Seminar Series

Overview

The CCR Seminar Series occurs weekly and provides an opportunity for the MGH research community to learn from national and international leaders in cancer research on topics such as: cancer genetics and epigenetics, signaling and molecular therapeutics, developmental and stem cell biology, genetic model organisms, DNA damage and genomic stability, hematopoiesis, lymphocyte biology, miRNA regulation, among other areas.

The seminars are structured as a 45-minute lecture followed by 15 minutes of discussion and interaction. Please see below for weekly topics and presenters.

Fall 2019 - Spring 2020

Wednesdays 12:15 pm-1:15 pm at the Charlestown Navy Yard 7th Floor Auditorium; Video broadcast to Simches 3120

September

September 11, 2019
“Synthetic human embryo-like structures: A new paradigm for human embryology”
Jianping Fu, PhD
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Adjunct: Biomedical Engineering, Cell & Developmental Biology
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

September 18, 2019
“Curing Cancer with Differentiation Therapy”
John D. Crispino, PhD
Robert I. Lurie, MD and Lora S. Lurie Professor
Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University

October

October 16, 2019
“How epitranscriptomic modifications affect the fate and function of mRNA”
Samie R. Jaffrey, MD, PhD
Greenberg-Starr Professor
Department of Pharmacology
Weill Cornell Medicinal College

October 30, 2019
“Impact of phase separation & liquid properties on heterochromatin organization & function”
Gary Karpen, PhD
Principal Investigator
Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Adjunct Professor
Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
University of California Berkeley

November

November 6, 2019
“Mechanics and tumor dormancy”
Celeste M. Nelson, PhD
Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Director, Program in Engineering Biology
Princeton University

November 13, 2019
“Single-cell multi-omics chart the topography of malignant cell development”
Daniel Landau, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics
Weill Cornell Medicine
Core Member, New York Genome Center

November 20, 2019
“From symphony to cacophony: Enhancer alterations in cancer”
Peter C. Scacheri, PhD
Gertrude and Donnelly Hess Professor of Oncology
Professor, Department of Genetics& Genome Sciences
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

December

December 4, 2019
Emily Bernstein, PhD
Professor Oncological Sciences
Professor, Dermatology
Icahn School of Medicine
Mount Sinai

December 11, 2019
“Genome screening for novel tumor suppressors and combinatorial drug targets”
Mazhar Adli, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
University of Virginia School of Medicine

December 18, 2019
“Clonal evolution and therapeutic resistance in chronic lymphocytic leukemia”
Catherine J. Wu, MD
Chief, Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

January

January 15, 2020
"Bivalent Polycomb Complexes as Master Switches of Developmental Gene Regulation”
Mitzi I. Kuroda
Professor of Genetics
Depts. of Genetics & Medicine
Harvard Medical School

January 22, 2020
“Molecular characterization of tumor progression”
Tyler Jacks, PhD
David H. Koch Professor of Biology and Director
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

January 29, 2020
“How Immunology learnt to love Krebs Cycle”
Luke O’Neill, PhD
Chair of Biochemistry
Trinity Research
Trinity College Dublin
The University of Dublin

February

February 5, 2020 
Maurizio Scaltriti, PhD
Human Oncology & Pathogenesis Program
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

February 12, 2020 - OPEN

February 19, 2020 - NO SEMINAR – School Vacation Week

February 26, 2020
“Combined modality approaches to prime and propagate anti-tumor immunity using radiation therapy”
Zachary Morris, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology
Vise Chair, Department of Human Oncology
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

March

March 4, 2020
Cheryl Walker, PhD
Director, Center for Precision Environmental Health
Professor Departments of Molecular & Cell Biology and Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine

March 11, 2020
“Phantoms in the transcriptome: post-transcriptional mRNA regulation through DNA and RNA modifications”
Shalini Oberdoerffer, PhD
Senior Investigator
Laboratory of Receptor Biology and Gene Expression
National Cancer Institute

March 18, 2020
Davide Ruggero, PhD
Professor of Urology
University of California, San Francisco

March 25, 2020
Zissimos Mourelatos, MD
Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

April

April 1, 2020
“Drugging the undruggable - targeting transcription factor drivers in cancer”
John H. Bushweller, PhD
Professor, Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics
University of Virginia School of Medicine

April 8, 2020 
“The Causes and Consequences of Replication Stress”
Karlene Cimprich, PhD
Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology
Stanford University School of Medicine

April 15, 2020 - OPEN

April 22, 2020
“Single cell analysis of therapy resistance in cancer”
Arjun Raj, PhD
Associate Professor of Bioengineering
University of Pennsylvania

April 29, 2020 – NO SEMINAR – AACR week

May

May 6, 2020
“Transcriptional dependencies in cancer”
Christopher R. Vakoc, MD, PhD
Professor
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

May 13, 2020
Thomas “Trey” Westbrook, PhD
McNair Scholar in Cancer Research
Professor & Welch Chair in Chemistry
Co-Director, Therapeutic Innovation Center (THINC)
Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Dept. of Molecular & Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine

May 20, 2019
“Metabolic control of epigenetics in cellular proliferation and cancer”
Matthew Hirschey, PhD
Faculty Member, Duke Molecular Physiology Institute and
Sarah W. Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center
Duke University Medical Center

May 27, 2020
“Targeting the DNA Damage Response to generate new cancer medicines”
Mark J. O’Connor, PhD
Chief Scientist, Oncology
Head of DNA Damage Response Biology
AstraZeneca Cambridge, UK
 

June

June 17, 2020
“Stem Cells in Human AML”
Ravi Majeti MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine (Hematology)
Stanford University

June 17, 2020
“Protease-driven mechanisms in genome stability, health and disease”
Niels Mailand, PhD
Professor, Group Leader
Protein Signaling Program
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research
University of Copenhagen, Denmark