MJC Science Colloquium Spring 2022 Schedule
Wednesdays 3:15-4:15pm
Streamed Live on the MJC Science Colloquium YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmaymqgHqzxhsAa0RJmYwVg
Andrew Gardner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Botany, CSU Stanislaus
On the Various Contrivances by Which Californian and Foreign Plants are Pollinated by Insects – A Darwin Day Talk
Darwin followed his Origin of Species with a book about orchid pollination that included detailed floral mechanism observations and successful predictions of insect interactions. This was his first published attempt to detail further an argument for natural selection which is arguably the beginning of co-evolutionary biology.
Feb. 23
Linda Ligace, Photographer
Birds of Merced National Wildlife Refuge
Linda is a self taught photographer who has been visiting the Merced National Wildlife refuge almost weekly during the birding season for the past 15 years. But this slide presentation will include recent photographs taken since January of 2018. Since the acquisition of her Tamron zoom lens, Linda has been able to get up close and personal with the birds. The presentation will also include a brief smattering of the birds Linda hasn’t seen for a while as well as some rare behavior she hopes to see again and some application of photoshop art filters to her photos. Linda is not a bird expert and welcomes the contribution of any attendee who wishes to expand on her attempts of bird misinterpretation or misidentification.
Mar. 23
Joy Baccei, MS, Director, UC Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Preserve
Vernal Pool Ecology and Endemism
The Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, directly adjacent to the UC Merced campus, represents some of the largest remaining intact vernal pool and grassland ecosystems anywhere in the world, and contains perhaps the densest concentration of vernal pools in the West. As a hotspot for biodiversity, many of the species on the reserve are endemic to the vernal pools and exist nowhere else in the world. Vernal pool ecology and endemic flora and fauna of the vernal pools will be discussed.
Apr. 26
Jared Deyarmin, MS, PrognomiQ INC
Early Disease Detection and Health Monitoring in Blood: The Next Generation of Diagnostics and Disease Progression in Health Care
Early disease detection and disease monitoring has been notoriously difficult across an array of life-threatening diseases. Current diagnostic tests and disease monitoring approaches used in healthcare have an array of challenges. Using cutting edge technology and systems biology, researchers are pushing boundaries to overcome diagnostic and disease monitoring limitations using ‘omics’ technologies that range from genotype to phenotype. This presentation will cover current challenges with diagnostics and health monitoring, how 'omics’ is changing how disease diagnostics, how disease is understood, and how we are getting closer to novel treatment plans on an individual basis.
*Science Colloquium Committee: Jill Cross, Denise Godbout-Avant, Troy Gravatt, Deborah Martin, Elizabeth McInnes, Erin Thompson, Catherine Tripp