IAP 2015 Activities by Category - Life Sciences: Hands-on

Dimitrios Pantazis, Director of MEG Lab

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Modern imaging technologies at MIT and MGH provide exciting new ways to understand the structure and function of the human brain. We will provide guided tours of our imaging facilities and show how we use these tools to look inside the brain. Our recently installed MEG scanner, capable of measuring magnetic fields a billionth of the magnetic field of earth, can record the simultaneous firing of thousands of cortical neurons as they form dynamic networks.  Our MRI scanners provide high resolution images of the human brain as subjects perform a wide range of perceptual and cognitive tasks. Our PET scanners can identify and localize specific molecules in the brain, revealing pathologies that may underlie many different brain disorders. TMS is a noninvasive method that uses electromagnetic induction to create weak electric currents and cause depolarization or hyperpolarization in the neurons of the brain. NIRS uses infrared light to illuminate tissue and infer brain activity through the diffusion and scattering of this light. We will introduce these technologies, offer lab tours and demonstrate data collection, and discuss their contribution to neuroscience and current projects at MIT and MGH.

Contact: Dimitrios Pantazis, 46-5147, 617 324-6292, PANTAZIS@MIT.EDU

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Seminar on Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Jan/13

Tue

02:00PM-03:00PM

46-3015

Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) instrumentation, principles of light scattering and absorption, imaging of oxygenated hemoglobin, NIRS applications.

Juliette Selb - Instructor

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Seminar on Positron Emission Tomography

Jan/13

Tue

03:00PM-04:00PM

46-3015

Seminar on Positron Emission Technology. Introduction to PET technology and scanners at MGH; applications in tumor detection; brain metabolic activity; gene expression; neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer¿s and Parkinson¿s; pharmacology etc.

Quanzheng Li - Assistant Professor

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Seminar on Magnetoencephalography

Jan/13

Tue

04:00PM-05:00PM

46-3015

Electrophysiological basis of MEG signals; instrumentation; modeling; cortical rhythms; brain networks; combining MEG with fMRI, studying the human visual system. 

Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab, Radoslaw Cichy - Post-doctoral Associate

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A tour at the MEG Lab

Jan/13

Tue

05:00PM-06:00PM

46-1147

A tour at the MEG Lab, demo scan and data analysis of an MEG experiment

MEG Lab: http://mcgovern.mit.edu/technology/meg-lab

Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab, Radoslaw Cichy - Post-doctoral Associate, Kleovoulos Tsourides - Research Associate

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Seminar on Transcranial Magnetic Stim.

Jan/14

Wed

02:00PM-03:00PM

46-3015

Use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to depolarize and hyperpolarize neurons of the brain, applications to treat depression and examine basic mechanisms of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, among others.

Aapo Nummenmaa - Instructor

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Seminar on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Jan/14

Wed

03:00PM-04:30PM

46-3015

Topics include MRI instrumentation, magnetic fields, safety, functional imaging with BOLD response, diffusion imaging, and others.

Anastasia Yendiki - Assistant Professor, Steven P Shannon - Operations Manager and MR Research Technologist, Sheeba Arnold Anteraper - MR Programmer, Atsushi Takahashi - Assistant Director, MR Physicist

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A tour at the MRI Lab

Jan/14

Wed

04:30PM-05:30PM

46-1171

A tour at the MRI lab. Demo scan (finger tapping) and data analysis.

MRI Lab: http://mcgovern.mit.edu/technology/martinos-imaging-center/technical-resources

Steven P Shannon - Operations Manager and MR Research Technologist, Sheeba Arnold Anteraper - MR Programmer, Atsushi Takahashi - Assistant Director, MR Physicist

Ann Cheung

Jan/16

Fri

12:00PM-02:00PM

76-156

Enrollment: Advance sign-up for personalized abstract consultation
Sign-up by 01/09

Are you preparing an abstract for a paper or poster? How do you sum up your research clearly in less than 200 words? Can you grab the readers' attention without sounding too grandiose? Have you fretted over how much detail to include?

Join us in 76-156 from noon to 2pm on Friday, January 16th. Christina Lilliehook (Senior Editor, Cell Stem Cell) and Brian Plosky (Deputy Editor, Molecular Cell) will offer advice on how to write an effective abstract. The editors will give general tips and critique a few real examples, then we'll break into groups for personalized abstract writing consultations (with snacks!).

