Prochain événements

Dear Colleagues,

It is a pleasure to share with you a new e-learning course on the “Application of Genetics in Precision Nutrition” by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The course aims to empower participants to comprehend and utilize genetic information towards targeted personalized nutritional advice. Leading experts on Genetics, Nutrition, and Obesity from Greece and the UK will share their knowledge, experience, advice, and insights on key aspects of precision nutrition. This unique and innovative online course provides insight into all the latest developments in the fields of nutrigenetics, genetics of eating behavior, and nutrient-microbiome interactions with a strong emphasis on translating this knowledge to practical nutritional and lifestyle advice.

Maximum flexibility through asynchronous learning.
Continuous interaction with the Course Faculty.
Award of Certificate of Continuing Education.
Course language: English

Start date: 25th January 2021

More information: https://elearninguoa.org/course/health/application-genetics-precision-nutrition

Thank you for your interest and kind attention.

Best wishes,
Vasiliki Bikia

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Matteo Dal Peraro

Abstract
Biological complexity emerges from the organisation of matter at the atomic scale; therefore, understanding the molecular structure and dynamics of biological systems is fundamental to discover the physical principles that sustain life. Eventually, these same principles can be exploited to provide innovative biomedical and technological solutions. My laboratory approaches this problem using an integrative modelling approach, where theoretical and computational methods are combined with data originated from different experimental settings. In this seminar I will walk you through the different axes of research in the laboratory using as overarching example aerolysin, a pore-forming toxin that we have been studying for more than a decade. After having revealed its structure and pore-forming mechanism using integrative structural biology methods, we used molecular modelling and simulations to characterise the conduction properties of this pore at the membrane and understood its non-native ability to sense molecular entities such as DNA and peptides. Exploiting this fundamental knowledge we could then design and engineer mutant pores that showed enhanced single-molecule sensing properties for applications as diverse as (i) the detection of protein post-translational modifications for disease diagnosis and (ii) the reading of informational polymers for future data storage solutions.

Biosketch
Matteo Dal Peraro received his M.Sc. in Physics at the University of Padova and Ph.D. in Biophysics in 2004 at the  International  School for Advanced Studies in Trieste. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania before joining EPFL, where he is currently Associate Professor at the School of Life Sciences, leading the Laboratory for Biomolecular Modeling. He is also the director of the Doctoral Program in Computational and Quantitative Biology (EDCB) and the associate director of the Institute of Bioengineering (IBI).
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Prof. Lucia Curri, University of Bari, Italy

In the last years, the extraordinary advances in the field of nanomaterial science have resulted in a great potential for applications in life science. A variety of preparative and post-preparative colloidal routes have demonstrated the ability to access a wide choice of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) and nanocrystals (NCs), with different compositions, that can be achieved with a high control on size, shape and surface chemistry, ultimately tailoring their electronic, optical, magnetic, thermal and chemical size dependent properties.
A range of functionalization strategies have been developed to suitably engineer the surface of NPs and NCs and tune their specific chemical reactivity towards the surrounding environment. The control of nano-bio interfaces has demonstrated to be essential to enable nanomaterials conjugation and combination with biologically relevant entities, thus producing advanced materials for diagnosis and therapy.
The ability of engineering the surface of specialized nanomaterials, such as semiconductors, plasmonic and magnetic nanostructures, with tailored procedures, allowing to ingeniously combine NPs and NCs with peptides, drugs and other significant biological systems, is decisive for their application in diagnosis and treatment of different diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Examples of drug delivery, labelling, diagnostic and theranostics systems, based on the combination of NIR photoactive nanomaterials, plasmonic nanostructures and magnetic NPs with relevant biological functions will be illustrated.
References
- G. Siciliano et al “Gold‐speckled SPION@SiO2 nanoparticles decorated with thiocarbohydrates for ASGPR1 targeting: towards HCC dual mode imaging potential applications” (2020) Chemistry–A European Journal 26 (48), 11048-11059.
- De Angelis et al “Stimuli-responsive nanoparticle-assisted immunotherapy: a new weapon against solid tumours”(2020) J. Mater. Chem. B 8 (9), 1823-1840.
- C. Ingrosso et al “Au nanoparticle in situ decorated RGO nanocomposites for highly sensitive electrochemical genosensors” (2019) J. Mater. Chem. B., 7, 768-777.
- C. Ingrosso et al “Ascorbic acid-sensitized Au nanorods-functionalized nanostructured TiO2 transparent electrodes for photoelectrochemical genosensing” (2018) Electrochimica Acta 276, 389-398.
- N. Depalo et al “NIR emitting nanoprobes based on cyclic RGD motif conjugated PbS quantum dots for integrin-targeted optical bioimaging” (2017) ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 9 (49), 43113–43126.
- G. Valente, et al “Integrin-targeting with peptide-bioconjugated semiconductor-magnetic nanocrystalline heterostructures“ (2016) Nano Research, 9, 644-662.
- E. Fanizza et al ”Highly selective luminescent nanostructures for mitochondrial imaging and targeting” (2016) Nanoscale, 6, 3350-3361
Bio: Lucia Curri received her PhD from the University of Bari (Italy) in 1997, between 1995 and 1996 was Research Assistant at Chemistry Department of University College London (UK), then in 1997 she started working at CNR, first as research scientist and since 2010 as senior research scientist. In October 2018 she has been appointed full professor of Physical Chemistry at Chemistry Department of University of Bari Aldo Moro.
She has contributed to advance the knowledge in the field of materials science, developing original strategies for the preparation and functionalization of colloidal nanocrystals based inorganic and hybrid materials, both for fundamental and application studies.
She has built a solid and recognized expertise in surface engineering of nanoparticles and nanocrystals, in order to achieve bioconjugation, organization into mesoscale structures (films, 2/3 D assemblies) with tailored functional collective properties and integration in nanocomposites for their micro/nano fabrication by means of conventional and innovative techniques.
In particular, she has strongly contributed to apply the potential of such nanomaterials in environmental technologies, including detection and degradation of pollutants for water and air purification. More recently her interests have expanded to biomedical field, focusing on the research on original theranostic nanosystems for diagnosis and therapy of different diseases.
She has been and is research unit PI in several National and International (European FP6, FP7, and H2020) research projects in the field of synthesis, functionalization and applications of colloidal nanoparticles, and has coordinated the European Project 7th FP LIMPID "Nanocomposite Materials for Photocatalytic Degradation of Pollutants" (G.A. 310177).
Lucia Curri has been member of Panel PE5 for ERC Consolidator grant (2016-2018), chairing the same Panel in 2020 and has participated to several Conference Committees and Boards, and has been expert evaluator for European Commission (FP7 and H2020 projects) and various other International funding agencies.
She is lecturer in master, doctoral and post-doctoral courses at University of Bari and in several national and international schools and is supervisor for degree and doctoral projects at the Department of Chemistry University of Bari – Bari (Italy). She has been supervisor of several CNR fellowship recipient, CNR research assistants and research fellows.
She is member of the Chemical Science Doctoral Board at University of Bari and of evaluation committees for national and international PhD theses.
She is co-author of over 210 ISI papers, including more than 185 articles on JCR peer-reviewed journals and many other publications such as 10 chapters in books and several conference proceedings in national and nternational conferences, also as invited speaker ( (H index= 41 source Scopus, H index= 40 source WoS, H index 43 source Google Scholar - Apr 2021).

