Basic Science Academic Department Seminars

April 2025

The basic science academic departments invite the Northwestern community to join us for upcoming events. 

Click on the event times for detailed information and updates. For even more opportunities, explore our events page to find events hosted by our campus partners.

Tuesday, April 1

9:00 a.m. | Tissue Self-Organization Tunes the Period of Somite Segmentation

Kemal Keseroglu, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Özbudak Lab, Cell and Developmental Biology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

12:15 p.m. | Targeting HPV Oncogene-Induced Alterations in Cervical Cancer

Nicholas Wallace, PhD
Professor of Biology
Kansas State University

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology

Thursday, April 3

10:00 a.m. | New Insights into Lung Cancer Biology

Katerina Politi, PhD
Professor of Pathology
Yale School of Medicine

Host: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Friday, April 4

Noon | Molecular Ballet: Decoding Biochemical Signaling Dynamics in the Brain

Yao Chen, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
Washington University School of Medicine

Host: Department of Neuroscience

Monday, April 7

3:00 p.m. | AI-Enabled Design of Novel Self-Assembling Protein Nanomaterials

Neil King, PhD
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
University of Washington

Host: Department of Pharmacology

Tuesday, April 8

9:00 a.m. | CDB Trainee Seminar Series

Jocelyn Salvador
DGP Student
Arispe Lab, Cell and Developmental Biology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

9:45 a.m. | Shaping of Immune Tolerance in the Periphery by Regulatory T Cells

James Moon, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard University

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology

Wednesday, April 9

Noon | Turning the Oxygen and Vitamin Dials

Isha Jain, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of California San Francisco School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

Thursday, April 10

2:00 p.m. | Genetic Interactions in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Santhosh Girirajan, PhD
T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Pennsylvania State University

Host: Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment

Friday, April 11

10:00 a.m. | CDB Experts-in-the-Field Seminar Series

Julie Brill, PhD
Professor of Molecular Genetics
Senior Scientist of Cell and Systems Biology
University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

Noon | Local and Diffuse Glutamate Redefines Postsynaptic Signaling

Jacques Wadiche, PhD
Professor of Neurobiology
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Host: Department of Neuroscience

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

"Determining the Consequences and Requirements of Centromere Deposition"

Pranathi Vadlamani
DGP Student
Foltz Lab, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

"Citric Acid Cycle Regulates Cellular Nucleotide Synthesis Metabolism"

Mushtaq Nengroo, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ben-Sahra/Mendillo Lab, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics

Tuesday, April 15

9:00 a.m. | Micro-Injection of HIV Cores into Cells

K.M. Rifat Faysal, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Hope Lab, Cell and Developmental Biology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

12:15 p.m. | Replication-Attenuated r3LCMV Vectors Potentiate Tumor Control via IFN-I

Bakare Awakoaiye, PhD
DGP Student
Penaloza-MacMaster Lab, Microbiology-Immunology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology

Thursday, April 17

10:00 a.m. | Illuminating Visual Circuits

Tiffany Schmidt, PhD
Martin and Patricia Koldyke Outstanding Teaching Professor
Associate Professor of Neurobiology
Northwestern University Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

Host: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Monday, April 21

10:00 a.m. | Dissecting the Influence of the Nuclear Lamina on Heterochromatin Function and Nuclear Integrity

Abby Buchwalter, PhD
Associate Professor of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology
Cardiovascular Research Institute
University of California, San Francisco

Host: Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics

Tuesday, April 22

9:00 a.m. | DDX18 Plays a Role in Centromere Organization and Genome Wide Epigenetic States

Josephine Kim
Research Intern
Huang Lab, Cell and Developmental Biology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

9:45 a.m. | Human Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting A35 Protect from Death Against Mpox

Camila Coelho, PhD
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology

Wednesday, April 23

10:00 a.m. | Dissect the Silencing and Pathogenic Mechanisms of Retrotransposons in Tissue Regeneration

Yejing Ge, PhD
Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology
University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Host: Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics

Thursday, April 24

10:00 a.m. | BMAL1 and Circadian Rhythms Support Epithelial Identity and Innate Immune Signaling in Lung Cancer

Brian Altman, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Genetics
University of Rochester Medical Center

Host: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Noon | How Cell Stress Setpoints Shape Neuromodulatory Neuron Function

Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD
Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology and Cell Biology
Duke University Medical Center

Host: Department of Neuroscience

2:00 p.m. | A Super-Enhancer: Association with lncRNA and Rearrangement in Breast Cancer

Noriko Saitoh, PhD
Chief of Cancer Biology
The Cancer Institute of JFCR
Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

3:30 p.m. | Neurogenetics

Kynon Benjamin, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
HEART-GeN Research Group 
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Center for Genetic Medicine 

Friday, April 25

3:00 p.m. | Chicago Cytoskeleton Meeting

Sue Buggins, PhD
Principal Investigator and Director of the Basic Sciences Division
Fred Hutch Cancer Center

Chip Asbury, PhD
Professor of Neurobiology and Biophysics
University of Washington

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

Tuesday, April 29

9:00 a.m. | Vimentin in Motion and Motion by Vimentin

Bhuvanasundar Ranganathan, PhD
Research Associate
Gelfand Lab, Cell and Developmental Biology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Host: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

9:45 a.m. | Fusobacterium Nucleatum: An Oral Commensal Turned Gut Oncomicrobe

Jessica Queen, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Host: Department of Microbiology-Immunology