The general presentation is open to everyone at MIT; Koch Institute members and affiliates will be given priority for consultations. Consultations will be on a first-come-first-served basis, so sign up now and submit your abstract by January 9th to secure an appointment. Limit ~14, walk-ins may be accepted based on availability. Sign up via EventBrite.

--- Brought to you by the Executive Director's Office (EDO)

Sponsor(s): David H. Koch Inst. for Integrative Cancer Researc
Contact: Ann Cheung, 617 324-3533, ACHEUNG@MIT.EDU

Courtney Crummett, Biosciences Librarian

	Jan/13	Tue	10:00AM-11:30AM	14N-132 DIRC
	Jan/14	Wed	03:30PM-05:00PM	14N-132 DIRC

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Entrez family of databases is the foundation of knowledge for molecular level bioscience research. Class attendees will learn about the organization and interconnectedness of NCBI databases while focusing on several specific databases. The session is a hands-on practicum and an excellent starting point for people who are new to or curious about bioinformatics research tools. This session is offered twice covering the same material; participants welcome at either session. 

Tuedsay January 13th 10-11:30AM Please register.

Wednesday January 14th 3:30-5PM Please register.

Sponsor(s): Libraries, Biology
Contact: Courtney Crummett, 14S-134, 617 324-8290, CRUMMETT@MIT.EDU

Nancy Ouyang

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Day-to-day schedule and sign-up form here. List of RSVPs so far here.

There are now hundreds of publicly available human genomes thanks to efforts like the 1000 Genomes Project and the Personal Genome Project. How can we explore, visualize, and create interesting hypotheses from this wealth of data? We’ll take a hands-on approach to answering this problem by diving into the topic of personalized medicine. Specifically, we’ll explore what it means to have the ApoE4 allele, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s, from different perspectives (genomic, physiological, population-wide, etc.) Along the way, we’ll cover current tools and limitations in bioinformatics. On the last day, we’ll present our work to each other, so make your projects fun and interesting -- games, interactive art, and static visualizations are all possible results of taking this class. Extra points for wackiness (for instance, a musical or pastry interpretation of ApoE)!

Some programming experience will be helpful (bring a laptop, this is a hands-on class!), depending on the project you want to do and how much of the technical intricacies of bioinformatics you want to delve into. Pastry interpretations of genomics are always welcome though.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Sponsor(s): Electronic Research Society
Contact: Nancy Ouyang, (678) 379-8088, NOUYANG@ALUM.MIT.EDU

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Exploring Public Genomes

	Jan/12	Mon	06:00PM-07:00PM	66-154, Bring laptop please!
	Jan/13	Tue	06:00PM-07:00PM	66-154, Bring laptop please!
	Jan/14	Wed	06:00PM-07:00PM	66-154, Bring laptop please!
	Jan/15	Thu	06:00PM-07:00PM	66-154, Bring laptop please!
	Jan/16	Fri	06:00PM-07:00PM	66-154, Bring laptop please!

See description for tentative schedule for each day.

Courtney Crummett, GeneGo Trainer

Jan/21

Wed

03:00PM-05:00PM

14N-132 DIRC

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/21
Limited to 30 participants

Attend this IAP session and learn how to use GeneGo, a bioinforamtics software tool licensed by MIT Libraries. GeneGo provides a solution for using "omics" gene lists to generate and prioritize hypotheses with MetaCore. Learn how to work with different types of data (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and interaction data) beginning with how to upload gene lists and expression data. Use GeneGo software to: upload, batch upload, store, share and check data properties and signal distribution; extract functional relevance by determining the most enriched processes across several ontologies; emphasize the role of expression data in your analysis; visually predict experimental results, associated disease and possible drug targets; and compare data sets and work with experiment intersections. Please register. Need a GeneGo Account? Email ask-bioinfo@mit.edu

Sponsor(s): Libraries, Biology
Contact: Courtney Crummett, 14S-M48, x4-8290, crummett@mit.edu

Tal Achituv, Media Lab / Fluid Interfaces, Nancy Holtzman, RN BSN IBCLC RLC CPN, Naomi Bar-Yam, Executive Director at Mothers' Milk Bank Northeast

Jan/06

Tue

02:00PM-05:00PM

E14-TBD

Enrollment: Please sign up in advance so we can prepare. Walk-ins welcome pending space
Sign-up by 01/05
Limited to 30 participants

Want to create some hacks that might save the lives of newborn babies?

