Events

Please complete this form to add an event to the medical school calendar. All events added to the medical school calendar will also be added to our digital monitor event feeds. Up to three calendar entries will be selected weekly to appear as full-screen slides.

Sep

TEAM/SDRC Seminar: Novel Combination Therapies for Cancer

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University's TEAM Program and Northwestern's Skin Disease Research Center present:

Novel Combination Therapies for Cancer

Thao Pham, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow (Munshi Lab)
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Refreshments will be provided.

Sep

SPARC Advocacy Conference

Chicago - 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Students for Patient Advocacy and Research in the Community (SPARC) is having its inaugural advocacy conference on Saturday, September 14th from 9am-3pm. Mark your calendars for a day of learning, collaboration, and skill building workshops featuring our keynote speaker and founder of NowPow, Dr. Stacy Lindau, MD. Breakout session topics include: Advocacy 101, Government and Public Health, Health Equity Research, and Assessing Community Health Needs.

Sep

Ms. Joanna Butchart, Senior PT: Developing a socially assistive robot for Paediatric Rehabilitation.

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Abstract:

Current rehabilitation robots typically assist through physical interactions with patients, such as through an exoskeleton or other device, but do socially assistive robots (SARs) also have a role in rehabilitation? At times rehabilitation requires repetitive practice of exercises or motor tasks which can be somewhat boring, especially for children! It is proposed that SARs, which primarily provide assistance through their social interactions, may provide increased motivation and engagement during rehabilitation sessions and contribute to motor learning through demonstration, feedback and promotion of increased repetitions. A collaboration between engineers from Swinburne University, Melbourne and clinicians at the Royal Children s Hospital, Melbourne has led to the development of NAO, a commercially available SAR, as a therapeutic aid for pediatric rehabilitation. While a number of groups have looked at the use of robots such as NAO for rehabilitation support, to our knowledge this is the most widely tested system within a hospital setting, and in which the NAO robot is programmed and configured to deliver both demonstration and coaching in specific lower limb exercises as a stand-alone system. In this presentation Joanna will describe the in-situ design and collaborative model that has been critical to ensuring the clinical utility of the NAO robot. She will demonstrate the current technology, through clinical videos, and describe the quantitative and qualitative research the team has performed and is using to further develop the NAO as a rehabilitation robot.

Speaker Info:

Joanna Butchart completed a Bachelor of Physiotherapy with Honors at the University of Melbourne, Australia and then went on to study a Master of Physiotherapy (Paediatrics) at the University of Queensland. Since 2010 Joanna has worked as a physiotherapist for the Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service (VPRS), based at the Royal Children s Hospital, Melbourne. VPRS provides interdisciplinary rehabilitation to children with developmental and acquired injuries including cerebral palsy, acquired brain injuries and spinal cord injury. In 2013 Joanna spent 12 months at the Colonial War memorial Hospital in Fiji, volunteering as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development. On return to Australia she completed a Master of Public Health at the University of New South Wales. Joanna and has an interest in the way new technologies may contribute to rehabilitation and functional outcomes of children and this is her current research focus.

Sep

Basic Research Seminar: Preserving CTLA4 Immune Checkpoint for Safer and More Effective Cancer Immunotherapy

Chicago - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

The Basic Research Seminar Series of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer of Northwestern University presents:

Preserving CTLA4 Immune Checkpoint for Safer and More Effective Cancer Immunotherapy

Yang Liu, PhD
Director, Division of Immunotherapy
Professor of Surgery
Institute of Human Virology
University of Maryland School of Medicine

Host: Bin Zhang, MD, PhD

Light lunch provided.

The Basic Research Seminar series presents prominent basic science speakers weekly to inspire and promote ongoing cancer research at Northwestern University.

