Call (606)-622-1385 to pre-register (required, spaces limited)

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Join us for a creek cleanup and resource fair event on Saturday, October 28th, 2023! Come learn about different organizations working on water related issues in Kentucky. Both adults and kids are encouraged to participate. Meet at the Lend-A-Hand Center- 3234 KY 718 Walker, KY. Call 606 622-1385 to pre-register (required, spots are limited). Participants will be given $25 Walmart gift cards for their participation. All cleanup supplies will be provided. Lunch will be provided. Bring weather appropriate clothes and waterproof shoes/boots. Directions: https://lendahandcenter.org/directions/

This event is hosted by the Lend-A-Hand Center and co-sponsored by the UK Appalachian Center & Appalachian Studies Program, the Kentucky Geological Survey, and the Kentucky Division of Water.

The event is made possible in partnership with the Kentucky Water the Kentucky Geological Survey, and the Kentucky Division of Water.

This event is funded by a UK-CARES Community Engagement Project Grant.

The Philosophy Department in collaboration with the Department of Gender & Women's Studies and the UK Gaines Center for the Humanities is hosting our second undergraduate talk of the semester! Monday, October 9th, join us in Chem-Phys Bldg Rm 153 at 3pm!  Maja Sidzińska from University of Pennsylvania is speaking on “Cogito, Ergo Sumus? The Pregnancy Problem in Descartes's Philosophy.””

Abstract:

Given Descartes’s metaphysical and natural-philosophic commitments, it is difficult to theorize the pregnant human being as a human being under his system. Specifically, given (1) Descartes’s account of generation; (2) his commitment to mechanistic explanations where bodies are concerned; (3) his reliance on a subtle individuating principle for human (and animal) bodies; and (4) his metaphysics of human beings, which include minds, bodies, and mind-body unions, there is no available human substance or entity that may clearly be the subject of pregnancy. The incompatibility of any of the three options found in commitment 4 with commitment 1, 2, or 3, together with other undesirable consequences should any be selected, results in what I call the pregnancy problem. The pregnancy problem is a previously unconsidered problem for the Cartesian philosophy. Given the pregnancy problem, commitment 1, 2, 3, or 4, or a combination of these would have to be revised for Descartes’s system to avoid a variety of tensions; alternatively, counterintuitive consequences may have to be accepted. Ironically, given Descartes’s interest in generation and medicine more generally, the Cartesian framework struggles to accommodate pregnancy in human beings. This may have implications for the systematicity and sex-neutrality of dualist metaphysics in general. 

Dr. Alex Bisson | Bisson Lab

Abstract:
Cells sense and respond to their physical surroundings, using organized molecular machinery
to convert mechanical environmental signals into biochemical information. Maybe more importantly, little is known about how cells' material properties co-evolve with their
environment. Using genetics, biophysics, and advanced microscopy tools, the Bisson Lab aims to understand archaeal cells' self-organization and behavior in response to physical cues. Here,
I will discuss our recent discovery of how specific mechanical confinement triggers the development from a unicellular to a tissue-like lifestyle similar to known primitive multicellular eukaryotes. This observation not only gives a new perspective over the emergence of complex multicellularity, but gives us the opportunity to compare the behavior and the genome of hundreds of cultivable archaeal species.

Dr. Crystal Rogers | Rogers Lab

Bio:
Dr. Crystal Rogers obtained a B.S. from UCLA in Organismal Biology, Ecology, and Evolution. She then received her PhD in Developmental Biology from Georgetown University under the mentorship of Dr. Elena Silva Casey and next, moved to a postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering in the lab of Dr. Marianne Bronner. In 2016, she became an Assistant Professor at California State University Northridge (CSUN) in the Biology Department where she focused on creating an undergraduate research program in developmental biology. In 2019, Dr. Rogers moved to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology. She was a 2023 UC Davis Chancellor's Fellowship For Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and is currently the Chair of the Inclusion and Outreach Committee for the Society for Developmental Biology, and the Editor in Chief of the journal, Differentiation. Her lab studies the conserved and divergent molecular mechanisms that drive embryonic development in chicken, quail, peafowl and axolotl embryos.

Abstract:
Neural crest cells are vertebrate-specific, pluripotent, embryonic stem cells that give rise to more
than 30 different adult cell and tissue types including pigment cells, craniofacial bone and cartilage, and the peripheral nervous system. Despite our extensive knowledge of the mechanisms governing neural crest development, which is primarily derived from a limited set of model organisms, there remains a crucial gap in confirming the functional conservation of proteins across species, encompassing their targets, interactions, and developmental roles. This challenge impedes a comprehensive understanding of neural crest evolution and development. Our research aspires to bridge this gap by identifying both conserved and divergent developmental mechanisms. We achieve this by characterizing the spatiotemporal expression patterns of key regulatory factors governing neural crest cell development and by perturbing these factors in quail (Coturnix japonica), chick (Gallus gallus), and peafowl (Pavo cristatus) embryos. Our findings reveal intriguing distinctions in the roles played by specific transcription factors at various developmental stages within closely related organisms. Moving forward, our focus will shift towards unraveling the intricate embryonic microenvironments responsible for shaping these distinct phenotypic outcomes. By investigating the factors influencing neural crest cell development across species, we aim to enrich our understanding of the evolutionary and developmental dynamics underlying this critical biological process.

Watch the seminar here!