CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-02-13 10:30 - 11:30 (America/Toronto)
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Jude Dzevela Kong, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, York University
Harnessing Light for Molecular-Specific Sensing and Imaging of Biological Samples

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-02-20 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Ebrahim Ghafar-Zadeh, Associate Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Lassonde School of Engineering
Electronic Point-of-Care Diagnostics: Recent Advances and Future Prospects
Bill Kim, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, York University
Next-generation Genome Editing: Technology and Applications

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-03-12 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Nima Tabatabaei, Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering York University
Harnessing Light for Molecular-Specific Sensing and Imaging of Biological Samples

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-03-26 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Pouya Rezai, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering
Functional Materials Integrated with Microfluidics for Sample Preparation and Detection of Pathogens and Contaminants in Fluids

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-04-09 08:00 - 17:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Derek Wilson, Professor Department of Chemistry
Understanding COVID vaccine efficacy on the molecular level

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-04-23 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Sebastian Magierowski, Associate Professor, Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science York University
Sequencing on Silicon

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-04-25 13:30 - 14:30
CRBI Seminar – Dr. Martin Schmeing, McGill University Thursday April 25th 2024
Biosynthesis and use of the most interesting polymer you didn’t know existed
Abstract:

Cyanophycin is a natural product polymer with a poly-aspartate backbone and arginines linked to each Asp side chain. Used in bacteria for storage of fixed nitrogen, carbon and energy, long chains of cyanophycin coalesce into inert, membrane-less granules which can occupy most of the volume of a cell. Cyanophycin has a variety of potential green industrial and biomedical applications. Cyanophycin is made by cyanophycin synthetase 1 or 2 through ATP-dependent polymerization of Asp and Arg, or β-Asp-Arg, respectively. It is degraded into dipeptides by specialized exo-cyanophycinases, and these dipeptidase are hydrolyzed into free amino acids by nonspecific isoaspartyl dipeptidases. I will share highlights of our structural and functional studies of cyanophycin biosynthesis and degradation, which led to surprising discoveries: Our structures and biochemical assays of the cyanophycin synthetase 1 revealed it to be a remarkable, multi-domain, multi-functional biosynthetic machine and uncovered a hidden hydrolytic active site that is crucial for rapid biosynthesis. We also showed that cyanophycin synthetase 2 can assume several elegant architectures that influence its synthetic activity. Further, we discovered and characterized a novel, large family of isoaspartyl dipeptidases dedicated to cyanophycin metabolism, which allows the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to use β-Asp-Arg as a sole carbon source, and as good a sole nitrogen source as ammonium. Bioinformatics results underscore how common it is for bacteria to be cyanophycin producers or scavengers, much more so than currently appreciated.

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-05-14 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Alvine Boaye Belle, Assistant Professor, , Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science York University
Humanity 101 for cyber-physical systems

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-05-28 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Jennifer Chen, Associate Professor, Chemistry, York University
Nanocrystals and their assemblies for sensing and imaging

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-06-11 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar -Dr.Laleh Seyyed-Kalantari, Assistant Professor, Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science York University
Fair generative AI in the era of foundation models
Dr. R. Shayna Rosenbaum, Professor, Department of Phycology, York University
Assessing and improving engagement in protective behaviours during COVID-19

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-06-25 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Darius Rackus, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, TMU
Microfluidic tools for determining disease immunity

CRBI/CREATE Joint Conference - July 2024
2024-07-22 08:00 - 17:00
CREATE/CRBI joint CONFERENCE JULY 2024

The CREATE Technology-Enhanced Pharmaceutical Discovery (TEPD) and CRBI conference was held at York University on Monday July 22nd and Tuesday July 23rd. Day one featured academic, industrial partner and pharmaceutical guest speakers. Students were able to learn from field experts and connect with their peers and industry partners. Day two featured a presentation from Innovation York on Intellectual Property which provided students and other attendees with a broader understanding on this important topic . The two day event included student presentations from CREATE as well as students from various labs in Chemistry and Biology who presented their research.

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-11-26 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Sergey Krylov, Distinguished Research Professor, Chemistry York University
Enhancing the Reliability of Home Diagnostic Testing: Challenges and Solutions

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2024-12-10 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Derek Wilson, Professor Chemistry, York University
A tale of early and late stage anti-covid drug development

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-01-07 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Manos Papgelis, Associate Professor Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University
Mobility-based models for epidemic spreading

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-01-21 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Sebastian Magierowski, Associate Professor Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University
A Chip Designer’s Tour Across Virus Detection Land

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-02-04 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Christo El Morr, Professor School of Health Policy & Management, York University
Dr. Rachel da Silveira Gorman, Associate Professor School of Health Policy & Management, York University
AI and Disability Justice: “Decolonizing AI through community engagement and co-design

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-03-04 10:30 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Brian Kim, Assistant Professor Chemistry, York University
New Frontiers in CRISPR Technologies and Applications

