The Department of Biology sponsors a weekly seminar series during the Fall and Spring semesters. Seminars are held each Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in Biological Sciences Building East (BSBE), room 115. In addition to this weekly seminar series, the department hosts the Walker Endowed Lectureship. If you would like to be added to our weekly seminar e-mail reminder, please send your name and e-mail address to Lieu Jean at ljean@bio.tamu.edu.
Biology Seminar Series
Emily and Robert Walker ’45 Lectureship in Biology
Originally formed as the Frontiers in Biology lecture series, the Departmental lectureship was established in 1984 as a mechanism to attract prominent scientists to Texas A&M University for an extended visit with our faculty and students. This program of formal seminars and relaxed one-on-one interactions has enabled faculty and students from our department as well as other departments on campus to hear first-hand about the forefront of biological research from the leading figures of various biological disciplines. In 2009, the Frontiers in Biology Lecture became the Emily and Robert Walker ’45 Endowed Lectureship in Biology.
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Emily Walker is a resident of Dallas, Texas. Robert Walker, a world-renowned clinician and educator, passed away on April 28, 2011.
Emily attended UT and is a weaver. An active member of the Spinners and Weavers Guild in Dallas, she grows her own cotton in whiskey barrels in the backyard and has it ginned at the TAMU Extension Service.
Robert began at TAMU in 1941 just before the U.S. entered World War II. He had a strong interest in the Department of Biology’s program in pre-medicine and pre-dentistry. Although he was a member of TAMU’s class of ’45, he was drafted into the army in 1943 and assigned to the Baylor College of Dentistry in 1944. He earned a DDS degree there in 1947, and had a general practice in Waco, Texas, until 1951. He then was called back into the army during the Korean War. In 1953 he went to Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and from 1954-56 he did a residency in oral surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.
He was appointed to the Department of Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical School in 1956 to create the Division of Oral Surgery where he remained throughout the rest of his career, training over 200 residents. Among his many professional honors, he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in England and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. Over the years, Dr. Walker retained close ties with TAMU, and he was actively involved in many of its organizations and advisory boards.
The Emily and Robert Walker ’45 Endowed Lectureship in Biology was established in 1995 to bring to the attention of the TAMU community outstanding research in the biological sciences.
The Frontiers in Biology lecture series in the Department of Biology was established in 1984 as a mechanism to attract prominent scientists to Texas A&M University for an extended visit with our faculty and students. This program of formal seminars and relaxed one-on-one interactions has enabled faculty and students from our department as well as other departments on campus to hear first hand about the forefront of biological research from the leading figures of various biological disciplines. In 2009, the Frontiers in Biology Lecture became the Emily and Robert Walker ’45 Endowed Lectureship in Biology.
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2018
Wallace Marshall, Professor in University of California -San Francisco, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
2014
John Avise, Distinguished Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences,
University of California at Davis
Fall 2011
Eric N. Olsen, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
“Heart Making and Heart Breaking: New Strategies for Heart Repair and Regeneration”
“MicroRNA Control of Muscle Development and Disease: From New Biology to New Therapeutics”
2010
Steve Block
2009
John Nichols
SPRING 2007
Cynthia Kenyon, Department of Neuroscience, University of California-San Francisco
FALL 2004
Jim Hudspeth, HHMI Investigator, F.M. Kirby Professor, The Rockefeller University
FALL 2002
David Baulcombe, The Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Center, United Kingdom
“Everlasting tomatoes and a cure for cancer – A short history of gene silencing”
“Mechanisms of gene silencing and disease resistance in plants”
SPRING 2001
Sydney Kustu, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley
“Regulation of nitrogen metabolism in enteric bacteria: genomic and structural studies”
“Regulation of nitrogen metabolism in enteric bacteria: physiological and biochemical studies”
FALL 2000
Michael Young, Laboratory of Genetics, Rockefeller University
“Life’s 24 hour clock: molecular control of circadian rhythms in animal cells”
“New parts for Drosophila’s circadian clock”
SPRING 2000
Marc H.V. Van Regenmortel, Immunochemistry Laboratory, Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire du CNRS
“The Limits of Reductionism in Molecular Biology and Medicine”
“Analyzing Molecular Recognition and Structure-Function Relationships with Biosensors”
“The Potential of Synthetic Peptides as Viral Vaccines”Andy McMahon, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
“The role of Hedgehog signaling in constructing the mammalian embryo”
“Hedgehog actions and interaction at the cell surface”
SPRING 1999
Masakazu “Mark” Konishi, Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology
“Brain Mechanisms of Sound Localization in Owls”
“Recent Advances in Birdsong Research”Martin Heisenberg, Theodor-Boveri-Institut fuer Biowissenschaften, Lehrstuh fuer Genetik
“Flies, brains and the biological origin of the mind”