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Prof Sahand Jamal Rahi

Titre : L'apprentissage profond permet de suivre les cerveaux qui se plient, se compriment et s'étirent.

Résumé :
La compréhension quantitative des systèmes génétiques et cellulaires nécessite l'analyse de grands ensembles de données d'imagerie, ce qui prend actuellement tellement de temps que cela représente un goulot d'étranglement important pour la recherche. Alors que l'apprentissage automatique a révolutionné le traitement des images, les méthodes d'analyse des images 2D de cellules de levure et des images 4D de cerveaux de vers C. elegans sont inefficaces et imprécises. Cela est surprenant car il existe des centaines de laboratoires de levure dans le monde et l'imagerie du cerveau entier des petits animaux est de plus en plus populaire. Pour ces deux types de données, une myriade de techniques issues de la littérature sur la vision par ordinateur pourrait, en principe, fournir une solution, mais beaucoup d'entre elles, en pratique, sont trop imprécises ou difficiles à mettre en œuvre. Je présenterai notre solution pour la segmentation d'images de levure en 2D, notre travail actuel sur les cerveaux déformés en 4D, et les futures directions de recherche.

Bio :
Après avoir étudié les mathématiques, la physique et la biochimie à l'Université de Pennsylvanie, j'ai obtenu mon doctorat en physique théorique en étudiant les forces de fluctuation quantiques au Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Je suis ensuite passé à l'intersection de la physique et de la biologie en tant qu'"Independent Fellow" à l'Université Rockefeller, travaillant sur des expériences et la théorie de la biologie des systèmes dans la levure. Après avoir été engagé à l'EPFL, j'ai passé une année intermédiaire à travailler sur la neuroscience des systèmes chez C. elegans à l'Université de Harvard.


Le Centre pour les systèmes intelligents de l'EPFL (CIS) est une collaboration entre IC, ENAC, SB, SV et STI qui réunit des chercheurs travaillant sur différents aspects des systèmes intelligents.
 
Afin de promouvoir les échanges entre chercheurs et d'encourager la création de nouveaux projets collaboratifs, le CIS organise une série de conférences intitulée "Get to know your neighbors". Chaque séminaire consistera en une courte présentation générale destinée au grand public à l'EPFL.
 
Par Zoom : https://epfl.zoom.us/j/89910799721
Veuillez vous connecter à votre compte zoom en utilisant votre adresse "@epfl.ch", car cet événement en direct est uniquement ouvert à la communauté de l'EPFL
Lundi 19 avril 2021 de 15h15 à 16h15

NB : L'enregistrement vidéo des séminaires seront disponibles sur notre site internet et publiés sur nos pages de médias sociaux
 
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Prof. Suzie H. Pun, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (USA)

WEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS SERIES

Abstract:
Biologics, products produced from living organisms, have revolutionized treatment of disease. Examples of FDA-approved biologics include therapeutic proteins (e.g. blood clotting factors and antibodies), engineered viruses for gene therapy, and cell therapies. Biologics are addressing previous unmet medical needs, but are challenging to manufacture and therefore high in cost. In this talk, I will describe our efforts to develop synthetic alternatives to biologics used in medicine. In the first example, a multivalent polymer displaying a fibrin-binding peptide was developed as a synthetic alternative to recombinant proteins used in trauma medicine. The second example, a polymer that facilitates intracellular delivery of nucleic acids and peptides was synthesized based on design principles learned from adenoviral vectors. In a final example, a unique aptamer with high affinity for T cell marker CD8 was discovered and applied as an alternative to antibodies for T cell isolation in the manufacturing process for CAR T cells.

Bio:
Suzie H. Pun is the Washington Research Foundation Professor of Bioengineering, an Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering, and a member of the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute at UW.  She is a fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and was been recognized with MIT Technology Review’s “Top 100 Young Innovators” designation, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2006, the 2014 Young Investigator Award from the Controlled Release Society, and as an AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador in 2015. We was recently recognized in 2018 with the University of Washington’s Marsha Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award for her dedicated mentoring of students. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering.

Suzie Pun received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. She also worked as a senior scientist at Insert Therapeutics/Calando Pharmaceuticals developing polymeric drug delivery systems before joining the Department of Bioengineering at University of Washington. Her current work focuses on biomaterial applications in drug delivery and gene and cell therapy.



Zoom link (with registration) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks


IMPORTANT NOTICE: due to restrictions resulting from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this seminar can be followed via Zoom web-streaming only, (following prior one-time registration through the link above).
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James Hwang is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University. He graduated from the same department with a Ph.D. degree. After years of industrial experience at IBM, Bell Labs, GE, and GAIN, he spent most of his academic career at Lehigh University. He cofounded GAIN and QED; the latter became the public company IQE. He used to be a Program Officer at the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research for GHz-THz Electronics. He had been a visiting professor at Cornell University in the US, Marche Polytechnic University in Italy, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. He is an IEEE Life Fellow and a Distinguished Microwave Lecturer. He is also a Track Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. He has published approximately 400 refereed technical papers and been granted eight U.S. patents. He has researched the design, modeling and characterization of optical, electronic, and micro-electromechanical devices and circuits. His current research interest includes electromagnetic sensors for individual biological cells, scanning microwave microscopy, and two-dimensional atomic-layered materials and devices.

Microwave is not just for cooking, smart cars, or mobile phones. We can take advantage of the wide electromagnetic spectrum to do wonderful things that are more vital to our lives. For example, microwave ablation of cancer tumor is already in wide use, and microwave remote monitoring of vital signs is becoming more important as the population ages. This talk will focus on a biomedical use of microwave at the single-cell level. At low power, microwave can readily penetrate a cell membrane to interrogate what is inside a cell, without cooking it or otherwise hurting it. It is currently the fastest, most compact, and least costly way to tell whether a cell is alive or dead. On the other hand, at higher power but lower frequency, the electromagnetic signal can interact strongly with the cell membrane to drill temporary holes of nanometer size. The nanopores allow drugs to diffuse into the cell and, based on the reaction of the cell, individualized medicine can be developed and drug development can be sped up in general. Conversely, the nanopores allow strands of DNA molecules to be pulled out of the cell without killing it, which can speed up genetic engineering. Lastly, by changing both the power and frequency of the signal, we can have either positive or negative dielectrophoresis effects, which we have used to coerce a live cell to the examination table of Dr. Microwave, then usher it out after examination. These interesting uses of microwave and the resulted fundamental knowledge about biological cells will be explored in the talk.

Webinar Link: https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/j.php?MTID=md52d851ca691a67cbca15bc6d224841d

Meeting number:130 114 9305
Meeting password:jNbuZ9Wgx78

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The Vice Presidency for Innovation and EPFL Entrepreneur Club are pleased to invite you to the third edition of EPFL Connect online, on Monday 19 April 2021 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

About the event

EPFL Connect is an event that brings together startups and entrepreneurship enthusiasts, for the benefit of the two! After a short panel on the theme of “From Technology to Business”, every startup comes to the table with an issue that they need to tackle. They are then matched with around 5 people with relevant knowledge who will brainstorm with them in order to find a solution to that issue. Finally, the participants are invited to network to expand their connections in the EPFL Entrepreneurship ecosystem.

