Upcoming Events
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June 12, 2024: Dr. Ali Jawaid, the head of the Laboratory for Translational Research in Neuropsychiatric Disorders (TREND) at Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland will present a seminar “Can our fats preserve and propagate our traumas?” at the Life Sciences Center on June 12th (Wednesday) 02:00 PM in R401 auditorium. Title: Can our fats preserve and propagate our traumas? Abstract: Traumatic experiences, especially during childhood, constitute a major risk factor for neuropsychiatric and metabolic disorders later in life. Emerging evidence suggests that the effects of childhood traumatic experiences are transmissible across generations. However, the signalling pathways implicated in the long-term effects and intergenerational transmission of childhood trauma have, thus far, remained elusive. Employing synergistic investigations in human trauma cohorts from three different countries, ethologically relevant animal models, and innovative cellular approaches- Jawaid lab has identified a key role for lipid metabolism in the long-term sequelae and intergenerational transmission of the effects of childhood trauma. This conference will encompass the remarkable body of biomedical research led by Jawaid et al. on the metabolic basis of neuropsychiatric disorders over the last 10 years. Speaker Biosketch: Dr. Ali Jawaid is a physician-scientist with training in both clinical and basic neuroscience. He completed his medical studies from Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, and followed it up with a fellowship in Neuropsychiatry from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. He then proceeded to complete an MD-PhD in Neuroscience from Switzerland (simultaneous PhD degrees awarded by UZH/ETH International Program in Neuroscience and UZH MD-PhD program in 2016). Dr. Ali Jawaid currently heads the Laboratory for Translational Research in Exposures and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (TREND Lab) at the BRAINCITY: Center of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, a partnership between the Polish Academy of Science and European Molecular Biology Laboratories (EMBL). Dr. Jawaid has worked extensively in the fields of childhood trauma, memory, neurodegenerative disorders, neuroepigenetics, and epigenetic inheritance. He has authored 75+ publications, in notable scientific journals, such as Nature Neuroscience, Nature Human Behavior, Neuron, Nature Communications, Trends in Genetics, EMBO Journal, and Molecular Neurodegeneration and has a current H-index of 29. He is also a scholar of the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence, a platform of 30 most prominent Neuroscientists in Europe within 15 years of their PhD. He is a fiction author, poet, and virtual-reality enthusiast outside of scientific work. |
Past Events
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November 24, 2023:
Date: November 24, 2023 (Friday) Organization of the lecture is supported by Thermo Fisher Scientific Abstract: There is an unmet clinical need to develop new treatments for many genetic diseases, such as cardiomyopathies. We aim to develop CRISPR technologies specifically for the safe and efficient application in human heart cells. This talk will focus on the engineering of base and prime editors and the current state of clinical translation. Moreover, I will report on how we use gene editing tools in human cardiomyocytes and heart organoids to model both disease development and new genetic treatments. Biosketch: Julian Grünewald is a physician-scientist, Emmy Noether group leader, and Assistant Professor of Gene Editing at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). His lab is focused on engineering new CRISPR technologies for research and therapeutic applications in cardiovascular medicine. After medical school and training as a resident of internal medicine, Julian trained as a postdoc in the laboratory of J. Keith Joung at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. |
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2023-11-08: Prof. Haruhiko Koseki (RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Japan) will have a seminar Polycomb-mediated gene silencing in development and homeostasis on November 8, 2023, 10 AM, VU LSC room R101. More: Polycomb-mediated gene silencing in development and homeostasis Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are key players of epigenetic processes, such as X chromosome inactivation, cell fate determination and cancer development. They form at least two distinct multimeric protein complexes, PRC1 and PRC2, which are mainly targeted to development/differentiation-related genes containing CpG islands (CGIs) and contribute to their silencing by mediating histone H2AK119 mono-ubiquitination and H3K27 trimethylation, respectively. PcG-target genes often exhibit dynamic changes in their expression during developmental process. KDM2B is a core component of PRC1 and recognizes CGIs by CxxC motif. KDM2B also possesses F-box and stably forms complexes with SKP1A, which potentially links PRC1 with Ubiquitin-Proteasome system (UPS). SKP1A bound to CGIs via KDM2B is shown to contribute to evict PRC2 by linking them with UPS in receipt of activating signals and activate PcG-silenced genes.