Sep

Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute Fall 2019 Seminar Series

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Jason X.-J. Yuan, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Medicine, Associate Director for Research Training (Basic Science)Division of Pulmonary Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, University of California, San Diego

Pathogenic Calcium Signaling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center
1st floor Auditorium

Light lunch served

Please contact Denise Lilly at d-lilly@northwestern.edu for more information

Sep

Annual Narahashi Lecture, Nieng Yan, Ph.D. - "Structural and Mechanistic Investigations of Voltage-gated Sodium Channels"

Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

The Department of Pharmacology and the Driskill Graduate Program welcome Nieng Yan, Ph.D. as our lecturer for the 6th Annual Narahashi Lecture and Distinguished Lectures in Life Sciences.

Please join us for a reception immediately following the lecture in Ryan Family Atrium.

Nieng Yan, Ph.D.
Shirley M. Tilghman Professor of Molecular Biology
Princeton University

"Structural and Mechanistic Investigations of Voltage-gated Sodium Channels"

The voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels are responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials. Being associated with a variety of channelopathies, they are targeted by multiple pharmaceutical drugs and natural toxins. We determined the crystal structure of a bacterial Nav channel NavRh in a potentially inactivated state a few years ago, which is a homotetramer in primary sequence but exhibits structural asymmetry. Employing the modern methods of cryo-EM, we determined the near atomic resolution structures of a Nav channel from American cockroach (designated NavPaS) and from electric eel (designated EeNav1.4). Most recently, we have determined the cryo-EM structures of the human Nav channels, Nav1.2, Nav1.4, and Nav1.7 in complex with distinct auxiliary subunits and toxins.These structures reveal the folding principle and structural details of the single-chain eukaryotic Nav channels that are distinct from homotetrameric voltage-gated ion channels. Unexpectedly, the two structures were captured in drastically different states. Whereas the structure of NavPaS has a closed pore and the four VSDs in distinct conformations, that of EeNav1.4 and the human channels is open at the intracelluar gate with VSDs exhibiting similar up states. The most striking conformational differenc occurs to the III-IV linker, which is essential for fast inactivation. Based on the structural features, we suggest an allosteric blocking mechanism for fast inactivation of Nav channels by the IFM motif. Structural comparison of the conformationally distinct Nav channels provides important insights into the electromechanical coupling mechanism of Nav channels and offers the 3D template to map hundredes of disease mutations.

Sep

Alzheimer's Disease Seminar Series: Modulation of neuroinflammation in FTLD-TDP

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Qinwen Mao, MD, PhD | Associate Professor of Pathology | Neuropathology Fellowship Program Director | Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Sep

IPHAM Seminar Series: The State of IPHAM

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: The State of IPHAM

Speaker: Ronald T. Ackermann, MD, MPH
Senior Associate Dean for Public Health
Director, Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM)
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Webinar link will be posted here.

To be added to the email list, subscribe here.

THURSDAYS AT NOON

Every Thursday during the academic year, IPHAM hosts a public health-focused seminar, which is also available via live stream

Engaging speakers; relevant research; CME credit

Join us in person at Baldwin Auditorium (unless otherwise noted), Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center (303 E. Superior; Chicago, IL)

Sep

Immunometabolism and Cancer Minisymposium

Chicago - 1:00 PM - 4:45 PM

A joint minisymposium of the Carcinogenesis T32 CA009560 Training Program and the Membranes, Organelles and Metabolism (MOM) Program of the Lurie Cancer Center:

Weaponizing Metabolism to Enhance Cancer Immunotherapy
Jonathan David Powell, MD, PhD
Associate Director, Bloomberg Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy,
Professor of Oncology and Pharmacology
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Skewed NK Cell Metabolism and Effector Function by Tumor-Derivative NKG2D Ligands
Jennifer D Wu, PhD
Mary and Patrick Scanlan Professor, Professor of Urology and Microbiology-Immunology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Tumor Microenvironment Metabolism and Its Role in Immune Activation, Regulation, and Response to Immunotherapy
Greg M. Delgoffe, PhD
Assistant Professor, Tumor Microenvironment Center, Department of Immunology
University of Pittsburgh

Mapping T Cell Metabolism In Vivo: New Insights Using Metabolomics
Russell Jones, PhD
Professor, Center for Cancer and Cell Biology; Program Lead, Metabolic and Nutritional Programming, Center for Cancer and Cell Biology
Van Andel Institute

Light refreshments provided. Reception to follow from 4:45 5:45 PM outside of Daniel Hale Williams Auditorium.

