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, please contact Lisa M. Watson at lmwatson@mdanderson.org
Tuesdays, 4-5 p.m.
Onstead Auditorium
Onstead Auditorium is accessible from the main MD Anderson building via the 3rd/4th floor Tan Zone skybridges and the front entrance to the Mitchel Basic Science and Research Building (BSRB) at 6767 Bertner, Houston, TX 77030.
Lectures will be video conferenced to the SCRB4 Auditorium, S1.1110
Research Exchange Series
Each week from September through May, this series alternates faculty from across the Texas Medical Center (TMC) with senior trainees from Genetics to discuss their research. This series highlights the breadth and depth of science in the Texas Medical Center 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, please contact Elva Lopez at eplopez@mdanderson.org.
Mondays, Noon - 1 p.m.
14th Floor Conference Room, Mitchell BSRB, S14.8336
Spring 2020 Blaffer Schedule
January 21, 2020
Speaker: Nevan Krogan, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, CA
Title: “Using Systems Approaches to Understand Disease"
Host: Junjie Chen, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
January 28, 2020
Speaker: Yibin Kang, Ph.D., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Title: "Breast Cancer Metastasis: Molecular Mechanisms and Development of Novel Therapeutics"
Host: Li Ma, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
February 4, 2020
Speaker: Mustafa Khokha, M.D., Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
Title: “Surprising Connections between Congenital Heart Disease and Pluripotency: An Electrophysiological Connection“
Host: Rachel Miller, Ph.D., UTHealth, Department of Pediatrics
February 11, 2020
Speaker: Warren Pear, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Title: “Tribbles: Beyond Star Trek and Towards Reinvigorating the T Cell Immune Response”
Host: Margarida Albuquerque Almeida Santos, Ph.D., Department of Epigenet & Molecular Carcinogenesis
February 18, 2020
Speaker: Channing J. Der, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title: "Targeting ‘undruggable’ RAS for Cancer Treatment"
Host: Gigi Lozano, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
February 25, 2020 - Seminar at 2:30 PM at AT&T Auditorium (B2.4750)
Speaker: Brad Cairns, Ph.D., Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
Title: “How Chromatin Regulates Early Development, and its Dysregulation in Cancer”
Host: Kunal Rai, Ph.D., Department of Genomic Medicine
March 3, 2020
Speaker: Jodi Nunnari, Ph.D. University of California, Davis
Title: “Mitochondrial Behavior”
Host: Michael Galko, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
March 24, 2020 - CANCELLED
Speaker: Alan D'Andrea, M.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Title: “Targeting DNA Repair in Cancer Therapy"
Host: Neal Copeland & Nancy Jenkins, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
March 31, 2019 - CANCELLED
Speaker: Shan Zha, M.D., Ph.D., Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY
Title: “The cNHEJ Independent Role of DNA-PK on RNA Processing and its Implications in MDS/AML"
Host: Bin Wang, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
April 7, 2020 - CANCELLED
Speaker: Bruce Beutler, Ph.D., Nobel Prize Winner, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Center for the Genetics of Host Defense, Dallas, TX
Title: “Creating Germline Phenotypes in Mice and instantly Solving them”
Host: Neal Copeland & Nancy Jenkins, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
April 14, 2020 - CANCELLED
Speaker: Kai Kessenbrock, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, CA
Title: “Understanding the Role of the Cellular Microenvironment in Breast Cancer Initiation”
Host: Nicholas Navin, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
For further information please contact Swathi Arur Ph.D., Blaffer Committee Chair: sarur@mdanderson.org or Lisa M. Watson, Administrative Coordinator: lmwatson@mdanderson.org
Spring 2020 Research Exchange Schedule
January 13, 2020
Sydney Moyer, Graduate Research Assistant (Lozano Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
January 27, 2020
Jacob Robinson, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University
February 3, 2020
Ryan Baumert, Postdoctoral Fellow (McCrea Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
February 10, 2020
Pawel Mazur, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson
February 17, 2020
Alex Davis, Graduate Research Assistant (Navin Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
February 24, 2020
Jihye Yun, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine
March 2, 2020
Debabrata Das, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow (Arur Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
March 9, 2020 - CANCELLED
Aislyn Schalck, Graduate Research Assistant (Navin Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
March 16, 2020 - Spring Break
March 23, 2020 - CANCELLED
Rachel Arey, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine
March 30, 2020 - CANCELLED
Jun Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics, McGovern Medical School, UT Health
April 6, 2020 - CANCELLED
Jae-II Park, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson
April 13, 2020 - CANCELLED
Beau Alward, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology, University of Houston
April 20, 2020 - CANCELLED
Bisrat Debeb, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Breast Medical Oncology-Research, MD Anderson
April 27, 2020 - CANCELLED
Alexander Bishop, D. Phil, Associate Professor (Host: Karras)
Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy, Greehey Children’s
Cancer Research Institute, UT Health San Antonio
May 4, 2020 - CANCELLED
Vidya Gopalakrishnan, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Pediatrics-Research, MD Anderson