Bartosz Grzybowski (Northwestern University - Dept. of Chemical & Biological Engineering) 

One of the greatest mysteries of life is how a collection of molecules enclosed by a molecular sac self-organizes into a complex system capable of maintaining structural integrity, sensing the environment, propelling itself, self-replicating, and more. In my talk I will illustrate how a combination of cell biology and physics can offer some unique insights into the static organization and dynamic behaviors of cells. Accordingly, the talk will...

Jeff Errington (Newcastle University - Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology) 

The cell wall is a defining structure of bacterial cells. It provides a protective outer shell and is crucial in pathogenesis as well as the target for important antibiotics. Synthesis of the wall is organised by cytoskeletal proteins homologous to tubulin (FtsZ) and actin (MreB). Because all major branches of the bacterial lineage possess both wall and cytoskeleton, these were probably present in the last common ancestor of the bacteria. L-forms are unusual...

Sara Seager (MIT - Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences)

Biosignature gases are gases emitted by life that can accumulate in an exoplanet atmosphere to remotely detectable levels by future space telescopes. Until now, the dominant focus has been on Earth-like planets, because Earth is the only known planet with life. Yet exoplanets are astonishingly diverse—in terms of their masses, densities, orbits, and host star types—and this diversity motivates a radical extension of what conventionally constitutes a habitable planet. By building a general...

David Johnston (Harvard University - Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences)

The story of Earth’s biological and chemical evolution is locked within the geological record of marine sediments, and deciphering these stories requires a means of accessing and calibrating that information. Of the directly targetable marine sedimentary records, the stable isotopes of sulfur are one of the most powerful tools for paleo-environmental reconstructions. This applicability is rooted in the quantitative linkage to surface oxygen budgets (namely atmospheric O2) and inherent...