Department of Genetics & Development Seminar Series
Our seminar series features a diverse range of distinguished speakers from our community and from leading institutes around the world.
Spring 2026
Tuesdays twice a month at 4:00pm *unless otherwise noted.
Location: Hammer Health Sciences Center-701 West 168th Street in Room 312
January 13- VEC 201- Special Seminar with V. Alessandro Gennarino, PhD
Assistant Professor of Genetics and Development, Department of Genetics and Development
“Where, when, and how much: understanding failures of proteostasis in human disease.”
Hosted by Dr. Gerard Karsenty
January 20 - David Pellman, PhD
Margaret M. Dyson Professor of Pediatric Oncology
Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School
"Mechanisms driving the rapid evolution of genomes"
Hosted by Dr. Rodney Rothstein
February 3 - Terence Capellini, PhD
Chair, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
"Bipedalism in two steps: Dual developmental innovations underlie the human pelvis."
Hosted by Dr. Gerard Karsenty
February 10 - Michael Pacold, PhD
Director, Basic Science Research Department of Radiation Oncology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
"An Unexpected Neurodevelopmental and Mitochondrial Journey Tracing Molecular Oxygen"
Hosted by Drs. Juan Schvartzman & Christine Chio
March 10 - Yibin Kang, PhD
Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology
Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University
"Macrophage Niches in Development and Cancer: How Tumors Hijack Physiological Support Systems"
Hosted by Dr. Gérard Karsenty
March 17 - Cédric Blanpain, PhD
Director, Laboratory of Stem Cells & Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles
"Uncovering and targeting EMT tumor states."
Hosted by Dr. Gérard Karsenty
March 24 - Yi Zhang, PhD
Fred S. Rosen Endowed Professor of Genetics & Pediatrics
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Harvard Medical School
"Polycomb silencing: mechanism and biology."
Hosted by Dr. Bing Ren
April 7 - VEC 401 -Shingo Kajimura, PhD
Professor, Harvard Medical School
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
"Molecular Basis for Fuel Selection"
Hosted by Dr. Christine Chio
April 21 - Aaron Goldstrohm, PhD
Chair, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, & Biophysics
College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota
"A Goldilocks Tale of the Poly(A) Tail: Mechanisms of mRNA regulation by Pumilio and Poly(A) Binding Proteins"
Hosted by Dr. V. Alessandro Gennarino
*Thursday, May 7 - Special Seminar - HHSC- Room 305
Gerard Schwank, PhD Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich
"In Vivo Genome Editing for Liver and Brain Disorders"
Joint Seminar with the Department of Genetics and Development
& Department of Biological Sciences
Hosted by Drs. Christine Chio and Marko Jovanovic
May 12 - Yusuf A. Hannun, MD
Joel Strum Kenny Professor in Cancer Research
Sunny Distinguished Professor
Director, the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Center for Metabolomics and Imaging
Director Emeritus, Stony Brook Cancer Center
Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry, Stony Brook University
"Neutral Sphingomyelinase 2 and Ceramide Signaling at the Plasma Membrane: Back to the Future"
Hosted by Dr. V. Alessandro Gennarino
May 19- Nicholas Brown, PhD
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
"Understanding ubiquitination mechanisms for cell cycle regulation and targeted protein degradation."
Hosted by Dr. V. Alessandro Gennarino
June 16 - Iain M. Cheeseman, PhD
Herman and Margaret Sokol Professor of Biology,
Core Member, Whitehead Institute, Associate Department Head, MIT Biology
"Design Principles of Human Cells"
Hosted by Dr. Alberto Ciccia
Monday, June 22 at 11:30am in HHSC- Room 312 - SPECIAL SEMINAR
Todd Nystul, PhD
Professor, Department of Anatomy, UC San Francisco
"Mechanisms of Somatic Cell Differentiation and Aging"
Hosted by Dr. Mustafa Aydogan
June 23 - Tobias Walther, PhD in HHSC-Room 301
Member and Chair, Cell Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute;
Enid A. Haupt Chair in Cell Biology; Professor, Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School; Professor of Molecular Biology,
Weill Cornell Medical School; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
"The Phase of Fat: Mechanisms of Lipid Storage"
Hosted by Dr. Mustafa Aydogan
Fall 2026
Tuesdays, twice per month at 4:00pm * unless otherwise noted
Location: HHSC- Room 301
September 8 - Yukiko Yamashita, PhD
Professor of Biology; Core Member, Whitehead Institute
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Hosted by Dr. Mustafa Aydogan
September 15 - Beverly L. Davidson, PhD
Director, Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Chief Scientific Strategy Officer (CSS), Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute
Department: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Hosted by Dr. V. Alessandro Gennarino
October 13 - Jennifer A. Zallen, PhD
Member, Developmental Biology Program, SKI; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Hosted by Dr. Mustafa Aydogan
October 27 - Wei Xie, PhD
Professor and Principal Investigator
School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, China
Hosted by Dr. Chao Lu
November 3 - Aravinda Chakravarti, PhD
Director, Center for Human Genetics and Genomics
Professor, Institute for Systems Genetics
Professor, Department of Medicine
Muriel G. and George W. Singer Professor of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Neuroscience
Hosted by Drs. Gerard Karsenty and V. Alessandro Gennarino
November 17 - Shelley Berger, PhD
Daniel S. Och, University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania
and the Director of the Epigenetics Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine.
Hosted by Dr. Juan Manuel Schvartzman
December 1 - Brent R. Stockwell, PhD
Professor of Biological Sciences and of Chemistry;
Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, Dept of Biological Sciences, CUIMC
Hosted by Dr. Mustafa Aydogan