Upcoming Dissertation Defense Seminars
Brittany Petros
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.
Title: Genomic methods for the surveillance and epidemiologic inference of respiratory viral pathogens
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology
Advisor: Pardis Sabeti, M.D., Ph.D.
Leonard Nettey
Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.
Title: Evaluating Immunological Treatment and Prevention Strategies Using Single-Cell Genomics
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Immunology
Advisor: Alex K. Shalek, Ph.D.
Anusha Nathan
Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
Title: Rational Design of CD8+ T Cell Vaccines for SARS-CoV-2
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Immunology
Advisor: Gaurav Gaiha, M.D., D.Phil.
Recent Dissertation Defense Seminars
Thomas Xu
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Title: Surface display of proteins on bone marrow-derived dendritic cells induces humoral immune responses and anaphylaxis
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Immunology
Advisor: Shiv Pillai, M.D., Ph.D.
Nicita Mehta
Monday March 18, 2024
Title: Integrated Molecular and Histopathological Study of Germ Cell Tumors
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Bioinformatics &
Integrative Genomics
Advisor: Eliezer Van Allen, M.D.
Kathleen Higgins
Friday March 8, 2024
Title: Rapid expansion and specialization of the bitter taste receptor family in amphibians
MD-PhD Candidate in MIT – Biology
Advisor: Jing-Ke Weng, Ph.D.
Chanthia C. Ma
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Title: Genomic Studies in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE): From External Traumas to Genetic Alterations
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor: Christopher A. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
Catherine Koch
Friday March 1, 2024
Title: Utilizing in vivo genome-wide crispr-cas9 screens in an immunocompetent mouse model of glioblastoma to identify novel tumor liabilities and explore mechanisms of resistance to car-t
MD-PhD Candidate in MIT-Biology
Advisor: Michael Hemann, Ph.D.
Samantha Hoffman
Monday February 26, 2024
Title: Multiomic insights into gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor biology
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor:
Eliezer Van Allen, M.D.
William Mannherz
Friday, February 9, 2024
Title:
Control of human telomerase activity by nucleotide metabolism
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor: Suneet Agarwal, M.D., Ph.D.
Sarah Chang
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Title:
Control of Cellular Redox State and Biomass Synthesis
MD-PhD Candidate in MIT Biology
Advisor: Matthew Vander Heiden, M.D., Ph.D.
Adam Berger
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Title: Systematic engineering of controlled, localized oligonucleotide delivery systems for wound angiogenesis
MD-PhD Candidate in
MIT HST – MEMP
Advisor: Paula T. Hammond, Ph.D.
Alaina Bever
Friday, January 19th, 2024
Title: Genetic, metabolomic, and lifestyle dynamics in colorectal cancer and chronic disease prevention
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Population Health Science -Epidemiology
Advisor: Mingyang Song, Sc.D.
Laurie Rumker
Friday, December 15, 2023
Title: Modeling inter-individual variation in single-cell datasets to detect cell state abundance associations to clinical features and genetic variants
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Bioinformatics &
Integrative Genomics
Advisor:
Soumya Raychaudhuri, M.D., Ph.D.
Alissa Campbell Goss
Thursday, December 7, 2023
Title:
TMEDs are differential regulators of mutant membrane proteins
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor: Anna Greka, M.D., Ph.D.
Leah Pierson
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Title:
Ethics Amidst Uncertainty: Essays on Global Health Priority Setting
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Population Health Sciences-Global Health Population
Advisor:
Stéphane Verguet, M.P.P., Ph.D.
Annabel Wang
Friday, September 15, 2023
Title:
Health Care Variation and Its Determinants: Studies on Physician Quality, Cancer Screening, and Cardiovascular Care
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Health Policy (MPR)
Advisors:
J. Michael McWilliams, M.D., Ph.D. (Chair); Jessica L. Cohen, Ph.D.; David M. Cutler, Ph.D.
Spencer Luster
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Title:
Understanding the Health Care Delivery System: Empirical Investigations of Insurer Site of Care Policies and Physician Competencies
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Health Policy (Ecomonomics)
Advisor:
Michael Chernew, Ph.D.
Katherine Warren
Friday, September 1, 2023
Title:
Clause of Death: The Social Lives of U.S. Obituaries, 1918-2023
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Anthropology
Advisor:
Arthur Kleinman, M.D.
Jacob Anderson
Friday, August 31, 2023
Title: Unveiling the Molecular Architecture of Mammalian Ciliary Doublet Microtubules and Mechanisms of von Willebrand Factor Concatemerization
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Chemical Biology
Advisor: Alan Brown, Ph.D.
