Conferences & Events
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. Swathi Arur, Ph.D., is the Chair and coordinator of the Blaffer Lecture Series.
For further information or access to a lecture, please contact
Lisa M. Watson, Administrative Coordinator
at BlafferSeries@mdanderson.org.
Tuesdays, 4-5 p.m. CST
September through May
Fall 2020 Blaffer Schedule
September 22, 2020 - CANCELED
Speaker: Alejandro S. Alvarado Ph.D. Scientific Director, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, HHMI Investigator
Title: "Understanding the Sources of Regenerative Capacity in Animals"
Host: George Eisenhoffer, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
September 29, 2020
Speaker: Patrick Sung, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, UT Health San Antonio, TX
Title: "Function of the Tumor Suppressor BRCA2 in DNA Damage Repair"
Host: Bin Wang, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
October 6, 2020
Speaker: W. Brent Derry, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Developmental and Stem Cell Biology
Canada Research Chair, Genetic Models of Human Disease, SickKids, University of Toronto
Title: "Alternative Polyadenylation in Development and Cancer"
Host: Swathi Arur, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
October 13, 2020
Speaker: Matthew Rasband, Ph.D., Vivian L. Smith Endowed Chair in Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Title: "Ankyrin and Spectrin Cytoskeletons and the Functional Organization of Neurons"
Host: Pierre McCrea, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
October 20, 2020
Speaker: David Pellman, M.D., Margaret M. Dyson Professor of Pediatric Oncology Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, HHMI Investigator
Boston, MA
Title: "Mechanisms Generating the Rapid Evolution of Cancer Genomes"
Host: Nick Navin, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
November 3, 2020
Speaker: Iswar Hariharan, Ph.D., Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Title: "Genetic Regulation of Developmental and Regenerative Growth"
Host: George Eisenhoffer, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
November 10, 2020
Speaker: Richard I. Morimoto, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Title: "Protein Quality Control and Proteotoxic Stress as Determinants of Health, Aging and Disease"
Host: Georgios Karras, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
November 17, 2020
Speaker: Paul Turner, Ph.D., Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale School of Medicine
New Haven, CT
Title: "Leveraging Evolutionary Trade-Offs and Phage Selection Pressure to Reduce Bacterial Pathogenicity"
Host: Richard Behringer, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
December 1, 2020
Speaker: Julie Segre, Ph.D., Chief & Senior Investigator, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch Chief, Microbial Genomics Section NIH/ NHGRI, Bethseda, MD
Title: "Human Skin Microbiome: Friend and Foe"
Host: Swathi Arur, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
December 8, 2020
Speaker: Bridget Carragher Ph.D., Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY
Title: "CryoEM: Opportunities and Challenges"
Host: Philip Jones, Ph.D., Department of Therapeutics Discovery, Applied Cancer Science Inst.
December 15, 2020
Speaker: Jason Locasale, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC
Title: "Diet and Metabolic Therapeutics in Cancer"
Host: Gigi Lozano, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
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 post-doctoral trainees to present their studies.
George Eisenhoffer, Ph.D. and Georgios Karras, Ph.D. will host this series.
For further information or access to a seminar, please contact Elva Lopez at eplopez@mdanderson.org.
Mondays, 11 am -12 p.m.
September through May
Fall 2020 Research Exchange Schedule
September 28, 2020
Nils-Petter Rudqvist, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Department of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology, MD Anderson
October 5, 2020
Aislyn Schalck, Graduate Research Assistant (Navin Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
October 12, 2020
Rachel N. Arey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Center for Precision Environmental Health, Baylor College of Medicine
October 19, 2020
Beau Alward, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Director, Social Neuroscience Lab, University of Houston
October 26, 2020
Rachel Mullen, Ph.D., Instructor (Behringer Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
November 2, 2020
Jun Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Research Center, McGovern Medical School, UTHealth
November 9, 2020
Bisrat Godefay Debeb, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Department of Breast Medical Oncology, MD Anderson
November 16, 2020
Kaile Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow (Navin Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
November 30, 2020
Alexander Bishop, Ph.D., Associate Professor
UT Health San Antonio, Cell Systems and Anatomy, Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute
San Antiono, TX
December 7, 2020
Jacob Ortega, HHMI-Gilliam Fellow (Arur lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
December 14, 2020
Vidya Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Department of Pediatrics, MD Anderson