“Pattern recognition with stabilized eyes: Genetic approach to Drosophila brain function
FALL 1998
Ton Bisseling, Department of Molecular Biology, Agricultural University, Dreijenlaan Wageningen Netherlands
“The phylogeny of nodulation: A comparison of legume nodulation and common plant development”
“Microspectroscopic approaches to studying nod factor signaling in living root cells”Jeff Hall, Department of Biology, Brandeis University
“Molecular neurogenetics of rhythms in Drosophila: The midst of the fly’s circadian system and outward”
“Special topic for the rhythm system of Drosophila: Inward to the clock from environmental signals”
SPRING 1998
Marv Wickens and Judith Kimble, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Signal transduction, growth control and the decision between mitosis and meiosis in C. elegans”
“3′ UTRs and development”
FALL 1997
Jose Antonio Campos-Ortega, Univerität zu Köln, Institute für Entwicklungsbiologie
“Mechanisms of a cellular decision in Drosophila: epidermogenesis or neurogenesis”
“Neurogenesis in zebrafish”
SPRING 1997
Corey Goodman, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
“Wiring up the brain: Genetic analysis of the mechanisms that generate neural specificity”
“To cross or not to cross: Genetic analysis of axon guidance at the midline”Woody Hastings, Harvard University, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
“The circadian biological clock from man to microorganism”
“Molecular and cellular organization of dinoflagellate bioluminescence: A luciferase with three active sites in one molecule”
FALL 1996
Brian Staskawicz, University of California-Berkeley, Department of Plant Pathology
“Evolving concepts in plant-pathogen interactions”
“Signal transduction events specifying plant disease resistance”
SPRING 1996
Ken Keegstra, Michigan State University, DOE-Plant Research Laboratory
“Chloroplasts are not green mitochondria: Differences and similarities in their protein import systems”
“Targeting proteins into and across the chloroplastic envelope membrane”Chris Somerville, Stanford University, Carnegie Institute, Department of Plant Biology
“Genetic dissection of membrane and storage Lipid Composition and Function in Arabidopsis”
“Production of polymers in transgenic plants”
FALL 1995
Lucy Shapiro, Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Developmental Biology
“The global control of cellular differentiation: The cell cycle”
“Temporal & spatial control of cell polydifferentiation”Steven Reppert, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Biology
“Melatonin: The hormone of the 90’s”
“Molecular analysis of the period gene in silk moths”
SPRING 1995
Carol Gross, University of California, San Francisco, Division of Oral Biology
“Regulation of the heat shock response”
“RNA polymerase: Initiation, elongation and termination”Gordon Shepherd, Yale University School of Medicine, Section of Neurobiology
“From odor molecules to odor maps: The molecular basis of olfactory perception”
“Current issues in the analysis of odor processing”
FALL 1994
John Gerhart, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
“Organizing Spemann’s Organizer”
“Dorsalization of the Xenopus egg”Paul Berg, Stanford University School of Medicine, Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Biology
“Genes and disease”
“Repair of deletions and double strand breaks in DNA by recombination in eukaryotes”
SPRING 1994
Elliott Meyerowitz, California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology
“Genetic and molecular control of flower development: How to build a flower from parts”
“Genetic control of cell & organ number in developing flowers”Tom Silhavy, Princeton University, Department of Molecular Biology
“Genetic analysis of protein secretion”
“Signal transduction in the purin regulon”
FALL 1993
Michael Rosenfield, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Diego
“Space and time: Transcriptional regulation of mammalian organogenesis”
“A tale of two receptors: Codes of transcriptional activation”Sharon Long, Stanford University, Department of Biological Sciences
“Rhizobium-Legume symbiosis: From pliny and prosopis to plasmids”
“Bacterial nod signals and plant cell responses in the rhizobium-legume symbiosis”
SPRING 1993
Adrienne Clarke, CSIRO, Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, University of Melbourne
“Self-incompatibility in flowering plants: An overview”
“Gametophytic self-imcompatibility in the solanaceae”
“Extracellular secretions of the female pistil in Nicotiana alata, an ornamental tobacco”
FALL 1992
Brian Hall, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia
“Epigenetics: Waddington’s legacy and evolutionary developmental biology”
“Embryos and fossils”
“The developing skeleton: Models and mechanisms”
SPRING 1992
Chris Leaver, University of Oxford, Department of Plant Science
“Mitochondrial genome organization and expression in higher plants”
“The molecular and biochemical basis of cytoplasmic male sterility”
“Genetic and metabolic regulation of glyotylate cycle genes in higher plants”
FALL 1991
Ghillean Prance, Royal Botanic Gardens, United Kingdom
“The conservation and utilization of the Amazon rainforest”
“The varied vegetation of the Amazon region”
“Application of pollination and dispersal data to plant systematics”Eric Davidson, California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology
“The sea urchin: Molecular basis of founder cell specification”
“How embryos work: A general and comparative interpretation of early embryogenesis”
“DNA binding regulatory factors of the sea urchin embryo”
SPRING 1990
Robert Day, University of Delaware, Department of English
“How to write and publish a scientific paper”
“The history of scientific writing”
FALL 1990
Melvin Simon, California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology
