Ferrell
It is very easy for biochemists to destroy the organization of living cells-just put the cells in a blender and turn it on. But after you do that, is there any chance the homogenized cells will return to their normal organized state? This seemed like too slim a possibility to even be worth testing. But in the course of some other studies of a homogenized cell system-frog egg extracts-one of my postdocs, Xianrui Cheng, noticed that these extracts have an almost spooky ability to spontaneously turn into what looks a lot like a sheet of well-organized cells. And the "cells" in these sheets of "cells" can, under the right circumstances, be made to divide into daughter cells. These findings suggest that the ability to self-organize into cell-like structures is basic property of living matter.

Han
Every biologic organism has a unique body pattern such as fingerprints, irises, palm prints, and faces. These distinct biometric patterns on the body represent a person's unique signature and identity. In this digital era, the main problems with the use of biometric data are the misuse of personal data and privacy issues. As more digital applications request people to input their biometric data as a more convenient and secure method of identification, the possibility of losing their personal data and identities may increase. The phenomenon of biometric data abuse causes one to question what the notion of "real" identity means and what methods can be used to define identity and hidden narratives. The questions of identification and the insecurity of biometric data have become my inspiration, providing artistic approaches to the manipulation of biometric data and having the potential to suggest new directions for solving the problems. This talk will focus on two biometric data artworks: Digiti Sonus (2012-2013) and Eyes (2018). Digiti Sonus is an interactive fingerprint sonification or interactive sound installation that transforms human's fingerprints into musical sound. The idea is to allow audience to explore their own identities through unique sound generated by their fingerprint patterns based on algorithmic computing and a physical device. Eyes is an interactive art installation and a series of biometric data artworks with my previous artwork Digiti Sonus. It's an interactive biometric data art that transforms human's Iris data into musical sound and 3D animated image.

Duniven
Global Peace Train, a Colorado-based nonprofit, turns everyday activities into games to further fundraising, education, and outreach. Executive Director, Aja Duniven, created a technique for nonprofit leaders to engage their populace using a toy or stuffed animal as a way to research the issues the community is facing and create an avatar to establish the gameplay and begin the creation story. The avatars are uploaded into augmented and virtual reality and used with blockchain technology to prove altruistic outcomes and tell inspiring stories. Aja's presentation will include real-world examples of this technology in action, focusing on the Sammy Bear avatar, connected to sustainable housing and the challenges that come with homelessness.

Weissman
Our research encompasses the phylogeny and developmental biology of the cells that make up the blood-forming and immune systems. His laboratory identified and isolated the blood-forming stem cell from mice, and has defined, by lineage analysis, the stages of development between the stem cells and mature progeny (granulocytes, macrophages, etc.). This required developing and cloning stromal cells of the hematolymphoid microenvironments from the bone marrow for myeloid and B cells, and from the thymus for T cells. While the adhesion molecules and factors from these stromal cells proved important as molecules (and the genes that encode them) for myeloid and B cells, the analysis of T cell development required in vivo studies of thymic development. In addition, our laboratory has pioneered the study of the genes and proteins involved in cell adhesion events required for lymphocyte homing to lymphoid organs in vivo, either as a normal function or as events involved in malignant leukemic metastases. The term "stem cell" refers to any cell capable of growing more of itself. In most cases people refer to pluripotent, or embryonic, stem cells, which have the ability to become any cell in the body; but there are also adult stem cells, which are more limited in the kinds of cells that they can create. Unfortunately there are also tumor stem cells. Note that we do not use transgenic methods for human brain stem cells, but the brain stem cells themselves. The transplants into immunodeficient mouse brains showed the properties of normal human brain stem cells within a brain context wherein we show site appropriate stem cell self-renewal, migration and differentiation to neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. The mice also can be both immune deficient and have a disease that we are testing human brain stem cells have a therapeutic regenerative potential.