College of Liberal Arts & SciencesSchool of Molecular & Cellular Biology

School of Molecular & Cellular Biology Calendar of Events

Friday, January 23, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Brenda Bass (University of Utah) - "Discriminating self and nonself dsRNA during antiviral defense"

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

The developing brain under pressure: How maternal infection impacts placental and fetal vascular barriers, brain macrophages, and corticogenesis

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Adrienne Antonson, PhD Department of Animal Science; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign "The developing brain under pressure: How maternal infection impacts placental and fetal vascular barriers, brain macrophages, and corticogenesis"
- Seminar/Symposium
First Year Project Presentations - Group 1

4:00 pm

Beckman Institute 1005
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Student Seminar: New Student Presentations

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Saireet Misra / Belmont Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, January 29, 2026

MIP Seminar Student Seminar: Shiyu Wang (Tsai Lab), "ATF4 in Group 1 mGluR–Dependent Synaptic Plasticity: Mechanisms and Relevance to Fragile X Syndrome."

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Matthew Cabeen, Oklahoma State University -- "Careful control for costly competition: a “two-key” mechanism for pyocin regulation in P. aeruginosa"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, January 30, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Juan Du (Northwestern) - "“A Cool Tail of A Warm Channel”

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Cortical oscillations and neural timing: how attention enhances hearing in complex environments

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Howard Gritton, PhD Department of Comparative Biosciences; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign “Cortical oscillations and neural timing: how attention enhances hearing in complex environments”
- Seminar/Symposium
First Year Project Presentations - Group 2

4:00 pm

Beckman Institute 1005
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Student Seminars: Brooke Ebner/Slauch Lab and Jessica Hertig/Imlay Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Faculty Search Candidate

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Yiran Zheng (Chen Lab) - "Myeloid BRD4 regulates the resolution of DSS-induced colitis"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Seung Jun Lee (Shapiro Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, February 5, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Patrick Sweeney, UIUC, "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Molecular & Integrative Physiology
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Andrea Graham, Princeton University -- "Where the Wild Things Are: Naturalizing mouse models for immunology & beyond"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, February 6, 2026

Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program Seminar: Donald McDonnell, Duke University, "Evolution of Endocrine Therapies for Breast and Prostate Cancer"

12:00 pm

B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, February 9, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Faculty Search Candidate

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Microbiology Student Seminar: Aniritha Ramalingam Balasubramanian/Hatoum-Aslan Lab and Sierra Bedwell/Heath Lab & Whitaker Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Faculty Search Candidate

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Yujia Ji (Stadtmueller) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Rebecca Tang (Huang Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, February 12, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Erik Nelson, UIUC, "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL

Associate Professor, Dept. of Molecular & Integrative Physiology
- Seminar/Symposium
Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program Seminar: Danielle Mai, Stanford University, "TBD"

2:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. John Schroggins, University of Texas Southwestern -- "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, February 13, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Andrew Jones (Duke University) - "Come to my window: Porosity and binding distribution provide better predictors for biofilm penetration"

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Microbiology Student Seminar: Abigail Finn/Whitaker Lab and Yishue Jiang/Sirk Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Faculty Search Candidate

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Qianjin Jiang (Shapiro Lab) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, February 19, 2026

Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Maria Hadjifrangiskou, Vanderbilt University -- "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Science on Tap

1:00 pm

Riggs Beer Company, 1901 S High Cross Rd, Urbana, IL 61802

Science on Tap is a monthly seminar series that brings scientists to the public to talk about their research in an informal setting.
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, February 23, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Diptika Raut / Li Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium
Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Anusmita Biswas / Freeman Lab

12:30 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Synthetic biology for evolutionary studies and human health

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Angad Mehta, PhD Department of Chemistry; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign "Synthetic biology for evolutionary studies and human health"
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Student Seminar: Courtney Hill/Hatoum-Aslan Lab and Suhail Chhakara/Kuzminov Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Oraya Zinder / S Prasanth Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium
Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program Seminar: Brent Stockwell, Columbia University "Metabolism & Ferroptosis: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications"

4:00 pm

RAL 116
- Seminar/Symposium
Jessica Derham - (Kalsotra Lab) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Wenkan Liu (Wu Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, February 26, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Catherine Christian-Hinman, UIUC, "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL

Associate Professor, Dept. of Molecular & Integrative Physiology
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, February 27, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Yang Hai (University of California Santa Barbara) - "Natral product discovery, biosynthesis, and biocatalysis."

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, March 2, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Shreyasi Neogi / Belmont Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

"Mechanisms underlying perception and mnemonic interaction in the human brain," by Adam Steel, Assistant Professor, Psychology

4:00 pm

Beckman Institute 1005
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Student Seminar: Zachary Davis/Brooke Lab and Will Wightkin/Blanke Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: William Fang / Zhao Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium
Madhusree Seal (Stadtmueller Lab)

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Abigail Spaulding (Shapiro Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Final Defense: Akshita Gopal (Wu Lab) - "Accelerating Vaccine Design Through Antibody Discovery and High-Throughput Immunofocused Antigen Engineering"