How can I participate?

If you have a startup: this event is an opportunity for you to benefit from the collective intelligence of EPFL Connect participants, which will be made up of students, professionals and academics from various fields, to brainstorm and work on solving the challenges facing your startup. Do you have a marketing problem? A design challenge? A business or even prototyping issue? Give us as much information about your problem as you can when filling the registration form below. We will do our best to put the most relevant people in your group!

>> Registration form for startups  - Apply before Monday 12 April 2021

If you don’t have a startup: this is a fantastic opportunity to network, meet EPFL startups and learn from all the other attendees!

>> Registration form for participants

Note: Since this event is limited in the number of participants and in order to minimize the number of no-shows, please make sure you are free on the event's  date!
 
Program

18h00 - Technical welcome of the participants
18h15 - Welcome words from the organisers
18h20 - Panel on the theme “From Tech to Business”
18h40 - Workshop with startups
19h25 - Networking
20h00 - End of the event
 
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Prof. Camille Brès, Photonic Systems Laboratory (PHOSL), EPFL School of Engineering (STI), Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEL)

Abstract:
Nonlinear optics describes the behaviour of light in a nonlinear medium, exploiting higher orders of the material susceptibility. It allows us to, for example, change the colour of a light beam, change its shape and or process light with light. Nonlinear optical phenomena are the basis of many devices used in optical communication systems, optical sensing or material research. They also enable a wide range of novel applications, from time keeping, to searching for exoplanet or quantum computing. The need for the integration of nonlinear functionalities to the waveguide or chip scale is evident: it is the only path towards optical signal processing devices that are portable, compact, power efficient and user-friendly.

In this talk, we present our approaches for improving the efficiency and versatility of optical nonlinear effects in waveguiding system. We will describe how leveraging intrinsic material properties combined with optimized waveguide geometries and system’s engineering can enhance the performance of devices used for light generation or signal processing [1]. We show how microstructures, either in fibers or integrated designs, provide a powerful method for shaping a favourable dispersion landscape necessary for controlling nonlinear interactions and opening new possibilities in terms of sensing, quantum and light generation [2-4]. We will also explain how novel nonlinear functionalities can be introduced in silicon-photonic platforms [5,6] and conclude with some outlook on further challenges and possibilities.

[1] S. Xing, D. Grassani, S. Kharitonov, A. Billat, C-S Brès, ‘Characterization and modeling of microstructured chalcogenide fibers for efficient mid-infrared wavelength conversion,’ Optics Express 24 (9), 9741-9750 (2016)

[2] S. Xing, et al., ‘Mid-infrared continuous-wave parametric amplification in chalcogenide microstructured fibers,’ Optica 4 (6), 643-648 (2017)

[3] E. Nitiss, O. Yakar, A. Stroganov, C.-S. Brès, ‘Highly tunable second-harmonic generation in all-optically poled silicon nitride waveguides, Optics letters 45 (7), 1958-1961 (2020)

[4] D. Grassani, et al., ‘Mid infrared gas spectroscopy using efficient fiber laser driven photonic chip-based supercontinuum,’ Nature Communications 10 (1), 1-8 (2019)

[5] A. Billat, et al., ‘Large second harmonic generation enhancement in Si₃N₄ waveguides by all-optically induced quasi-phase-matching,’ Nature Communications 8 (1), 1-7 2017 (2017)

[6] E. Nitiss, T. Liu, D. Grassani, M. Pfeiffer, T.J. Kippenberg, C.-S. Brès, ‘Formation Rules and Dynamics of Photoinduced χ(2) Gratings in Silicon Nitride Waveguides,’ ACS Photonics 7 (1), 147-153 (2019)


Bio:
Camille-Sophie Brès is an associate professor at EPFL in the institute of Electrical Engineering. She received her bachelor degree with honors in EE from McGill University, Canada, in 2002. She then moved to the USA where she obtained her PhD in EE from Princeton University in 2006. After a post-doctoral position at the University of California San Diego she joined EPFL as a tenure track professor and director of the Photonic Systems Laboratory in 2011. Her work focusses on leveraging and enhancing nonlinear processes in optical waveguides for the optimization of all-optical signal processing, light generation and sensing by exploiting dispersion engineering, material properties, and architectural features. She was awarded the early career Women in Photonics Award from the European Optical Society in 2016, as well as ERC starting (2012), Consolidator (2017) and Proof of Concept (2019) grants.
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Wallace Marshall, UCSF


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Amit Dolev (MICROBS, EPFL)

Abstract Microbubbles in acoustic fields oscillate and give rise to acoustic radiation forces and drag-induced acoustic streaming. These forces are used for various biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery, on chip particle manipulation, microfluidic mixing, and actuating robotic devices. Microbubbles are usually trapped inside microfabricated cavities for the application of anisotropic forces where only parts of the bubbles oscillate. In this configuration, the existing analytical models derived for spherical bubbles are insufficient.

The conventional wisdom is that bubbles should be excited at their first resonance frequency to obtain good performances, although, they have infinite resonance frequencies. To estimate the natural frequencies and the correlated normal vibration modes, we developed a new model for an arbitrary shaped and entrapped bubble that has multiple circular openings. The semi-analytical model captures a more realistic geometry via a solution to an optimization problem. The vibration modes and natural frequencies are then used to compute the acoustic streaming patterns and generated thrust via a finite element simulation. We built an experimental platform to directly measure the deflection of the bubble and visualize the generated streaming patterns. However, the model was not completely validated due to the nonlinear multiphysics nature of the problem. The complexity of the problem highlights the contribution of our simplified model as a design tool.

Bio Amit Dolev joined the MicroBioRobotic Systems Laboratory headed by Prof. Sakar as a postdoctoral associate in January 2020. He received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Ph.D. in the Dynamics Laboratory headed by Professor Izhak Bucher at the Technion-IIT during a direct doctoral track. Currently, he works on the utilization of acoustics for powering microscale technologies. He pursues a broad range of research interests including nonlinear dynamics, fluid-structure interactions, vibrations, signal processing, acoustics, and control.
 
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Prof. Philipp KUKURA University of Oxford, UK

Prof. Philipp KUKURA
Department of Chemistry
University of Oxford, UK
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry
University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, UK

Interactions between biomolecules control the processes of life in health, and their malfunction in disease, making their characterization and quantification essential to our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms. I will introduce mass photometry, the accurate mass measurement of individual molecules in solution by light scattering, as a general approach for studying biomolecular mechanisms. The combination of label-free detection and mass measurement results in universal applicability enabling study of interaction stoichiometries, structure, energetics and kinetics. I will demonstrate the power of these measurements using recent results that reveal the molecular mechanisms, enabled by the measurement of the underlying physicochemical parameters, of fundamental processes such as filament formation and self-assembly both in solution and on bilayer membranes. In combination with future improvements in both technical capabilities and assays, mass photometry could make significant headway towards the ultimate goal of revealing biomolecular mechanisms directly at the molecular level.
 

