research Institute, Cardiff University
- Thursday 20 March 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Thu 20 Mar 16:00: Tal Arnon, Professor of Cellular Immunology, The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Oxford
This Cambridge Immunology and Medicine Seminar will take place on Thursday 20 March 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)
Speaker: Tal Arnon, Professor of Cellular Immunology, The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Oxford
Title: TBC
Host: Bidesh Mahata, Department of Pathology, Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Tal Arnon, Professor of Cellular Immunology, The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Oxford
- Thursday 20 March 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Thu 06 Mar 16:00: Gunnar Nilsson, Professor of Experimental Allergy Research, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
This Cambridge Immunology and Medicine Seminar will take place on Thursday 6 March 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)
Speaker: Gunnar Nilsson, Professor of Experimental Allergy Research, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
Title: TBC
Host: Bidesh Mahata, Department of Pathology
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Gunnar Nilsson, Professor of Experimental Allergy Research, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
- Thursday 06 March 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Thu 20 Mar 17:00: Title to be confirmed
=== Hybrid talk ===
Join Zoom Meeting https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/87143365195?pwd=SELTNkOcfVrIE1IppYCsbooOVqenzI.1
Meeting ID: 871 4336 5195
Passcode: 541180
- Speaker: David Wang (King's College London)
- Thursday 20 March 2025, 17:00-18:00
- Venue: MR14 Centre for Mathematical Sciences.
- Series: Formalisation of mathematics with interactive theorem provers ; organiser: Anand Rao Tadipatri.
Mon 16 Dec 15:00: Notes on the evolutionary ecology of Plasmodium parasites from Madagascar This is a hybrid seminar, a zoom link will be circulated shortly
Madagascar has a suite of unusual features in its biogeography and climatology that I will argue provide a, perhaps unique, opportunity to study the ecology and evolution of malaria parasites. In terms of biogeography, the island’s long isolation from other landmasses and extreme ecological heterogeneity has resulted in a remarkable diversity of vertebrate hosts. I will first present data suggesting that, although receiving less attention than the vertebrates, Madagascar is likely home to a similarly impressive abundance of insect vector and haemosporidian parasite species. I will then review efforts to understand how parasite species evolve in diverse host communities, focusing on the role of parasite gene families in enabling evasion of host immune responses. Finally, turning to Plasmodium parasites of humans, I will discuss our ongoing work on the impact of extreme weather events on disease transmission dynamics, an area of growing interest in studies of climate-health. Among countries with a high malaria burden, Madagascar is uniquely vulnerable to events such as tropical cyclones and data from our recent study in southeast Madagascar shows these events are likely to have severe consequences for efforts to reduce malaria burden.
Please contact Sara Chelaghma (sc2247@cam.ac.uk) for further enquiries about this seminar
This is a hybrid seminar, a zoom link will be circulated shortly
- Speaker: Benjamin Rice, Princeton University
- Monday 16 December 2024, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Marjory Stephenson Seminar Room, Hopkins Building, Dept of Biochemistry..
- Series: Parasitology Seminars; organiser: sc2247.
Mon 16 Dec 15:00: Notes on the evolutionary ecology of Plasmodium parasites from Madagascar This is a hybrid seminar, a zoom link will be circulated shortly
Madagascar has a suite of unusual features in its biogeography and climatology that I will argue provide a, perhaps unique, opportunity to study the ecology and evolution of malaria parasites. In terms of biogeography, the island’s long isolation from other landmasses and extreme ecological heterogeneity has resulted in a remarkable diversity of vertebrate hosts. I will first present data suggesting that, although receiving less attention than the vertebrates, Madagascar is likely home to a similarly impressive abundance of insect vector and haemosporidian parasite species. I will then review efforts to understand how parasite species evolve in diverse host communities, focusing on the role of parasite gene families in enabling evasion of host immune responses. Finally, turning to Plasmodium parasites of humans, I will discuss our ongoing work on the impact of extreme weather events on disease transmission dynamics, an area of growing interest in studies of climate-health. Among countries with a high malaria burden, Madagascar is uniquely vulnerable to events such as tropical cyclones and data from our recent study in southeast Madagascar shows these events are likely to have severe consequences for efforts to reduce malaria burden.
Please contact Sara Chelaghma (sc2247@cam.ac.uk) for further enquiries about this seminar
This is a hybrid seminar, a zoom link will be circulated shortly
- Speaker: Benjamin Rice, Princeton University
- Monday 16 December 2024, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, Tennis Court Road, Dept of Pathology..
- Series: Parasitology Seminars; organiser: sc2247.
Fri 28 Feb 08:45: Title to be confirmed
Chaired by Mark Owusu (with Laurence Tiley)
- Speaker: Mahmoud Elgamal, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 28 February 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 28 Feb 08:45: Evaluation of fluorescence in situ hybridisation for the detection of bacterial pathogens in liver biopsy samples from dogs with idiopathic chronic hepatitis
Arran graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2013 and spent 8 years in small animal general practice before undertaking a rotating internship at Dick White referrals in 2021. He joined us a Senior Clinical Training Scholar in Small Animal Medicine two years ago and is now on the home straight.
