The CAB Seminar series is a weekly seminar held at the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Madrid. As the CAB is a multi-disciplinary research institute, these seminars cover current research in various areas of expertise including Astrophysics, Astrochemistry and Biology and advanced instrumentation, all related under the banner of Astrobiology. The seminars are given by world experts in their respective fields. The seminars are available to the public live via a link distributed via email announcements and are recorded and published online via our dedicated YouTube channel: Youtube link (link)

This webpage is dedicated to the 2023-2024 CAB Seminar Series which covers the period of 5th October 2023 to the 28th June 2024. Seminars from previous years are listed on this page: Previous Seminars (link)

Upcoming seminars are advertised via various mailing lists on the Monday of the week of the seminar. If you would like to suggest a speaker for a future seminar or add your mailing list to receive the announcements, please contact the Seminar Comision (seminarios@cab.inta-csic.es).

The CAB Seminar commission maintains a google calendar with details on upcoming seminars which can be viewed here (https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=Ym0wOHJuc3FiaHByNGF1anU5ZGJpMXE5ZGNAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ).

LIST OF SPEAKERS AND TOPICS

Dr. Julia Bodensteiner

November 17th, 2023

To Be or not to Be: the possible binary origin of classical Be stars

Binary interactions play an important role in the evolution of massive stars. Yet, the complex interaction physics as well as the outcome of the interactions remain poorly understood. A century-old question addresses the origin of the Be phenomenon, which occurs in ~20% of the early-type stars. Observationally, classical Be stars are classified as B-type stars with Balmer line emission, indicative of a circumstellar disk, which strongly correlates with rapid rotation of the star. The processes that lead to such high rotation rates are, however, still widely debated.

In my talk, I will discuss the different formation channels proposed for the formation of Be stars, especially the binary channel which invokes previous mass-transfer in binary systems as the origin of their spin-up. I will present observational evidence that suggests that the binary channel is predominant in the formation of massive Be stars. I will furthermore show that the few known Be binaries are indeed exotic systems with stripped or compact companions, and discuss what those can teach us about binary interaction physics.
Proteins containing BRICHOS domains have been implicated in an unusually broad spectrum of pathologies, including cancer, obesity, and two amyloid-like diseases. The BRICHOS domains themselves are characterized as intramolecular chaperones that actively prevent amyloid-like aggregation of the mature polypeptides within these proteins. By conducting a structural analysis that involves comparing AlphaFold models based on coevolution and considering sequence conservation, we have identified new members of this protein family in humans.

Link to the Video

Dr. Asunción Fuente
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA)
Spain

November 17th, 2023

The trail of sulphur: from molecular clouds to life SUL4LIFE

Sulphur is the tenth most abundant element in the Universe and is known to play a significant role in biological systems. Moreover, some sulphur compounds have been proposed as necessary catalysts to form amino acids in the interstellar medium. However, while the carbon and oxygen budgets have been extensively studied, sulphur is the only element whose gas-phase abundance is still uncertain by several orders of magnitude, hindering the usage of elemental sulphur abundance as a reliable tool to probe planet formation. This lack of information is due to the scarcity of observations, specially in protoplanetary disks, and the still large uncertainties in the sulphur chemical network. This project takes a decisive step to fix our knowledge of the sulphur chemistry with an innovative methodology that rests on three pillars: (i) To create an unprecedented database of high quality observations of sulphur-bearing molecules which allows us to trace the sulphur content from the natal molecular clouds to protoplanetary disks. (ii) To perform ab initio calculations and laboratory experiments to estimate the key reaction rates that are needed to fix the sulphur network and make chemical models reliable. Now, we know that the chemical composition of planet-forming disks is to a large extent inherited from the earliest phases of star formation. (iii) To perform bi-fluid (gas+dust) 3D magneto-hydrodynamics simulations with chemistry coupled (chemo-MHD) to follow the chemical evolution of the material from the natal cloud to the planet-forming sites, and hence, to obtain accurate chemical predictions. At the end, this project will disentangle how sulphur was delivered to protoplanetary disks, which is an essential step to understand planet formation and the emergence of life.

Link to the Video

Dr. Luis Sánchez-Pulido

January 12th, 2024

Analysis of Protein Function in the Twilight Zone of Homology Detection.

The identification of both sequence and structural similarities among proteins represents a potent method for deducing functional and evolutionary connections within both known and unknown proteins. This approach can yield experimentally tractable hypotheses, contributing to an enhanced comprehension of protein functions.

Proteins containing BRICHOS domains have been implicated in an unusually broad spectrum of pathologies, including cancer, obesity, and two amyloid-like diseases. The BRICHOS domains themselves are characterized as intramolecular chaperones that actively prevent amyloid-like aggregation of the mature polypeptides within these proteins. By conducting a structural analysis that involves comparing AlphaFold models based on coevolution and considering sequence conservation, we have identified new members of this protein family in humans.