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Ben Bowler,
Bruce Stephen,
Eva Urbano,
Pierre Pinson,
Priya Donti,
Saehong Park,
Thilo Weber

The Applied Machine Learning Days are one of the largest machine learning & AI events in Europe, focused specifically on the applications of machine learning and AI, making it particularly interesting to industry and academia.
Each month, a domain-specific track will feature top-level speakers, discussions and keynotes. Some tracks will be preceded or followed by a workshop day focussed on hand-on sessions, coding classes and tutorials.

On April 26th, we'll be hosting the AI & Sustainable Energy track. A key aim of this track is to connect data experts providing novel methods for the analysis and modelling of the data sets with energy experts applying ML and AI to solve their challenging problems. 

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Prof. Laura Gagliardi, University of Chicago, USA


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Prof. Viola Vogel, Laboratory of Applied Mechanobiology, Institute of Translational Medicine, Department for Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich (CH)

WEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS SERIES
 
(note that this talk is number one of a double-feature seminar - see details of the second talk here)

Abstract:
Although life is happening far out of equilibrium, our knowledge of proteins in biology, pharmaceutical sciences and medicine is still mostly based on knowledge of their equilibrium structure-function relationships.  Yet, the nanotech tools that physicists have brought to biology are challenging this notion as many proteins are either part of force-bearing fiber and filamentous networks, or interact with tensed protein networks in vivo.  As cells pull on proteins using their own motor proteins, they can furthermore partially unfold their secondary structure and thus switch their structure-function relationships,  a crucial step enabling cells to sense forces and the physical properties of their environments. Even though major insights into mechanobiological processes have been gained at the single cell level in the last decade, it is still not known how to translate these findings to the tissue level.    Partially due to the lack of nanotools to probe forces or mechanical strains in tissues, the impact of mechanical forces on protein functions and consequently on downstream cell signaling at the tissue level are still largely ignored. To address this challenge, we developed and validated a peptide-based nanosensor that can read out the tensional state of tissue fibers, in cryosections and in living animals. We will discuss our recent insights by comparing healthy versus diseased organ tissues and in cancer. To gain further insights into the underpinning mechanisms, we have set up several 3D microtissue platforms to better control mechanical and biochemical parameters. Discoveries into the mechanobiology at the tissue level are prone to open new therapeutic avenues.

Bio:
Viola Vogel graduated with a PhD in Physics from the University of Frankfurt (1987) with research conducted at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, for which she received the Otto-Hahn Medal. After her postdoctoral studies in Physics at UC Berkeley, she started her academic career at the University of Washington Seattle in Bioengineering (1990-2004), where she was the founding Director of the Center for Nanotechnology (1997-2003). When moving to ETH Zurich in 2004, she initially joined the Department of Materials and received an ERC Advanced Grant (2009). She then co-founded the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (2012) and chaired the Department from 2018-2020. She is currently Einstein Fellow at the Charité Berlin and Elected Member of the Leopoldina, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, USA, and serves on many international Advisory Boards. She received an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from Tampere University, Finland 2012. Her research in Bioengineering focuses on how to exploit emerging knowledge in Mechanobiology for Applications in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine or to treat inflammatory diseases.


Zoom link (with registration) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks


IMPORTANT NOTICE: due to restrictions resulting from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this seminar can be followed via Zoom web-streaming only, (following prior one-time registration through the link above).
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Prof. Li Tang, Institute of Bioengineering & Institute of Materials, EPFL, Lausanne (CH)

WEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS SERIES

(note that this talk is number two of a double-feature seminar - see details of the first talk here)

Abstract:
Cancer cell softening accompanies malignancy and promotes tumor progression. However, the impact of cancer cell biomechanics on T-cell mediated cytotoxicity and thus the therapeutic outcome of immunotherapy remains elusive. In this talk, I will show that cancer cell softness deriving from the enrichment of endogenous cholesterol in the plasma membrane hampers T-cell mediated killing. Stiffening the cancer cells through cholesterol depletion is an effective biomechanical intervention leading to enhanced cytotoxicity of T-cells and efficacy of adoptive T-cell immunotherapy against solid tumors in multiple models. Stiffening cancer cells has a negligible influence on T-cell receptor signaling and subsequent cytolytic enzyme degranulation (e.g., granzyme B), cytokine secretion (e.g., IFN-γ and TNF-α), or Fas/Fas ligand interaction. Instead, the enhanced cytotoxicity against stiffened cancer cells is mediated by augmented T-cell forces arising from increased F-actin polymerization. Our study reveals a new type of immune checkpoint of mechanical basis, which is distinct from biochemical ones. Therapeutically targeting this mechanical immune checkpoint may improve patients’ response to cancer immunotherapies.

Bio:
Li Tang received his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University in China in 2007, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 2012, under the supervision of Prof. Jianjun Cheng. He was an Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Darrell Irvine at Massachusetts Institute of Technology during 2013-2016. He joined the faculty of Institute of Bioengineering, and Institute of Materials Science & Engineering, at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in 2016. His research focuses on modulating the immune system using smart biomaterials to develop novel vaccines and immunotherapies. Dr. Tang is the recipient of Anna Fuller Award (2021), Materials Horizons Emerging Investigator (2020), MIT Technology Review’s "Top 35 Innovators under Age 35" list of China region (2020), Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigator (2019), European Research Council (ERC) Starting grant (2018), Nano Research Young Innovator Award (NR 45 under 45 in the world) (2018), and Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship from Cancer Research Institute (2013).


Zoom link (with registration) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks


IMPORTANT NOTICE: due to restrictions resulting from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this seminar can be followed via Zoom web-streaming only, (following prior one-time registration through the link above).
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Prof. Daniela Rus

Titre : Un robot pour chaque tâche

Résumé :
La numérisation de pratiquement tout, associée aux progrès de l'apprentissage automatique, de l'automatisation du travail intellectuel et de la robotique avancée, promet un avenir où l'utilisation des machines sera démocratisée et où l'IA, les robots et la personnalisation seront largement utilisés. Alors que les 60 dernières années ont défini le domaine des robots industriels et ont permis aux robots à corps dur d'exécuter des tâches d'assemblage complexes dans des environnements industriels contraignants, les 60 prochaines années pourraient marquer le début de notre époque avec des robots omniprésents qui se présentent sous diverses formes et matériaux et aident les gens dans leurs tâches physiques et cognitives. Cependant, l'utilisation omniprésente des machines reste un problème difficile. Comment pouvons-nous accélérer la création de machines adaptées à des tâches spécifiques ? Quelles sont les lacunes que nous devons combler pour faire progresser les corps et les cerveaux des machines ? Comment pouvons-nous développer des moteurs de raisonnement évolutifs et fiables ?
Dans cet exposé, je discuterai des développements récents en matière d'apprentissage automatique et de robotique, en me concentrant sur la manière dont l'informatique peut jouer un rôle dans (1) le développement de politiques de circuits neuronaux, une approche efficace pour des moteurs d'apprentissage automatique plus interprétables, (2) la création de machines plus capables de raisonner dans le monde, (3) la création de robots personnalisés et (4) la création d'interfaces plus intuitives entre les robots et les personnes.

