John H. Blaffer Lecture Series
Each week from September through May, an internationally recognized scientist is invited to speak and present his or her latest results. Students have the opportunity to meet and interact with these distinguished scientists, and each year they are encouraged as a group to select, invite and host a speaker for one of the Blaffer lectures.
Onstead Auditorium, BSRB Room S3.8012, 4:00 p.m.
Onstead Auditorium is accessible from the Main MD Anderson Bldg, via the 3rd/4th floor Tan Zone skybridges and the front entrance to the BSRB at 6767 Bertner.
Fall 2013
September 24
Speaker: Karen Avraham, Ph.D. Tel Aviv University, Israel
Title: “The Genomics of Deafness: Gene Discovery and MicroRNA Regulation”
Host: Bill Klein (BMB)
October 3 (Thursday)
Hickey Auditorium, R11.1400
Please note different day and location
Speaker: Franziska Michor, Ph.D. Harvard – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Title: “Evolutionary Dynamics of Tumor Heterogeneity”
Host: Nicholas Navin (GEN)
October 8
Speaker: Ihor Lemischka, Ph.D. Mount Sinai Hospital – Black Family Stem Cell Institute, New York, NY
Title: “Pluripotency and Beyond”
Host: Elsa Flores (BMB)
October 15
Speaker: Inke Näthke, Ph.D. University of Dundee, United Kingdom
Title: “Changes in Cell and Tissue Architecture Produced by Mutations in Adenomatous Polyposis Coli in Early Stages of Colon Cancer”
Host: Andrew Gladden (GEN)
October 22
Speaker: Gregory David, Ph.D. New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY
Title: “Chromatin Modifiers: At the Nexus of Transcription and Cancer”
Host: Xiaobing Shi (BMB)
October 29
Speaker: Andrew Futreal, Ph.D. MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Title: “The Somatic Genetic Architecture of Cancer: Insights from Large-scale Sequencing Efforts”
Host: Ralf Krahe (GEN)
Sponsored by Center for Genetics & Genomics
November 5
Speaker: Jody Rosenblatt, Ph.D. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Title: “Epithelial Apoptosis: Death by Extrusion”
Host: Michael Galko (BMB)
November 12
Speaker: Erik M. Jorgensen, Ph.D. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Title: “Ultrafast Synaptic Vesicle Endocytosis: Revisiting Heuser and Reese in the 21st Century”
Host: Swathi Arur (GEN)
November 19
Speaker: Lynn Cooley, Ph.D. Yale Medical School, New Haven, CT
Title: “Intercellular Communication During Drosophila Oogenesis: The Many Roles of Ring Canals”
Host: Gregory May (LAB MED)
December 3
Speaker: Raffaella Sordella, Ph.D. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Title: “Precision Medicine and New Challenges for the Anti-cancer Research”
Host: Nicholas Navin (GEN)
December 10
Speaker: Catherine Dulac, Ph.D. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Title: “Molecular Architecture of Social Behavior in the Mouse”
Host: Randy Johnson (BMB)
For further information contact Salbi Kassardjian (Genetics) at 713-834-6337 or Doris Green (BMB) at 713-834-6267.
Blaffer Journal Club
The weekly Blaffer Journal Club features the presentation and discussion of a paper from each Blaffer speaker’s lab, on the Thursday prior to their lecture. Everyone in G&D and the Depts. of Genetics and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology is invited to participate.
BSRB 14th Floor Conference Room S14.8136, Noon-1:00 p.m.
Journal Club: Thursday 10/10
Speaker: Patty Dimarco (Gladden lab)
Article: “Tumorigenic fragments of APC cause dominant defects in directional cell migration in multiple model systems” Nelson et al, Disease Models and Mechanisms 2012 5(6):940-7. Link to article
For 10/15 Blaffer Lecture: Inke Näthke, Ph.D., University of Dundee, United Kingdom
“Changes in Cell and Tissue Architecture Produced by Mutations in Adenomatous Polyposis Coli in Early Stages of Colon Cancer”