Conferences & Events
John H. Blaffer Lecture Series
Each Tuesday from September through April, 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. Swathi Arur, Ph.D., is the chair and coordinator of the Blaffer Lecture Series.
The Spring 2025 Blaffer Lecture Series is an in-person opportunity. Please check the MD Anderson Calendar for upcoming lectures.
For further information on a lecture, please contact Lisa M. Watson, series coordinator, at lmwatson@mdanderson.org.
Tuesdays, 12–1 p.m.
Onstead Auditorium (BSRB S3.8012)
September through April
Spring 2025 Blaffer Schedule (In-Person)
February 4, 2025
Speaker: Benjamin Deneen, Ph.D., Chief, Professor and Dr. Russell J. and Marian K. Blattner Chair, Center for Cancer Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine
Title of Talk: “Glial Control of Brain Tumors and Brain Circuits”
Host: Sadhan Majumder, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
February 11, 2025
Speaker: Liron Bar-Peled, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research, MGH Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School Department of Medicine
Title of Talk:“Identification of Druggable and Redox Vulnerabilities in Cancer”
Host: Boyi Gan, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
February 18, 2025
Speaker: Apkar V. Apkarian, Ph.D., Director, Center for Translational Pain Research, Professor of Neuroscience, Anesthesiology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Title of Talk: “Multi-Molecular Brain Adaptations with Long Term Opioid Use in Chronic Pain'”
Host: Sadhan Majumder, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
February 25, 2025
Speaker: Harinder Singh Ph.D., Professor, Department of Immunology and Director, Center for Systems Immunology, University of Pittsburgh
Title of Talk: “Expanding the Lexicon of the Mammalian Transcriptional Regulatory Code”
Host: Abhinav Jain, Ph.D., Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis
March 4, 2025
Speaker: William Freed-Pastor, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Investigator, Hale Family Center For Pancreatic Cancer Research, Department Of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Title of Talk: "Cryptic Antigens as Novel Therapeutic Targets in Pancreas Cancer""
Host: Gigi Lozano Ph.D., Department of Genetics
March 18, 2025 — Rescheduled for Fall 2025
Speaker: Kai Ge, Ph.D., (Host: Abhinav Jain) Senior Investigator and Acting Chief, Laboratory of Endocrinology and Receptor Biology, NIDDK, NIH
March 25, 2025
Speaker: Nuria Lopez-Bigas, Ph.D, ICREA Research Professor, Barcelona Biomedical Genomics Lab, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona
Title of Talk:"Clonal Selection in Normal Tissues and its Relation to Cancer Risk"
Host: Peter Van Loo Ph.D., Department of Genetics
April 1, 2025
Speaker: Mara Sherman Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Title of Talk:“Mapping Cellular Hierarchies in the Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment”
Host: Aria Vaishnavi, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
April 8, 2025
Speaker: Rui Yi, Ph.D., Paul E. Steiner Research Professor of Pathology, Professor of Dermatology, Associate Director, Northwestern Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Title of Talk: “Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Hair Follicle Stem Cells”
Host: Yejing Ge, Ph.D., Department of Cancer Biology
Research Exchange Series
Each week from September through May, this series alternates faculty from across the Texas Medical Center (TMC) with senior trainees from the Department of Genetics to discuss their research. This series highlights the breadth and depth of science in the TMC and provides an opportunity to establish collaborations across the numerous institutions in the TMC. It is also a forum for senior students and postdoctoral trainees to present their studies.
Shih-Han "Peggy" Lee, Ph.D., and Jihye Yun., Ph.D. host this series.
For further information or access to a seminar, please contact Monique Richardson at MMRichardson1@mdanderson.org.
Wednesdays, 12–1 p.m.
September through May
Spring 2025 Research Exchange Schedule (In-Person)
February 26, 2025
Marianna Trakala, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
March 5, 2025
Nick Newkirk , Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Arur Lab)
March 19, 2025
Shabnam Shalapour, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, MD Anderson
March 26, 2025
Andrew Lynch, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Van Loo)
April 2, 2025
Jinfen Xiao, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Guarnerio Lab)
April 9, 2025
Yuan Pan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Symptom Research CAO, MD Anderson
April 16, 2025
Evit John, M.P.H., Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Van Loo)
April 30, 2025
Roberta Piras, Graduate Student, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Guarnerio Lab)
May 7, 2025
Mardelle Atkins, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Sam Houston State University