Sep

Lou and Jean Malnati Brain Tumor Institute Series: Guest Michael D. Taylor, MD

Chicago - 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM

Neurosurgery Grand Rounds

Sep

SQE Invited Speaker: Michael Washburn, PhD

Chicago - 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

The Simpson Querrey Center for Epigenetics presents:

Michael Washburn, PhD

Director of Proteomics Center
Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
The University of Kansas Medical Center, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Sep

"General Overview of Cardiovascular Biology" Didactic Lecture

Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Presented By:

Hossein Ardehali, MD, PhD
Director, Feinberg Cardiovascular and Renal Research Institute- Center for Molecular Cardiology
Professor of Cardiology and Pharmacology
Northwestern University

Feinberg Cardiovascular & Renal Research Institute

Sep

Genetics and Biology of the Human Circadian System - Louis Ptáček, MD

Chicago - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

The Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine welcomes you to attend a lecture featuring:

Louis Pt ek, MD
John C. Coleman Distinguished Professor of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco

Sleep contributes to our physical and mental health, and sleep perturbation has been linked to many health conditions. However, understanding of the human circadian system was impossible until the recognition of extreme behavioral variants of the human circadian system. The Mendelian trait of familial advanced sleep phase (FASP) 20 years ago opened up the possibility of identifying human genes and mutations that regulate the human clock. We have been studying many FASP families to identify such genetic variant and to probe the in vitro and in vivo functional consequences of such variants. These studies have led to many novel insights into the human circadian clock. Our work over the last 20 years has now culminated with reported estimates of FASP prevalence that is much higher than anyone could have predicted before. The resource of human families is leading to identification of novel circadian genes.

Dr. Louis Pt ek has used the tools of human genetics in the study of patients with an impressive range of human phenotypes. He pioneered the field of Channelopathies which encompasses a large group of episodic/electrical disorders of muscle, heart, and brain. His earliest work focused a group of rare episodic muscle diseases he had proposed as models for more complex episodic/electrical disorders like cardiac arrhythmias and epilepsy. In an elegant set of papers, he systematically cloned and characterized all the genes causing a variety of familial periodic paralyses. All encode ion channels and work from his and other labs has shown that homologs of these are the cause of some forms of cardiac arrhythmias, epilepsy, and migraine headache. Subsequently, his group has done extensive work in characterizing the functional consequences of disease causing mutations.

To this point, Pt ek s work had focused on human diseases. In another line of work motivated by a family with an interesting phenotype, he has now embarked into the challenging field of behavioral genetics. He and his colleague, Ying-Hui Fu, study the genetics of human sleep phenotypes. Familial advanced sleep phase (FASP), is manifest as a lifelong trait of extremely early sleep times and early morning awakening (1 am 4 am). Pt ek and Fu have gone on to characterize mutations in a growing list of genes that underlie the phenotype in 15% of FASP families. Furthermore, they ve gone on to model human mutations in Drosophila and mice. In vitro and in vivo experiments focused on regions harboring the human mutations has led to novel insights in fine tuning of circadian period regulation by phosphorylation and other post translational modifications.

He serves on a number editorial boards including Neurogenetics, eLife, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Association of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Science.

Sep

Ninth Annual Feinberg Medical Education Day

Chicago - 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM

Medical Education Day is Feinberg s annual celebration of outstanding teaching and scholarship by faculty, housestaff and students. The conference will feature workshops, innovative didactic presentations, and awards for teaching and educational research.

Join Us
Friday, September 27
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center
303 E. Superior St.
Chicago, Illinois

Keynote Speaker
Martin Pusic, MD
New York University School of Medicine
Associate Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Director, Division of Learning Analytics

For more info, please visit https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/fame/medical-education-day/index.html.