Talk to be recorded
Chaired by Mark Owusu (with Laurence Tiley)
- Speaker: Arran Smith, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 28 February 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Wed 29 Jan 16:00: Epidemiology and modelling to support the routine infant immunisation programme in England
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Lauren Adams, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Wednesday 29 January 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: LT2, Department of Veterinary Medicine.
- Series: Departmental Seminar Programme, Department of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Wed 08 Jan 16:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Ben Davies, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Wednesday 08 January 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: LT2, Department of Veterinary Medicine.
- Series: Departmental Seminar Programme, Department of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Wed 05 Feb 16:00: Computational Methods to Design Broad-Spectrum Medical Countermeasures Against Antigenically Diverse Pathogens
Pre-viva talk
- Speaker: Phil Palmer, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Wednesday 05 February 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: LT1, Department of Veterinary Medicine.
- Series: Departmental Seminar Programme, Department of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 17 Jan 08:45: Genome secrets: Unmasking intervertebral disc disease in Miniature Dachshunds
“Bruno is a veterinary surgeon and Neurology specialist. He is a part-time PhD student, on his second year, under the supervision of Paul Freeman Dip ECVN and Cathryn Mellersh. Bruno works with The Canine Genetics Centre at the University of Cambridge, investigating the genetics of intervertebral disc disease. This presentation will focus on one of Bruno’s projects, that has been funded by a CamVet Grant.
talk to be recorded!
Chaired by Sophia Belkhir/Elizabeth Murchison
- Speaker: Bruno Lopes, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 17 January 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Wed 29 Jan 16:00: Milner Seminar January 2025 - Focus on the microbiome in disease
The next event in our popular Seminar Series will take place on Wednesday 29 January at the Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre.
Focus on the microbiome in disease
4:00pm
Virginia Pedicord, Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), University of Cambridge
“Integrating functional metagenomics to decipher microbiome-immune interactions”
4:30pm
Ghaith Bakdash, Microbiotica
“Mechanistic understanding of MB310 : a consortium of gut commensal bacteria for the treatment of ulcerative colitis”
5:00pm
Networking and refreshments
If you’d like to attend, please register at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/milnerinstitute/1497905
- Speaker: Virginia Pedicord, CITIID, University of Cambridge and Ghaith Bakdash, Microbiotica
- Wednesday 29 January 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre.
- Series: Milner Seminar Series; organiser: Mary-Jane Roebuck.
Fri 13 Dec 13:00: Optimising Sustainable Energy with Functional Programming
Abstract
This talk describes some results from a collaboration between Computer Science, Physics, and Climate Impact Research on theories and tools for performance optimisation of strongly coupled physical systems with a large parameter space. The first part of the talk discusses computing optimal policies; we have used these techniques for climate decisions and for fusion energy designs. The second part of the talk will focus on one particularly important concept: the Pareto-front, which mathematically captures the trade-offs between two (or more) conflicting objectives. The core object of study is an expensive black-box function computing multiple objectives, for which we approximate the Pareto front using adaptive mesh refinement.
Bio
Patrik Jansson is a professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department, joint between Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His main research areas are Programming Languages, Functional Programming, Domain-Specific Languages, and their application to climate, physics, etc. His research focus is on systems for constructing correct and reusable software. The goal is to develop the programming languages of the future and theories, tests and proofs of correctness of high-level models of complex systems. Important techniques include functional programming, domain-specific languages and type theory. Examples of applications are climate impact research, physics, and language technology but many results are also curiosity driven basic research with generic applicability in most areas.
Patrik has been on sabbatical in Oxford, as a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College for Michaelmas term 2024, visiting Prof Jeremy Gibbons.
- Speaker: Prof. Patrik Jansson, Chalmers, Sweden, Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford
- Friday 13 December 2024, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: SS03, William Gates Building. Zoom link: https://cl-cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/4361570789?pwd=Nkl2T3ZLaTZwRm05bzRTOUUxY3Q4QT09&from=addon .
- Series: Energy and Environment Group, Department of CST; organiser: lyr24.
Fri 13 Dec 17:30: Causal Reading Group with José R. Zubizarreta
Abstract not available
- Speaker: José R. Zubizarreta, Harvard University
- Friday 13 December 2024, 17:30-18:00
- Venue: MR20, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge.
- Series: Causal Inference Reading Group; organiser: Martina Scauda.
Fri 14 Mar 08:45: Title to be confirmed
Chaired by Andrew Grant
- Speaker: Molly Cliff, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 14 March 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 14 Mar 08:45: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Unraveling Its Variability, Mimics, and Predictors
Jose Novo Matos DVM M Sc PhD DECVIM (Cardiology) AFHEA MRCVS Jose graduated from the University of Lisbon in 2005 and completed a cardiology residency at the University of Zurich, becoming an ECVIM -CA Diplomate in 2014 and an RCVS Specialist in Cardiology in 2015. He worked as a Senior Lecturer at Zurich before completing a PhD on feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at the Royal Veterinary College and a Master’s in Cardiovascular Pathology at the University of Padua. Currently, he is a Teaching Professor and Head of Cardiology at the University of Cambridge. His clinical and research focus includes feline cardiomyopathies and cardiac imaging. Jose also co-hosts The Animal Heartbeat podcast, the first podcast dedicated to veterinary cardiology.
Chaired by Andrew Grant
- Speaker: Jose Novo Matos, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 14 March 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.