Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies

May 2012
The Role of Gap Junction Proteins in Health and Disease

Principal Investigator: Christian Naus, Director, Life Sciences Institute and Professor, Cellular and Physiological Sciences, UBC and Co-organizer: Christian Giaume, Director, CIRB, Collège de France, Paris.

The objective of this international colloquium to be held May 3-4, 2012 at the Collège de France, Paris, is to provide a timely gathering of the scientific community working in the field of “gap junctions”, intercellular channels with distinct cellular functions in health and disease.

May 2011
Commensal Microbiota: From Homeostasis to Disease

Principal Investigator: Brett Finlay, Professor of Biochemistry and Microbiology and Peter Wall Distinguished Professor, UBC
 and Co-organizer: Philippe Sansonetti, Professor and Chair, Microbiology & Infectious Disease, Collège de France, and Professor, Pasteur Institute, Paris.

The Institute held its first Colloquium Abroad at its partner institute, the Collège de France, Paris, 23-24 May 2011. A one-day closed-door session for key speakers followed the public meeting.  This international colloquium took place during Professor Finlay's appointment at the Collège de France as a Wall Institute-nominated State Chair. The meeting detailed recent advances as well as background information in the fast moving field of the study of microbiota to significantly advance science in this area of research.

November 2011
"Many Voices One Song." Health-Promoting Schools: Evidence, Strategies, Challenges and Prospects

Principal Investigator, Andrew Macnab, Pediatrics and Urologic Sciences, UBC. The Institute held the colloquium abroad at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Stellenbosch, South Africa on November 9-11, 2011.

This colloquium brought together experts, and particularly stakeholders from sub-Saharan Africa, to review the lessons learned to date and define the key elements and optimum processes for establishing and sustaining effective Health-Promoting schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. The material will be incorporated into a comprehensive manual that will enable communities to establish, operate, sustain and evaluate health promoting schools.

November 2009
The HIV-Exposed but Uninfected Infant: How Can Excess Morbidity and Mortality be Explained?

Principal Investigator, David Speert, Pediatrics, UBC. 
Local organizers: Monica Esser, Tygerberg Hospital, and Ben Marais and Mark Cotton, Pediatrics, Stellenbosch University.

The Institute held its first Colloquium Abroad November 3-5, 2009 at one of the Institute’s partner institutes, the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Stellenbosch South Africa. The colloquium sought to explain why babies exposed to HIV but uninfected (“HEU”) by their mothers are at enhanced risk of poor health and development during the first year of life. At this international workshop were discussed the multiple dimensions of this problem in an attempt to plan a study in South Africa to explain this phenomenon. The collaborative aspects of the meeting contributed substantially to the preparation of a Wall Major Thematic Grant on the topic of HEU.

October 2011
Continuity in Energy Regimes: Failed Transitions and the Persistence of Sustainability

Principal Investigator: Richard Unger, Professor Emeritus of History, UBC and 2011 Wall Distinguished Scholar in Residence

This colloquium was co-organized and co-funded, with funds from the Wall Colloquia Abroad program, with our partner institute, the Technical University of Munich, Institute for Advanced Study (TUM-IAS) and was held at TUM-IAS, in Munich, Germany, on October 27-29, 2011.

September 2011
Coherence and Decoherence at Ultracold Temperatures

Principal Investigator: Moshe Shapiro, Professor of Chemistry, UBC

This colloquium was co-organized and co-funded, with funds from the Wall Colloquia Abroad program, with our partner institute, the Technical University of Munich, Institute for Advanced Study (TUM-IAS) and was held at TUM-IAS, Germany, September 6-9, 2011.

July 2011
Multimodal & Sensorimotor Bionics

Principal Investigator: Dinesh Pai, Professor of Computer Science, UBC and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair

. The Institute will hold a colloquium abroad at the Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich, Germany, July 25-28, 2011.

This colloquium was co-organized and co-funded, with funds from the Wall Colloquia Abroad program, with our partner institute, the Technical University of Munich, Institute for Advanced Study (TUM-IAS) and was held at the TUM-IAS.

The colloquium brought together an interdisciplinary group of experts from Europe and North America to try to understand basic principles underlying both biological sensorimotor systems such as human hands and robots, eye movements in humans and robotic vision systems. Other themes included the use of computational models to assist in diagnosis and treatment of sensorimotor pathologies and the design of high performance robots based on biological principles.