Date/Time
Date(s) - 27/02/2008
3:20 pm - 4:20 pm

Title: HOW CELLS MEASURE SPACE AND TIME

Speaker: Dr. Eldon Emberly

Institute: Simon Fraser University

Location: ABB 102

Description:

You don’t have to look far to see the sophisticated technology that we have developed to measure space and time, whether it be the complex inner-workings of a watch or the GPS equipped compass that you might use on a backcountry expedition. But what about microorganisms? How is a microorganism, which calculates via biochemical reactions, able to make accurate measurements of time and space? In this talk I will highlight some of the amazing biological circuitry that cells use to keep time, showing how physical modeling can be used to gain insight into how these clocks function. But cells are also capable of measuring space – it’s essential that developing organisms put tissues where they are meant to be. I will discuss how cells measure their spatial location and how they overcome the complications of living in a noisy chemical environment.