The Caltech Associates

Sarkis Mazmanian, Caltech’s Luis B. and Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology, will join us tomorrow night at The Lotos Club in New York City to talk about his team’s study of the connection between the gut microbiome and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

In their research, they discovered a novel gut-brain interaction in animal models. This discovery informed a pilot human study in which a drug targeting the microbiome was shown to be associated with improvements in anxiety and irritability in trial participants. Their findings suggest that changes in the microbiome regulate behaviors associated with ASD, and could lead to a new approach for improving the lives of people with autism.

See all of our upcoming spring 2024 events on our website:
https://associates.caltech.edu/events

Caltech’s Katherine Bouman and her team made headlines when they captured the first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Next Tuesday, at a Caltech Associates event at Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa, Professor Bouman will describe the techniques her team developed to produce that image using the Event Horizon Telescope—a network of telescopes around the globe—and the challenges of accounting for time-variability using this method.

She will also discuss the still-unanswered scientific questions that motivate her team to continue improving this computational telescope to see black hole phenomena that remain invisible to us, as well as the techniques the researchers are developing to extract the evolving structure of Sagittarius A*.

See all of our upcoming spring 2024 events on our website:
https://associates.caltech.edu/events

In this image, Streptococcus bacteria (green) are seen aggregated around host cells (orange) and host cell nuclei (blue). Unlike animals and plants, bacteria can eat and respire an extraordinary range of nutrients. Understanding this defining feature of bacterial biology can be leveraged to control their growth.

After an elegant dinner in a private home tomorrow night, we’ll hear from Professor Dianne Newman, Caltech’s Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology. Professor Newman will share how her team built upon knowledge of bacterial anaerobic respiration to develop a new strategy to treat chronic infections caused by a bacterium resistant to antibiotics and commonly found in wound infections, including those associated with implanted medical devices such as catheters and ventilators.

See all of our upcoming winter/spring 2024 events on our website.

https://associates.caltech.edu/events

Our 2024 programming kicks off next Tuesday with a fascinating topic: brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). BMIs consist of tiny electrodes that record brain activity, together with machine learning algorithms that interpret the person’s intent. They can enable people with paralysis to control external assistive devices with their thoughts.

Richard Andersen, Caltech’s James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience and holder of the T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center Leadership Chair, is a pioneer in studying the neurobiological underpinnings of brain processes. His discovery of how the brain signals a person’s intent is helping to inform the development of BMI technology.

His team is collaborating on methods to enable study participants to control robotic limbs and operate computer software that, in turn, has enabled them to drink a beverage, play a computer piano— and even drive an automobile! “Bi-directional” BMIs can supplement the control of a robotic limb with an artificially induced sense of touch. The team is also working on BMIs with the potential to decode the inner dialog we have with ourselves toward the end of restoring speech.

See all of our upcoming winter/spring 2024 events on our website: https://associates.caltech.edu/events

Imaging Breakthroughs Provide Insight into the Dynamic Architectures of HIV Proteins Caltech researchers have developed a protocol for taking the first images of HIV as it undergoes a complex shape-shifting process.

The Remains of an Ancient Planet Lie Deep Within Earth The remnants of an ancient planet that collided with Earth to form the Moon lie deep within the earth, according to a new model from Caltech researchers and collaborators.

As part of the 73rd season of the Caltech Playreaders, The Escape, directed by Joann Doyle, is tonight at 6:30 p.m. In this version of the classic confrontation between a man and the Devil, author and Caltech alum, David Brin constructs an irreverent and fantastical nether world.

More: https://events.caltech.edu/calendar/caltech-playreaders-73rd-season-the-escape?utm_medium=social-organic&utm_campaign=events-other&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=&utm_term=

A rendering of the future Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing by Living Habitats, the landscape architecture firm leading the design of the project in collaboration with state and local agencies. Caltech Associates members will visit the project site this Saturday, November 4! We’ll be joined by Caltech assistant professor of geobiology Julia Tejada and Robert Rock, the principal and COO of Living Habitats.

When completed in 2025, The Annenberg Foundation's Wildlife Crossing will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world. Overcrossing U.S. Route 101 to reconnect the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills in Agoura Hills, California, this bridge will help restore and protect what is considered a biodiversity hotspot—one of only 36 such places in the world—and allow mountain lions and other wildlife to move freely throughout a habitat that has been bisected by human development.

We’re excited about our tour this Friday of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), where we’ll learn about the future of fusion energy from Dr. Tammy Ma, a graduate of Caltech who now leads the Inertial Fusion Energy Institutional Initiative at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Ma is a member of the team that achieved fusion ignition at NIF, for the first time in history deriving more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. This photo by Damien Jemison was taken inside a NIF preamplifier support structure.

See all of our upcoming events on our website: https://associates.caltech.edu/events

When completed in 2025, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world. Overcrossing U.S. Route 101 to reconnect the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills in Agoura Hills, California, this bridge will help restore and protect what is considered a biodiversity hotspot—one of only 36 such places in the world—and allow numerous species to freely move throughout a habitat that was bisected by human development.

Our family-friendly day trip to the Annenberg Wildlife Crossing on Saturday, November 4, will include brunch and a presentation by Julia Tejada, assistant professor of geobiology, who will explore how geological processes, climate change, and biotic interactions have changed and shaped the structure of mammalian communities through time.

See all of our upcoming events on our website: https://associates.caltech.edu/events

In December 2022, a team at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) conducted the first controlled fusion experiment to reach “breakeven,” producing more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. On July 30, 2023, the team succeeded again, yielding even better results.

This image is a rendering of the inside of NIF’s target chamber, showing the target positioner moving into place. Pulses from NIF’s high-powered lasers race through the facility at the speed of light and arrive at the center of the target chamber within a few trillionths of a second of each other, aligned to the accuracy of the diameter of a human hair.

On Friday, October 27, the Caltech Associates will visit NIF for a private tour with Dr. Tammy Ma, an alumna of Caltech who leads the Inertial Fusion Energy Institutional Initiative at NIF.

See all of our upcoming events on our website: https://associates.caltech.edu/events