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Dear M&I students/postdocs/faculty/staff/colleagues (past and present):

If you have not already done so, please be sure this is on your calendars and register at the link below! On May 16, our Department will be hosting a full-day symposium featuring M&I alumni and new M&I faculty talking about their research in virology, immunology, and microbial pathogenesis. The following day, additional M&I alumni will be featured in a program that will include participants from many other UNC bioscience departments. Social events will be taking place each day, and you’ll be getting more information when you register at

http://tinyurl.com/bfrecgs

Registration assures that you will have a seat at Thursday’s symposium, including lunch and refreshments; that you’ll get free drinks at the M&I student/postdoc poster session (afternoon of May 16) and at the West End Wine Bar (reserved for this event with live music on the evening of May 16); that you’ll be able to sign up for tours to preview our new departmental space (afternoon of May 17); and that you’ll be invited to attend a reception at the Ackland Art Museum (evening of May 17). There’s even a 5K run on the morning of May 18, with proceeds benefiting the high school outreach program NC DNA Day (sign up at http://ncdnaday.org/5K/).

This is all part of the Carolina Biosciences Alumni Reunion (http://tinyurl.com/al9kpkz), celebrating the 5th anniversary of the highly successful BBSP (Biological & Biomedical Sciences Program) that unifies biosciences graduate admissions, programs and curricula.

Thursday’s M&I Symposium:

8:30 – 8:40 Bill Goldman (Baseman lab, 1980) – M&I Professor and Chair (2008)
Introductory Remarks

8:40 – 9:15 Tem Morrison (Kenney lab, 2004) – Assistant Professor, Univ. of Colorado School of Medicine
Clearance and Persistence of Arthritogenic Alphaviruses

9:15 – 9:50 Robert Rickert (Clarke lab, 1992) – Professor, Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute
Probing the signal transduction pathways that govern normal and aberrant B lymphocyte differentiation

9:50 – 10:15 Tony Richardson – M&I Assistant Professor (2008)
Host immunometabolism and Staphylococcus aureus disease outcomes

10:15 – 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 – 11:20 Duncan Krause (Baseman lab, 1982) – Professor and former Chair, Univ. of Georgia
Mycoplasma pneumonia Terminal Organelle Form and Function: A Random Walk

11:20 – 11:45 Nat Moorman – M&I Assistant Professor (2010)
The role of host and viral factors in HCMV protein synthesis

11:45 – 12:10 Cary Moody – M&I Assistant Professor (2010)
Understanding the Contribution of the DNA Damage Response to Human Papillomavirus Replication

12:10 – 1:15 Lunch

1:15 – 1:50 Christine Biron (Pagano lab, 1980) – Professor and former Chair, Brown Univ.
Conditioning NK and T Cell Responses to Viral Infections: Experience Matters

1:50 – 2:25 Nancy Haigwood (Edgell lab, 1980) – Director, Oregon National Primate Research Center
Outmaneuvering Envelope to Build a Better HIV Vaccine

2:25 – 2:50 Kristina Abel – M&I Assistant Professor (2009)
From pediatric immunology to pediatric vaccines

2:50 – 3:15 Rita Tamayo – M&I Assistant Professor (2009)
Regulation of Clostridium difficile virulence gene expression

3:15 – 3:45 Coffee Break

3:45 – 4:20 Priscilla Wyrick (Gooder lab, 1971) – Professor and Chair, ETSU (retired)
Estrogen Enhances Chlamydia trachomatis Genital Infection

4:20 – 4:45 Yisong Wan – M&I Assistant Professor (2008)
GATA3 controls T cell function beyond Th2 differentiation

4:45 – 5:10 Ed Miao – M&I Assistant Professor (2011)
Caspase-11 protects against cytosolic bacteria

5:15 – 6:30 Poster Session and Open Bar

Friday will feature an alumni networking breakfast that includes:

Ellen Aho (Cannon lab, 1989) – Professor, Concordia College

John Puziss (Bassford lab, 1991) – Director of Technology Licensing at Yale Univ.

Lani San Mateo (Kawula lab, 1999) – Associate Scientific Director, Janssen R&D

Friday’s program will include two science symposia (morning and afternoon) with alumni speakers from many graduate programs and featuring:

Lewis Lanier (Haughton lab, 1977) – Professor and Chair, UCSF
From Carolina Graduate Student to Biotech and Back to Academics

I’m sure you see why we are excited about a program that features such distinguished participants. For those of you will be traveling back to Chapel Hill for this event, be sure to check http://tinyurl.com/b7akzur for information on special rates at several convenient hotels: The Carolina Inn (where we have already reserved rooms for our speakers), The Franklin Hotel, and Aloft.

Looking forward to seeing you at this big event!

— Bill

William E. Goldman, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Microbiology & Immunology
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Campus Box #7290
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 966-9580
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