Bio :
Daniela Rus est titulaire de la chaire Andrew (1956) et Erna Viterbi d'ingénierie électrique et d'informatique, directrice du laboratoire d'informatique et d'intelligence artificielle (CSAIL) du MIT, et vice-doyenne de la recherche au Schwarzman College of Computing du MIT. Les intérêts de recherche de Rus portent sur la robotique et l'intelligence artificielle. L'objectif principal de ses recherches est de développer la science et l'ingénierie de l'autonomie. Elle est membre de l'ACM, de l'AAAI et de l'IEEE, ainsi que de la National Academy of Engineering et de l'American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Elle est senior visiting fellow à la MITRE Corporation. Elle a reçu le prix Engelberger pour la robotique. Elle a obtenu son doctorat en informatique à l'université Cornell.


Le Centre pour les systèmes intelligents de l'EPFL (CIS) est une collaboration entre IC, ENAC,SB, SV et STI qui réunit des chercheurs travaillant sur différents aspects des systèmes intelligents. En juin 2020, le CIS a lancé ses Colloques CIS avec des orateurs invités de renom.
Plus d'info https://www.epfl.ch/research/domains/cis/center-for-intelligent-systems-cis/events/colloquia-2/prof-daniela-rus/

 
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Yves Oesch, Matthias Brändli, Armin Roesch, Martin Herren

The IEEE EPFL Student Branch kindly invites you to participate in the April Stammtisch dedicated to Radio Amateur on April 26^th from 6:15 pm online.

We are very excited to have four speakers to present us the different aspects of Amateur Radio from how to get a license to home installations, passing through signal modulation, and satellite communication.

Click here for the schedule and more details.

No registration is needed

We are looking forwards to have you for this Stammtisch!

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Prof. Jamie Paik, Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL), EPFL School of Engineering (STI), Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM)

Abstract:
Coming soon...

Bio:
Coming soon...
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Elena Kyria, Founder of Elemed, Europe’s leading MedTech technical recruiter

Explore the different careers and role types in the MedTech industry and discover how to effectively transition from academia to industry. In the highly interactive session, we will also approach the importance of Linkedn and other social media to find your dream job.


The Catalyze4Life Innovators Forum is a series of inspirational events where students, academia and industry meet, discuss and examine hot translational topics in various life sciences engineering domains and beyond. 

Every two months, speakers from industry, start-up, bodies etc will introduce the subject with 30min of presentation followed by an interactive QA session and round table discussion. 

As many of EPFL's graduates take up a job in industry, this Forum aims to discuss relevant subjects for students, PhD students, Postdocs and upcoming start-ups and guide toward a successful career in industry or as an entrepreneur.

Students are specially invited to join!


www.epfl.ch/schools/sv/school-of-life-sciences/innovation/catalyze4life/

 
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Invited Speakers: Emanuel Ionescu (TU Darmstadt, Germany) and Paolo Colombo (Universita’ di Padova, Italy)

You are welcome to join our online workshop on “High-precision micro-manufacturing of ceramics”. The two sessions will gather experts from academia and industry to present and discuss the latest trends in the field of polymer derived ceramic technology (PDC). The workshop is part of the Ceramic X.0 project that receives funding from the ETH Board via the Strategic Focus Area Advanced Manufacturing (SFA-AM). Participating partners come from EPFL (LMIS1, LAPD, LO), Empa (LB, LHPC) and PSI (LSC).

The SFA-AM Ceramic X.0 project focuses on:

• PDC materials suitable for micro-meter precision
• Preceramic polymers (PCPs) modification for property tuning
• 3D shaping technologies for PDC materials
• Micro-casting of PCPs into micro-molds
• Pyrolysis
• Characterization of the ceramic micro-parts, including by X-ray
• Benchmark properties in view of selected applications, including biocompatibility

The agenda of the workshop is split into a morning and an afternoon session. Each session will be opened by an invited speaker, followed by presentations by the Ceramic X.0 project partners. To enable outreach and networking, we will set up at the end of the workshop pitches, where interested industry can present their activities in the field of high precision ceramics.

The workshop will be held online (by ZOOM), is free of charge to attend, but registration is required.

Date: April 28^th, 2021 (online)

Target audience: students, PhD students, postdocs, researchers, engineers, general public
Why attend? Learn about the potential of high-precision ceramic technology, network with researchers and industry representatives

10h15
Welcome and workshop opening
Juergen Brugger (EPFL, Switzerland)

10h30
INVITED TALK 1:
Advanced Polymer-derived Ceramics and Nanocomposites with Tailor-Made Structural and Functional Proper
Emanuel Ionescu (TU Darmstadt, Germany)

11h15
3D printing of oxide and non-oxide ceramics
Gurdial Blugal (Empa, Switzerland)

11h30
Combining various synchrotron techniques for structural analysis of Polymer Derived Ceramics
Malgorzata Grazyna Makowska (PSI, Switzerland)

11h45
Additive manufacturing by two-photon polymerization and ablation of PDCs
Konstantinou Georgia (EPFL, Switzerland)

12h00
Lunch break

13h30
INVITED TALK 2:
Additive Manufacturing of preceramic polymers
Paolo Colombo (Universita’ di Padova, Italy)

14h15
PDC property tuning and dedicated platform for electrochemical characterization
Lorenz Hagelüken and Pierrick Clement (EPFL, Switzerland)

14h30
Cytocompatibility evaluation of doped PDCs for pacemaker electrodes
Yashoda Chandorkar (Empa, Switzerland)

14h45
Industry presentations (tbc)
Key requirements for ceramic AM processes in dentistry
Zoe Koelbing (Additive Manufacturing Engineer at Institut Straumann AG, Switzerland)

15h15
Wrap-up and closing of workshop
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Hugues Poltier, maître d’enseignement et de recherche en philosophie à l’Université de Lausanne


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Romain Altenbach (UNIL SSP), Marc Atallah (UNIL Lettres Français et Maison d'ailleurs), Liliana Lovallo (UNIL Lettres Allemand), Marie-Élodie Perga (UNIL GSE), Kevin Rosianu (UNIL SSP ISSUL)

L’objectif de ce rendez-vous régulier, né d’un intérêt conjoint d’étudiant·e·s et de chercheur·ses, est de proposer un état des lieux des activités de recherche et d’enseignement sur le campus. Qu’elles utilisent des technologies du jeu vidéo (moteurs de jeu, réalité virtuelle, gamification, etc.), ou se plongent dans l’étude de ces objets, nous souhaitons mettre en valeur les initiatives existantes et rassembler les actrices et acteurs de ce domaine présents sur le campus.

Il s'agit de la quatrième édition de l'événement. Rediffusion de la première édition. Rediffusion de la seconde édition.

Le jeu vidéo est aujourd’hui un bien culturel pratiqué ou « consommé » par une part majoritaire de la société, tous âges confondus. C’est également un savoir-faire et des technologies permettant de comprendre et maîtriser de nombreuses innovations apportées par le numérique (évolution des interfaces, intelligence artificielle, etc.), mais aussi d’appréhender les nouveaux enjeux soulevés par celui-ci. De nombreux projets en tirent parti, notamment sur le campus UNIL-EPFL (projet Collart-Palmyre, Immersive Interaction Research Group, etc.). Aujourd’hui, on trouve des centres d’étude du jeu vidéo dans des universités (Universités de Paris 8, Paris 13, Metz, CNAM-CEDRIC) comme dans des écoles polytechniques (à l’ETHZ, mais aussi à Polytechnique Paris, où une chaire « Science et jeu vidéo » a ouvert fin 2019). Lausanne étant un pôle de recherche de pointe dans les humanités numériques comme dans l’étude des nouveaux médias, il est selon nous important d’intégrer à cet ensemble le jeu vidéo, ce « média natif du numérique », et de mener une réflexion à ce propos grâce à l'organisation d'un tel événement.