“Signal transduction in simple organisms”
“G proteins and signal processing in eukaryotic organisms”
“Interesting odds and ends”
SPRING 1989
Dale Kaiser, Stanford University, Department of Biochemistry
“Regulation of gliding motility in Myxococcus xanthus
“A regulatory logic for multicellular development in Mycococcus xanthus”
“Doing genetics with underdeveloped microbes”Robert Bakker, University of Colorado, University Museum
“Hot- and cold-running dinosaurs”
“Dinosaurs: Bringing them back alive”
“Suboptimal evolution”
FALL 1989
Michael Menneker, University of Virginia, Department of Biology
“Biological clocks of man and beast”
“Circadian organization among the vertebrates”
“The Tau mutation in hamsters as a tool in circadian analysis”Stuart Kaufmann, University of Pennsylvania, Santa Fe Institute, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
“Evolution and co-evolution on rugged fitness landscapes”
“Evolution of order in genetic regulatory networks”
“The four color wheels model of Drosophila development”
SPRING 1988
Jeffrey Palmer, University of Michigan, Division of Biological Sciences
“Transposition and rearrangement of chloroplast and mitochondrial genes in plants”W.J. Peacock, CSIRO, Division of Plant Industry
“Control of anaerobic gene expression in plants”Paul Kaesberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Molecular Virology Laboratory
“Role of viruses in present day molecular biology”
FALL 1984
Eric Davidson, California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology
Current Seminars
Fall 2026
| Date | Name | Institution | Title | Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/25/2026 | Jeff Jones | Department of Biology, Texas A&M University | TBD | Joe Sorg |
| 9/1/2026 | Aref Zarin | Department of Biology, Texas A&M University |
TBD |
Joe Sorg |
| 9/8/2026 |
Bella Farhy |
Department of Biology, Texas A&M University |
TBD |
Joe Sorg |
| 9/15/2026 | TBD | Department of Biology, Texas A&M University | TBD | BioGSA |
| 9/22/2026 | Ali Guler | Department of Biology, University of Virginia |
TBD |
Jeff Jones |
| 9/29/2026 | Mike Henne | Department of Cell Biology and Biophysics, UT Southwestern |
TBD |
Matt Moulton |
| 10/6/2026 | Jian Zhou | Department of Human Genetics, Emory University | TBD | Paul Hardin |
| 10/13/2026 | Helen Piwnica-Worms | Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center | TBD | Tapasree Roy Sarkar |
| 10/20/2026 | Jenny Tung | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leizpig, Germany | TBD | Courtney Fitzpatrick |
| 10/27/2026 | Erik Musiek | Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine | TBD | Alex Keene |
| 11/3/2026 | Michael Laub | HHMI and Department of Biology, MIT | TBD | Beiyan Nan |
| 11/10/2026 | Josie Clowney | Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan | TBD | Josh Lillvis |
| 11/17/2026 | James Collins | Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Louisville | TBD | Joe Sorg |
| 11/24/2026 | Andrea Tedeschi | Department of Neuroscience, Ohio State University | TBD | Dylan McCreedy |
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Spring 2026
Date Name Institution Title Host 1/13/2026 Koen Kleine
Josh Brehm
Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Toxoplasma gondii macrophage migration inhibitory factor (TgMIF) mediates parasite transmigration across the human placental barrier
Single-spore analyses of C. difficile spore outgrowth to determine nutrient importance on cell formation
BioGSA 1/20/2026 Chongzhi Zang Department of Genome Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine Computational Methods for Chromatin and Transcriptional Regulation
Yuchao Jiang 1/27/2026 -- CANCELLED Mike Henne
Department of Cell Biology and Biophysics, UT Southwestern Exploring Organelle Lipid Quality Control
Matt Moulton 2/03/2026 Henri Jasper Genentech, Regenerative Medicine Stem Cell Aging: Local and Systemic Effects Jason Karpac 2/10/2026 Marc Freeman Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University Astrocytes as Integral Componenets of Neural Circuits
Aref Zarin 2/17/2026 John Boyle Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Toxoplasma gondii Infection Misdirects Placental Trophoblast Lineage Specification
Lamba Sangare 2/24/2026 Ankur Dalia Department of Biology, Indiana University Regulation and Mechanisms of Horizontal Gene Transfer by Natural Transformation Matthias Koch 3/03/2026 Taylor Ware Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University Proliferation-Driven Function in Engineered Living Materials Jolene Ramsey 3/10/2026 Spring Break 3/17/2026 -- CANCELLED Ian Maze HHMI and Department of Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Protein Monoaminylation in the Brain: Novel Mechanisms of Neural Development, Plasticity, and Disease Wanhe Li 3/24/2026 Tannishtha Reya Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University Stem Cell Signals in Cancer Heterogeneity and Therapy Resistance Tapasree Roy Sarkar 3/31/2026 Victoria Acosta-Rodriguez National Institute on Aging, NIH Targeting Circadian Physiology to Promote Longevity Jerome Menet 4/07/2026 Thomas Silhavy Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University Mechanisms of Substrate Quality Control in Gram-Negative Outer Membrane Protein Assembly Angela Mitchell 4/14/2026 Olivia Rissland Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado The Impact of Coding Regions on Gene Expression Jared Bard 4/21/2026 Kimberly Rosvall Department of Biology, University of Indiana How Does Nature Build an Aggressive Bird? Courtney Fitzpatrick Previous Seminars
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Spring 2025
Date Name Institution Title Host 1/14/2025 Jorden Holland, Gillian Imrie Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Astrocytic store-released calcium signaling regulates cortical synapse development and function