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-03-28 12:30 - 13:30
CRBI Seminar – Dr. Qili Feng Professor in School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
Gene transcription regulation by DNA advanced structures
DNA advanced structures such as G4 and i-motif, have been found to play important roles in multiple biological processes. A large-scale genomic analysis of distribution and evolution of the DNA secondary structures in 37 representative species revealed that the number, density and ratios of advanced structures in the genomes gradually increased with evolution and enriched in the upstream regulatory regions of many genes, particularly transcription factor genes, suggesting that these DNA structures may have developed into an epigenetic regulation mechanism for gene transcription in genomes. Methylation modification and advanced structures in DNA molecules are two epigenetic regulation mechanisms for gene transcription. We found that the 5mC modification in G4 forming sequences inhibited the folding of the sequences into G4s. Suppression of whole-genome methylation led to a genome-wide increase in the abundance of G4s. Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and G4 CUT&Tag data from HeLa and K562 cells revealed that the hypomethylated sequences around transcriptional start sites (TSSs) had a much higher abundance of G4s than the hypermethylated sequences, suggesting a negative relationship between these two epigenetic mechanisms. G4 and i-motif structures were identified in the promoter of the transcription factor gene BmPOUM2, which regulates the expression of the wing disc cuticle protein gene (BmWCP4) during metamorphosis in Bombyx mori. Disruption or deletion of the G4 and i-motif structures by base mutation, anti-sense oligonucleotides (ASOs) , inhibitory ligands or knockout resulted in significant decrease in the activity of the BmPOUM2 promoter. Two transcription factors (BmLARK and BmILF) were was identified by pull-down experiment and proved to specifically bind to the G4 and i-motif structures, respectively, and activated the transcription of BmPOUM2. All the data indicate that DNA advanced structures function as an epigenetic regulation mechanism for gene transcription and participate in regulation of insect development.

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-04-01 10:45 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Marios Fokaefs Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, York University
“Supporting software engineering tasks in epidemiological research – An AI approach”

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-04-15 10:45 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Leo Chou, Assistant Professor, Molecular Engineering, University of Toronto “DNA-Scaffolded Materials for Biomedical Research and Applications”

Dr .Nima Tabatabaei, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering. York University
“Molecular-Specific and Label-Free Sensing and Imaging of Biological Samples”

CRBI/CIRC Seminar
2025-05-06 10:45 - 12:00
CRBI/CIRC Seminar – Dr. Teshager Dagne Associate Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University
Dr. Soren D. Frederiksen Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University

CREATE/CRBI Joint Conference - July 2025
2025-06-25 08:00 - 2025-06-26 17:00
The CREATE Technology-Enhanced Pharmaceutical Discovery (TEPD) and CRBI conference was held on Wednesday June 25th and Thursday June 26th at The Schulich Executive Learning Center, York University. The conference featured academic, industrial partner and academic guest speakers. Students were able to learn from a field experts and connect with their peers and industry partners. The two day event also included student presentations from the CREATE program as well as students from various labs who presented their research. Two poster sessions were also featured where six travel awards were presented to the most outstanding poster presentations.
CREATE-CRBI 2025 Conference Agenda

CRBI/TEPD Seminar
2025-09-08 12:15 - 13:15
Mike Che, PhD., York University: “Development of a Novel Lateral Flow Immunoassay (LFIA) Architecture for machine learning Applications and Incorporating Electrophoresis-Enhanced into fusion antibody-based COVID-19 LFIA for Signal Amplification”.
Quan Le, PhD., York University: “Determination of Absolute Injection Volume in Capillary Electrophoresis by the Capillary-Volume-Plateau Calibration (CVPC)”.

CRBI/TEPD Seminar
2025-09-22 12:15 - 13:15
Taranjot Kaur, MSc., York University: “Assessment of Cytochrome P450 Function in Individual Cancer Cells Using Cytometry of Reaction Rate Constant (CRRC)”.
Zhiyuan Mao, MSc., York University: “Enhancing ACTIS: Automation and Integration of Mass Spectrometry and Fluorescence Detection”.

CRBI/TEPD Seminar
2025-10-06 12:15 - 13:15
Ayesha Maqsood, PhD., York University: “Development of a Mass Spectrometry-based Proteomics Method for Clinical Diagnostics”.
Venita Sitahal, PhD., York University: “Identifying Small Molecule Binding Sites in Proteins using Conventional and Site-Specific HDX-MS”.

CRBI/TEPD Seminar
2025-10-20 12:15 - 13:15
Asghar Arshi, PhD., York University: “Investigating the oncogenic role of circSKA3 in ovarian cancer development as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target”.
Claire Gillespie, PhD., McMaster University: “The Pharmacokinetics of Oral Tetrahydrocannabinol and Cannabidiol across the spectrum of Glomerular Filtration Rate”.

CRBI/TEPD Seminar
2025-11-03 12:15 - 13:15
Dr. Sergey Krylov, Distinguished Research Professor, York University: “Bottlenecks in DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) Technology”.

CRBI/TEPD Seminar
2025-11-17 12:15 - 13:15
Huicong Wang, MSc., York University: “Developing a photochemical approach to sequencing m1G in RNA”.
Luca Di Fabio, PhD., York University: “Performance via Proximity: Studying proximity-induced enhancement of human neutrophil elastase in degradation of extracellular protein targets via DNA aptamer recruitment”.

CRBI/TEPD Seminar
2025-12-01 12:15 - 13:15
David Guo, PhD., University of Toronto: “Engineering DNA Origami with Tunable Immunogenicity via Scaffold Sequence Design”.
Shana Alexander, PhD., University of Toronto: “Tuning immunogenicity of DNA-nanoscaffolded immune complexes”.
