Seminar Series

Fall 2025 – Spring 2026
MMG Seminar Schedule

In the interest of the health and safety of all who may attend, seminars will be held remotely via Zoom or in a hybrid format (Zoom and in person) . Please review each date and email communications for more details. Email invitations containing a Zoom link, when applicable, will be sent out on or before the week of each seminar. Please contact AlySha Jones if you have any questions or would like to be added to (or removed from) the MMG Seminar Series mailing list.

 

Thursday, September 11, 2025
Ryan Valdez, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow (Garsin Lab), Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
UTHealth Houston, McGovern Medical School
“Direct and indirect factors render LPS essential to Gram-negative physiology”
10:30 AM

Thursday, September 18, 2025
Neethu Kamarudheen, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics
MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
“Understanding the role of H4K8ac interacting Ribosomal Proteins in Pathogen avoidance”
10:30 AM

Thursday, September 25, 2025
Oliyad Oumer, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow (Proctor Lab), Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
UTHealth Houston, McGovern Medical School
“Metagenomic Insights: From Extreme Environments to Aircraft and Human Health”
10:30 AM

Thursday, October 9, 2025
Qi Xu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow (Pountain Lab), Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
UTHealth Houston, McGovern Medical School
“Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strategies in Infections and Interbacterial Competition”
10:30 AM

Thursday, October 16, 2025
Katy Patras, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology
Baylor College of Medicine
“Gestational Diabetes Disrupts Maternal Immunity and the Vaginal Microbiota to Promote”
10:30 AM

Thursday, October 23, 2025
Todd Treangen, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
Rice University
“Scalable Computational Approaches for Biological Discovery in Microbes and Microbiomes”
10:30 AM

Thursday, November 6, 2025
Jason Rosch, PhD
Faculty Member, Department of Host-Microbe Interactions
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
“Microbial Virulence and Resistance Strategies in High-Risk Hosts”
10:30 AM

Thursday, December 4, 2025
Santosh Kumar, PhD
Senior Research Associate, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
UTHealth Houston, McGovern Medical School
“TBD”
10:30 AM