Identifying the Transcription Factors that Mediate the Immediate Response to Fibroblast Growth Factor (Fgf)
Haley Bennett 1/21/2025 Karen Maxwell -- CANCELLED Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto Exploring the Dark Matter of Phage Genomes and Its Role in Antiviral Defense
Gillie Brown 1/28/2025 Karine Gibbs Department of Plant & Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley Social dynamics in swarming colonies of the bacterial pathogen Proteus mirabilis
Michael Debrah 2/04/2025 Todd Streelman School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Tech Cellular Profiling of a Recently-Evolved Social Behavior in Cichlid Fishes Rachel Moran 2/11/2025 Roman Giger Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Characterization of Immune Cells and Molecules that Promote and Suppress CNS Axon Regeneration
Dylan McCreedy 2/18/2025 Harini Iyer Department of BioSciences, Rice University Illuminating the Cell Biology of Microglia in Development and Neurodegeneration
Alex Keene 2/25/2025 Bruce McClane Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh With a Little Help From My Friends: Clostridium perfringens Quorum Sensing Joe Sorg 3/04/2025 Chris Doe HHMI and Department of Biology, University of Oregon Development of Motor Circuits in Drosophila Aref Zarin 3/11/2025 Spring Break 3/18/2025 Erick Duboué Florida Atlantic University Studying Brain-Wide Circuits and Their Functions in Pathological and Adaptive Behaviors Alex Keene 3/25/2025 Paul Turner Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University Developing Phage Therapy Against Antimicrobial Resistant Bacterial Infections Jolene Ramsey 4/01/2025 Karl Clark Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University Genome Engineering and Zebrafish Behavioral Genetics Heath Blackmon 4/08/2025 Ken Lohmann Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Magnetic Navigation in Sea Turtles Christine Merlin 4/15/2025 Jie Xiao Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Protein and Things That Go -- A Single Molecule View of Bacterial Cell Division Beiyan Nan 4/22/2025 Patricia Wittkopp Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan Molecular and Evolutionary Processes Generating Variation in Gene Expression Mahul Chakraborty Fall 2025
Date Name Institution Title Host 8/26/2025 Dylan McCreedy Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Neutrophil Heterogeneity in Spinal Cord Injury
Joe Sorg 9/02/2025 James Brozik Department of Chemistry, Washington State University Stochastic Interactions of Long-and Short-Form Aquaporin-4 in Biometric Assemblies
Hongmin Qin 9/09/2025 Sachi Mandal
Olajumoke Ogunlusi
Department of Biology, Texas A&M University A trichome-specific ABC transporter: Role in specialized metabolism of defense compounds and evolution
LILRB4 regulates circadian disruption-induced mammary tumorigenesis via non-canonical WNT signaling pathway
BioGSA 9/16/2025 Lance Johnson University of Kentucky College of Medicine Flipping the switch on APOE: AD-relevant effects of E4 replacement with E2 Matt Moulton 9/23/2025 Trevor Sorrell Department of Genetics, Yale University Integration of Host Signals in the Mosquito Brain
Christine Merlin 9/30/2025 Ann Tarrant Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Cnidarian Circadian Clocks: Innovation, Conservation, and Emergent Properties
Marie Strader 10/07/2025 Karen Maxwell Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto Exploring the Dark Matter of Phage Genomes and Its Role in Antiviral Defense Gillie Brown 10/14/2025 Fall Break 10/21/2025 Sean Morrison HHMI and Children's Medical Center Research Institute, UTSW The Hematopoietic Stem Cell Niche and Implications for Clinical Transplantation Tapasree Roy Sarkar 10/28/2025 Vivek Jayaraman HHMI Janelia Research Campus Neural Mechanisms Underlying Adaptive Goal-Directed Navigation Aref Zarin 11/04/2025 Husniye Kantarci Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin Glial Control of Excitability in the Nervous System Bruce Riley 11/11/2025 Ethan Hughes Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorodo School of Medicine Oligodendroglia: Implications for Adult CNS Plasticity and Repair Gillian Imrie 11/18/2025 Paul Straight Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University Bacterial Fitness Through Secondary Metabolism Angela Mitchell 11/25/2025 Brett Hilton Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, University of British Columbia, Canada Targeting Neuronal Maturation to Promote Axon Regeneration Following Spinal Cord Injury Jennifer Dulin 12/02/2025 Anthony Leung Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, John Hopkins School of Medicine Targeting PARP Biology Beyond Cancer: Biomolecular Condensates, Infection, and Neurodegeneration Jared Bard
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Spring 2024
Date Name Institution Title Host CANCELED: 1/16/2024 Yuhan Huang and Srutha Venkatesan Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Yuhan Huang, Zarin Lab: “Neural Control of Swing and Stance Phases of Foot-Like Structures During Drosophila Larval Locomotion”
Srutha Venkatesan, Nan Lab: “How Bacteria Maintain Cell Integrity and How We Disrupt It”
