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Agenda

8:15-9 a.m. Light Breakfast and Check-In

9-9:30 a.m. Welcome Remarks

Chair: Rueyling Lin, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Biomedical Research Recruitment and Advancement, Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern

Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D.
President, UT Southwestern
Joseph Goldstein, M.D. | A Trailblazing Journey of Discovery: From St. Louis to Houston to Dallas, but Not to Durham
Chair and Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics
UT Southwestern
Dennis McKearin, Ph.D. | Reflections on Molecular Biology and UT Southwestern
Senior Scientific Officer
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Eric Olson, Ph.D.
Chair and Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern

Session 1

Chair: Chun-Li Zhang, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern

9:30-10 a.m. Change of Heart: From Genetics to New Therapeutics
Deepak Srivastava, M.D.
President, Gladstone Institutes
10-10:15 a.m. Pathogens: Hijacking Tools From Another
Kim Orth, Ph.D.
HHMI Investigator
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
10:15-10:30 a.m. Curious Cases of Pluripotent Stem Cell Adaptations
Jun Wu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern

10:30-10:50 a.m. Break & Molecular Biology Faculty Group Photo

Session 2

Chair: Steven Kliewer, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, UT Southwestern

10:50-11:05 a.m. Tu-be or Not Tu-be: Making and Maintaining Vascular Tubes
Ondine Cleaver, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
11:05-11:20 a.m. Ribosomes: Decoding Life’s Messages
Michael Buszczak, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
11:20-noon Exploration of Biological Diversity
Feng Zhang, Ph.D. 
HHMI Investigator
Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering, MIT
Core Member, Broad Institute

Noon-1:15 p.m. Lunch Break

Session 3

Chair: Jenna Jewell, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern

1:15-1:55 p.m. Recent Progress in iPS Cell Research and Application
Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D.
Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
Director Emeritus and Professor, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University
1:55-2:10 p.m. Exploring the Dark Matter of the Genome
Joshua Mendell, M.D. Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
2:10-2:25 p.m. New Targets in Lung Cancer: The Cell Surface and Beyond
Kathryn O’Donnell, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
2:25-3:05 p.m. Pathogenesis Studies of Neurodegenerative Diseases: The Rare Informs the Common
Huda Zoghbi, M.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neuroscience, and Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine
Director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital

3:05-3:25 p.m. Break

Session 4

Chair: Thomas Carroll, Ph.D., Professor, Internal Medicine and Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern

3:25-3:40 p.m. How Two Cells Become One
Elizabeth Chen, Ph.D. 
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
3:40-3:55 p.m. Making Sense of Lipid Sensing
Peter Douglas, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
3:55-4:10 p.m. Breathing Life Into Dead Enzymes
Vincent Tagliabracci, Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern
4:10-4:50 p.m. Igniting an Immune Response with cGAS
Zhijian “James” Chen, Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern

4:50-5 p.m. Closing Remarks

Eric Olson, Ph.D. | Gratitude Is the Attitude
Chair and Professor, Department of Molecular Biology
UT Southwestern