Jenny Lai
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Title: Functional genomic dissection of human brain development, degeneration, and dysfunction in pediatric neurogenetic disorders
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Neuroscience
Advisors: Timothy W. Yu, M.D., Ph.D., & Eunjung Alice Lee, Ph.D.
Teshika Jayewickreme
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Title:
Lymph Node Stromal Cell Responses to Perinatal T Cell Waves
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Immunology
Advisors:
Diane Mathis, Ph.D. and Christophe Benoist, M.D., Ph.D.
Sharon Heejin Kim
Friday, June 16, 2023
Title:
The Gordian Knot of Oxygen and Iron
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor: Vamsi K. Mootha, M.D.
Carla Winter
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Title: The road from thought to action: a brainwide atlas of spinal projecting neurons
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor: Zhigang He,
Ph.D., B.M.
Kaitavjeet Chowdhary
Friday, June 2, 2023
Title:
Decoding Regulatory T Cell Transcription Factor Networks: From Identity to Diversity
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard
University GSAS – Immunology
Advisors:
Diane Mathis, Ph.D. and Christophe Benoist, M.D., Ph.D.
Kaustav A. Gopinathan
Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.
Title: Microfluidic Transistors
for the Control of Liquids and Particles
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Biophysics
Advisor: Mehmet Toner, Ph.D.
Elliot Akama-Garren
Friday, May 26, 2023
Title:
T Cell Help Shapes B Cell Tolerance
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Immunology
Advisor: Michael C. Carroll, Ph.D.
Dylan Neel
Friday,
May 26, 2023 at 12:30 p.m.
Title: Gasdermin-E mediates mitochondrial
damage in axons and neurodegeneration
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor: Isaac
Chiu, Ph.D.
Suchita Nety
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Title:
The transposon-encoded protein TnpB is an RNA-guided nuclease
MD-PhD Candidate in MIT – Biological Engineering
Advisor: Feng Zhang, Ph.D.
Emily Rencsok
Monday,
May 1, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
Title: Racial disparities in the care of
patients with advanced prostate cancer: an analysis of patient-reported
outcome and experience measures
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Population Health Sciences in Epidemiology
Advisor:
Lorelei Mucci, Sc.D.
Dana Vigue
Thursday,
April 13, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.
Title: “Strength is a Product of Trust”
An Ethnographic Study of Trauma-Informed Weight Lifting in the United
States
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard University GSAS – Anthropology
Advisor: Arthur Kleinman, M.D.
Joyce Kang
Wednesday,
April 12, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
Title: Integrative analysis of
large-scale single-cell genomics data in immune-mediated diseases
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard University GSAS – Bioinformatics &
Integrative Genomics
Advisor: Soumya Raychaudhuri, M.D., Ph.D.
Rahul Gupta
Thursday,
March 23, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.
Title: Nuclear genetic control of
mitochondrial function and its contribution to human disease: insights
at biobank scaleMD-PhD Candidate in Harvard University GSAS – Genetics
and Genomics
Advisors: Vamsi Mootha, M.D., and Benjamin Neale, Ph.D.
Joseph Sedlak
Friday,
March 10, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.
Title: The Role of Prostaglandins and a
High-fat Diet in Colorectal Cancer Metastasis
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard University GSAS – Biophysics
Advisor: Ömer Yilmaz, M.D.,
Ph.D.
Layla Siraj
Tuesday,
February 28, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.
Title: TBD
MD-PhD Candidate in
Harvard University GSAS - Biophysics
Advisors: Eric Lander, D. Phil.,
and Hilary Finucane, Ph.D.
Dan Rubin
Friday,
February 24, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.
Title: Mechanisms and acquisition of
antibiotic resistance in N. gonorrhoeae
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard
University GSAS – Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisors:
Yonatan Grad, M.D., Ph.D., and Matthew Waldor, M.D., Ph.D.
Juliana Fried Coraor
Monday, February 6, 2023 at 11 a.m.
Title: FALCON systematically
interrogates FFA biology and identifies new mediators of lipotoxicity
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard University GSAS – Division of Medical
Sciences Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Advisor: Anna
Greka, M.D., Ph.D.
Daniel Michelson
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at 2 p.m.
Title: Thymic Mechanisms of T
Cell Tolerance
MD-PhD Candidate in Harvard University GSAS –
Immunology
Advisor: Diane Mathis, Ph.D. and Christophe Benoist, M.D.,
Ph.D.