Medicine seminars

Anthony Letai discusses how understanding programmed cell death can guide the selection of cancer treatments. The seminar explains how apoptotic signalling can be measured and how these measurements can identify drugs capable of killing cancer cells. Hybrid: New Research Building Auditorium, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, and Zoom. Monday 5 October 2026, 16:30–17:30 EDT (America/New_York; UTC−4). Use the attendance registration form or the event’s Zoom link on the organizer page. Organized by Georgetown’s Distinguished Scientist Seminar Series. Letai is Director of the National Cancer Institute. An in-person reception follows the seminar.

Ivo D. Dinov examines augmented intelligence as a partnership between people and computational systems. The talk traces the technical and philosophical development of neural networks, then introduces complex-time, or kime, representations and the inference methods they support. Applications include medical imaging, healthcare and economic forecasting. It also considers the academic mission, societal consequences of AI and tensions between rapid technical development and human values, framing mathematical AI methods as extensions of human reasoning. Free hybrid seminar hosted by Wayne State University's Institute for AI and Data Science, AIDaS: CAD Seminar Series. Wednesday 30 September 2026, 14:30–15:30 EDT (America/Detroit; UTC−4). Attend in Room 1146, Faculty/Administration Building, 656 W. Kirby, Detroit, MI 48202, USA, or use the Zoom link on the official event page. Researchers, practitioners, students and faculty are welcome; the organizer encourages in-person attendance.

Peter Meikle, Bernie Pope and Tingting Wang present the Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons (ACDC). Some heart attacks occur without established risk factors, and repeat events remain common despite optimal treatment. ACDC addresses this gap by securely pooling multi-omics, imaging and longitudinal outcomes from approximately 400,000 people in 18 Australian cohorts. The webinar explains cloud infrastructure, data harmonisation and federated standards based on Gen3; how integrated genomic, multi-omics and imaging cohorts support new risk markers and polygenic risk-score testing; and how the platform can move diagnostic research towards clinical practice. Meikle and Wang are at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute; Pope is at Australian BioCommons. Online via Zoom. Wednesday 30 September 2026, 12:00–13:00 AEST (Australia/Melbourne; UTC+10). Free, with advance registration through the official event page. Intended for life scientists, bioinformaticians, cardiovascular clinicians, data custodians and medical data scientists. Parts may be recorded; the Australian BioCommons Code of Conduct applies. Organized by Australian BioCommons.

Mansi Chhajed examines how the move from home sleep patterns to disrupted hospital sleep relates to cognitive outcomes after surgery. The session combines longitudinal sleep measurements with clinical assessments of postoperative delirium to identify baseline markers of vulnerability and consider practical ways to improve recovery. It connects sleep architecture, biological and environmental influences, and preoperative risk with proactive, sleep-informed patient care. Chhajed is a Clinical Research Coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital. Online via Zoom Webinar. Tuesday 29 September 2026 at 14:00 ET / 13:00 CT (America/New_York; EDT, UTC−4). Organized by the Sleep Research Society — Virtual Seminar Series. Follow Register Today on the organizer's page to the event-specific Zoom form, which requests name and email. The form is publicly accessible; advance registration supplies webinar access.

Farhad Danesh examines how mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, altered metabolism and structural remodelling convert hyperglycaemia into progressive kidney injury. The seminar connects mitochondrial dynamics with diabetic microvascular damage, non-coding RNA regulation and experimental models that establish causal links to disease progression. Genome-wide CRISPR screens and spatial metabolomics reveal cellular gene-regulatory and metabolic changes. Integrating these approaches with molecular genetics, genomics and epigenomics, the work seeks therapeutic targets to prevent diabetic kidney disease progressing to kidney failure. Hybrid: New Research Building Auditorium, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, and Zoom. Thursday 24 September 2026, 16:00–17:00 EDT (America/New_York; UTC−4). Use the public event registration form to arrange attendance, or follow its Zoom link for remote participation. Organized by Georgetown’s Distinguished Scientist Seminar Series. Danesh is Professor of Medicine and Chief of Nephrology at MD Anderson.

Bowen Li explains how ionizable lipids are designed for lipid nanoparticles that deliver messenger RNA. The seminar covers combinatorial and machine-learning-guided design, four-component reactions for rapidly producing lipid libraries, and barcoded screening in living systems to identify formulations targeting organs and cells, including lungs, T cells and tumours. It then examines applications of AI-guided nanoparticle platforms to mRNA therapeutics. Li is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Online via Zoom. Thursday 24 September 2026, 11:00–12:00 Eastern Daylight Time (America/New_York; UTC−4). Use Join via Zoom on Western University's event page. The stated audience includes researchers, students, alumni and the general public. Organized by Western University's Western Bioinformatics Research Seminar.

Stanford Neurosciences Seminar Series talk by Emery Brown (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Neuroscience Statistics Research Lab) on deciphering the dynamics of the unconscious brain under general anesthesia, hosted by the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

Elena Fuentes-Afflick examines the state of the biomedical research workforce and the conditions needed to sustain a healthy, productive research enterprise. This NIH Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series event is offered in person and through NIH VideoCast.

Stanford's summer research symposium features a keynote by Jamie Zeitzer, undergraduate lightning talks, and a poster and demonstration session on human performance research.

Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology Seminar by Christine Brown, PhD (Deputy Director, T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratories) on developing and refining redirected CAR T cells for malignant brain tumors, including glioblastoma, tumor heterogeneity, immunosuppressive microenvironments, delivery routes, and manufacturing.

Shimon Sakaguchi, Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell explain how peripheral immune tolerance prevents the immune system from attacking the body. Sakaguchi follows the identification of regulatory T cells, the CD25 marker, and the relationship between central tolerance and active suppression of self-reactive cells. He considers how changing regulatory T-cell activity could support cancer treatment and transplantation. Brunkow describes genetic investigation of scurfy mice, identification of FOXP3, and the connection between mutations in this gene and human IPEX syndrome. The work establishes a molecular basis for the development and function of regulatory T cells. Ramsdell traces the move from these basic discoveries toward therapeutic strategies, including engineering a patient’s regulatory T cells to target inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis. He discusses early clinical investigation and the ambition of restoring immune balance; these approaches are presented as developing treatments rather than established cures.

Fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) has emerged as a promising tool for assessing cognitive function in individuals with dementia. This technique leverages electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain responses to rapidly presented visual stimuli, offering a non-invasive and objective method for evaluating a range of cognitive functions. Unlike traditional cognitive assessments, FPVS does not rely on behavioural responses, making it particularly suitable for individuals with cognitive impairment. In this talk I will highlight a series of studies that have demonstrated its ability to detect subtle deficits in recognition memory, visual processing and attention in dementia patients using EEG in the lab, at home and in clinic. The method is quick, cost-effective, and scalable, utilizing widely available EEG technology. FPVS holds significant potential as a functional biomarker for early diagnosis and monitoring of dementia, paving the way for timely interventions and improved patient outcomes.