Le programme sera disponible prochainement.

Cet événement a lieu uniquement en ligne.

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Lothar Schermelleh, Dept. Biochemistry University of Oxford
https://www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/research/schermelleh As affiliated member of the Micron Advanced Bioimaging Unit (www.micronoxford.com), he is driving the development of computational analysis and fluorescence labelling tools for super-resolution microscopy.
Lothar’s research aims at understanding the relationship between 3D nuclear organisation and genome activity in mammalian cells by combining genetic tools and advanced optical imaging methods.

Three-dimensional (3D) chromatin organisation plays a key role in regulating genome function in higher eukaryotes. Despite recognition that the genome partitions into ~1Mb-sized topological associated domains (TADs) based on ensemble Hi-C measurements, many features of the physical organisation at the single cell level remain underexplored. In my talk I will present our recent progress in analysing functional chromatin topography and dynamics on the size scale of TADs using in vivo and in situ 3D super-resolution microscopy, supported by 3D scanning electron microscopy. We directly visualise curvilinear arrangements of globular/irregular shaped ~200-300 nm diameter nucleosomal condensates with viscoelastic properties (‘blobs’), that are juxtaposed to an RNA-populated chromatin-depleted interchromatin network. High-content mapping of functional marker reveal active/permissive chromatin marker to be confined to a narrow region at blob surfaces, whereas repressive marks are enriched towards blob interiors. This correlation between nanoscale topology and genome function is temporarily relaxed in postreplicative chromatin, but remarkably stable after inactivation of cohesin. Our findings establish TAD-sized nanodomains as physical modules of mesoscale genome organisation with functional chromatin states being defined by radial position and exposure to a (likely phase-separated) interchromatin space.

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Gordon Berman, Emory University


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Louis Martin-Monier (FIMAP, EPFL)


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Prof. Kevin Hemker, Johns Hopkins University, USA


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Prof. Devis Tuia



Le Centre pour les systèmes intelligents de l'EPFL (CIS) est une collaboration entre IC, ENAC, SB, SV et STI qui réunit des chercheurs travaillant sur différents aspects des systèmes intelligents.
 
Afin de promouvoir les échanges entre chercheurs et d'encourager la création de nouveaux projets collaboratifs, le CIS organise une série de conférences intitulée "Get to know your neighbors". Chaque séminaire consistera en une courte présentation générale destinée au grand public à l'EPFL.
 
Par Zoom : https://epfl.zoom.us/j/87271049931
Veuillez vous connecter à votre compte zoom en utilisant votre adresse "@epfl.ch", car cet événement en direct est uniquement ouvert à la communauté de l'EPFL
 
Lundi 29 mars 2021 de 15h15 à 16h15

NB : L'enregistrement vidéo des séminaires seront disponibles sur notre site internet et publiés sur nos pages de médias sociaux
 
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Prof. Mario Paolone, Distributed Electrical Systems Laboratory (DESL), EPFL School of Engineering (STI), Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEL)

Abstract:
The secure and optimal operation of power transmission systems does require the knowledge of the system state (i.e., the state estimation – SE) since it is used by several critical functions such as: security assessment, voltage control and stability analysis. Traditionally, the SE has been performed at relatively low refresh rates (i.e., several minutes) in view of the technological limits of the so-called remote terminal units (RTUs). Nowadays, the emerging availability of phasor measurement units (PMUs) allows to acquire accurate and time-aligned phasors, called synchrophasors, with streaming rates in the order of several tens of measurements per second that are used to infer the system state in a time-deterministic way. This technology is experiencing a fast evolution and being associated to a number of applications. PMUs already compose the backbone of wide area monitoring systems of power transmission networks. However, this technology may be central even in the context of power distribution networks to optimally exploit these systems to maximize their hosting capacity of stochastic resources (i.e., photovoltaic and wind power generation, distributed energy storage systems, electrical vehicles). Within this context, the seminar illustrates the methodological aspects associated to recent developments in PMU-based time-deterministic situational awareness systems for the monitoring, control and protection of future power networks.

Bio:
Prof. Mario Paolone received the M.Sc. (Hons.) and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1998 and 2002. In 2005, he was an Assistant Professor in power systems with the University of Bologna, where he was with the Power Systems Laboratory until 2011. Since 2011, he has been with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is currently a Full Professor and the Chair of the Distributed Electrical Systems Laboratory. His research interests focus on power systems with particular reference to real-time monitoring and operational aspects, power system protections, dynamics and transients. Prof. Paolone has authored or co-authored over 300 papers published in mainstream journals and international conferences in the area of energy and power systems that received numerous awards including the IEEE EMC Technical Achievement Award, two IEEE Transactions on EMC best paper awards, the IEEE Power System Dynamic Performance Committee’s prize paper award and the Basil Papadias best paper award at the 2013 IEEE PowerTech. Prof. Paolone was the founder Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks.
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Eric Colinet, R&D manager, APIX analytics, Grenoble, France

Abstract: Apix-Analytics, the leader in Nano-Sensor (NEMS) based gas chromatography (GC) system is a start-up company from CEA-LETI and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) founded in December 2011. The presentation will present why NEMS resonators offer a unique breakthrough technology in the GC field and will discuss how the key challenges such as industrialization, multi scale system integration combining mechanical, chemical and electronic sub-systems are addressed.

Bio: Eric Colinet graduated from INSA-Lyon France in 2002 and received a PhD from SUPELEC PARIS in 2005 and a HDR from INP- GRENOBLE in 2010. In 2011, he cofounded Apix-Analytics, a start-up company from CEA-LETI/CALTECH specialized in Nano-Sensor based gas analysis systems, where he is now managing the research and development activities. His field of expertise covers micro & nano electromechanical systems (MEMS-NEMS), sensors & actuators, control theory & signal processing, solid-state electronics & IC, MEMS-CMOS Integration. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers and holds over 20 patents.

This seminar is part of the Master's class MICRO534, Advanced MEMS and Microsystems, and is open to the informed public.

Apix Analytics - Company Website

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Alexander Rives


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Prof. Gabriela Schlau-Cohen Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT, USA

Prof. Gabriela Schlau-Cohen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA

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Dr Christian Serre, École Normale Supérieure, France


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Prof. Guillermo Villanueva, Advanced Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems Laboratory (NEMS), EPFL School of Engineering (STI), Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM)

Abstract:
Coming soon...