Sep

2019 ChicagoCHEC 4th Annual Community Forum

Off-Campus - 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

4th Annual ChicagoCHEC Community Forum

09/27/2019

Harry S. Truman College
1145 West Wilson Ave
Chicago, IL 60640
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Register to attend the multi-lingual 4th annual event that promotes community awareness, resources, and action steps about cancer health. Talks range from cancer history prevention to treatment to care with up-to-date information from specialists in the field. Learn how to plan and make a difference in your family community. Also learn what is needed to take steps for a mother, father, child, or friend's care to either prevent, diagnose, treat, be a survivor or just be healthy and cancer free. Know your way.

Limited seats are available. Transportation and lunch will be provided.

Sep

Allosteric Modulation of Glutamate Receptors

Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Stephen F Traynelis, Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
Emory University School of Medicine

Abstract:
NMDA receptors mediate a slow, Ca2+-permeable component of excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system (CNS). These receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that are tetrameric assemblies of two glycine-binding GluN1 subunits and two glutamate-binding GluN2 subunits. There are four different genes encoding GluN2 (GRIN2A, GRIN2B, GRIN2C, GRIN2D), which are each expressed with a unique spatial profile throughout the CNS at different developmental stages. The different GluN2 subunits control the temporal signaling properties of the receptors, which likely allows different subunits to mediate different roles in development and circuit function. NMDA receptors require the binding of both glutamate and glycine in order to open the pore, which is triggered by protein rearrangements secondary to agonist-induced closure of a bi-lobed agonist binding domain that resembles a clamshell. We hypothesize that three key gating elements control opening of the ion-conducting pore following agonist binding. These elements include the 9 highly conserved residues (SYTANLAAF) that comprise the extracellular end of the M3 transmembrane helix, the short two turn helix that is parallel to the plane of the membrane and precedes the M1 transmembrane helix, and the short linker preceding the M4 transmembrane helix (Amin et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2017; Gibb et al., 2018, Yuan et al., 2014). A considerable amount of data implicates these regions in gating, including the observation that regions of the genes encoding these portions of the polypeptide chain are devoid of variation in the human population, yet are a locus for disease-causing mutations in patients with neurological disease (XiangWei et al., 2018). We have studied the functional consequences of these de novo mutations, which have diverse effects on the process of channel gating. Our results included the identification of a mutation in the pre-M1 helix that reduced single channel conductance (Ogden et al., 2017), which is rare for receptor mutations that lie outside of the pore-forming regions. These data suggest that the pre-M1 helix may influence the geometry and characteristics of the open pore. Consistent with this idea, we have identified several allosteric modulators that appear to act at the pre-M1 region and can also reduce single channel conductance, an effect not previously observed for exogenous modulators of NMDA receptor function. For example, the thienopyrimidone EU1622 series of positive allosteric modulators of NMDA receptor function (Perszyk et al., Soc Neuroscience Annual Meeting, 2014) have structural determinants in the pre-M1 region. Members of this class can reduce single channel conductance while still potentiating the maximally effective current. Chord conductance levels of NMDA receptors on cultured cortical neurons changed from 52, 44 pS in vehicle (0.2% DMSO) to 42, 35, and 28 pS in 50 M EU1622-14 (mean from 7 outside out patches recorded at -80 mV, SEM varied between 0.5-1.1 pS). Given that the pre-M1 region might influence the properties of the pore, we explored the mechanism underlying this effect, and discovered that one modulator that reduces conductance can also alter the relative permeability ratio for cations. We found that EU1622-14 reduced the relative permeability of Ca2+ to Na+ for recombinant GluN1/GluN2A and GluN1/GluN2B receptors expressed in HEK cells by more than 2-fold (p<0.05 for both receptors, One-way ANOVA, post-hoc t-test of drug vs vehicle, Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, F3,28 = 6.91). This represents the first example to our knowledge of an exogenous drug-like allosteric modulator that can interact with the NMDAR protein complex to alter the relative permeability of ions, which has important implications. The result is perhaps intuitively understandable, as any change in the diameter or electrostatic properties of the pore that alters unitary conductance would be unlikely to do so in a manner that equally affects the permeability of ions with different diameters and distinct hydration shells. Rather, it seems likely that ions with unique atomic radii will have a different relative permeability when the pore diameter or electrostatic environment changes. These findings highlight important biophysical considerations about how the NMDA receptor tetrameric complex controls pore diameter and related properties. In addition, the precedent that Ca2+ permeability can be controlled pharmacologically creates a new potential therapeutic target (i.e. regulation of ionic selectivity) with intriguing possibilities, such as future development of positive allosteric modulators of NMDA receptor function that do not elevate intracellular Ca2+ to potentially pathological levels.