Selected recent publications: Polycomb complexes PRC1 and PRC2 are each essential for maintenance of X inactivation in extraembryonic lineages. PCGF1-PRC1 links chromatin repression with DNA 1 replication during hematopoietic cell lineage commitment. Variant PCGF1-PRC1 links PRC2 recruitment with differentiation-associated transcriptional inactivation at target genes. About the Speaker: Prof. Haruhiko KOSEKI is Deputy Director and Team Leader at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Yokohama and holds positions of Visiting Professor at Keio and Chiba Universities in Japan. He received his M.D and Ph.D from Chiba University, and then spent two years as a visiting HFSP researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute of Immunobiology in Freiburg, Germany. In 2001, he joined the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Yokohama where his research is focused on epigenetic regulation of organ development and stem cell functions, mediated by Polycomb group proteins and DNA methylation. His group is also involved in managing and generation of genetic resources for the transgenic animal facility affiliated to Yokohama Institute resources and the human iPS cell facility. |
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2023-10-24: On 24 October, Instruct-ERIC will organise a scientific meeting with the Lithuania structural biology community. In the two-hour meeting at the Vilnius University Life Sciences Center you will have an opportunity to meet experts from across the Instruct-ERIC community. 11:00 – Harald Schwalbe (Instruct-ERIC Director) 11:40 – Sarah Butcher (Instruct-FI, Chair of Council) 12:10 – Jose Maria Carazo (Instruct-ES, Vice-Chair of Council) 12:40 – Giedrė Tamulaitienė (Vilnius University) 13:00 – Session close We look forward to seeing you in Vilnius University Lifes Sciences Center, R401 auditorium, Saulėtekio al. 7, Vilnius! Instruct-ERIC is a European distributed research infrastructure making high-end technologies and methods in structural biology available to users. Instruct-ERIC is comprised of 16 Member Countries: Lithuania is a key member of Instruct, and structural biology researchers in Lithuania can receive funded access to high-end services and technologies in our 11 centres across Europe.
2023-10-18: Microbial single-particle tracking microscopy: CRISPR-Cas and beyond Single-particle tracking (spt) microscopy is a powerful method to visualise and track individual proteins and elucidate protein-DNA interactions in vivo with high spatio-temporal accuracy (<10 ms, <30 nm). Using spt, I investigated the (d)Cas9 target search in Lactococcus lactis, and show that dCas9 is screening protospacer-adjacent motifs (PAMs) 40% of the time, averaging just 17 ms per binding event. CRISPR-dCas target search is a system in equilibrium, indicating that experimental time can be indefinite. However, many biological systems are out-of-equilibrium, such as DNA repair: here, the biological mechanism of interest is resolved within 10 minutes, much faster than experimental time in spt. I will present instrument design and computational approaches to approach in vivo spt with much higher throughput: intelligent, autonomous ("self-driving"), multi-field-of-view single-molecule microscopy allows for more information per experiment, while new computational approaches (relative distance analysis; TARDIS) enables at least 10-fold higher single-molecule density in spt experiments. Speaker: Dr. Koen Martens Postdoc Institute for microbiology and biotechnology Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn About the speaker: Koen works in the lab of Ulrike Endesfelder (Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn). He studies biophysical processes in living cells with advanced single-molecule localization microscopy. Specifically he is focusing on dynamical protein interaction quantification in individual cells on the nanometer spatial scale and millisecond temporal scale. To this end, he have experience in computational quantitative single-molecule microscopy, microscope hardware development, and prokaryotic genomic manipulation.
2023-09-28: you are cordially invited to a seminar by Dr Peter Dedecker, researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium), on 28 September at 10:00 AM in Room R401. He develops superresolution microscopy, fluorescent dyes and sensors, as well as working with live cells and in vitro samples. More information can be found here: https://www.chem.kuleuven.be/pd/ https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00046850 https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=JK4WqxoAAAAJ |
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2023-09-18: The Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University together with ‘Baltic Sandbox Ventures’ is organizing the discussion ‘Commercialization of Innovation - how to find your niche and formulate a value proposition?’, which will take place on September 18 from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at R101, in LSC. The event is organized together with the participants of the Life Sciences Baltics Startup Masterclasses program - early-stage startup teams. It is a great opportunity to interact and meet developers and learn more about commercialization and value proposition formulation. During the event, the incubation program organized by Baltic Sandbox Ventures together with the Center for Life Sciences will be presented. We are looking for teams that conduct research and development in health or deep technologies with potential for commercial application. The aim of the program is to help teams with a science-based idea with commercialization potential to further develop and invest in it. Baltic Sandbox Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in life sciences and slime technology startups. The foundation also organizes acceleration and incubation programs. Incubation programs for early-stage teams who are given the opportunity to receive a grant of up to EUR 5,000 per team member (up to EUR 15,000 per team)* to develop their project.
