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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Simbios is pleased to invite you to our webinar:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i>For Whom the Cell Tolls: The Response of Bacterial Growth to Osmotic Shock – Experimental and Computational Studies</i></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>When:</b> Thursday, September 26, 2013 at 11am PDT<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Registration: <span class=apple-converted-space> </span></b><span class=apple-converted-space><a href="https://simtk.webex.com/simtk/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=667440715">https://simtk.webex.com/simtk/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=667440715</a> </span><a href="http://simtk.webex.com"></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Description:</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt'> </span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The cell wall is a universal feature of bacteria that determines their shape, their effect on the human immune system, and their susceptibility to many of our front-line antibiotics. Understanding the fundamental biomechanical and biochemical processes that drive cell-wall expansion during cell growth lays the groundwork for being able to disrupt bacterial growth in a targeted way. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>During this webinar, Enrique Rojas, a postdoctoral fellow in the labs of K.C. Huang and Julie Theriot at Stanford University and a Simbios Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow, will present his discoveries about the effect of changes in osmotic pressure on<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><i>Escherichia coli</i><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>and<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><i>Bacillus subtilis</i> cell growth. He will also describe a new computational model he has developed to simulate the observed behavior.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Using single-cell, time-lapse microscopy and microfluidic-based cell culture, he demonstrates that, contrary to a long-standing hypothesis, osmotic pressure plays a relatively minor role during cell-wall expansion in the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, and that growth is robust to changes in osmotic pressure. This may be an important adaptation for an enteric bacterium, which regularly faces drastic changes in its osmotic environment during entry and exit from the intestine. On the other hand, he shows that the growth rate of the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis is very sensitive to osmotic pressures.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Finally, Dr. Rojas discusses the computational model he is developing that simulates the observed cell-growth behavior. In the future, such a model could be used to predict which pathways involved in cell-synthesis would make successful drug targets.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'>---<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'>Joy P. Ku, PhD<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'>Director, <a href="http://simbios.stanford.edu/"><span style='color:blue'>Simbios</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'>Director of Communications & Training, <a href="http://opensim.stanford.edu/"><span style='color:blue'>NCSRR</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'>Stanford University<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'>(w) 650.736.8434, (f) 650.723.7461<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#595959'>Email: <a href="mailto:joyku@stanford.edu"><span style='color:blue'>joyku@stanford.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>