BMI Weekly News - March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

This Week’s Events:

• Immunology Focus Group Seminar: Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 12:00-1:00p.m., Hudson-Webber 2^nd Floor, Wertz Auditorium.

Speaker: Alan J. Tackett, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Deputy Director, Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Executive Associate Dean for Basic Research, College of Medicine, Scharlau Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, Director, NIH-IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics, Director, NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Immunotherapy can effectively eliminate cancer in some patients but show little benefit in many other patients. Dr. Alan Tackett aims to understand why some patients show limited response and leverage this information to design new cancer immunotherapy. He leads a translational team at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and focuses on histone epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene transcription coupled to melanoma progression. He uses a suite of techniques including proteomics, immunohistochemistry, cell culture, tumorigenicity assays, ChIPseq, and cutting-edge mass spectrometry. His team also develops new technologies for epigenetic studies and quantitative assays for histone-modifying proteins.

Title: “Uncovering Molecular Targets to Overcome Therapy Resistance in Metastatic Melanoma”
Hosted by: Wei-Zen Wei, Ph.D., Herrick Endowed Chair of Cancer Research, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Wayne State University
Sponsored by: Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Henry Ford Health System
Lunch will be provided at 11:45am.

• Special Seminar: Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 2:00pm, 7364 Scott Hall
  Speaker: Sander Houten, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
  Title: Turning Harmful Inborn Errors of Metabolism into Begin Biochemical Abnormalities”
  Hosted by: Dr. Jeff Withey jwithey@med.wayne.edu
  Refreshments will be provided. 
  After the seminar there will be an opportunity for a student speaker discussion.

Upcoming Events:

• Next BMI Seminar: April 8, 2025, 11:30am-12:30pm
  Speaker: Chris Waters, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
  Title: TBA
  Host: Dr. Kevin Theis ktheis@med.wayne.edu
• Next ZOOM BMI Seminar: April 15, 2025, 11:30am-12:30pm
  Speaker: Jiaxin Niu, M.D., Medical Oncologist, Banner Gateway Medical Center, Gilbert, Arizona
  Title: TBA
  Host: Dr. JianJun Wang jjwang@med.wayne.edu

Campus News:

• Campus Health Center: https://health.wayne.edu/
• Office of President: Campus Resources link for Students, Faculty and Staff, Campus Resource Link