UIUC Biophysics and Related Seminars

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Emily Nash CHEM 575 Seminar: "The Search for Broad-spectrum Antivenom Therapeutics to Treat Snake Bites"

12:00 pm

217 Noyes Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
Julian Bowes CHEM 575 Seminar: "Leveraging Transition Metal Catalysis in the Body"

12:00 pm
- Seminar/Symposium
Lunch with CNRG: Biocluster Overview

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

"Biocluster Overview" David Slater Associate Director of High Performance Computing
- Seminar/Symposium
CHBE 565-International Paper Co Seminar-Dr. Mike Reynolds, Shell (Host: Prof. Paul Kenis), "Catalysis and Its Role in Building a Hydrogen Economy"

2:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
Final Defense: Akshita Gopal (Wu Lab) - "Accelerating Vaccine Design Through Antibody Discovery and High-Throughput Immunofocused Antigen Engineering"

3:00 pm

274 MSB
- Seminar/Symposium
Microbiology Seminar: Rasika Harshey, University of Texas: "Nucleolus-like Organization of ribosomal RNA loci in E. coli"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

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

Friday, March 6, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar of Special Interest: Dr. Andrew Oberst (University of Washington) - "Dying to Get Noticed: Immune Responses to Apoptotic and Necroptotic Cells

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium, B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Final Defense of Jerry Rong, "THIN FILM COMPOSITE MEMBRANE WITH BOTTLEBRUSH POLYMERS AS CHANNELS FOR CHEMICAL TRANSPORT"

1:00 pm

1024 Chem Annex
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, March 9, 2026

Prof. Ying Li, Hong Kong University, "Profiling RNA Localization: Developing New Chemical Tools for Functional Exploration"

4:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

CHBE 565-International Paper Co Seminar-Prof. Carl Denard, University of Florida (Host: Prof. Huimin Zhao) "Engineering and Leveraging the Yeast Secretion Pathway to Reprogram Bond-forming, Bond-cleaving Enzymes and to Model Human Diseases"

2:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
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

Thursday, March 12, 2026

MIP Seminar: Dr. Alvaro G. Hernandez, University of Illinois "Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies and Applications in the DNA Services Core"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Gizem Ozturk CHEM 575 Seminar: "Targeting Cancer Cell Surface Glycans"

12:00 pm

217 Noyes Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
Owen Young CHEM 575 Seminar: "Unnatural Amino Acids in Antimicrobial Peptides to Combat Drug-Resistant Bacteria"

12:00 pm

217 Noyes Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
CHBE 565-International Paper Co Seminar-Prof. Hee Jeung Oh, Penn State University (host: Prof. Alexa Kuenstler) "Molecular Scale Engineering of Polymer Membranes for Energy, Environment and Health"

2:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
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

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Prof. Jacob Olshansky, Amherst College, "Harnessing spin polarization in photoexcited quantum dots"

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Chemical & Life Sciences Lab, 601 S Goodwin Ave, B-102
- Seminar/Symposium

Sunday, March 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.
- Social/Informal Event

Monday, March 23, 2026

Final Defense: Owen Ouyang (Wu Lab) - "High-throughput profiling of the arms race between antibodies and viral antigens."

3:00 pm

419 RAL (Rose Room)
- 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

Lunch with the Core

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Oraya Zinder, PhD Candidate Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois
- Seminar/Symposium
Andy Briercheck (Y. Zhang Lab) - “Role of Ribosomal RNA Methylation in Bacterial Cold Shock Response”

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Microbiology Seminar: Dr. Chen Chen, Louisiana State University -- "Staphylococcal Superantigen-like Protein 11, a Foe or a Friend?"

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
Final Defense of Archana Verma, "Thermodynamic Origins of Molecular Doping Efficiency for Advancing Predictive Design of Organic Semiconductors"

2:00 - 4:00 pm

1024 Chem Annex
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, March 30, 2026

Final Defense: Rachel Martini (van der donk Lab) - "Discovery and Characterization of Glycocin and Lanthipeptide Natural Products"

10:00 am

612 IGB
- Seminar/Symposium
Final Defense: Junyao Zhou (Shapiro Lab) - "A Novel Pathway Controlling the Anticancer Therapy-induced Immunogenic Cell Death"

2:00 pm

419 RAL (Rose Room)
- Seminar/Symposium
CHBE 121 Poster Session

6:00 pm 8:00 p.m.

Richmond Family Gallery in the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801.
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

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
Tuning surface interactions of two-dimensional materials in dry and wet environments

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

“Tuning surface interactions of two-dimensional materials in dry and wet environments” Gus Greenwood, PhD Candidate Prof. Rosa Espinosa-Marzal’s Environmental Engineering Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois
- Ceremony/Service
Prof. Teri W. Odom, Northwestern University, "Light-Matter Interactions mediated by Plasmonic Lattices"

2:00 - 3:00 pm

CLSL B102
- Seminar/Symposium
Final Defense of Bidipta Ghosh, "DEFECT ENGINEERING IN COMPLEX METAL OXIDE ELECTROCATALYSTS FOR OXYGEN EVOLUTION REACTION"TBA

3:00 pm 03/06/2026

TBA
- Seminar/Symposium
Wenkan Liu (Wu Lab) - 'HAAbGAT: A Graphic Attention neural network model for HA-Antibody Epitope Prediction and Screening'

4:00 pm

116 RAL
- 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 -- "Single-cell Studies of Phage Penetration and Implications for Antimicrobial Strategies"

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

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

Monday, April 6, 2026

Final Defense of Neil Tran, TBA

8:00 - 10:00 am

165 Noyes
- Seminar/Symposium

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Final Defense of Rajarshi Samajdar, TBA

1:00 - 3:00 pm

TBD
- Seminar/Symposium
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

Final Defense of Haowei Long, Low-Temperature Anion Exchange Membrane Ammonia Electrolysis for Hydrogen Production

9:00 am 03/06/2026

117 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Dr. Long Cai / Caltech

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Creating Art of Science

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

“Creating Art of Science” Julia Pollack, Creative Program Manager Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois
- Seminar/Symposium
Prof. Marissa Weichman, Princeton, TBD

2:00 - 3:00 pm

CLSL B102
- Seminar/Symposium
Brooke Bouwens (Hergenrother Lab)- ""Investigating the Role of TRPM4 in ErSO-TFPy Mediated Cell Death".

