2025-26 Academic Year
OCT. 3
“Complexity of Active Signaling Pathways Contributing to Altered Hematopoiesis”
Robert Welner, Ph.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
2024-25 Academic Year
Sept. 13
“Targeted Epigenetic Editing in Brain Tumors: Developing Novel Therapeutic Paradigms”
Serendipity Zapanta Rinonos, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Florida
Oct. 25
“The Dichotomous Role of ANGPTL4 in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma”
Ryan Kolb, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Nov. 8
“Hallmarks of Cancer – Unraveling the Mechanisms of Cell Contact Inhibition”
Joseph Kissil, Ph.D.
Moffitt Cancer Center
Nov. 22
“Targeting Steroid Hormone Receptors in Cancer: Machine Learning Structural and Molecular Predictors in Drug Discovery”
Kendall Nettles, Ph.D.
The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology
Dec. 6
“Converting Research to Products Funded by Government and Investors: Adventures in Drug, Instrumentation, Biomarkers, and Software”
Paul Okunieff, M.D.
University of Florida
Jan. 17
“Regulation of Small Non-Coding RNAs in Cancer”
Mingyi Xie, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Feb. 14
“Non-mutational Drivers of Melanoma Progression”
Florian Karreth, Ph.D.
Moffitt Cancer Center
2023-24 Academic Year
Sept. 15
“Thermotherapy for Overcoming the Blood Brain Barrier in the Treatment of Brain Tumors”
Maryam Rahman, M.D., M.S.
University of Florida
Sept. 22
“Mapping and Targeting the Cancer Ecosystem in Glioblastoma”
Michalina Janiszewska, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Sept. 29
“AAV Vectors for Liver Cancer Gene Therapy, and Beyond”
Arun Srivastava, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Oct. 13
“Cancer Biomarker Discover Through Innovations in Metabolomics”
Timothy Garrett, Ph.D.
University of Florida
OCT. 20
“Curing Brain Cancers Requires a Systemic Approach”
Catherine Flores, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Dec. 1
“New Approaches to Targeting Cancer”
Benjamin G. Neel, M.D., Ph.D.
Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center
Jan. 19
“Engineering Recombinant Protein-based Vesicles for Cancer Therapy”
Yeongseon Jang, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Feb. 2
“Targeting Bcl-xL/Bcl-2 with Bifunctional Molecules”
Guangrong Zheng, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Feb. 9
“Increasing Cancer Prevention by Implementing Evidence-Based Strategies”
Stephanie Staras, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Feb. 16
“Common Human STING Alleles and STING-targeting Cancer Immunotherapy”
Lei Jin, Ph.D.
University of Florida
March 1
“Current Concepts in Cancer and Cancer Disparities”
Bernard Kwabi-Addo, Ph.D.
Howard University Cancer Center
March 22
“Leveraging Spatial Metabolism to Study Lung Cancer Survival Disparity”
Ramon Sun, Ph.D.
University of Florida
March 29
“Chromatin-Based Regulations of Gene Transcription and Pathogenesis”
G. Greg Wang, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2022-23 Academic Year
Sept. 23
“Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology of Triple Negative Breast Cancer in African American women”
Luisel Ricks-Santi, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Oct. 21
“The Connection Between Chronic Kidney Disease and Cancer…Diet?”
Jeanette M. Andrade, Ph.D., R.D.N., L.D.N., FAND
University of Florida
Oct. 28
“The Dynamic Ribosome and the Cancer Interaction”
Kotaro Fujii, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Nov. 18
“Leukemia-associated Mutations in DNMT3A: from Clonal Hematopoiesis to Therapy Response”
Olga Guryanova, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Florida
Dec. 2
“Splicing Together How SF3B1 Mutations Affect Hematopoietic Stem Cell Function in Myeloid Malignancies”
Esther Obeng, M.D., Ph.D.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Dec. 9
“Slow-Cycling Cells and Immune Infiltrates: Partners in Crime in Glioblastoma”
Loic Deleyrolle, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Dec. 16
“Rapid Dysregulation of Cellular Forkhead Factors Supports Oncogenic Herpesvirus Infection in the Oral Cavity”
Bernadett Papp, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Jan. 13
“Heterogeneous Outcomes of Epstein-Barr Infection”
Micah Luftig, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Jan. 20
“Ensuring Ribosome Integrity During Assembly and the Functional Cycle”
Katrin Karbstein, Ph.D.