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2023-06-02:
Abstract
The prokaryotic immune system CRISPR-Cas9 has been repurposed as high-precision scissors for genetic engineering, and has rapidly become an indispensable tool in the field. However, Cas9 is not perfect, as it also cleaves off-target DNA sites, which is a major obstacle for applications like human gene therapy.
CRISPRzipper is a physics-based model that simulates the mechanistic steps with which Cas9 interacts with a DNA target. By training the model on in vitro data, it shows the site-dependent free energy landscape that Cas9 experiences during target recognition. CRISPRzipper’s landscapes give insight into the complex’s interaction with DNA, and can be deployed as a powerful off-target identification tool. We are expanding the model to make it more precise and generalizable, and with these efforts, we hope to support many future CRISPR applications.
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2023-04-25:
Prof. Yohei Hayashi from RIKEN institute, Japan Seminar Register with the QR
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2023-03-23:
Date: March 23 (Thursday) |
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2023-03-20: Seminar + Discussion – March 24, 11 AM – 12 PM Commercialising Innovation: Academia versus/con Entrepreneurship? Is there really a dichotomy between academia and scientific entrepreneurship? Sometimes seen as competing paths for scientists picking their career direction, can the two sectors be complementary and contribute to one another? If yes, what is the path at their intersection; if no, how can young talents navigate the turns from one sector to another? These are the questions to be tackled by a panel discussion hosted by the Vilnius University Life Sciences Center on the sidelines of its annual career week. Our speakers come from different walks of life and will therefore present their own perspectives:
Moderator: Andrius Milinavičius, General Partner, Baltic Sandbox Ventures. Please pass by the auditorium R401 on Friday, March 24, to bring in your own questions and challenge the perspectives of our speakers! The event is in English. |
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2023-03-15: we would like to invite you to a seminar ‚Mass photometry: A new way of characterizing biomolecules‘ by Tomás de Garay Ph.D. (from REFEYN company) that will take part next Wednesday, on March 15 at 3 PM in a room R401 (moved from R102) (VU LSC, Saulėtekio al. 7, Vilnius). Mass photometry is a revolutionary new way to analyse molecules. It enables the accurate mass measurement of single molecules in solution, in their native state and without the need for labels. This approach opens up new possibilities for bioanalytics and research into the functions of biomolecules. |
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2023-01-20:
Please find attached Bio-sketch and lecture abstract.
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2022-12-21: Everyone is invited to attend Barney Potter's seminar on December 21, 2022 titled "Human migration patterns shape hepatitis B diversity" (in English) at 10:00 in room R101. Barney Potter is currently doing his PhD with prof. Guy Baele, in KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium). Barney earned his bachelor's at Reed College (Portland, Oregon) and interned with prof. Trevor Bedford at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (Seattle, Washington) where he contributed to nextstrain.org, a widely used genomic epidemiology platform. Abstract:
"Infection by hepatitis B virus (HBV) is responsible for approximately 296 million chronic cases of hepatitis B, and roughly 880,000 deaths annually. The global burden of HBV is distributed unevenly, largely owing to the heterogeneous geographic distribution of its subtypes, each of which demonstrates different severity and responsiveness to antiviral therapy. It is therefore crucial to the global public health response to HBV that the spatiotemporal spread of each genotype is well characterized. In this study, we describe a collection of 133 newly-sequenced HBV strains from recent African immigrants upon their arrival in Belgium. We incorporate these sequences – all of which we determine to come from genotypes A, D, and E – into a large-scale phylogeographic study with genomes sampled across the globe. We focus on investigating the spatio-temporal processes shaping the evolutionary history of the three genotypes we observe. We incorporate several recently published ancient HBV genomes for genotypes A and D to aid our analysis. We show that different spatio-temporal processes underlie the A, D and E genotypes with the former two having originated in southeastern Asia, after which they spread across the world. The HBV E genotype is estimated to have originated in Africa, after which it spread to Europe and the Americas. Our results highlight the use of phylogeographic reconstruction as a tool to understand the recent spatiotemporal dynamics of HBV, and highlight the importance of supporting vulnerable populations in accordance with the needs presented by specific HBV genotypes."
If you would like to meet Barney Potter one-on-one please write to with a desired date and time. Barney will be in Lithuania until January 3. I would especially encourage junior colleagues to use this opportunity not only to get to know Barney's research topic but to learn about different higher education systems, possibilities to intern abroad, etc. After the seminar on December 21 Barney Potter and myself will go for dinner to San Diego (Antakalnio g. 17, Sapiegos park) at 18:00 if you prefer a more informal environment for interactions.
