Stanford Report, August 10, 2005

Bio-X symposium will feature topics ranging from artificial corneas to elephant signals

BY MARK SHWARTZ

The Bio-X Program will hold an interdisciplinary research symposium in the auditorium of the James H. Clark Center on Wednesday, Aug. 31, from 1 to 3:45 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature short presentations by seven Stanford researchers who have been awarded Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives grants covering a wide range of research areas—from the development of artificial corneas to understanding how elephants use seismic signals to communicate.

A major component of the Bio-X Program is the encouragement of cross-campus collaboration in the biosciences. In that spirit, the speakers at the symposium represent seven departments:

Vinod Menon, associate professor (research) of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, "Dynamic Brain Imaging"

Judy Illes, senior research scholar in biomedical ethics, "Ethical Dimensions of Neuroscience Research"

Christopher Ta, assistant professor of ophthalmology, "Artificial Cornea Project"

Michael Levitt, professor of structural biology, "How Myosin Walks"

Garry Gold, assistant professor of radiology, "Modeling Muscles in Contact"

Sebastian Doniach, professor of applied physics, "Counterion-Induced Forces in the Folding of Nucleic Acids"

Simon Klemperer, professor of geophysics, "Seismic Transmission and Detection of African Elephant Vocalizations and Footfalls"

Matthew Scott, chair of the Bio-X Leadership Council, will give opening remarks at 1 p.m., and Harvey Cohen, chair of the Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Program Committee, will provide closing comments at 3:30 p.m. A reception and poster session will begin at 3:45 p.m. in the Clark Center courtyard. For details, visit the Bio-X website at http://www.stanford.edu/group/biox/grant/iip_program.html.

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