BioGSA 1/23/2024 Amanda Larracuente Department of Biology, University of Rochester Intragenomic Conflicts in Drosophila: Satellite DNA and Meiotic Drive Mahul Chakraborty 1/30/2024 Vidyadhara D.J. Yale School of Medicine Presynaptic endolysosomal system dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. Jen Dulin 2/6/2024 Hongjie Li Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine Time flies, How? Unlocking the Secrets of Aging Alex Keene 2/13/2024 Karen Gamble Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Unmasking the Hidden Rhythms: Dopaminergic Neuron-Specific Bmal1 Knockdown Disrupts 24-h Patterns and Reveals Ultradian Dynamics in Substantia Nigra Neuronal Activity Jeff Jones 2/20/2024 Lu Sun Department of Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern Cellular and Molecular Dissection of Neuron-Glia Interactions Bella Farhy 2/27/2024 Michael Landis Department of Biology, Washington University St. Louis Phylogenetic methods to model spatial evolution Heath Blackmon 3/5/2024 Will Hwang Department of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School Single-Cell and Multi-Modal Spatial Approaches to Study Human Oncology Tapasree Roy Sarkar 3/12/2024 Spring Break 3/19/2024 Yuhan Huang and Srutha Venkatesan Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina Charlotte Yuhan Huang, Zarin Lab: “Neural Control of Swing and Stance Phases of Foot-Like Structures During Drosophila Larval Locomotion”
Srutha Venkatesan, Nan Lab: “How Bacteria Maintain Cell Integrity and How We Disrupt It”
Angela Mitchell 3/26/2024 C. Andrew Frank Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Iowa How Discrete Homeostatic Signals Stabilize Synapse Function Aref Zarin 4/2/2024 Greg Reeves Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University Towards a Quantitative Understanding of Cellular Decision-Making in Tissue Development and Beyond Bruce Riley 4/9/2024 Joseph Zackular Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Pathogen-Microbiota Interactions during Clostridioides difficile Infection Joe Sorg 4/16/2024 William Prinz Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern A novel mechanism of regulating plasma membrane fluidity and function requires bridge-like lipid transport proteins Larry Griffing 4/23/2024 Deb Bell-Pedersen Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Connections between the Circadian Clock, Translation Fidelity, and Aging Paul Hardin Fall 2024
Date Name Institution Title Host 8/20/2024 Angela Mitchell Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Enterobacterial Common Antigen’s Role in Outer Membrane permeability and Antibiotic Resistance Joe Sorg 8/27/2024 Daniel Paredes-Sabja Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Clostridioides difficile Spores´ Role in Persistence and Disease Recurrence Joe Sorg 9/3/2024 Merilyn Beebe & Amy Tan Department of Biology, Texas A&M University MB: Phenotypic Characterization of C. difficile ribotypes
AT: Early environmental conditions shape epigenetic changes in Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
BioGSA 9/10/2024 M. Celestee Simon Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Can Altered Tumor Metabolism be Exploited for New Cancer Treatments? Tapasree Roy Sarkar 9/17/2024 Michael C. Abt Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Immune-Microbiota Interactions in defense against Clostridioides difficile Daniel Paredes-Sabja 9/24/2024 Kerwyn C Huang Departments of Bioengineering and Microbiology & Immunology, Stanford University Predicting the Assembly of the Gut Microbiome Angela Mitchell 10/1/2024 Jessica Bernard Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University Flipping the brain upside down: Novel insights into aging from studying the cerebellum. Deb Bell-Pedersen 10/8/2024 Fall Break 10/15/2024 Vishal Gohil Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University Mitochondrial Copper Biology: From Yeast Genetics to Menkes Disease Therapeutics Richard Gomer 10/22/2024 Beth Archie Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame Social and Early Life Determinants of Survival in Wild Baboons Courtney Fitzptrick 10/29/2024 Wenshe Liu Departments of Chemistry, Translational Medical Sciences, Biochemistry & Biophysics, Cell Biology & Genetics, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, TAMU Phage-Displayed Noncanonical Amino Acids for Drug Discovery Deb Bell-Pedersen 11/5/2024 Anita Devineni Department of Biology, Emory University Neural processing for flexible feeding behaviors in Drosophila Alex Keene 11/12/2024 Jeremy Rock David Rockefeller Graduate Program, Rockefeller University Compensatory Evolution in NusG improves fitness of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Joe Sorg 11/19/2024 Harold Sontheimer Department of Neuroscience, University of Virginia Perineuronal Nets - Old Structures New Functions Isabella Farhy-Tselnicker 11/26/2024 Jeffrey M Gross Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin Using Zebrafish to Understand Regeneration and Neuroprotection in the Eye Jennifer Dulin
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Spring 2023
Date Name Institution Title Host 1/17/2023 Sven van Teefelen (Zoom)
Department of Microbiology, University of Montreal On Growth and Form, 100 Years After D’Arcy Thompson: Towards a Fundamental Understanding of Cell Shape and Size Using Rod-Shaped Bacteria as Model Systems Beiyan Nan 1/24/2023 Matt Kayser Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Medical School Using Fruit Flies to Study Sleep Regulation and Function Across Development Alex Keene 1/31/2023 Elena Gracheva Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology & Neuroscience, Yale University Cellular, Molecular, and Physiological Adaptations of Hibernation Christine Merlin 2/7/2023 Natividad Ruiz Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University Lipid Transporters that Build the Outer Membrane in Gram-Negative Bacteria Angela Mitchell 2/14/2023 Paul Bollyky Department of Medicine, Stanford University Bacteriophages in Human Health and Disease Jolene Ramsey 2/21/2023 Swathi Yadlapalli Department of Cell & Development Biology, University of Michigan Understanding How Clock Condensates Control Circadian Rhythms Christine Merlin 2/28/2023 Kasuni Daundasekara & Hailee Nerber Department of Biology, TAMU HN: The small acid-soluble proteins of Clostridioides difficile regulate sporulation through a downstream protein, SpoIVB2.
