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 2023 Series is an in-person opportunity for those wanting to attend the Blaffer lecture series. Please check out the MD Anderson Calendar for upcoming lectures.
For further information on a lecture, please contact Lisa M. Watson, Administrative Coordinator at lmwatson@mdanderson.org.
Tuesdays, 12-1 p.m.
Onstead Auditorium (BSRB S3.8012)
September through April
Spring 2023 Blaffer Schedule (In-Person)
January 24, 2023
Speaker: Boyi Gan, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology & Director, Radiation and Cancer Metabolism Research Program, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Title of Talk: "Targeting Ferroptosis and Disulfidptosis in Cancer "
Host: Swathi Arur, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
January 31, 2023
Speaker: Eric J. Wagner, Ph.D., James A. Wolff Professor of Pediatrics at the Institute for Cancer GenetiProfessor Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Rochester Medical Center
Title of Talk: "Integrator is a Promoter Proximal Termination Complex Critical for Transcriptional Control"
Host: Ambro van Hoof, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics , UTHealth, McGovern Medical School
February 7, 2023
Speaker: Michelle Monje Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University
Title of Talk: "Neuron-Glial Interactions in Health and Disease: From Cognition to Cancer"
Host: Nidhi Sahni, Ph.D., Department of Epigenetics & Molecular Carcinogenesis
February 21, 2023
Speaker: Ali Shilatifard, Ph.D., Director, Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics, Chairman, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, Robert Francis Furchgott Professor Biochemistry & Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Title of Talk: "Principle of Epigenetics and Chromatin in Development and Human Disease"
Host: Yejing Ge, Ph.D., Department of Cancer Biology
February 28, 2023
Speaker: Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Vice President, Immunobiology & Professor, Genitourinary Medical Oncology, James P. Allison Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Title of Talk: "Immune Checkpoint Therapy: Identifying Mechanisms of Response and Resistance"
Host: Gigi Lozano, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
March 21, 2023
Speaker: Hao Zhu, Ph.D., Kern Wildenthal, MD, PhD Distinguished Professorship in Pediatric Research, Professor in Children’s Research Institute, Associate Professor in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, Divisions of Hematology and Oncology, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Title of Talk: "Clone Wars: Evolution of Adaptation and Malignancy in the Liver"
Host: Boyi Gan, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
March 28, 2023
Speaker: Mark L. Siegal, Ph.D., Professor, Professor & Vice Dean of General Education, College of Arts & Science Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, Department of Biology, New York University
Title of Talk: "Uncovering Genetic Interactions Causing Natural Trait Variation"
Host: Georgios Karras, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
April 4, 2023
Speaker: Bruce Goode, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center, Brandeis University
Title of Talk: "Cellular Actin Nucleation: A Journey from Yeast to Human Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC)"
Host: Joseph McCarty, Ph.D., Department of Neurosurgery - Research
April 11, 2023
Speaker: Diana Bautista, Ph.D., HHMI Investigator, Professor of Cell Biology, Development and Physiology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley
Title of Talk: "Neural Control of Itch and Airway Inflammation"
Host: Michael Galko, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
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 post-doctoral trainees to present their studies.
Peter Van Loo, Ph.D. and Shih-Han "Peggy" Lee, Ph.D. will host this series.
For further information or access to a seminar, please contact Monique Richardson at MMRichardson1@mdanderson.org.
Wednesdays, 12 - 1 p.m. (New Day and Time)
October through May
Spring 2023 Research Exchange Schedule (In-Person)
February 15 , 2023
Runmin Wei, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow (Navin Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
February 22, 2023
Jason M. Schenkel, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, MD Anderson
March 1, 2023
Luuk Harbers, Graduate Student (Van Loo Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
March 8, 2023
Shengqing Gu, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Hematopoietic Biology and Malignancy, MD Anderson
March 22, 2023
Shinya Yamamoto, DVM, PhD, Assistant Professor,
Department of Molecular & Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine
March 29, 2023
Maxime Tarabichi, PhD, Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en
Biologie Humaine et moléculaire, Université Libre de Bruxelles
April 5, 2023
Jeanine Van Nostrand, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine
April 12, 2023
Traver Hart, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, MD Anderson
April 26, 2023
John Paul Shen, PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, MD Anderson
May 3, 2023
Jace Aloway, BS, Graduate Research Asst-GSBS (Behringer Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
May 10, 2023
Yogesh Srivastava, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow (McCrea Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
May 17, 2023
Wenbo Li, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UTHealth Science Center in Houston
May 24, 2023
Kaile Wang, PhD, Instructor (Navin Lab)
Department of Genetics, MD Anderson