Oct

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Alejandro Balazs, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: Escapability of HIV Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies is the Major
Driver of Therapeutic Efficacy

Speaker: Alejandro Balazs, Phd, Harvard University

Host: Pablo Penaloza-MacMaster, PhD

Topic:

Dr. Alejandro B. Balazs is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at
Harvard Medical School and a Principal Investigator at the Ragon
Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Balazs received
his PhD from Harvard University and conducted postdoctoral research at
the California Institute of Technology prior to joining the faculty at
Harvard Medical School in 2014. He leads a laboratory that explores the
fundamental mechanisms by which the immune system prevents the
establishment of infection by employing immunological engineering as a
tool to dissect the underpinnings of protection mediated by the natural
immune system. His group is focused on applying this understanding to
the development and implementation of novel technologies to engineer
immunity as an alternative approach towards preventing or treating
infection.

5. Recent studies identifying antibodies from infected patients that can
neutralize diverse strains of HIV have changed the landscape of vaccine
design. While these broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are the
ultimate goal of any future vaccine, a range of approaches is being
explored to generate this class of antibody de novo in patients. This
presentation will focus on the use of viral vectors as a means of
producing these proteins in vivo. We demonstrate that these antibodies
are capable of generating potent protection against challenge with
replication competent HIV in humanized mice. We also find that bNAbs
are capable of suppressing actively replicating HIV infections, which
may form the basis of a novel therapeutic regimen for infected patients.

Oct

TEAM/SDRC Seminar: Development of a B-Cell-Based Vaccine to Treat Glioblastoma

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University's TEAM Program and Northwestern's Skin Disease Research Center present:

Development of a B-Cell-Based Vaccine to Treat Glioblastoma

Catalina Lee Chang, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Refreshments will be provided.

Oct

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Robert Hogg, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: How Viral and Cellular RNAs Protect Themselves from Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay

Speaker: Robert Hogg, PhD, NIH

Host: Mojgan Naghavi, PhD

Topic:

The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway performs quality control and regulatory functions in virtually all eukaryotic cells. Best known for detecting and degrading mRNAs containing mutations that cause premature translation termination events, NMD also targets viral and cellular mRNAs with features such as upstream open reading frames and long 3 untranslated regions. Using retroviral RNAs as models, we have identified proteins important for the protection of viral and cellular mRNAs from decay. The mechanisms and functional consequences of NMD evasion will be discussed.

Oct

Cell & Developmental Biology Seminar -- Staying in the PINK1: Novel Neuroprotective Strategies

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Please join the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in welcoming Charleen T. Chu, MD PhD, Professor of Pathology and A. Julio Martinez Chair of Neuropathology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, for her presentation on "Staying in the PINK1: Novel Neuroprotective Strategies".