Bio:
Coming soon...
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L’un des objectifs du RESCIF est de développer des recherches utiles au développement de ses pays membres. Il s’agit en particulier de promouvoir des programmes scientifiques communs, notamment dans les domaines de l’eau, de la nutrition, de l’énergie, de la sécurité alimentaire et de l’urbain. Des secteurs cruciaux, plus spécialement pour certains pays du sud, soumis à des conditions climatiques et à des problèmes de sécurité alimentaire extrêmement difficiles. Les travaux de recherche sont réalisés par des étudiant-e-s et en particulier des doctorant-e-s dans le cadre d’écoles doctorales. En vue d’un partage d’expériences, il convient d’initier un cadre d’échange où ces jeunes chercheurs et chercheuses peuvent exposer leurs travaux et bénéficier de critiques constructives de leurs homologues. C’est dans ce cadre que nous lançons les doctoriales du RESCIF.


Plus d’information ici.
 

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Prof. Neel Joshi, Northeastern University, USA


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EPFL Library Teaching Team

Citing correctly requires the acquisition of the right habits. This workshop will walk you through various citation cases that you may encounter during the writing process of reports or publications. At the end of the workshop, you will be able to:

• understand the stakes of citation,
• reuse different types of content without committing plagiarism,
• cite your sources correctly, within the text and in the bibliography.

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Nicholas Christakis, Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, USA

Using up-to-the-moment information, and drawing on epidemiology, medicine, public health, sociology, economics, history, virology, and other fields, Nicholas Christakis explores what it means to live in a time of plague — an experience that is paradoxically uncommon to the vast majority of humans who are alive, yet deeply fundamental to our species.  Unleashing new divisions in our society as well as new opportunities for cooperation, this 21st-century pandemic has upended our lives in ways that test our frayed collective culture.  Apollo’s Arrow envisions what happens when the great force of a deadly germ meets the enduring reality of our evolved social nature.

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Dr. Michel Despont

Abstract: The integration of microsystems and, in particular, of MEMS devices continues to be a key element of many high technology application areas. If the devices themselves are crucial elements for innovation, their integration in a complete microsystem are essential for their successful commercialization. Hence development of 3D integration and packaging technologies are of the upmost importance. At CSEM we develop new solutions for wafer level hybridization and packaging solutions to respond to the demand of the industry active in microsystem technology. An overview of the packaging and hybridization technology will be presented along with some concrete examples such are biocompatible hermetic packaging for active implant, wafer level gas cell for atomic clock, wafer level hybridization for complex micromechanical components, heterogeneous integration of microdevices at wafer level, MEMS integration on soft micromodule.

Bio: Dr. Michel Despont received a Ph.D. in physics from the Institute of Microtechnology, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 1996. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the IBM Research - Zurich laboratory in 1996, he spent one year as a visiting scientist at the Seiko Instrument Research Laboratory in Japan. In 2005, he was appointed manager and led the nanofabrication group at IBM Research – Zurich Laboratory. Since 2013, Dr Despont is currently employed by the Swiss Centre of Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) as Vice-President of the MEMS program and manager of the Emerging Micro&Nano Technologies section in the Micro&Nano Systems division.

CSEM Website.

This seminar is part of the Master's class MICRO534, Advanced MEMS and Microsystems, and is open to the informed public.

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Prof. Anne-Marie Kermarrec, Scalable Computing Systems Laboratory (SaCS), EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC), Institute of Computer and Communication Sciences (IINFCOM)

Abstract:
Computing systems that make human sense of big data, usually called personalization systems or recommenders, and popularized by Amazon and Netflix, essentially help Internet users extracting information of interest to them. Leveraging machine learning techniques, research on personalization has mainly focused on improving the quality of the information extracted. Yet, building an operational recommender goes far beyond, especially in a world where data is not only big but also changes very fast. This talk will discuss system challenges to scale to a large number of users and a growing volume of fastly changing data to provide real-time personalization.

Bio:
Anne-Marie Kermarrec is Professor at EPFL (Switzerland) since January 2020. Before that she was the CEO of the Mediego startup that she founded in April 2015. Mediego provides content personalization services for online publishers. She was a research director at Inria, France from 2004 to 2015. She got a PhD thesis from University of Rennes (France), and has been with Vrije Universiteit, NL and Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK. Anne-Marie received an ERC grant in 2008 and an ERC proof of Concept in 2013. She received the Montpetit Award in 2011 and the Innovation Award in 2017 from the French Academy of Science. She has been elected to the European Academy in 2013 and named ACM Fellow in 2016. Her research interests are large-scale distributed systems, peer to peer networks and system support for machine learning.
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Katharina Ribbeck , Department of Biological Engineering at MIT
 


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Prof. Kenneth Taylor Florida State University, USA  

Prof. Kenneth Taylor
Florida State University, USA

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Prof. John Kolinski, Engineering Mechanics of Soft Interfaces Laboratory (EMSI), EPFL School of Engineering (STI), Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM)

Abstract:
Fleeting contact between solids immersed in a fluid medium governs the response of critically important materials. Indeed, the fluid layer mediating solid contact fundamentally alters the interaction between grains of soil or coffee, directly modifying the constitutive properties of suspensions; typically this interface is obscured, making direct study of its kinematics very challenging.

Here we directly image the interface between a soft elastic hemisphere and a flat rigid substrate during rapid impact over a wide range of impact velocities $V$ at high temporal resolution using the Virtual Frame Technique (VFT). In each experiment, a pocket of air is trapped between the impactor and the substrate, preventing direct solid-solid contact at the apex of the hemisphere, and altering the area of contact. The size of the air pocket varies non-monotonically with V and impactor stiffness, initially increasing in a regime where elastic stresses balance lubrication stresses. At sufficiently large V, the inertial stress dominates the elastic stress, and the air pocket size decreases as V continues to increase. Our measurements reveal an unanticipated, sudden transition of the air pocket's size as V increases beyond ~ 1.5 m/s. Several modalities of contact front advancement emerge, and these modalities appear to correlate with the ratio of the outward velocity of the front to the Rayleigh velocity c_R of the elastic impactor. When v_out/c_R > 1, the material ahead of the advancing contact front cannot deform, and little air is entrained; however, when v_{out}/c_R < 1 the material ahead of the contact front deforms and entrains air, leading to the emergence of a patchy contact texture arising from an elasto-lubricative instability. Using the unique capabilities of the VFT, we identify several V-dependent transitions of fluid-mediated soft contact that can inform engineering design in systems as diverse as car tires, soft robotic locomotion and suspensions such as soil and coffee.

Bio:
Kolinski studied both engineering mechanics and mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and graduated with Bachelor's degrees in both subjects in 2008, before earning a Master's degree in applied mathematics (Sc.M.) and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard University, in 2010 and 2013, respectively. His Ph.D. thesis on "The role of air in droplet impact on a smooth, solid surface" was supervised by Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan and Shmuel Rubinstein.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Supported by a Fulbright-Israel post-doctoral fellowship, he moved in 2014 to Israel to work with Eran Sharon and Jay Fineberg at the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There he studied the inter-facial instabilities in fluid and solid systems such as water bells and the fracture of hydrogels.^[8][9][10]
Since May 2017, Kolinski has been a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at EPFL and the head of the Laboratory of Engineering Mechanics of Soft Interfaces (EMSI) at EPFL's School of Engineering.
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TBA

L’objectif de ce rendez-vous régulier, né d’un intérêt conjoint d’étudiant·e·s et de chercheur·ses, est de proposer un état des lieux des activités de recherche et d’enseignement sur le campus. Qu’elles utilisent des technologies du jeu vidéo (moteurs de jeu, réalité virtuelle, gamification, etc.), ou se plongent dans l’étude de ces objets, nous souhaitons mettre en valeur les initiatives existantes et rassembler les actrices et acteurs de ce domaine présents sur le campus.