KD: Identifying serpentine adaptation genes by tracing evolutionary-genomic history of Streptanthus, Caulanthus, and their allied genera (Brassicaceae)TAMU BioGSA 3/7/2023 Thomas Clandinin Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University How Does Vision Interact With Locomotion? Aref Zarin 3/14/2023 Spring Break 3/21/2023 Richard Dixon Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas and Department of Biology, TAMU Plant Cell Wall Engineering: Prospects and Problems Wayne Versaw 3/28/2023 CANCELED: Harald Sontheimer Department of Neuroscience, University of Virginia TBA Bell Farhy 4/4/2023 Joel McGlothlin Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech Ancient enemies: The evolutionary origins of the predator-prey arms race between snakes and newts Courtney Fitzpatrick 4/11/2023 Eric Skaar Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Clostridioides difficile Eats Your Blood and Uses It as a Shield Joe Sorg 4/18/2023 Nobuaki Kikyo Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota Inhibition of Cell Reprogramming by Inflammatory Macrophages Under Circadian Regulation Shogo Sato 4/25/2023 Trisha Davis Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington Reconstituting the Kinetochore From Microtubule to Chromosome Lisa Campbell
Fall 2023
Date Name Institution Title Host 8/29/2023 Ben Herman Department of Biology, Texas A&M University It’s Not Just a Science Thing: Factors Associated with Socioscientific Issues Engagement Joe Sorg 9/5/2023 Jen Dulin Department of Biology, Texas A&M University The Biology of Neural Progenitor Cell Transplantation for Spinal Cord Injury Joe Sorg 9/12/2023 Kira Delmore Department of Biology, Texas A&M University Speciation, Behavior, and Hybrid Zones Joe Sorg 9/19/2023 Christine Merlin Department of Biology, Texas A&M University The incredible journey of the migratory monarch butterfly: a new model system for circadian rhythms, seasonal migration, and magnetosensation Joe Sorg 9/26/2023 Miranda Leal & Sara Maynard Department of Biology, Texas A&M University SM: "Calcium signaling in plants: photostimulating the ER-chloroplast membrane contact site"
ML: "L-selectin shedding is critical for regulating neutrophil function and long-term recovery after spinal cord injury”"BioGSA 10/3/2023 Kartik Venkatachalam Department of Integrative Biology & Pharmacology, UTHealth - Houston Multimodal Interrogation of Neurological Diseases Jen Dulin 10/10/2023 Christophe Herman Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine Transcription Errors Drive Phenotypic Variability from E. coli to SARS-CoV-2 Deb Bell-Pedersen 10/17/2023 Susanne Brander Oregon State University Micro and Nanoplastic Effects in Marine and Estuarine Organisms, Deciphering Responses to Better Understand Mechanisms of Toxicity Maureen Hayden 10/24/2023 Elena Gracheva Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology & Neuroscience, Yale University Cellular, Molecular, and Physiological Adaptations of Hibernation Christine Merlin 10/31/2023 Ashok Shetty Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, TAMU School of Medicine Promise of Human Neural Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles for Treating Alzheimer’s Disease Tom McKnight 11/7/2023 Jun Wang NEXT Department, TAMU Neural Circuit Mechanisms of Substance Use Disorders Bella Farhy 11/14/2023 Dustin Rubenstein Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University Linking Genotype, Phenotype and Environment in Social Evolution Kira Delmore 11/21/2023 ZOOM: Andrea Graham Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton Where the Wild Things Are: Interacting Effects of Genetics, Environment, & Behavior on Immune Function Jenna Hulke 11/28/2023 Ira Blader Department of Microbiology and Immunology, SUNY Buffalo TOXOPLASMA INFECTIONS OF THE BRAIN: MAKING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PHD Lamba Sangaré 12/5/2023 Ronald DePinho Department of Cancer Biology, MD Anderson Cancer Center Precision Oncology & Tumor Biology Tapasree Roy Sarker
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Spring 2022
Date Name Institution Title Host 1/18/2022 CANCELED: Ilia Karatsoreos Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Amherst From Brain to Body and Back: Consequences of Disrupted Body Clocks on Health Christine Merlin 1/25/2022 Jing Chen Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech Who Is to Thank for the Rhythms of My Tail? A Mathematical Study of Circadian Rhythmicity in Poly(A) Tail Length Beiyan Nan 3/1/2022 Murray Blackmore Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University Gene Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury: New Molecular Targets and Improved Delivery Valerie Dietz 3/8/2022 Bin Wu & Justin Palermo Department of Biology, TAMU BW: To eat, or not to eat, that is the question. JP: A human to fly pipeline: Functional validation of sleep GWAS in Drosophila.
Sara Maynard 3/15/2022 Spring Break 3/22/2022 CANCELED: Craig Ellermeier Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Iowa Cell Envelope Stress Response in C. difficile Joseph Sorg 3/29/2022 Dion Dickman Department of Gerontology, University of Southern California Induction Mechanisms of Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity Aref Zarin 4/5/2022 Thomas Bernhardt Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School and HHMI Cell Surface Assembly in Corynebacteria Beiyan Nan 4/12/2022 John Hogenesch Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Building Circadian Medicine in a Pediatric Hospital Deb Bell-Pedersen 4/19/2022 Xinhua Chen (via Zoom) Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School C. difficile Infection – What Remains Difficult? Daniel Paredes-Sabja 4/26/2022 Raghu Kalluri Department of Cancer Biology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center Exploiting the Biology of Tumor Stroma and Exosomes for Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer Tapasree Roy Sarkar Fall 2022
Date Name Institution Title Host 8/30/2022 Hongmin Qin Department of Biology, TAMU Mechanisms of agricultural pest crape myrtle bark scale infestation, and engineering protein nanoarray systems for synthetic biology Joe Sorg 9/6/2022 Craig Ellermeier Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Iowa Cell Envelope Stress Response in C. difficile Joe Sorg 9/13/2022 Matthew Breuer & Aishwarya Sahasrabudhe Department of Biology, TAMU MB: “The antidepressant sertraline induces the formation of supersized lipid droplets in the human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans” AS: “Rhythmic systemic signals drive rhythmic gene expression through mTOR signalling in the mouse liver”
