MBID Retreat
The 2025 MBID Retreat will be held on Thursday, May 1st, at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, 1825 Pressler Street.
Keynote Speakers for the 2025 MBID Retreat are:
Alejandro Aballay, PharmD, PhD
Dean and Professor of Genetics, MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Endowed Distinguished Professor, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics UTHealth Houston, McGovern Medical School
Chief and NIH Distinguished Investigator of the Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute
8:30 AM – Career Development Panel
10:00 AM – Graduate Student Presentations
11:00 AM – Morning Keynote
12:30 PM – Poster Session
2:30 PM – Afternoon Keynote
3:45 PM – Postdoctoral Fellow/ New Faculty Presentations
5:00 PM – Awards/ Closing
2025 MBID Organizing Committee
Michael Lorenz, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, UTHealth McGovern Medical School
Heidi B. Kaplan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, UTHealth McGovern Medical School
Holly Branthoover, MBID Fellow, Baylor College of Medicine/Immunology & Microbiology
Shane Cristy, MBID Fellow, MD Anderson UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences/Microbiology
Samantha Hitt, MBID Fellow, MD Anderson UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences/Microbiology
Larissa Tavizón, MBID Fellow, MD Anderson UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences/Microbiology
The Molecular Basis of Infectious Diseases (MBID) Annual Research Retreat was instituted in 2008 and is sponsored by The Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at UTHealth McGovern Medical School – UTHealth Houston, and The Molecular Basis of Infectious Diseases (MBID) Training Program. With an average attendance of 150 scientists, the retreat serves the MBID faculty and students as well as investigators and students in the Greater Houston area, including: UTHealth Houston, University of Houston, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, Houston Methodist Research Institute, University of Houston – Downtown, Houston Community College, and others. The day begins with a Career Development Panel, often featuring graduates of participating institutions, and keynote speakers who are locally- and nationally-recognized experts in infectious diseases. Oral and poster presentations are selected from submitted abstracts, and awards are given for exceptional graduate student and postdoctoral fellow presentations. Selected abstracts are made available to registrants prior to the retreat so they can select the posters they would most like to visit during the event’s poster session.