Basic Science Academic Department Seminars

March 2023

The Basic Science academic departments welcome members of the Northwestern community to attend upcoming seminars.

Please click on the event times for more details, updates and to confirm the event format (in-person, hybrid or virtual).

Campus partner events are noted below with an asterisk.

Thursday, March 2

10:00 a.m. | "Mechanisms of Lipid Quality Control and Ferroptosis"

James Olzmann, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular & Cell Biology and Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology
University of California, Berkeley 

Host: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Friday, March 3

Noon | "Methamphetamine, Neurodegeneration and Differential"

Steven Graves, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
University of Minnesota

Host: Department of Neuroscience

1:00 p.m. | Biochemistry, Epigenetics and Metabolism (BEaM) Forum

Sakshi Khurana
DGP Graduate Student
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Foltz Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics

Monday, March 6

Noon | "Using Actin to Put Our Heads and Hearts in the Right Place"

Margot Quinlan, PhD
Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, Los Angeles

Host: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology

3:00 p.m. | "The Rise and Fall of Animal Experimentation: Empathy, Science and the Future of Research"

Richard Miller, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology 
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Pharmacology

Tuesday, March 7

10:00 a.m. | "Coordinated Control of Coding and Non-Coding Transcription"

Karen Adelman, PhD
Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Blavatnik Institute
Harvard Medical School

Host: Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics

Noon | "Improving Vaccines by Modulating Hyperacute Antigen and Costimulatory Signals"

Sarah Sanchez
DGP Graduate Student
Microbiology-Immunology, Walsh Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology

Wednesday, March 8

Noon | "Rewiring Cell Division"

Iain Cheeseman, PhD
Herman and Margaret Sokol Professor of Biology
Core Member, Whitehead Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Host: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology

Thursday, March 9

2:00 p.m.| "Using Genetic Variants to Understand TRIO Function in Neurodevelopmental Disorders"

Anthony Koleske, PhD
Ensign Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and of Neuroscience
Deputy Dean for Research (Basic Science)
Yale School of Medicine

Host: Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment

3:30 p.m.| Scott Lecture Series: "The Chromosomal Basis of Sex Differences in Health and Disease"

David Page, MD
Member, Whitehead Institute
Professor of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Hosts: Center for Genetic Medicine and Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences

Friday, March 10

Noon | Neuroscience Seminar

Maxime Assous, PhD
Research Faculty
Rutgers University - Newark

Host: Department of Neuroscience

Monday, March 13

3:00 p.m. | "Impact of Regulatory Subunit Stoichiometry on BK Channel Function"

Christopher Lingle, PhD
Professor of Anesthesiology and of Neuroscience
Center for the Investigation of Membrane Excitability Diseases
Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences
Washington University in St. Louis

Host: Department of Pharmacology

Tuesday, March 14

Noon | "Molecular and Organellar Components of Calcium Signaling in Effector T Cells"

Yousang Gwack, PhD
Vice Chair and Professor of Physiology
University of California, Los Angeles

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology

*2:00 p.m. | "Hexokinase-1 Mitochondrial Dissociation and Protein O-GlcNAcylation Drive Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction"

Yuki Tatekoshi, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Ardehali Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: The Feinberg Cardiovascular & Renal Research Institute

Wednesday, March 15

3:30 p.m. | CDB Trainee Seminar

Thatiane Russo, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Hope Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Jennifer Sheridan and Aline Grata
Research Technologists, Mitchell Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology

Thursday, March 16

10:00 a.m. | "Regulation and Function of NADPH Metabolism in Cell Growth"

Gerta Hoxhaj, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
Children’s Research Institute
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Host: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Friday, March 17

Noon | Neuroscience Seminar

Edwin Chapman, PhD
Ricardo Miledi Professor of Neuroscience
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Wisconsin - Madison

Host: Department of Neuroscience

1:00 p.m. | BEaM Forum

Farzaneh Sharifzad, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Urology, Thumbikat Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics

Tuesday, March 21

Noon | M-I Seminar

Shabaana Khader, PhD 
Chair and Professor of Microbiology
University of Chicago

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology

Wednesday, March 22

Noon | CDB Seminar

Robert Vassar, PhD
Scientific Director of Behavioral Neurology
Davee Professor of Alzheimer Research
Professor of Neurology (Behavioral Neurology) and of Cell and Developmental Biology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology

*3:30 p.m. | "Deciphering the Guidance Cue Code for Immunity"

Jason Cyster, PhD
Vice Chair and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
University of California, San Francisco

Host: Center for Human Immunobiology

Thursday, March 23

2:00 p.m. | "Understanding the Social Brain"

Weizhe Hong, PhD
Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry and of Neurobiology
University of California, Los Angeles

Host: Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment

Friday, March 24

3:00 p.m. | Chicago Cytoskeleton Meeting

Host: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology

Monday, March 27

10:00 a.m. | SQE Distinguished Lecturer Series

Benjamin Neel, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center
NYU School of Medicine

Host: Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics

3:00 p.m. | Pharmacology Seminar

Elena Oancea, PhD
Associate Professor of Medical Science, Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology
Brown University

Host: Department of Pharmacology

Tuesday, March 28

Noon | "Rules that Govern Packaging and Repackaging of the HIV-1 Genomic RNA"

Sebla Kutluay, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology
Washington University School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology

Wednesday, March 29

3:30 p.m. | CDB Trainee Seminar

Eve Suva
DGP Graduate Student
Mitchell Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Bella Han
Research Technologist, Shukla Lab
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology