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 Fall 2024 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
Fall 2024 Blaffer Schedule (In-Person)
September 17, 2024
Speaker: Mariella G. Filbin, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director, Brain Tumor Center of Excellence, Research Director, Pediatric Neurooncology Program, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Associate Member, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorder Center
Title of Talk: "Targeting Intra-Tumoral Heterogeneity and Developmental Pathways in Pediatric High-Grade Glioma"
Host: Sadhan Majumder Ph.D., Department of Genetics
September 24, 2024
Speaker: Trudy Oliver, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University School of Medicine
Title of Talk: "Mechanisms of Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) Plasticity”
Host: Lauren Byers., M.D., Department of Thoracic-Head & Neck Med Oncology
October 1, 2024
Speaker: Sohrab P. Shah, Ph.D., Chief, Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics & Professor, Weill Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Title of Talk: "'Dynamic Aneuploidy States in Tumor Evolution: Causes and Consequences'"
Host: Peter Van Loo, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
October 8, 2024
Speaker: Georg, Halder, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Oncology, VIB KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, Belgium
Title of Talk: “Once Upon A Time There Was The Perfect Cancer Target YAP…"
Host: Michael Galko, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
October 15, 2024
Speaker: Joshua D. Rabinowitz, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Role Director, Ludwig Princeton Branch
Title of Talk: "Cancer Metabolism: Challenges and Opportunities"
Host: Eyal Gottlieb, Ph.D., VP Research Office
October 22, 2024
Speaker: Wallace Marshall Ph.D., Professor, Laboratory of Cell Geometry in the Center for Cellular Construction at University of California, San Francisco
Title of Talk: "Pattern Formation and Regeneration in a Single Cell”
Host: Michael Galko, Ph.D., Department of Genetics
October 29, 2024
Speaker: Stephen J. Elledge, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Division of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Title of Talk: "Exploring Epitope Recognition in the Immune System""
Host: Junjie Chen, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
November 12, 2024
Speaker: Carlos Caldas, M.D., FACP, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, Professor of Cancer Medicine, University of Cambridge, Professorial Fellow, Robinson College, Weston Visiting Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science
Title of Talk: "Characterizing and Modelling Breast Cancer Ecosystems"
Host: Eyal Gottlieb, Ph.D., VP Research Office
November 19, 2024
Speaker: Michele Carbone, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Thoracic Oncology, University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center and Professor, Department of Pathology, John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Title of Talk: “Genetically-Linked Mesotheliomas, a Different Disease: Discovery, Mechanisms and Unique Diagnostic and Clinical Characteristics”
Host: Boyi Gan, Ph.D., Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
December 10, 2024
Speaker: Vinod P. Balachandran, M.D., Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgeon, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Title of Talk: "Pancreatic Cancer- from Survivors to Solutions”
Host: Richard Behringer, 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 postdoctoral trainees to present their studies.
Peter Van Loo, Ph.D., and Shih-Han "Peggy" Lee, 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
Fall 2024 Research Exchange Schedule (In-Person)
September 18, 2024
Alejandro Aballay, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
October 2, 2024
Jlenia Guarnerio, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
October 9, 2024
Florencia McAllister, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson
October 16, 2024
Samantha Mota, B.S., Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Galko Lab)
October 23, 2024
Rhiannon Morrissey, B.S., Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Lozano Lab)
October 30, 2024
Debabrata Das, Ph.D., Instructor, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Arur Lab)
November 6, 2024
Tin Pham, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Karras Lab)
November 13, 2024
Aria Vaishnavi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, MD Anderson
November 20, 2024
Nick Newkirk, B.S., Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Genetics, MD Anderson (Arur Lab)