Oct

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Robert M. Brosh, Jr., PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: 'Nucleic Acid Transactions by Helicases are Involved in Fundamentally Important Biological Processes

Speaker: Robert M. Brosh, Jr., PhD, NIH

Senior Investigator & Chief, Section on DNA Helicases

Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology

National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health

Host: Hank Seifert, PhD

Topic:

Genetic mutations in a class of molecular motor proteins known as helicases are linked to a growing number of human disorders, indicating that these enzymes have vitally important roles during replication, DNA repair, recombination and transcription. My research team believes that defining the biochemical and cellular functions of helicases will help us understand molecular defects associated with chromosomal variability. The focus of our group is genetic diseases frequently associated with premature aging, cancer, and/or mitochondrial dysfunction arising from mutations in genes encoding DNA helicases that operate uniquely in pathways of DNA repair and the replication stress response. Topics of interest include the importance of helicases in the replication stress response, cellular homeostasis, immunity and DNA repair.

Oct

Neena B. Schwartz Memorial Lectureship featuring Dr. Dan Bernard

Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

For the past 15 years, the Center for Reproductive Science has celebrated the life and work of our founder, Professor Neena B. Schwarz, with our annual NBS Lecture in Reproductive Science.

On October 10th, 2019, we welcome Dr. Dan Bernard, Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, and Director, McGill Centre for Research in Reproduction and Development, McGill University, Montreal Canada.

On April 15th, 2018, Professor Neena B. Schwartz, The William Deering Professor of Endocrinology Emerita at Northwestern University, passed away peacefully at the age of 91. We will continue to celebrate her legacy through the Neena B. Schwartz Memorial Lectureship, which will be held in in Fall 2018, more information on this lecture to follow.

Dontations continue to be accepted for this lectureship.

Oct

Cell & Developmental Biology Seminar --Trial in Absentia: Examining Nucleoporin Function through Regulated Degradation

Chicago - 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Please join the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in welcoming Mary C. Dasso, PhD, Senior Investigator, Section on Cell Cycle Regulation, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD, as she discusses "Trial in Absentia: Examining Nucleoporin Function through Regulated Degradation".

Oct

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Min Dong, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: TBA

Speaker: Min Dong, PhD, Harvard University

Host: Karla Satchell, PhD

Topic:

TBA

Oct

Cell & Developmental Biology Seminar --Drosophila to Model Nucleolar Stress

Chicago - 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Please join the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in welcoming Patrick J. DiMario, PhD, Professor, Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) and Cellular, Developmental and Integrative Biology (CDIB), College of Life Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, for his presentation: "Drosophila to Model Nucleolar Stress".

Oct

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Jonathan Kipnis, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: Meningeal Lymphatics in CNS Immune Surveillance and in Neuroinflammation

Speaker: Jonathan Kipnis, PhD

Host: Immunology Graduate Students and Postdocs

Topic:

Immune cells and their derived molecules have major impact on brain function. Mice deficient in adaptive immunity have impaired cognitive and social function compared to that of wild-type mice. Importantly, replenishment of the T cell compartment in immune deficient mice restored proper brain function. Despite the robust influence on brain function, T cells are not found within the brain parenchyma, a fact that only adds more mystery into these enigmatic interactions between T cells and the brain. Our results suggest that meningeal space, surrounding the brain, is the site where CNS-associated immune activity takes place. We have recently discovered a presence of meningeal lymphatic vessels that drain CNS molecules and immune cells to the deep cervical lymph nodes. This communication between the CNS and the peripheral immunity is playing a key role in immune surveillance of the CNS and in several neuroinflammatory disorders.

Oct

Welcome Reception for Students Interested in Cancer Biology

Chicago - 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

The Cancer Biology Cluster directors, J. Julie Kim, PhD and Kathy Green, PhD, and the associate director for Education and Training in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, John Crispino, PhD, invite all PhD students interested in Cancer Biology to a fall welcome reception. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet current trainees and preceptors, learn about a current trainee s research, and discover training activities available to students from T32 leaders and a student Cancer Biology Cluster leader. Light refreshments will be provided.