Ebi Preh 9/20/2022 Mostafa Zamanian Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison Leveraging advanced transcriptomics and heterologous systems for anthelmintic discovery Jenna Hulke 9/27/2022 Elizabeth Hobson Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati Dominance hierarchies, fight decisions, & social support as windows into animal social cognition Courtney Fitzpatrick 10/4/2022 Joe Lutkenhaus Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology, University of Kansas Regulation of Bacterial Cell Division Angela Mitchell 10/18/2022 Ilia Karatsoreos Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, U. Mass Amherst From Brain to Body and Back: Consequences of Disrupted Body Clocks on Health Christine Merlin 10/25/2022 Mayssa Mokalled Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine Comparative approaches reveal regenerative cell identities in the spinal cord Dylan McCreedy 11/1/2022 Chun Han Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University Phagocytosis-Driven Neurodegeneration and New CRISPR Tools in Drosophila Aref Zarin 11/8/2022 Borden Lacy Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Molecular mechanisms of toxins in Clostridioides difficile pathogenesis Michael Acheampong Debrah 11/15/2022 Jennifer Evans Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University A Time for Change: Plasticity in Circadian Clock Circuits Jeff Jones 11/22/2022 Lauren O’Connell
CANCELEDDepartment of Biology, Stanford University Ecological Tuning of Animal Behavior and Physiology: Lessons from Poison Frogs Alex Keene 11/29/2022 Gaby Maimon HHMI/ Rockefeller University How Brains Add Vectors Wanhe Li 12/6/2022 Tobias Dörr Department of Microbiology, Cornell University Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Wall Turnover and Antibiotic Tolerance in Gram-negative Pathogens Beiyan Nan
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Spring 2021
Date Name Institution Title Host 1/19/2021 Xiuren Zhang Biochemistry and Biophysics, TAMU Homeostatic Mechanisms of RNA Silencing in Arabidopsis Tom McKnight 1/26/2021 John Tuthill Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington Neural Mechanisms of Limb Proprioception Aref Zarin 2/2/2021 Karine Gibbs UC-Berkeley Micro-crowdsourcing: How swarming bacteria use a local sense of identity to assemble and move as a community Debby Siegele 2/9/2021 Brie Myre & Runshi Xie TAMU Biology Runshi: Life Table and Mating Behavior of Crapemyrtle Bark Scale (Acanthococcus lagerstromiae)
Brie: A New Approach to an Old Question: Evaluation of Ecological Breeding Strategies in Sea TurtlesBioGSA 2/16/2021 Seth Walk Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University Understanding and Manipulating Gut Microbiome Residency Joe Sorg 2/23/2021 Nina Salama Human Biology and Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutch Beyond Mutation: Bacterial Carcinogenesis Through Niche Remodeling Beiyan Nan 3/2/2021 Christina Stallings Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Molecular mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis Ashley Hudson & Steve Lockless 3/9/2021 Ruifeng (Ray) Cao Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School Translational Control of Circadian Physiology and Dysfunction in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Deb Bell-Pedersen 3/16/2021 Spring Break 3/23/2021 Shu-Bing Qian College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithica, NY Mysteries of Translation Initiation Matt Sachs 3/30/2021 Kirt Onthank Department of Biology, Walla Walla University Eight arms and acid: A tale of octopuses and environmental change Maureen Hayden 4/6/2021 Joy Ward Case Western Reserve Impacts of rising CO2 on plants: from the last glacial maximum through the future Alan Pepper 4/13/2021 Sophie Helaine Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School Salmonella Persisters During Infection Angela Mitchell 4/20/2021 Joseph Dougherty Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Alternative Translation and Local Translation in CNS Glia Isabella Farhy 4/27/2021 Ian Molineux Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin Seeing is believing and can even be instructive – Visualizing the initiation of bacteriophage infection Rene Garcia Fall 2021
Date Name Institution Title Host 8/31/2021 Jerome Menet Department of Biology, TAMU Mechanisms underlying the timing of gene expression across the day Deb Bell-Pedersen 9/7/2021 Heath Blackmon Department of Biology, TAMU The evolution of genome architecture Deb Bell-Pedersen 9/14/2021 Young-Ho Jung & Whitney Roberson Department of Biology, TAMU YJ: Exploring unexpected phenotypes and changes in transcriptional state caused by small nucleotide changes in the Sex-lethal early enhancer WR: The Role of pax2 Transcription Factor in Development and Maintenance of Sensory Hair Cells in the Zebrafish Inner Ear
Sara Maynard 9/21/2021 Cynthia Whitchurch (via Zoom) Quadram Institute Bioscience, University of East Anglia, England Shape-shifting superpowers of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Ry Young 9/28/2021 Craig Ellermeier -CANCELLED Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Iowa Cell Envelope Stress Response in C. difficile Joseph Sorg 10/5/2021 Wesley Grueber (via Zoom) Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics and Neuroscience, Columbia University Establishment of subcellular synaptic specificity: lessons from the Drosophila somatosensory system Aref Zarin 10/12/2021 Pam Brown Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri Exploring Cell Elongation and Division in the bacterial plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens Beiyan Nan 10/19/2021 Seth Walk Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University Understanding and manipulating gut microbiome residency Joseph Sorg 10/26/2021 Nicholas Shikuma (via Zoom) Department of Biology, San Diego State University A tale of phage tails and tubeworms: How bacteria stimulate animal metamorphosis Angela Mitchell 11/2/2021 C. Brandon Ogbunugafor (via Zoom) Yale University Environment by everything interactions: from protein evolution to indirect transmission in modern epidemics. Jenna Hulke 11/9/2021 Katie Lotterhos (via Zoom) Department of Marine and Environment Sciences, Northeastern University Adaptation and climate change: what are we missing? Kira Delmore 11/16/2021 Matt Harris Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School Lurking just below the surface: exposing latent potential for limb development in a fish Bruce Riley 11/23/2021 Paul Kubes (via Zoom) Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary School of Medicine Understanding how immune cells help repair injured tissues Dylan McCreedy 11/30/2021 Tamra Mendelson (via Zoom) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland at Baltimore Beauty and speciation in North American freshwater fishes Courtney Fitzpatrick
