Dr. Brent Seales, University of Kentucky

Title: On Perseverance: Virtually Unwrapping the Herculaneum Scrolls

Abstract: This talk tells the story of virtual unwrapping, conceived during the rise of digital libraries, computer vision and large-scale computing, and now realized on some of the most difficult and iconic material in the world -- the Herculaneum Scrolls -- as a result of the recent phenomena of big data and machine learning. 

Virtual unwrapping is a noninvasive restoration pathway for damaged written material, allowing texts to be read from objects that are too damaged even to be opened. The Herculaneum papyrus scrolls, buried and carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and then excavated in the 18th century, are original, classical texts from the shelves of the only library to have survived from antiquity. The 250-year history of science and technology applied to the challenge of opening and then reading them has created a fragmentary, damaged window into their literary and philosophical secrets. 

In 1999, with more than 400 scrolls still unopened, methods for physical unwrapping were permanently halted. The intact scrolls present an enigmatic challenge: preserved by the fury of Vesuvius, yet still lost. Using a noninvasive imaging approach, we have now shown how to recover their texts, rendering them "unlost." The path we have forged uses high energy physics, artificial intelligence and the collective power of a global scientific community inspired by prizes, collaborative generosity and the common goal of shared glory: reading original classical texts for the first time in 2,000 years.

Dr. Brandon Logeman

Bio:
Brandon L. Logeman, PhD is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky. After completing his Ph.D. at Duke University, he joined the lab of Catherine Dulac at Harvard University to study the molecular mechanisms through which changes in cell-type specific gene expression influence neural activity and animal behavior. After receiving a K99/R00 Career Transition Award he joined the University of Kentucky in August 2025. His new lab will utilize custom designed single-cell genomics technologies such as microfluidic, droplet based sequencing assays and imaging based spatial transcriptomics as well as de novo protein binder design across a panel of genetically diverse mouse strains to discover how genomic and environmental influences contribute to observable differences in animal behavior.

Abstract:
Parental care is composed of multiple infant-directed behaviors that promote offspring survival and is influenced by the sex and physiological state of the caregiver. Previous work in mice has identified the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus as a key brain area implicated in parental behaviors. However, numerous naturalistic behaviors and homeostatic processes are controlled by this area, hindering mechanistic investigation of the circuits underlying parental care. To overcome this challenge, here I employ cell-type specific RNA- and ATAC-seq analysis, neural activity recording, and perturbation to gain access into molecular, biophysical, and circuit-based causality of behavioral control. I find that various neuronal types involved in parenting behavior are each distinctively influenced by the sex and physiological status of an individual and uncover how cell-type specific regulatory programs alter gene expression and neural activity underlying behavior control. These results demonstrate how cell-type specific transcriptional responses to internal physiological cues mediate circuit specific alterations to neural activity and ultimately influence animal behavior.