Student Seminar Series

Spring 2026

3rd-year students and up

Fridays at 12:00pm

Location: Hammer Health Sciences Center- 701 West 168th Street, Room 305

*Pizza is provided by the Department.

January 23 - Julia Mo

Beans and Fish: A recipe for ligament regeneration

January 30 - Emilia Weihenig

Investigating gene regulatory networks in Autism Spectrum Disorder

February 6 - Lindsey Starr

Disrupted glial-mediated synaptic refinement in Fragile X syndrome

February 13 - Ryan Kittle

A hierarchy of cis-acting sequence features governs transcription dynamics in early Drosophila embryos

February 20 - Edan Mortman

The role of dual-functioning RNA in transposon maintenance and proliferation

February 27 - Americo Casas

Antiviral immunity mediated by uncharacterized, group II intron-derived reverse transcriptases

March 6 - Brooke Dirvin

Investigating the Genetic and Epigenetic Control of Basal Cell Identity

March 13 - Morgan Zvezdov

Redefining mineral ion homeostasis

March 20 - Safiyah Ali

Investigating the role of AP-1 transcription factors during zebrafish ligament regeneration

March 27 - Sabrina Phanor

Haploinsufficiency of Pumilio2 causes neurodevelopmental disease with ataxia

April 3 - Madrikha Daphnee Saturne

Why NK cells? Differential replisome regulation in NK cells and T cells

April 17 - Luis Padilla Santiago

Targeting the most impactful genetic risk for Coronary Artery Disease

Tuesday, April 21 @12pm- Jared Gatto Thesis Defense Seminar -HHSC Room 301

Cyclic Fasting drives metabolic and physiological changes in Drosophila Melnogaster

Shirasu-Hiza Lab

April 24 - Megan Rabon

Polyamines regulate cell fate by altering the accessibility of histone tails

May 1 - Varun Sahu - tbd

May 8 - Sierra Ball - tbd

Thursday, May 14 @1:00pm - Julia Mo -Thesis Defense Seminar - HHSC Room 301

Legumain-mediated ECM remodeling and control of protease activity during adult zebrafish ligament regeneration

Smeeton Lab