UF Scripps Biomedical Research
Jan. 27
“Current Understanding of the Role of the Microbiome in Pancreatic Carcinogenesis”
Ryan M. Thomas, M.D.
University of Florida
Feb. 3
“Role of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition in Tumor-Microenvironment Interactions and Health Disparities”
Valerie Anyango Marah, Ph.D.
Morgan State University
March 3
“Reciprocal Regulation of EGFR-Family and TRAIL Receptors by Disulfide Bonding”
Brian K. Law, Ph.D.
University of Florida
April 14
“The Role of RBM33 in Cancer Involves Regulating the Demethylase Activity and Substrate Selectivity of ALKBH5”
Zhijian Qian, Ph.D.
University of Florida
April 21
“Immune Library Screening for Precision Drug Discovery”
Brandon DeKosky, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
April 28
“Targeting Class I Histone Deacetylases: From Conventional Inhibitors to PROTACs”
Daiqing Liao, Ph.D.
University of Florida
2021-22 Academic Year
Sept. 3
“Cancer Center CRISPR Core: What Can It Do for Your Research Program?”
Christopher Vulpe, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Florida
Sept. 10
“Epigenetics: A GateKeeper to DNA Replication, DNA Amplification and Drug Response”
Johnathan R. Whetstine, Ph.D.
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Sept. 17
“Reproducibility of Ultrasound Assessment in Patients With Thyroid Nodules”
Naykky Singh Ospina, M.D., M.S.
University of Florida
Sept. 24
“Bacteriophages as Modulators of Bacterial Colonization”
Lynn El Haddad, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Oct. 1
“Data-Driven Insights into Cancer: A Comparative Genomics Approach to Precision Medicine”
Kiley Graim, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Oct. 22
“Nanomedicine-Based Approaches to Address Immune Suppression and Resistance”
Fan Zhang, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Oct. 29
“Overcoming Immunotherapeutic Obstacles for Effective Antitumor Response in Treating Cancer”
Jianping Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Florida
Nov. 5
“Targeting the Microbiome in Cancer Immunotherapy”
Giorgio Trinchieri, M.D.
National Cancer Institute
Nov. 12
“Seeing is Believing: Protein Phase Separation in Cancer Signaling”
Juan Guan, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Nov. 19
“High-Efficient Cellular Production of Immune Functional Extracellular Vesicles for Cancer Immunotherapy”
Mei He, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Dec. 3
“Super-Enhancer Mediated Regulation of Globin Gene Expression”
Jörg Bungert, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Jan. 28
“Your Genome: You Damage It. We Figure Out How to Fix It”
Melike Caglayan, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Feb. 4
“Investigating Mechanisms of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Signaling: Insights from Biophysical Studies”
Matthew Eddy, Ph.D.
University of Florida
FEb. 11
“STAT Signaling in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Cancer”
David Frank, M.D., Ph.D.
Emory University School of Medicine
Feb. 18
“Engineered CRISPR/Cas Systems as Next-Generation Diagnostics”
Piyush K. Jain, Ph.D.
University of Florida
March 4
“Cancer and Precision Medicine: A View of Promise and Reality from the Other Side of the Spectrum”
Alexander S. Parker, Ph.D.
University of Florida
March 18
“Developing LXR Inverse Agonists to Target Cancer Metabolic Pathways”
Thomas P. Burris, Ph.D.
University of Florida
April 1
“Molecular Drivers of Cancer Disparities in African Ancestry Patients: Perspectives in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma”
Camille Ragin, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Fox Chase Cancer Center
April 8
“Distinct Temporal Actions of Different Types of Unfolded Protein Responses During Aging”
Rui Xiao, Ph.D.
University of Florida
April 15
“Pancreatic Acinar Ductal Metaplasia: There’s More to Plasticity than Meets the Eye”
Thomas Schmittgen, Ph.D.
University of Florida
April 22
“Deconvolution of eco-evolutionary dynamics of tumor heterogeneity using multi-omics approaches”
Meghan Ferrall-Fairbanks, Ph.D.
University of Florida
May 6
“Revealing in vivo functions of gammaherpesvirus noncoding RNAs during chronic infection and tumorigenesis”
Scott Tibbetts, Ph.D.
University of Florida
May 20
“The role of the cGAS-STING DNA sensing pathway in KSHV associated cancers”
Zhe Ma, Ph.D.
University of Florida
May 27
“Cancer and aging: Bridging the age gap in cancer to transform prevention and care”
Dejana Braithwaite, Ph.D., M.Sc.
University of Florida
