The PDN Foster talks is a seminar series that involves high profile internal and external speakers, who are experts in fields relevant to research interests in the Department.
We welcome people from the wider scientific community of Cambridge University as well as from within the Department to join us for these seminars. The talks are aimed for a broad audience, from all career stages, undergraduates to PIs.
This seminar series also provides an invaluable opportunity for staff and students to discuss with the guest speaker both before and after the talk, and often helps to foster collaborations.
Talks will be hosted at 4pm in the Hodgkin-Huxley Seminar Room. All talks will be followed by Q&A.
Calendar
| Date | Speaker | Hosted by |
| 22 May 2025 |
Dr Renata Jurkowska - Cardiff University It is not all in your genes - epigenetic regulation of human lung repair |
Courtney Hanna |
| 15 May 2025 |
Dr Balázs Enyedi - Semmelweis University, Budapest From nuclear swelling to chemoattractant production during tissue damage |
Milka Sarris |
Event Archive
| Date | Speaker | Hosted by |
| 8 May 2025 |
Prof Frederik Elinder - Linköping University, Sweden Potassium channel activators - a possible anti-seizure treatment. |
Hugh Robinson |
| 20 March 2025 |
Dr. Magali Suzanne - The Centre de Biologie Intégrative, Toulouse, France Deciphering EMT morphogenetic forces |
Bénédicte Sanson |
| 13 March 2025 |
Prof Michael Yartsev - University of California, Berkley, USA Neural Mechanisms of Natural Spatial Behaviors in Bats |
Riccardo Beltramo |
| 6 March 2025 |
Dr Esteban Hoijman - Embryonic Cell Bioimaging lab, Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona, IBMB-CSIC/IDIBELL Self-protection of the early embryo: a dynamic perspective on phagocytosis in natural environments |
Hanna-Maria Hakkinen |
| 6 February 2025 |
Jörg Renkawitz - LMU Munich From Cell Migration to Macropinocytosis: How the Local Microenvironment Regulates Cell Behaviour |
Elena Scarpa |
| 23 January 2025 |
David Belin - University of Cambridge Amygdalo-striatal mechanisms of compulsive habits: relevance for our understanding of addiction. |
Bill Colledge |
| 5 December 2024 | Mekayla Storer - University of Cambridge | Foster Talks Committee |
| 28 November 2024 |
Steve Matthews - University of Toronto The Environment and the Developing Brain: A Complex and Continuing Conversation |
Dino Giussani |
| 7 November 2024 |
Kathy Niakan - University of Cambridge Molecular mechanisms that regulate the first cell fate decisions in human development |
Foster Talks Committee |
| 24 October 2024 |
Bayram Yilmaz - Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey Hedonic and Homeostatic Mechanisms in Hunger Regulation: Insights into Hypothalamic Circuits |
Bill Colledge and Susan Jones |
| 10 October 2024 |
Dr Silvia Fre - Institute Curie Paris Symmetry breaking decisions in stem cells from mouse bi-layered epithelia in development and regeneration |
Golnar Kolahgar |
| 6 June 2024 |
Colleen Deane, University of Southampton Identifying mechanisms of, and countermeasures to, muscle decline in aging |
Andrew Murray |
| 23 May 2024 |
Stefanie Wculek, IRB (Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona) How innate immune cells adapt to environment and function: diverse tales of mitochondria |
Albert Cardona and Milka Sarris |
| 9 May 2024 |
Shankar Srinivas, Oxford University Behavioural and mechanical heterogeneitis underpin cell migration essential for mouse anterior patterning |
Kathy Niakan |
| 25 April 2024 |
Laura Machesky, Dept of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge Eating and walking - how cells manage their energy budget during migration and invasion |
Ewa Paluch |
| 14 March |
Miguel Torres, Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research Epigenetic priming of embryonic cell lineages in the mammalian epiblast |
Alberto Rosello-Diaz |
| 29 February 2024 |
Susan Ozanne, MRC, University of Cambridge Nutritional programming by maternal over-nutrition: A developing obesity crisis. |
Students & Postdocs, Cindy Xin Wen Zhang |
| 15 February 2024 |
Hiroki Ueda, University of Tokyo. RIKEN BDR Towards human systems biology of sleep/ wake cycles: Phosphorylation hypothesis of sleep |
Keita Tamura and Christian Wood |
| 18 January 2024 |
Buzz Baum, MRC LMB, Cambridge Our archael ancestry: Cell division from archaea to eukaryotes |
Ewa Paluch |