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Date Name Institution Title Host 8/25/2020 Beiyan Nan TAMU Biology The Origin of Rod Shape in Bacteria Deb Bell-Pedersen 9/1/2020 Vaughn Cooper Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Life in the Crowd: How Biofilms Alter the Evolution of Antimicrobial Resistance Katrina Hofstetter 9/8/2020 Hiroki Ueda Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo Systems Biology of Mammalian Sleep: Phosphorylation Hypothesis of Sleep Paul Hardin 9/15/2020 Carole Parent Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Live Imaging of Signal Relay During Chemotaxis and Its Relevance to Inflammation and Cancer Kristen Consalvo 9/22/2020 Sean Crosson Department of Microbiology, University of Chicago Bacterial Adaptation to Shifting Environments Beiyan Nan 9/29/2020 Leonie Moyle Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington The invasion of charismatic wild tomato, Solanum pimpinellifolium, onto the Galapagos islands: A case of evolutionary theft Kira Delmore 10/6/2020 Shonna McBride Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University Activation of Sporulation in C. difficile Joe Sorg 10/13/2020 Christoph Thaiss Dept of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania Microbiome Dynamics in Metabolic Disease Jerome Menet 10/20/2020 Manuel Amieva Department of Pediatrics, Stanford Specialized Bacterial Hideouts Control Helicobacter pylori Colonization, Persistence, and Disease in the Stomach Daniel Paredes-Sabja 10/27/2020 Samantha Iiams & Lunda Shen Department of Biology, Texas A&M University SI: Clock regulation of photoperiodic responsiveness in the monarch butterfly
LS: The near-atomic structure of the translating ribosome with the inhibitor cycloheximide directly demonstrates the drug’s mechanism of actionGraduate Student Association 11/3/2020 Jorge Galán Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale University School of Medicine Salmonella and Intestinal Inflammation: A Pathogen-Centric Affair Angela Mitchell 11/10/2020 Greg Demas Department of Biology, Indiana University To Everything There Is a Season: Neuroendocrine Control of Seasonal Sickness and Immunity Paul Hardin 11/17/2020 Jeffrey Good Department of Wildlife Biology, University of Montana The evolution of seasonal camouflage Heath Blackmon 11/24/2020 Ehab Abouheif Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada What Soldier and Supersoldier Ants Teach Us About Development and Evolution Bruce Riley
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Date Name Institution Title Host 8/27/2019 Shobhan Gaddameedhi Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA Circadian Clock Integrates with Genomic Stability and Cancer Deb Bell-Pedersen 9/3/2019 Joseph Sorg TAMU Biology Pseudoprotease regulation of Clostridium difficile spore germination Deb Bell-Pedersen 9/10/2019 Dan Wall Department of Molecular Biology, University of Wyoming Self-recognition and social discrimination in myxobacteria Beiyan Nan 9/17/2019 Peter Lepage Department of Physics, Cornell University Large-Scale Pedagogical Change and Sustainability at a Large Research University (See video via link) Tom McKnight 9/24/2019 Fabienne Poulain Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina Destroy to build: selective axon degeneration for the wiring of neuronal circuits in vivo Jen Dulin 10/1/2019 Enrique Rojas Department of Biology, New York University Physical Regulation of Bacterial Proliferation Beiyan Nan 10/8/2019 Christopher Randle Department of Biology, Sam Houston State University A model for variation in local host preference in the wide-ranging oak mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum) Angela Hawkins 10/15/2019 Joseph Rodriguez National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NC Visualizing regulation of the estrogen response in single living cells Jerome Menet 10/22/2019 Yufeng Wan &
Andrea Martinez AguirreTAMU Biology Identification of the probabilistic parameters during C. elegans male mating behavior
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An in-vivo and in-vitro approach for elucidating the roles of Clostridium scindens, C. hiranonis and C. leptum on Clostridium difficile infections.Amy Tan 10/29/2019 Samer Hattar National Institute of Mental Health, MD Retinal and brain circuits underling the effects of light on mood and circadian rhythms Christine Merlin 11/5/2019 Louis-Charles Fortier Département de microbiologie et d’infectiologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada “New Insight into Phage-Host Interactions in Clostridioides difficile” Joseph Sorg 11/12/2019 Ardala Katzfuss Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, TAMU Phosphoribosyltransferases as targets for the treatment of Chagas’ Disease, Sleeping Sickness, and Malaria Tom McKnight 11/19/2019 Alexandra Byrne Department of Neurobiology, U. Mass Med School Worcester Shared Mechanisms of Axon Regeneration and Degeneration Rene Garcia 11/26/2019 Gregory Demas Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington To Everything There Is a Season: Neuroendocrine Control of Seasonal Sickness and Immunity Paul Hardin
Faculty Chalk Talks
Where and When: The 3rd Friday of the month at 12:00 pm in BSBW 025
Purpose: These talks are meant to be informal chalk talks covering what you are working on, what you are thinking about, what you plan to work on, etc. in order to get constructive feedback on your ideas. Everyone is responsible for finding an alternate speaker if you cannot talk on your scheduled date.