3:00 pm

419 RAL (Rose Room)
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, March 9, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Ran Yang / Brieher Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Microbiology Student Seminar: Keegan Schoeller/Hatoum-Aslan Lab and Gabriela Shipman/Brooke Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Katie Whalen / Freeman Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium
Ashley Holahan (Shapiro Lab) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Alex Mortenson (Tajkhorshid Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Anthony Vecchiarelli, University of Michigan -- "Yes! Bacteria have organelles! How are they organized?"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Saturday, March 14, 2026

Spring Vacation Begins

1:00 pm
- Other

Monday, March 23, 2026

Instruction resumes

7:00 am
- Other
Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Shengyi Fei / Zhao Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Microbiology Student Seminar: Rodrigo Arana Garrido/Mera Lab and Gracious Donkor/Slauch Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Hina Ahmad / Gillette Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium
Andy Briercheck (Y. Zhang Lab) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Abhinav Masih (Huang Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program Seminar: Amy Rosenzweig, Northwestern, "TBD"

4:00 pm

RAL 116
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Chen Chen, Louisiana State University -- "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, March 27, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Dianne Newman (CalTech) - "TBA"

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, March 30, 2026

Final Defense: Rachel Martini (van der donk Lab) - "TBA"

10:00 am

419 RAL (Rose Room)
- Seminar/Symposium
Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Lorraine Bai / Li Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium
Final Defense: Junyao Zhou (Shapiro Lab) - "TBA"

2:00 pm

419 RAL (Rose Room)
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

"Circadian clocks in brain aging and Alzheimer's Disease," by Erik S. Musiek, MD, PhD, Charlotte & Paul Hagemann Professor of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

4:00 pm

Beckman Institute 1005
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Student Seminar: Abbi Long/Mera Lab and Lance Pollitz/Hatoum-Aslan Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Ceremony/Service

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Career Development / Dr. Bing Yang / Purdue University

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Hossein Omidi Ardali (Tajkhorshid Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, April 2, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Jimmy Dooley, Purdue University "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Lanying Zeng, Texas A & M University -- "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, April 6, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Journal Club

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Microbiology Postdoc Seminar: Yumi Iwadate/Slauch Lab and Thomas Cowell/Whitaker Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Dr. Long Cai / Caltech

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Brooke Bouwens (Hergenrother Lab)- "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Amna Mehfooz (K. Zhang Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, April 9, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Evangelos Kiskinis, Northwestern University "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Alison Kell, University of New Mexico -- "Understanding hantavirus pathogenesis through innate immune activation"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, April 10, 2026

Dr. Tamas Balla (NIH) - "TBA"

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, April 13, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Reean Abdullah / Chen Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Microbiology Postdoc Seminar: Caroline Oldstone-Jackson/Heath Lab and Changyi Zhang/Whitaker Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Journal Club

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium
Hao Fan (Y. Zhang Lab) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Minsoo Kim (Stadtmueller Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Final Defense: Alex Shuppara (Sanfilippo Lab) - "TBA"

10:00 am

419 RAL (Rose Room)
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Adam Deutschbauer, University of California - Berkeley -- "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, April 17, 2026

9th Annual Biochemistry Graduate Student Awards Symposium

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, April 20, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology Student Seminar: Pallob Barai / Chen Lab

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Towards Mapping Inflammation in Real Time; Spatiotemporal Molecular Profiling of Inflammation with Microengineered Devices

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Csaba Forro, PhD and Daniel Wang, PhD, Group Leaders at Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago "Towards Mapping Inflammation in Real Time" "Spatiotemporal Molecular Profiling of Inflammation with Microengineered Devices"
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Postdoc Seminar: Elizabeth Rowland/Brooke Lab

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Final Defense: Anu Sharma (Sanfilippo Lab) - "TBA"

10:00 am

419 RAL (Rose Room)
- Seminar/Symposium
Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Dr. Anne Carpenter / Broad Institute

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Piyush Sharma (Sanfilippo Lab) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Pelham Kogut (van der Donk Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, April 23, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Avtar Roopra, Wisconsin University "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Mauricio Pontes, Penn State University -- "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, April 24, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Joe Sanfilippo (UIUC) - "TBA"

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Zixiao Li (K. Zhang Lab) - "TBA"

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
Katrine Dailey (Wu Lab) - "TBA"

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, April 30, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Mitchell Roitman, University Illinois Chicago, "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Courtney Ellison, University of Georgia -- "TBA"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102 Chemical & Life Sciences Laboratory
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, May 1, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Parisa Hosseinzadeh (University of Oregon) - "TBA"

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Instruction Ends

All Day
- Other

Thursday, May 7, 2026

Reading Day/IT No Change Period in effect

All Day
- Other
MIP Seminar: Dr. Micah Schott, University of Nebraska Medical Center, "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, May 8, 2026

Final Exams Begin

All Day
- Other
Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Juan Guan (University of Texas) - "TBA"

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Commencement

8:30 am

Memorial Stadium
- Ceremony/Service

Monday, May 18, 2026

First Day of Instruction, Summer Term 1

All Day
- Other

Monday, May 25, 2026

Memorial Day Holiday

All Day
- Other

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

First Day of Instruction, Summer Term 2

All Day
- Other

Friday, June 19, 2026

Juneteenth

All Day
- Ceremony/Service

Friday, July 3, 2026

Independence Day (observed)

All Day
- Other

School of Molecular & Cellular Biology

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

387 Morrill Hall, MC-119

505 South Goodwin Avenue

Urbana, IL 61801

Email: communications@mcb.illinois.edu