Il s'agit de la cinquième édition de l'événement. Rediffusion de la première édition. Rediffusion de la seconde édition.

Le jeu vidéo est aujourd’hui un bien culturel pratiqué ou « consommé » par une part majoritaire de la société, tous âges confondus. C’est également un savoir-faire et des technologies permettant de comprendre et maîtriser de nombreuses innovations apportées par le numérique (évolution des interfaces, intelligence artificielle, etc.), mais aussi d’appréhender les nouveaux enjeux soulevés par celui-ci. De nombreux projets en tirent parti, notamment sur le campus UNIL-EPFL (projet Collart-Palmyre, Immersive Interaction Research Group, etc.). Aujourd’hui, on trouve des centres d’étude du jeu vidéo dans des universités (Universités de Paris 8, Paris 13, Metz, CNAM-CEDRIC) comme dans des écoles polytechniques (à l’ETHZ, mais aussi à Polytechnique Paris, où une chaire « Science et jeu vidéo » a ouvert fin 2019). Lausanne étant un pôle de recherche de pointe dans les humanités numériques comme dans l’étude des nouveaux médias, il est selon nous important d’intégrer à cet ensemble le jeu vidéo, ce « média natif du numérique », et de mener une réflexion à ce propos grâce à l'organisation d'un tel événement.

Le programme sera disponible prochainement.

Cet événement a lieu uniquement en ligne.

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Laura Waller, UC Berkeley, USA 

This event is part of the EPFL Seminar Series in Imaging (https://imagingseminars.org).

Abstract. Computational imaging involves the joint design of imaging system hardware and software, optimizing across the entire pipeline from acquisition to reconstruction. Computers can replace bulky and expensive optics by solving computational inverse problems.

This talk will describe end-to-end learning for development of new microscopes that use computational imaging to enable 3D fluorescence and phase measurement. Traditional model-based image reconstruction algorithms are based on large-scale nonlinear non-convex optimization; we combine these with unrolled neural networks to learn both the image reconstruction algorithm and the optimized data capture strategy.

Biography. Laura Waller is the Ted Van Duzer Endowed Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Her main interests lie in the development of computational imaging methods for phase imaging, super-resolution microscopy and lensless imaging. 
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Abstract:
Coming soon...

Bio:
Coming soon...
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Richard Neher , University of Basel
 


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  Prof Vijay Kumar



Le Centre pour les systèmes intelligents de l'EPFL (CIS) est une collaboration entre IC, ENAC, SB; SV et STI qui réunit des chercheurs travaillant sur différents aspects des systèmes intelligents. En juin 2020, le CIS a lancé ses Colloques CIS avec des orateurs invités de renom.
Plus d'info https://www.epfl.ch/research/domains/cis/center-for-intelligent-systems-cis/events/colloquia-2/prof-vijay-kumar/

 
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Prof. Claudio De Persis, Prof. Frank Allgöwer, Prof. Niao He, Prof. Nicolas Boumal, Prof. Nikolai Matni, Prof. Pietro Tesi, Dr. Stephen Tu, Prof. Marco Campi & more

The ETHZ-EPFL Summer School on "Foundations and mathematical guarantees of data-driven control" will be held from Wednesday June 9th to Tuesday June 15th, 2021, at ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
 
In this summer school we will bring together prominent researchers and students in the field of data-driven control, to discuss the latest theoretical techniques and open problems in the field, build research networks and open collaborative opportunities.
 
In this school you will learn from the following outstanding researchers:
Prof. Claudio De Persis, Prof. Frank Allgöwer, Prof. Niao He, Prof. Nicolas Boumal, Prof. Nikolai Matni, Prof. Pietro Tesi, Dr. Stephen Tu, Prof. Marco Campi & more.
 
For more information - regarding registration, the schedule, topics and more news - please visit the website
http://fmg-data-driven-control.ethz.ch/

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Nikta Fakhri, MIT Physics
 


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TBA

L’objectif de ce rendez-vous régulier, né d’un intérêt conjoint d’étudiant·e·s et de chercheur·ses, est de proposer un état des lieux des activités de recherche et d’enseignement sur le campus. Qu’elles utilisent des technologies du jeu vidéo (moteurs de jeu, réalité virtuelle, gamification, etc.), ou se plongent dans l’étude de ces objets, nous souhaitons mettre en valeur les initiatives existantes et rassembler les actrices et acteurs de ce domaine présents sur le campus.

Il s'agit de la cinquième édition de l'événement. Rediffusion de la première édition. Rediffusion de la seconde édition.

Le jeu vidéo est aujourd’hui un bien culturel pratiqué ou « consommé » par une part majoritaire de la société, tous âges confondus. C’est également un savoir-faire et des technologies permettant de comprendre et maîtriser de nombreuses innovations apportées par le numérique (évolution des interfaces, intelligence artificielle, etc.), mais aussi d’appréhender les nouveaux enjeux soulevés par celui-ci. De nombreux projets en tirent parti, notamment sur le campus UNIL-EPFL (projet Collart-Palmyre, Immersive Interaction Research Group, etc.). Aujourd’hui, on trouve des centres d’étude du jeu vidéo dans des universités (Universités de Paris 8, Paris 13, Metz, CNAM-CEDRIC) comme dans des écoles polytechniques (à l’ETHZ, mais aussi à Polytechnique Paris, où une chaire « Science et jeu vidéo » a ouvert fin 2019). Lausanne étant un pôle de recherche de pointe dans les humanités numériques comme dans l’étude des nouveaux médias, il est selon nous important d’intégrer à cet ensemble le jeu vidéo, ce « média natif du numérique », et de mener une réflexion à ce propos grâce à l'organisation d'un tel événement.

Le programme sera disponible prochainement.

Cet événement a lieu uniquement en ligne.

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Harald Hess, HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, USA 

This event is part of the EPFL Seminar Series in Imaging (https://imagingseminars.org).

Abstract. 3D electron microscopy data can be acquired by Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) where fine sequences of 4-8 nm increments are ablated off of a sample surface and each such surface is imaged with the SEM. At the finest resolution and with month-long stable operation, comprehensive whole cells can be acquired that transcend the limited cut section views of traditional TEM used in biology.

Several examples of such data are presented along with the potential that segmentation offers to explore and formulate biological questions. Correlative microscopy can be achieved by a cryogenic protocol where samples are vitrified, imaged with PALM or SIM at low temperatures followed by EM staining and FIBSEM.  A 3D registration procedure can keep most position errors between PALM and EM data at ~ 30 nm.  Examples validating the approach with mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum labels are presented along with examples showcasing how unknown vesicle types and other structures can be identified by an associated protein.

Biography. Harald Hess is a senior group leader at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus in the USA. His main interests lie in the development of high-throughput 3D electron microscopy and super-resolution 3D optical microscopy for use in brain connectomics and cell biology.  
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Magnus Rattray, Manchester University
 


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Lucy Colwell, Cambridge University – Google
 


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Hana El-Samad, UCSF


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Heinz Köppl, TU Darmstadt


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