The Academic Minute for 2023.08.14-2023.08.18

The Academic Minute from 8.14 – 8.18

Monday
Vsevolod Seva Katritch – University of Southern California Dornsife
Computer Modeling and A.I. Transform Drug Discovery
Dr. Katritch is an is a computational biologist and chemist at University of Southern California Dornsife, and a founding co-director of the Center for New Technologies in Drug Discovery and Development (CNT3D).  His research is focused on deciphering the molecular function of membrane proteins in atomistic detail and applying this knowledge to discover new ligands to clinically important targets. His work has led to 8 patents and more than 140 papers, including a breakthrough screening of billions of chemical compounds published in Nature, as well as seminal reviews on GPCR structure-function and drug discovery technologies. He is named among Web of Science’s Highly Cited Researchers in two categories: pharmacology/toxicology and biology/biochemistry.

Tuesday
Sylvain Barbot – University of California Dornsife
Is the Seismic Crisis Over in Turkey?
Dr. Sylvain Barbot studied earthquake physics and tectonic geodesy at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (University of California at San Diego), and, as a postdoc, at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Barbot was a Nanyang Assistant Professor and National Research Fellow at the Earth Observatory of Singapore and the Asian School of the Environment. He is now an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California where he conducts research on the physics of friction, fault dynamics, and lithospheric deformation during the seismic cycle.

Wednesday
Wandi Bruine de Bruin – University of California Dornsife
It’s Time to Ditch The Climate Change Jargon
Wändi Bruine de Bruin is Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), and director of the USC Behavioral Science and Well-Being Policy initiative., and USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research. Her research aims to understand and inform how people make decisions about their personal health, their carbon footprint, and their household finances. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed publications on these topics. She is an editorial board member for the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Perspectives on Psychological Science, the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Decision, Medical Decision Making, the Journal of Risk Research, and Psychology and Aging.

Thursday
Donald Arnold – University of California Dornsife
Mapping the Synapses and the Future of Memory Treatments
Professor Arnold is the principal investigator at the Arnold Laboratory and professor of Molecular and Computational Biology and Biomedical Engineering at USC Dornsife. He received his Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the University of Toronto. He studies how information is encoded in synapses. The Arnold laboratory has developed novel recombinant probes that allow us to visualize and ablate synaptic connections in living organisms.

Friday
Kayla de la Haye – University of California Dornsife
Uncovering the True Extent of Food Insecurity in the U.S.
Kayla de la Haye is an Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California.  She works to promote good health and health equity by applying systems science methods, and working with multi-disciplinary teams and community partners. Her research focuses on family and community social systems, and the broader neighborhoods and environments that people live in, to promote healthy eating and food security, and prevent chronic disease. Her research also explores how families, teams, and coalitions solve complex health problems together. Her work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and others. Dr. de la Haye holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Adelaide, Australia.