Like blood-banks, maternal milk banks provide essential services to save lives and improve outcomes for newborn babies. This IAP session will introduce participants to critical design challenges in infant care through partnership with Mothers' Milk Bank Northeast, a non-profit organization that provides essential services to families, babies and hospitals. Participants will work in teams to come up with better ways of bottling milk, pasteurizing milk, controlling and measuring various aspects of the milk storage, connecting donors and receivers with an iOS/Android app, and other creative applications. Throughout the process, we will be supporting teams to research the problem space, hear from end-users and stakeholders, and learn about the latest science in neonatal health care and how that might be creatively translated into engineering and design applications.

During the first session we will form teams, and define projects. Teams will be be assigned mentors who will help the team realize their project. Mentors will meet with their teams on a schedule to be determined individually. 

Field trips to the milk bank (in Newton, MA) can be arranged for interested teams.

Example project ideas will be provided, though creativity is encouraged.

Register here: http://goo.gl/forms/sykWh6wwpZ

Contact: Tal Achituv, E14-548, 917-512-5060, ACHITUV@MIT.EDU

Kyle Lathem, Nelson Hall, Christian Richardson, Lyla Atta, James Anderson, Jiaqi Xie, Alex Smith, Alexa Garcia

Enrollment: Find Application Information at http://tiny.cc/MITiGEM2015
Sign-up by 12/12
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Ever wonder if you could re-program cells to do whatever you wanted? With synthetic biology, the possibilities are endless!

Synthetic biology provides a unique opportunity to combine knowledge from electrical engineering, biological engineering, chemical engineering and biology. In this class, through a combination of lectures and work in the lab, you will learn many of the skills necessary to prepare you to join the MIT 2015 iGEM team! The class will finish with brainstorming ideas for the summer project, and will lead into spring and summer UROPs.

iGEM is an international undergraduate competition in synthetic biology in which MIT has competed since 2004. To find out more about iGEM go to: www.igem.org and http://2015.igem.org. iGEM is a full time summer project, and will culminate in a giant jamboree competition in Boston on September 24th through 28th.

No background experience is necessary, and all majors are welcome!

Send questions to igem-2015-planning@mit.edu

Visit http://tiny.cc/MITiGEM2014 to apply

Lecture and Lab

Times are not yet finalized, and conflicts can be accomodated

Jan 12-16 and Jan 20-23 in NE47

Sponsor(s): Biological Engineering
Contact: Kyle Lathem, KLATHEM@MIT.EDU

Alex Hoyt, Sara Nelson

Jan/13

Tue

03:30PM-04:30PM

5-217

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

The Amgen-UROP Scholars Program invites undergraduates to participate in faculty-mentored summer research at MIT in the science and biotechnology areas.

Students admitted to this program (known as Amgen Scholars) will have opportunities to conduct research, analyze data, present research results, network with other undergraduates with similar research interests, and develop working relationships with MIT faculty mentors and other research staff.

Sponsor(s): Office of Undergrad. Advising/Academic Programming
Contact: J Alex Hoyt, 7-104, 617 324-6700, JAHOYT@MIT.EDU

Daniel Zysman, Computational Course Co-Instructor

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/21
Limited to 25 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

The course aims to expose and introduce students to the power of programming to generate, analyze and visualize data coming from neuroscience research. We will use MATLAB to explore basic neuroscience problems. The course focuses on a problem driven approach, where the research examples will be used to introduce programming techniques and concepts.

Although some previous programming knowledge will be helpful, the course assumes no prior knowledge of programming.

1. Students must provide their own laptop and software for this activity. Instructions for downloading and installing MATLAB are available at: http://ist.mit.edu/matlab/all/student

2. Pre-register for this course by completing the following online form: http://goo.gl/forms/AB4PDBm6V4

 

Sponsor(s): Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Contact: Daniel Zysman, 46-2051, 617-324-7647, dzysman@mit.edu

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	Jan/26	Mon	10:00AM-01:00PM	46-1015, You can download MATLAB for students from IS&T
	Jan/27	Tue	10:00AM-01:00PM	46-1015, You can download MATLAB for students from IS&T
	Jan/28	Wed	10:00AM-01:00PM	46-1015, You can download MATLAB for students from IS&T
	Jan/29	Thu	10:00AM-01:00PM	46-1015, You can download MATLAB for students from IS&T

Daniel Zysman - Computational Course Co-Instructor