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2022-12-13: We kindly invite to Dr Ramūnas Stepanauskas (Single Cell Genomics Center (SCGC), Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, JAV) presentation Genomes and phenomes of microbial individuals in their natural environment Date: December 13 (Tuesday) Laikas: 2 PM Location: Room R402 VU LSC (7 Saulėtekio Ave, Vilnius) More about lecturer: https://www.bigelow.org/about/people/rstepanauskas.html |
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2022-12-09:
Date: December 9 (Friday) Time: 11:30 AM Location: Room R102, VU LSC (7 Saulėtekio Ave, Vilnius) Link to view the Talk online |
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2022-11-25: We kindly invite to Dr Jorūnė Sakalauskaitė (EMBO Postdoctoral fellow) seminar "Search for ancient proteins: the present & the future of palaeoproteomics". Data: November 25 (Friday) |
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2022-10-28: You are invited to the information session of the "Horizon Europe" 2023-2024 work programme. |
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2022-10-07:
Place: VU Life Sciences Center, 7 Saulėtekio Ave, R402 (4th floor) For remote participation, please join using this link: https://inx.lv/redirect/PyDM |
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2022-10-04: At 6 PM ‘Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe’, a public lecture by Prof. William Daniel Phillips, Nobel Laureate in Physics and Distinguished Investigator of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, will take place in the Grand Auditorium (R 106) of the VU Life Sciences Centre. This public lecture by W.D. Phillips will provide the audience with exciting experimental demonstrations and a straightforward account of the hottest (and coldest) modern physical science. In the early 20th century, Einstein changed the way we look at time. Now, in the early 21st century, the measurement of time is being revolutionised by the ability to cool atomic gases to temperatures millions of times lower than any naturally occurring temperature in the Universe. Atomic clocks, the best timers ever made, are one of the wonders of modern science and technology. Such ultra-precise clocks are indispensable in industry, commerce and science - they are at the heart of satellite navigation systems that guide cars, planes and travellers to their destinations. While today's best primitive atomic clocks, using ultracold atoms, achieve an accuracy of a few seconds over 300 million years, the next generation of atomic clocks is forcing us to redefine what time means. Extremely cold atoms, which can be less than a billionth of a degree above absolute zero, allow us to test some of Einstein's wildest predictions and theories. The lecture is organised by the Faculty of Physics of Vilnius University. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in English. No registration is required. You can watch the lecture on Youtube: William D. Phillips' public lecture "Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe" at VU - YouTube |
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2022-09-28:
The lecture will be held on September 28 (Wednesday), starting at 2 PM at the Life Sciences Center R401 a. |
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2022-09-22:
Dear Colleagues, Our colleague María Fernanda Torres Jiménez invites us to the discussion and screening of the documentary “Zafire” on Amazon expeditions in Colombia, where Maria Fernanda took part herself. Screening is scheduled for Thursday, September 22, starting at 21:00 Lithuanian time. The event is hosted by the Paris-based L’Académie du Climat (The Climate Academy). The documentary follows one of her fieldwork expeditions to the Amazon in Colombia and it is a recollection of thoughts around diversity, science, and conservation. Although it is part of the work Maria Fernanda did for her previous university, she is participating as a researcher from Vilnius University.
(it asks for a password, if you are interested, please ask for password Maria Fernanda directly at ) Maria Fernanda Torres Jimenez, Ph.D. |
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2022-06-10: A delegation from the University of Marburg (Germany) will visit VU LSC. At 2 PM, Prof. Dr. Gert Bange and Prof. Dr. Anke Becker will give a speach ‘Research at the Center for Synthetic Microbiology at the University of Marburg’. The lecture will take place in room R401.
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2022-06-09:
We invite you to dr. Sigitas Šulcius webinar "Cyanophage control of carbon and nitrogen cycling: from cells to community". Data: June 9 (Thursday) Time: 14:00-15:00 EEST Join webinar using this link: http://inx.lv/HrjS
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2022-05-20:
Data: May 20 (Friday) Time: 14:00-15:00 EST Location: Room R401. For remote participation, access using this link: http://inx.lv/riKU More information about Dr. Darius Balčiūnas
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2022-04-01: 1 pm dr Rytis Prekeris (University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, USA) will give a lecture "Molecular mechanics of cell division: from cytoskeletal dynamics to RNA transport and targeting". The event will be conducted in a hybrid way – on-site in auditorium R401-R402 and remotely using this link: The event will be held in English. Dr Rytis Prekeris studies the aspects of cells biology such as cell migration, division, polarization, RNA, and protein transport. The program of the course in Lithuania.
