PPSM Seminar

TBD

Speaker: Torsten Wedhorn (TU Darmstadt)Title: Moduli of truncated thingsAbstract: G-shtukas (classical and p-adic) for a reductive group G and their moduli spaces play an important role in the Langlands program (equi-characteristic and p-adic). Similarly, moduli spaces of G-displays can be viewed as period spaces for Shimura varieties in mixed characteristic. In this talk I will explain a general formalism how to construct moduli spaces of G-bundles on certain algebraic stacks. I will apply this formalism to construct and study moduli spaces of (truncated) G-shtukas, (truncated) G-displays, and (truncated) prismatic Breuil-Kisin-Fargues modules, focussing on the case of local G-shtukas

Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)Speaker: Aakanksha Singhvi, Ph.D. Affiliation: Associate Professor, Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutch Cancer Research CenterHost: Dr. Steve FlavellTalk title: Glial molecular heterogeneity and roles in neural function, aging, and Parkinson’s diseaseAbstract: Molecular interactions between the two major cell types of the nervous system, glia and neurons, underlie neural development and functions. Compared to neurons, however, molecular understanding of glial functions remains sparse. Beyond fundamental insight into how the nervous system works, this critical knowledge gap is also disease-relevant, given that glial dysfunction is seen in many neurological disorders.My lab investigates glia biology in vivo at single-cell resolution using C. elegans as a powerful molecular-genetic platform that we helped establish. We previously identified glial factors that modulate neuron properties, uncovered that tricellular epithelia-glia-neuron mechanobiology coupling impacts neural aging, and built the complete molecular atlas of C. elegans glia – which revealed extensive molecular heterogeneity and sex-dimorphism across nervous system glia.We had also previously discovered that glial engulfment/pruning is a conserved function in C. elegans and found that glia dynamically modulate engulfment based on neuron activity. Engulfment of neuron-fragments is a critical and disease-linked, but molecularly less-defined, glial function. We now report our finding that multiple genes linked to Parkinson’s disease (PD), the fastest growing neurodegenerative disorder, act in glia to regulate glial engulfment downstream of neuron activity. Further, mechanistically these genes act differently in glia compared to their reported neuronal roles, via a pathway conserved in humans. Thus, our findings link glial engulfment to PD; and highlight the importance of evaluating disease-gene functions by (glial) cell-context for complete assessment of their roles in disease etiology.

Becoming Ungovernable: Hill Peoples, Decentralized Resistance and Buddhist Nationalism in Southeast Asiapresented by : Dr David Thang Moe, Research Affiliate, MIT Center for International StudiesWhy does the central state, shaped by Buddhist nationalism, become an enemy of ethnic and religious minorities in Hill Southeast Asia—a region referred to as Zomia by James Scott and others? In what ways do decentralized resistance movements across Southeast Asia’s villages and valleys—particularly in Myanmar and its diasporic communities—challenge the military power of the central state? How might ungovernable communities in these hill areas reimagine a new nation that moves beyond Buddhist state nationalism and military dictatorship? Drawing on his firsthand experiences and his forthcoming monograph, Beyond Buddhist Nationalism (Oxford University Press), David Moe will explore the politics of civil war, Buddhist nationalism, ethnic conflict, everyday forms of decentralized resistance, diasporic mobilization, efforts toward ethnic reconciliation, and a new vision for a democratic and inclusive future of nationhood.

Student authors will read from their work collected in this year's edition of Angles. There will be light refreshments.Co-hosted by Comparative Media Studies/Writing and MIT Libraries.