Manylabs Science Salon and Open House

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Come for the talks, explore our community science hacker space and stay for great conversations. Bring your business cards or other information to give to people; you never know who you're going to meet at Manylabs!

Featuring talks by the following science luminaries:

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Ben Novak, Lead Researcher, The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback

Passenger pigeons and the conservation ecology of de-extinction have been his life-long passion. In conjunction with his work for Revive & Restore, Ben is pursuing a Master’s degree at UCSC. His thesis dissertation will serve as an “ecological risk assessment” for the reintroduction of passenger pigeons to the eastern United States/Canadian forests. Research for this body of work will provide the foundation for our understanding of the genomics of de-extinction, the comprehensive design plan for the breeding and repopulation of de-extinct passenger pigeons, and the regulations and policies pertaining to de-extinction. Ben is leading The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback with the goal of setting the field standards for de-extinction protocols and considerations.

Ben Novak graduated from Montana State University studying Ecology and Evolution (2005). Novak specialized in paleontology, genetics, ecology and ornithology. Novak was trained in paleogenomics laboratory protocols at the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre under Dr. Hendrik Poinar, exploring DNA extraction and sequencing of Mastodon fossils (2010-2012). It was at this laboratory that Ben began his first studies of passenger pigeon genomics. With this experience he has taken on the challenge of leading The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback which began in 2012. In 2013 he joined the UCSC Paleogenomics Laboratory, under Dr. Beth Shapiro, to initiate genome studies for passenger pigeon de-extinction.

Ben works at the Long Now Foundation http://longnow.org

The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996* to develop the Clock (http://longnow.org/clock/) and Library projects (http://www.rosettaproject.org/), as well as to become the seed of a very long-term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide a counterpoint to today's accelerating culture and help make long-term thinking more common. We hope to foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.

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Peter Roopnarine, Curator of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology & Geology at the Cal Academy of Sciences

Peter Roopnarine studied biology at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada, where he developed an interest in marine systems and ecology. He received a B.Sc. in 1984, and then his M.S. in Ocean Sciences at Nova University Oceanographic Center in 1988. Graduate work on molluscs lead to a developing interest in paleontology, so he went on to receive a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of California at Davis in 1994. After Davis, he held an Assistant Professorship in Biology at Southeast Missouri State University for three years, but then moved to the University of Arizona as a research associate. Peter later moved to San Francisco in 1999 to join the California Academy of Sciences as the Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology and Geology. His research interests include molluscan systematics and evolutionary paleoecology, the quantification of patterns and rates of evolution in the fossil record, life in extreme environments, and the dynamics of extinction in paleo-food webs. His other interests include Linux, martial arts, single malts, and his daughter Rhiannon.

Peter's research is focused on the following areas:

Theory of extinction, mass extinctions, and community evolutionMathematical modeling of paleocommunity perturbative dynamics

Morphometric analysis of morphological integrationVenerid and corbulid bivalve evolution and systematics

Evolutionary ecology of Neogene tropical marine molluscs

Lightning talks by Manylabs residents!

From bio-hacking to internet of things, hear from our in house scientists, hackers and artists (https://www.manylabs.org/docs/general/workspace/) about what they are working on.

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SCHEDULE 6:30pm - 9.00pm

6:30 Network and food

7:00 Ben Novak presentation

7:20 Q & A with Ben

7:30 Lightning Talks

7:50 Break & Icebreaker

8:05 Peter Roopnarine presentation

8:25 Q & A with Peter

8:35 Hang out and mingle

Manylabs is a diverse community space focused on accessible open science projects. Our residents are educators, scientists, makers, artists and engineers. Manylabs is located in a three-story repurposed industrial space in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco. The first floor is an exhibit and event space, the second floor is a workshop, and the top floor houses our open office.

The event is also listed on Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/manylabs-science-salon-and-open-house-tickets-28154994346

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