Agenda:
3:30 3:35 PM: Welcome
John Crispino, PhD
Robert I. Lurie, MD, and Lora S. Lurie Professor
Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology) and Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Associate Director, Education and Training, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center

3:35 3:50 PM: Introduction to Cancer Biology Track
J. Julie Kim, PhD
Susy Y. Hung Research Professor
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Reproductive Science in Medicine)
Director, Cancer Biology Cluster

Invitation to Cancer Research Club
Emma Schuster, Driskill Graduate Program in the Life Sciences (Liu Lab)
Kevin Park, Northwestern Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (Yu Lab)

3:50 4:05 PM: T32 Training Grant Overview
Kathy Green, PhD
Joseph L. Mayberry, Sr., Professor of Pathology and Toxicology
Professor in Pathology and Dermatology
Associate Director of Basic Sciences, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Co-Director, Cancer Biology Cluster

4:05 4:35 PM: Student Presentation
Caleb Stubbs (Satchell Lab)

4:35 5:00 PM: Networking
Light refreshments will be provided.

About the Carcinogenesis T32 Training Program:
The Carcinogenesis Training Program, funded by an Institutional National Research Award (NRSA) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI T32 CA009560), provides comprehensive research training to 9 predoctoral students per year in cancer biology. The program serves as a focus for interdisciplinary interactions among students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty in tumor biology with special strengths in signal transduction, adhesion, motility and angiogenesis, viral carcinogenesis, tumor therapy, translational studies, chemoprevention and a growing program in cancer genetics. Candidates for funding in this Training Program come from the pool of second year graduate students matriculated into either the Driskill Graduate Program (DGP) at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine or the Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Program (IBiS) in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. Applications, consisting of a letter of nomination from thesis advisor, student CV, essay describing cancer-relevant project, graduate school performance evaluations and undergraduate academic transcript, are reviewed by the Program's Steering Committee in the fall of the 2nd year. From this pool, students are invited for an interview and selected students are admitted in the fall of the 3rd year. The Program makes every effort to attract students from diverse racial/ethnic, economic and other disadvantaged backgrounds. Graduates of the program go on to pursue outstanding postdoctoral positions, and the majority ultimately obtain positions in cancer research in academia or the commercial sector.

Oct

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Victor DiRita, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: Physiological Mechanisms Contributing to Fitness of the Foodborne Pathogen Campylobacter jejuni During Chicken Colonization

Speaker: Victor DiRita, PhD, Michigan State University

Host: Hank Seifert, PhD

Topic:

Campylobacter jejuni is the major source of bacterial food poisoning in the United States. Colonizing chickens as a commensal, it enters the food supply through food processing and preparation, and in humans causes severe gastroenteritis and diarrhea. Its ability to thrive in chickens is an interesting problem to explore just for the biological aspects, and is also a target for potential intervention to reduce human exposure. Our research tackles the biological question by identifying and studying mechanisms used to colonize, and recent work focuses on metabolic traits that enable growth in the chicken. We are also exploring ways to reduce colonization loads in chickens by developing anti-Campylobacter therapeutics emerging out of high-throughput screens.

Nov

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Jyl Matson, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: Vibrio cholerae Responses to Antimicrobial Peptide Exposure

Speaker: Jyl Matson, PhD, University of Toledo

Host: Karla Satchell, PhD

Topic:

Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of epidemic cholera, encounters a variety of stressful conditions in the human gastrointestinal tract and in the aquatic environment. One of the many stresses that the bacteria encounter in the host is exposure to antimicrobial peptides on mucosal surfaces. Our ongoing studies aim to characterize newly identified proteins and pathways that contribute to bacterial survival in the presence of antimicrobial peptide stress. Related to this work, we have also identified antimicrobial peptides as an inducer of virulence gene expression in V. cholerae. Therefore, we also aim to elucidate the exact mechanism by which this signal is sensed and used to modulate gene expression.

