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 2026 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 2026 Blaffer Schedule (In-Person)
January 20, 2026
Speaker: Kathleen H. Burns, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Pathology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School
Title of Talk: "Retrotransposon in Cancer: the Marker and the Mutator”
Host: Yejing Ge, Ph.D., Department of Cancer Biology
Feburary 3, 2026
Speaker: Dino Di Carlo, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Department of Armond and Elena Hairapetian Chair in Engineering and Medicine, UCLA Bioengineering
Title of Talk: “Building Better Cell Therapies: Functional Selection and Discovery Using Nanovials and Cell–Cell-Seq”
Host: Ken Chen, Ph.D., Department of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
February 17, 2026
Speaker: Kristen Lynch, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Title of Talk: “Tuning Immune Responses through RNA Processing"
Host: Shih-Han “Peggy” Lee, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
February 24, 2026
Speaker: David Feldser, Ph.D., Chair of the CAMB: Cancer BiologyProgram, Associate Investigator, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and Associate Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Title of Talk: TBA
Host: Aria Vaishnavi, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
March 3, 2026
Speaker: Luis F. Parada, Ph.D., Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences
Title of Talk: “GBM Heterogeneity and Hierarchy”
Host: Sadhan Majumder, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
March 10, 2026
Speaker: Lukas E. Dow, Ph.D. , Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
Title of Talk: TBA
Host: Aria Vaishnavi, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
March 31, 2026
Speaker: Alejandro Sweet-Cordero, MD, Chief, Division of Pediatric Oncology Director, Molecular Oncology Initiative, Benioff Professor of Children’s Health, University of California San Francisco
Title of Talk: “RAP1GDS1-Dependent Endosome Processing and Lysosome Positioning Regulates Oncogenic Signaling but is Dispensable in Normal Tissues”
Host: Gigi Lozano, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
April 7, 2026
Speaker: Jin Ye, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Title of Talk: TBA
Host: Boyi Gan, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
Research Exchange Series
Each week from October 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.
October through May
Spring 2026 Research Exchange Schedule (In-Person)
Feburary 25, 2026
Kadir Akdemir, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center
March 4, 2026
Jason E. Lee, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and CPRIT Scholar, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine
March 18, 2026
Rodrigo Romero, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson Cancer Center
March 25, 2026
Natividad Roberto Fuentes Jr., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, MD Anderson Cancer Center
April 1, 2026
To Be Announced
April 8, 2026
To Be Announced
April 15, 2026
Daniel Frigo, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, MD Anderson Cancer Center
April 29, 2026
Thomas Mitchell, Graduate Student (Van Loo Lab) Department of Genetics, MD Anderson Cancer Center
May 6, 2026
Mitheera V, B.Sc., Graduate Student (Lozano Lab), Department of Genetics, MD Anderson Cancer Center