BMI Weekly News - December 1, 2025
December 1, 2025
News
- Please save the date for GSRPD, scheduled for February 16, 2026. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Steve Angus, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
This Week’s Events
- No Journal Club scheduled for Monday, December 1, 2024.
- Next IFG Seminar: In-Person, Tuesday, December 02, 2025, 11:45am - 12:45pm, 2268 Scott Hall
Lunch will be served at 11:30am.
Speaker: Penghua Wang, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Immunology, University of Connecticut
Dr. Wang’s research focuses on viral RNA/DNA recognition receptors and inflammasome
signaling pathways. Specifically, he is interested in identifying cellular regulators of these flaviviral/alphaviral diseases, inflammation and sepsis. Dr. Wang has published more than 110 research articles in prestigious journals, including the seminal discovery on NLRP6 as a viral RNA sensor essential for innate antiviral immune response to enteric viruses. He has pioneered the study of ubiquitin regulatory X domain-containing protein family (UBXN). He will speak about the diverse functions of UBXNs in immunity, with a focus on how UBXN1 promotes non-canonical inflammasome activation and sepsis pathogenesis.
Title: “UBX Proteins – X Factors in Immunity”
Hosted by: Dr. Kang Chen, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, C. S. Mott Center for Human growth and Development, Wayne State University kchen@wayne.edu
Sponsored by: Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health & Wayne State University
- Thesis Defense Presentation Master of Science in Immunology and Microbiology
On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, 12:00PM, 7364 Scott Hall
Presented by: IMM MS Student, Himani Karunathilake
“The Silent Influencers - Prevotella bivia and Prevotella disiens Impact on Recurrent Bacterial Vaginosis”
Advisor: Dr. Kevin Theis
- Lipids@Wayne Seminar: Wednesday, December 3, 2025, 4:00-5:00PM, 1167 Biological Sciences Building, Pizza/Refreshments served.
Speaker: Karin Reinisch, Ph.D., David W. Wallace Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale School of Medicine
Title: “How (we think) bulk lipids are trafficked”, will explore emerging mechanisms of vesicle-
independent lipid transport mediated by bridge-like proteins, with a focus on the VPS13 family. Her lab works on has these proteins mediate lipid movement between organelles and how their dysfunction contributes to severe neurological diseases, including early-onset Parkinson’s.
You can learn more about her research here: Reinisch Lab – https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/reinisch/
Host: Hanaa Hariri, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Assistant Director, Karmanos Cancer Institute hanaa.hariri@wayne.edu
For Zoom link: Email michael.schmidtke@wayne.edu
- BMI Faculty Meeting: Thursday, December 4, 2025, 11:30pm, 7364 Scott Hall
Upcoming Events
- Next Journal Club: Monday, December 8, 2025, 12:30pm, 2268 Scott Hall
Presented by: IMM BMB Student, Bhavita Bhaya
Title: "From Infection to Long-Term Colonization: What Makes Vibrio cholerae Stick Around in the Zebrafish Gut?"
Mentor: Dr. Jeff Withey
- Next BMI Seminar: Tuesday, December 9, 2025, 11:30am, 2268 Scott Hall
Speaker: Dr. Christina Espinosa-Diez, Assistant Professor, Center Molecular Medicine & Genetics, and Department of Physiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine
Title: “LncRNAs in Vascular Homeostasis & Stress Adaptation”
Host: Dr. Bharati Mitra bmitra@wayne.edu
- BMI Department Holiday Party: Friday, December 12, 2025, from 12:00-4:00 p.m., in room 7370 Scott Hall. Nkosingivile Sibandze hv3167@wayne.edu is still accepting donations. See the reminder email she sent out to the department this morning for complete details.
Campus News
- Campus Health Center: Campus Health Center - Wayne State University
- Office of President: 2025-26 Campus health and safety resources