Weekly Seminar Program

Our weekly seminar series features presentations by experts from across Johns Hopkins and other biomedical research institutions, and provides students with a view of current research in the topics across the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology and insight into experimental design and methods.

The 2021-2022 series has concluded, and seminars will resume in Fall 2022. Looking for older seminars? Check out the Past Years Weekly Seminars page.  

2021 – 2022 Seminars

September 20, 2021 
"Energy Homeostasis and Mitochondrial Complex Assembly: Implications in Neurodegeneration"
Tao Wang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Jiou Wang Lab
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

September 27, 2021
"Age against the Machine: how aging impacts tumor progression"
Ashani Weeraratna, PhD
E.V. McCollum Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

October 4, 2021
"The role of laboratory based basic research in the clinical and public health response to COVID-19"
Andrew Pekosz, PhD
Professor and Vice Chair
W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

October 11, 2021
"DNA Helicases as Synthetic Lethal Targets for Cancer Therapy: Targeting Replication Fork Stability in BRCA-Mutated Tumors"
Arindam Datta, PhD
Visiting Fellow
Translational Gerontology Branch, Helicases and Genome Integrity Section, National Institute on Aging, NIH

October 18, 2021
"The role of Drosophila Split Discs in the regulation of non-muscle myosin contractility"
Derek A. Applewhite, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Biology, Reed College

October 25, 2021
"From Ribosome Assembly to Cancer Progression: The Molecular Mechanisms and Physiological Functions of DEAD-box RNA Helicases."
Eda Koculi, PhD
Visiting Associate Scientist
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

November 1, 2021
"From soma to germ line: birth, growth and transformation of a novel gene"
Cassandra Extavour, PhD
Timken Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

November 15, 2021
"Therapy Induced Senescence and Polyploidy in the Complex Environment of an Evolving Tumor"
Michelle R. Dawson, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University

November 29, 2021
Poly(ADP-ribose): A potent inducer of biomolecular condensates
Anthony Leung, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

December 6, 2021
"Imaging cytoskeletal dynamics in invading cancer cells"
Maddy Parsons, PhD
Professor of Cell Biology & Associate Dean for Impact and Innovation
Randall Centre, King’s College London

December 13, 2021
“The highs and lows of enteric infections”
Vanessa Sperandio, PhD
Jane and Bud Smith Distinguished Chair in Medicine & Professor of Microbiology and Biochemistry
Departments of Microbiology and Biochemistry, UT Southwestern

January 10, 2022
"Discovering the potency of embryonic cells and undergraduates: lessons learned from a scientific career at a liberals art institution"
Kristy L. Kenyon, PhD
Professor of Biology and Philip J. Moorad and Margaret N. Moorad Endowed Professorship in the Sciences
Department of Biology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges 

January 24, 2022
"One ring to rule them all: RNF212 makes an impressive memory in oocytes"
Joe (Huanyu) Qiao, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Comparative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

January 31, 2022
"Nuclease-deficient CRISPR-Cas systems direct RNA-guided DNA transposition"
Sam Sternberg, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University

February 7, 2022
"Glia-neuron interactions in frontotemporal dementia"
Eric Huang, MD, PhD
Professor & Vice Chair of Research
Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco

February 14, 2022
"How flies get fat: from genes to neurons"
Tânia Reis, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

February 21, 2022
"Understanding RNA-protein interactions in gene regulation"
Taeyoung Hwang, PhD
Investigator and Assistant Professor
Lieber Institute of Brain Development and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

February 28, 2022
"A novel phospho-tyrosine-based signaling module controlling Toll-like receptor biology"
Hans Haecker, MD, PhD
Professor
Department of Pathology, Division of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Utah

March 7, 2022
"Microbial small molecules in host energy metabolism"
Andrew S. Neish, MD
Professor and Vice Chair for Basic Sciences
Department of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine

March 14, 2022
"The microbiota and gut homeostasis"
Andreas Baumler, PhD
Professor and Vice Chair of Research
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California Davis

March 16, 2022
"Determinants of B cell fate and function in cancer"
Yuliya Pylayeva-Gupta, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Genetics, UNC-Chapel Hill

March 21, 2022
"Biochemical Studies of Messenger RNA Degradation"
Eugene Valkov, PhD
NIH Stadtman Investigator
RNA Biology Laboratory, National Cancer Institute

March 28, 2022
"DNA repair pathway choice: an epigenetic balancing act to control (cancer) genome integrity"
Philipp Oberdoerffer, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Radiation Oncology & Molecular Radiation Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

April 4, 2022
"How do disordered proteins behave inside the cell?"
Shahar Sukenik, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Merced

April 18, 2022
"Understanding the role of occluding junctions in intestinal homeostasis and aging"
Leanne Jones, PhD
Professor
Departments of Anatomy and Medicine, University of California-San Francisco

April 25, 2022
"‘Flying’ through the local and long-range functions of the intestine in health and disease"
Julia B. Cordero, PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow

April 28, 2022
"Bioengineering variables of the metastatic tumor microenvironment"
Shreya Raghavan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Texas A&M University

May 2, 2022
"Regulation of gene expression and microenvironmental signaling in pancreatic cancer"
Michael Feigin, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center