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2022-02-11: We invite you to Dr Mindaugas Zaremba ir Dr Marijonas Tutkus seminar "Protein-nucleic acids interactions: from ensemble to single-molecule level". The seminar will be held on February 11 (Friday), starting at 14:00 EST. It will be conducted in a hybrid way – on-site in room R401 and remotely using this link: http://inx.lv/Dl3R
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2021-12-22: 14:00 Dr Gytis Dudas will have a talk The Human Adaptive Immune System From The Virus' Perspective And The Issue With Omicron. This webinar will be in English.
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2021-12-01: 14:00. Prof Aurelija Žvirblienė webinar on Covid-19 serological tests and booster vaccines Webinar slides (in Lithuanian only) Webinar record (in Lithuanian only)
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2021-11-25: 18:00 Presentation of Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM team results
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2021-11-18: Visit of Prof Dr Edith Heard, Director General of the European Molecular Laboratory (EMBL).
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2021-11-16: 12:00 Instruct-ERIC ‘Structure Meets Function’ webinar.
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2021-11-12: We invite you to Dr Aurelijus Burokas seminar “Targeting the microbiota-gut-brain axis”. The seminar will be held remotely on November 12, 14:00 EST. Login link: http://inx.lv/AZ4X
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2021-11-05: We invite you to dr. Jorūnė Sakalauskaitė (University of Copenhagen) online seminar “Shell paleoproteomics: from biomineralization to characterization of ancient proteins protected in archeological mollusc shells”. Biosketch of Presenter: Jorune is a biomolecular scientist studying ancient shell proteins at the palaeoproteomics group, based in the GLOBE institute, University of Copenhagen. She has a background in Chemistry, with BAs from University of Vilnius and MCs in Spectroscopy from Universities of Helsinki & Lille. In 2021 she obtained her PhD in biological sciences and palaeontology from the University of Turin and University of Burgundy (Biogéosciences, CNRS) where she explored biomolecular approaches to study sub-fossil shells. The seminar will be held on November 5, 13:00 EST Online link: http://inx.lv/AjmF
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2021-09-15: All members of Vilnius University (VU) community are invited to participate in a remote lecture and discussion on COVID-19 vaccines on 15 September 2021 at 3 PM. During this meeting, prof. Dr Aurelija Žvirblienė, an immunologist at VU LSC, will briefly present the COVID-19 vaccines currently available in Lithuania, as well as research data on their efficacy. Online platfom - MSTeams, link https://bit.ly/3yXKb17 (login only with VU E-identity) Please note: the main language of the event is Lithuanian. Questions may also be asked in English. The professor will be able to answer them in English as well. Questions can be also submitted in advance via e-mail to
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2021-06-04: We kindly invite everyone to Dr Vytautas Smirnovas seminar "Group of Amyloid Research at VU Life Sciences Center“ Seminar will be held on 4th of June (Friday) at 14:00 (Room R402). Seminarwill be available online via Link
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2021-04-02: We kindly invite everyone to prof. R. Rakauskas online seminar "Biosystematic research of Eulachnini tribos aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae, Lachninae)". Seminar will be held on 2nd of April at 14:00 in Lithuanian. Online platfom - MSTeams, link http://tiny.cc/d04vtz
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We kindly invite you to the lecture of Dr. Julian Grünewald, an Assistant Professor of Gene Editing at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) on “Engineering CRISPR tools and editing strategies for clinical application”. 
Please join the VU LSC-EMBL Partnership Institute in welcoming Hidde Offerhaus of the Depken Laboratory at TU-Delft (Netherlands) for a seminar in R103 on Friday at 10:45AM. He will share about his efforts to biophysically model CRISPR-Cas9, in order to reveal its mechanisms and predict its activity.
We invite everyone to attend the seminar of Prof. Guy C. Brown, professor of Cellular Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge on "How to stop the brain eating itself in neurodegeneration ".
We kindly invite you to dr. Rokas Grigaitis, EMBO Postdoctoral fellow seminar "High-throughput in vitro biochemistry: from phage biology to genome editing".
We kindly invite to Dr. Melanie Conrad (Charite Medical University, Berlin, Germany) talk
10:00 Dr. Alessandro Atzeni will give a lecture "Analysis of human gut microbiota and associations with weight loss, insulin resistance and dietary patterns in the framework of a large clinical trial"
We invite you to prof. Guillermo Montoya (Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen) lecture „Understanding CRISPR-Cas dynamics and its allosteric mechanisms by cryo-EM“.
The event is open to everyone who wants to attend. It will be in Spanish and simultaneously translated into English and French. The link for attending is: 
You are invited to dr Darius Balčiūnas seminar "Zebrafish: the vertebrate model system for the 21st Century".