4:00 pm

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

4:30 pm

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Final Defense of Sonji Lamichhane, TBA

9:00 am 03/06/2026

433 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium
MIP Seminar: Dr. Evangelos Kiskinis, Northwestern University "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
CHBE 565-International Paper Co Seminar-Prof. Todd Squires, University of California, Santa Barbara, (Host: Prof. Baron Peters)

2:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- 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

Final Defense: Rebecca Schneider (Stadtmueller Lab): "TBA"

10:00 am

116 RAL
- Seminar/Symposium
ChBE/OXE Undergraduate Research Symposium

12:00 - 4:00 pm

Levis Faculty Center, Room 300
- Seminar/Symposium
CHBE Scholarship Awards Ceremony & Reception

4:30 - 6:00 pm

Levis Faculty Center, Room 300
- Ceremony/Service

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

Prof. Andres Montoya Castillo, CU Boulder, TBD

2:00 - 3:00 pm

CLSL B102
- 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
CHBE 565-International Paper Co Seminar-Prof. Styliana Avraamidou, University of Wisconsin (Host: Prof. Paul Kenis)

2:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- 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

Sunday, April 19, 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. Our speaker will be Quang Nguyen, a neuroscientist who leads interdisciplinary projects using biochemical and physiological approaches.
- 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
Prof. Tian Lan, U Penn, TBD

2:00 - 3:00 pm

CLSL B102
- 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, University Wisconsin-Madison, "TBA"

11:00 am

Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
CHBE 565-International Paper Co Seminar-Prof. Siddarth Krishna, University of Wisconsin (Host: Prof. Elizabeth Rogers) "Tuning the Dynamic Structure and Reactivity of Metal-Zeolites for Sustainable Catalytic Chemistries"

2:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- 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
Prof. Christina (Tina) Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Title:TBD"

4:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium

Friday, April 24, 2026

Biochemistry Seminar: Dr. Joe Sanfilippo (UIUC) - "Bacterial stress responses and surface adhesion in shear flow"

12:00 pm

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

Monday, April 27, 2026

Biological Physics Seminar: Minsu Kim (Emory University) ""

11:00 am

Rhondale Tso Seminar Room, Loomis 236
- Lecture

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Eavesdropping on Biology by Using New Instrumentation and AI to Foster Multiscale Imaging

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Scott Fraser, PhD President, Dynamic Imaging, Head of Biohub, San Francisco "Eavesdropping on Biology by Using New Instrumentation and AI to Foster Multiscale Imaging"
- Ceremony/Service

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Dr. Gene Yeo / UC San Diego

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium
Fiber Rearrangement Redistributes Energy and Modulates Intrinsic Cutting Energy in Bovine Glisson's Capsule

12:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

“Fiber Rearrangement Redistributes Energy and Modulates Intrinsic Cutting Energy in Bovine Glisson's Capsule” Shaobo Zhan, PhD Candidate Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois
- Seminar/Symposium
Prof. Tom Truskett, University of Michigan, TBD

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Chemical & Life Sciences Lab, 601 S Goodwin Ave, B-102
- Seminar/Symposium
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
Art of Science 16

4:00 pm

Analog Wine Library, 129 N Race St, Urbana, IL

The IGB’s Art of Science program is a celebration of the common ground between science and art. Images from Illinois research were the starting point for these works, which were created by researchers working in partnership with IGB artist Julia Pollack. These pieces are the result of conversations between the scientists and the artist. The show will run through the mon
- Exhibition

Monday, May 4, 2026

Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) Departmental Seminars: Career Development / Dr. Surabhi Sonam / UIUC

12:00 pm

Charles G. Miller Auditorium B102 CLSL
- Seminar/Symposium

Thursday, May 7, 2026

IGB 2026 Fellows Symposium

9:00 am - 4:00 pm

612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Learn about IGB research, hear about current issues in the life sciences, and connect with others at our popular poster session at the 2026 Fellows Symposium.
- Seminar/Symposium
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

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

12:00 pm

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

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Final Defense of Haisu Kang, TBA

10:00 am 03/06/2026

TBA
- Seminar/Symposium

Sunday, May 17, 2026

CHBE 2026 Spring Convocation Ceremony

9:30 11:00 am

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Tryon Festival Theatre, 500 S Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
- Ceremony/Service
ChBE 2026 Spring Convocation Reception

11:00 1:00 p.m.

Illini Union - room ABC, 1401 W Green St, Urbana, IL 61801
- Reception/Open House

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Prof. Nick Jackson, UIUC, TBD

2:00 - 3:00 pm

CLSL B102
- Seminar/Symposium

Monday, November 16, 2026

Kenneth L. Rinehart Lecture in Chemical Biology, Professor Christopher J. Chang, Princeton University, "Title: TBD"

4:00 pm

116 Roger Adams Lab
- Seminar/Symposium

Please contact the UIUC Illinois Biophysics Society webmaster if you know of other events to add to the list.