Monday - UNC Department of Genetics Faculty Meeting: May 2026
2026-05-18 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 6004 Marsico Hall, 125 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, United States
UNC Department of Genetics Faculty Meeting
Monday, May 18 / 12-1pm
6004 Marsico Hall

Wednesday – 2026 GMB New Student Symposium
2026-05-27 09:30 - 12:00 | G100 Bondurant, 321 S. Columnbia St., Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, United States
2026 GMB New Student Symposium Schedule:

9:30 AM Sophie Addi, Bob Duronio Lab
Mechanisms Regulating Histone Transcription in Drosophila Cell Cycle and Development

9:45 AM Alyssa Stoner, Laura Lee Lab
Utilizing light sheet live microscopy to study plant regeneration at the root tip

10:00 AM Calen Paleologos, Zack Nimchuk Lab
Investigating Interactions between the BAM/CLE signaling pathway and ABA in root stem cells

10:15 AM Kasey Linton, Sarah Linnstaedt Lab
Epigenetic Landscape of the X Chromosome in Chronic Post-Traumatic Pain

10:30 AM Break

10:45 AM Claire Olson, Jesse Raab Lab
Investigating the Interaction Between SWI/SNF Chromatin Remodelers and the Integrator Complex

11:00 AM Rhea Premanand, Qingyun Liu Lab
Establishing a Representative Collection of M. Abcessus Strains to Capture DCC Diversity

11:15 AM Zhihan Gao, Karen Mohlke Lab
Functional Validation of Cardiometabolic Disease-Associated Non-Coding Genetic Variants

11:30 AM Kathleen Embury, Karen Mohlke Lab
The Coordination of the ZZ and SANT Domains in Ada2 Histone Binding

11:45 AM Christopher Smith, Melissa Haendel Lab
From Ontologies to Mechanisms: Integrating Disease Knowledge for Rare Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Discovery

Additional New GMB Students Not Presenting:
Ana Cunningham, Ed Browne Lab
Niki Hamraei, Dale Ramsden Lab

Friday – 2026 BCB New Student Symposium
2026-05-29 10:30 - 12:00 | 1131 Bioinformatics Building, 125 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
BCB New Student Symposium

10:30 AM Alice Zhang
Tarek Zikry & Jessica Girault Labs
Neural Dynamics of Positional Memory Following Transient Whole-brain Inhibition in Zebrafish Larvae

10:45 AM Jordyn Homoki
Jessica Girault & Zachary Fisher Labs
Developmental trends in white matter connectivity underlying functional networks in infants with enriched genetic liability for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions

11:00 AM Andrew Antanasiu
Tim Elston Lab
EXPLORATION OF X-CHROMOSOME INACTIVATION MECHANISMS

11:15 AM Break

11:30 AM Jihae Lee
Charles Perou Lab
Cavebear-multi: Aligning on the Timeline with Supervised Cross-Species Mapping

11:45 AM Marisa Lange
Will Valdar Lab
Adjusting for Haplotype Uncertainty in Bayesian Mediation Analysis

Additional New BCB Students Not Presenting:
Damien Guilbaud
Brian Diekman & Doug Phanstiel Labs

Jazmin Sharp

12:15-2:00 PM New Student Luncheon

Wednesday – Department of Genetics Colloquium: Jason Stein
2026-06-03 12:00 - 13:00 | 1131 Bioinformatics Building, 125 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Genetics Research Colloquium
The UNC Department of Genetics Research Colloquium welcomes Jason Stein, Associate Professor of Genetics, UNC Neuroscience Center on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
Mechanisms underlying genetic and environmental associations with autism

Wednesday – Department of Genetics Colloquium: Christoph Rau
2026-06-10 12:00 - 13:00 | Pagano Conference Room, 450 West Drive, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Genetics Research Colloquium
The UNC Department of Genetics Research Colloquium welcomes Christoph Rau, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Computational Medicine, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
Genetics of Cardiac Dysfunction

Wednesday – GMB Defense: Adriana Coke
2026-06-17 10:00 - 11:00 | 215 Coker Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
GMB Curriculum Student Defense
GMB Curriculum Student Defense: Adriana Coke, student of Bob Goldstein and Christina Burch. Presented in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
