Invited Beckman Alums
Every year, Pomona College hosts a special Beckman Lecture given by a Beckman Scholar or former Pomona College Beckman Scholar. This provides an opportunity for the Beckman alum to share research and career experiences with our current students. See below for details on our current and former Beckman speakers.
2022 Beckman Speaker: Dr. Hannah Wayment-Steele
July 22, 2022, Estella Auditorium
2022 Beckman Speaker: Dr. Robert (Bob) Rawle
May 2022, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
2014 Beckman Speaker: Dr. Laura Rosen
April 24, 2014, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
Stepwise Protein Folding
2014 Beckman Speaker: Dr. Robert (Bob) Rawle
"When Membranes Collide: Studying Vesicle Fusion Using a Model System Based on DNA Hybridization"
11:00 am, Tuesday November 4, 2014, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
July 22, 2022, Estella Auditorium
2022 Beckman Speaker: Dr. Robert (Bob) Rawle
May 2022, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
2014 Beckman Speaker: Dr. Laura Rosen
April 24, 2014, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
Stepwise Protein Folding
2014 Beckman Speaker: Dr. Robert (Bob) Rawle
"When Membranes Collide: Studying Vesicle Fusion Using a Model System Based on DNA Hybridization"
11:00 am, Tuesday November 4, 2014, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
Abstract. Vesicle fusion consists of a complex rearrangement of lipids and proteins that results in the merger of two lipid bilayers. This fusion reaction is central to many biological processes, including endo- and exocytosis, the transmission of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft, and the transfer of membrane proteins between cellular compartments. In biological systems, vesicle fusion is thought to be mediated by the SNARE family of proteins. Although extensively studied, essential questions about vesicle fusion, including the number of components involved and the precise physical mechanism, are not well understood. In this presentation, I will describe the development and study of a reductionist model system that employs synthetic DNA-lipid conjugates as surrogates for the SNARE machinery. This artificial model system affords easy control over DNA sequence, binding geometry, and length—factors less easily probed in SNARE-mediated fusion—and it allows us to examine how fusion proceeds once the vesicle and target membranes are brought close together. I will discuss how this system is studied at the individual event level using fluorescence microscopy and how I and others have used it to gain insights into mechanistic questions about the biological fusion reaction.
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Bob graduated from Pomona College in 2008 with a degree in Chemistry and was a 2007 Beckman Scholar. At Pomona, he worked with Prof. Selassie and Prof. Johal to study DNA surface sensors using Quartz Crystal Microbalance techniques. After Pomona, Bob moved to Stanford University, where he studied in the lab of Prof. Steven Boxer, graduating with a Ph.D. in Chemistry in June 2014. Currently he is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Virginia Medical School and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. He is working with Prof. Peter Kasson to study influenza virus fusion. In his spare time, Bob enjoys swimming, playing with his baby son, baking pies with his wife, and (once per year) dressing up as a leprechaun.
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2013 Beckman Speaker: Thomas J. (TJ) Lane
"Pleasing Boltzmann: Why static structures of proteins and nucleic acids aren't enough and what we can do about it"
11:00 am, Tuesday October 15, 2013, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
"Pleasing Boltzmann: Why static structures of proteins and nucleic acids aren't enough and what we can do about it"
11:00 am, Tuesday October 15, 2013, Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
Abstract. Biomolecules do not exist as a static structure, but fluctuate between conformational states. Despite this, the study of structural biology has, to date, consisted of the study of only the most populated of these structures. Moreover, this structure is typically obtained from a non-native crystalline phase. I will review work by myself and others aimed at making possible the study of structural dynamics, that is, the entire structural ensemble that biomolecules sample under physiological conditions. This will be achieved via high-resolution solution-phase structures obtained by integrating information from multiple techniques, including x-ray scattering, NMR spectroscopy, and chemical cross-linking. The combination of information will enable the study not only of difficult to crystallize targets, but also of the dynamics that proteins and nucleic acids undergo, which are increasingly implicated in the biological function of these species.
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TJ graduated from Pomona College in 2010. He was a 2008 Beckman Scholar, and also a recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, an NSF Graduate Fellowship, and Pomona's prestigious Stauffer Prize. At pomona he completed his undergraduate thesis in "Ultrasonic Rheology of Surfactant Systems", and as an undergraduate co-authored five publications. TJ is currently a graduate student at Stanford University in the Chemistry Department, studying under Professor Vijay Pande. He is involved in the cutting-edge simulations of protein folding that run on Folding@home. Click here to find out more about TJ.
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