Nov

Departmentof Microbiology-Immunolgy: Mario Feldman,PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: A "Control Freak" Plasmid Governs Type VI Secretion and Virulence in Acinetobacter baumannii

Speaker: Mario Feldman, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine/St. Louis

Host: Alan Hauser, MD, PhD

Topic:

Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) is a nosocomial pathogen with one of the highest rates of multidrug resistance (MDR). This is partially due to transmissible plasmids. Many Ab strains harbor a constitutively active type VI secretion system (T6SS) that is employed to kill nonkin bacteria. T6SS and plasmid conjugation both involve cell-to-cell contact. Paradoxically, successful conjugation requires the survival of the recipient, which is the target of the T6SS. Thus, an active T6SS in either the donor or the recipient poses a challenge to plasmid conjugation. Here, we show that large conjugative MDR plasmids heavily rely on their distinctive ability to repress the T6SS of their hosts to enable their own dissemination and the conjugation of other plasmids, contributing to the propagation of MDR among Acinetobacter isolates. Furthermore, I wills how that these plasmid confers niche specificity by regulating the expression of multiple chromosomally-encoded virulence factors besides T6SS. Our results demonstrate that plasmids can impact bacterial infections by controlling the expression of chromosomal genes.

Nov

2019 Illinois Symposium on Reproductive Science

Off-Campus -

The ISRS is an annual regional meeting that offers a unique opportunity for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and clinical fellows in the reproductive sciences to come together and present their research to their peers and senior scientists from across Illinois and beyond.

This year's symposium will feature:

Distinguished guest speakers from across the U.S.
Networking Opportunities
Career Roundtable Luncheon
Special Topics Panel Discussion on Gene Editing
Oral and poster presentations covering topics such as:
o Regulation and dysregulation of reproduction
o Reproductive system development and disease
o Translational perspectives and clinical applications in reproduction

Go here to register (required for all attendees): http://bit.ly/isrsREG

Go here to submit an abstract:
http://bit.ly/isrsAB

Please note that attendees who wish to submit an abstract must also submit the registration form above

Nov

"Introduction to Speckle Tracking Echocardiography" Didactic Lecture

Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Presented By:

Lauren Nelson, MS, RDCS, FASE
Technical Director, Northwestern University Echocardiography Core Laboratory
Technical Director, T1 Center for Cardiovascular Developmental Therapeutics
Department of Medicine-Cardiology
Northwestern University

Feinberg Cardiovascular & Renal Research Institute

Dec

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Victor Garcia, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: Next Generation Precision Animal Models for Biomedical Research

Speaker: Victor Garcia, PhD

Host: Mojgan Naghavi,phD

Topic:

The applications of current humanized mouse models for biomedical research would be significantly broadened by the inclusion of human non-hematopoietic cell types, the primary targets of most human pathogens, that can present antigen to autologous human immune cells in the full context of HLA. When epithelial, endothelial, mesenchymal and smooth muscle cells are incorporated into humanized BLT mice, emerging and clinically relevant human pathogens such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Zika virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and cytomegalovirus replicate in vivo in these models. Direct inoculation of the model with HCMV induces HCMV-specific human IgM, IgG and T cell responses that can effectively control infection in vivo. These new models can be used to study pathogen replication, pathogenesis, immune reactivity and human therapies in the context of a fully functional human immune system.

Dec

Department of Microbiology-Immunology: Jan Carette, PhD

Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Title: Genetic Dissection of Viral Pathogenesis and Host Defense

Speaker: Jan Carette, PhD

Host: Gregory A. Smith PhD

Topic:

Emerging and re-emerging viruses pose a constant threat to human health. Through advanced genetic screens we have identified proteins with critical roles in the replication of medically important viruses from diverse families including Ebola virus, rhinovirus, enterovirus, dengue virus, and hepatitis C virus. In addition, we have discovered a key cellular receptor for the AAV gene therapy vector. We are studying the molecular details on how the viruses have hijacked these host components to facilitate their pathogenesis and are characterizing the roles they play in human biology and infectious disease.

Apr

"Phagocytes for Resolution, Repair, & Regeneration of CVD" Didactic Lecture

Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Presented By:

Edward Benjamin Thorp, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics
Northwestern University

Feinberg Cardiovascular & Renal Research Institute