Biochemistry Seminars

All seminars are offered in-person and via Zoom and are on Friday at 12 PM unless otherwise noted. Unless noted, in-person seminars are located at 147 Nanaline Duke Building. Please contact Chelsey Gobert for the Zoom Link.

FALL 2023

KATE MEYER, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry
Duke University School of Medicine
Date: September 15, 2023
Title: Gene Expression Control Through RNA Methylation
Host: Biochemistry Department 

DAVID SHECHNER, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
University of Washington
Date: September 29, 2023
Title: How does RNA Compartmentalize and Functionalize the Human Genome?
Host: Dr. Kate Meyer

ROD MACKINNON, MD, Professor of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics
The Rockefeller University
Note Date & Time: Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 2:00 PM
Title: Mechanical Gating of the Piezo1 Ion Channel
Host: Dr. Seok-Yong Lee

SHEE-MEI LOK, PhD, Provost Chair Professor, Department of Emerging Infectious Disease
Duke-NUS Medical School
Note Date & Time: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at 2:00 PM
Title: Understanding Dengue Virus for the Development of Vaccine and Therapeutics
Host: Dr. Richard Brennan

EKATERINA "KATYA" HELDWEIN, PhD, American Cancer Society (MA Division) Professor of Molecular Biology, Department of Molecular Biology & Microbiology
Tufts University School of Medicine
Date: October 27, 2023
Title: 
Nuclear Envelope Deformation by Herpesviruses 
Host: Dr. Richard Brennan

Kamin Memorial Lecture
DANIEL HERSCHLAG, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry

Stanford University
Date: November 3, 2023
Title: Toward a Predictive Understanding of Protein Function: A Paradigm Shift from Structure-Function to Ensemble-Function Studies

Host: Dr. Paul Modrich & Dr. Richard Brennan

JEDI Seminar
JOHN W. PHAM, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, Cell
Cell Press
Date: November 10, 2023
Title: Journal Publishing in Service to Science and Scientists
Host: JEDI Committee
Note Location: 103 Bryan Auditorium

ALESSIO ACCARDI, PhD, Professor of Physiology & Biophysics in Anesthesiology 
Weill Cornell Medical School
Date: November 17, 2023
Title: In or out of the groove? How TMEM16 scramblases flip lipids
Host: Dr. Huanghe Yang

Irwin Fridovich Distinguished Lecture
JIM IMLAY, PhD, Professor of Microbiology
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Date: December 1, 2023
Title: Fitting Superoxide Dismutase into Biology
Host: Dr. Richard Brennan

KAREN GUILLEMIN, PhD, Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology
University of Oregon
Date: December 15, 2023
Title: Teaming with Microbes: Lessons from the Digestive Tract
Host: Dr. Shuo Han

Spring 2024

STEPHEN FLOOR, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Tissue Biology
UC San Francisco
Date: January 26, 2024
Title: RNA Helicases and Single Molecule RNA Biology
Host: Dr. Kate Meyer

REBECCA VOORHEES, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology and HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar
Caltech
Date: February 2, 2024
Title: How to Make a Membrane Protein
Host: Dr. Seok-Yong Lee

KIRILL MARTEMYANOV, PhD, Professor & Chair, Department of Neuroscience
UF Scripps
Date: February 9, 2024
Title: Terra Incognita of Neuronal GPCR Signaling
Host: Dr. Sudar Rajagopal
Note Time: 1 PM

SUJATHA JAGANNATHAN, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics
University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus
Date: February 23, 2024
Title: When to shoot the Messenger: Decoding the Logic of mRNA Surveillance
Host: Dr. Christopher Nicchitta

JUAN DU, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Structural Biology
Van Andel Institute
Date: March 1, 2024
Title: Molecular Principles of Ion Channels Involved in Taste Perception
Host: Dr. Huanghe Yang

KURT WARNHOFF, PhD, Associate Scientist, Department of Pediatrics and Rare Disease Group
Sanford Research
Date: March 8, 2024
Title: Molybdenum Cofactor Transport and Metabolism in the Nematode C. Elegans
Host: Dr. Ken Yokoyama

KELLY TEN HAGEN, PhD, Senior Investigator and Chief, Developmental Glycobiology Section
National Institutes of Health
Date: March 15, 2024
Title: Mucins and O-glycosylation in Health and Disease
Host: Dr. Mike Boyce

*POSTPONED*
ALEXANDRA DEACONESCU, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry
Brown University
New Date: TBA
Title: TBA
Hosts: Dr. Richard Brennan

JOEY DAVIS, PhD, Whitehead Associate Professor of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Biology
Date: March 29, 2024
Title: Visualizing Molecular Machines in Motion through Cryo-EM, Cryo-ET, and Deep Learning
Host: Dr. Alberto Bartesaghi

MOHAMMAD SEYEDSAYAMDOST, PhD, Professor, Department of Chemistry
Princeton University
Date: April 5, 2024
Title: Natural Product Antibiotics: Past, Present, Future
Host: Dr. Ken Yokoyama

Paul L. Modrich Distinguished Lecture
JOAN STEITZ, PhD, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry
Yale University
Date: April 12, 2024
Title: RNA-RNA Base Pairing: Key to Unlocking the Functions of Many Noncoding RNAs
Hosts: Dr. Paul Modrich & Dr. Richard Brennan

Nozaki Memorial Lecture
Timothy A. Springer, PhD, Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology 
Harvard Medical School
Date: Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 2PM
Title: TBA
Host: Biochemistry Graduate Students
Note Location: 103 Bryan Auditorium

SIMON SCHEURING, PhD, Professor of Physiology & Biophysics in Anesthesiology
Weill Cornell Medicine
Date: April 19, 2024
Title: Dynamic Single Molecule Structural Biology of Channels and Transporters by High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy
Host: Dr. Seok-Yong Lee

ALESSANDRO VINDIGNI, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Pathology & Immunology
Washington University School of Medicine
Date: 
April 26, 2024
Title: TBA
Host: Dr. Pei Zhou

LEE ZOU, PhD, Professor & Chair, Department of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Duke University School of Medicine
Date: May 3, 2024
Title: Understanding and Targeting DNA Replication Stress in Cancer Therapy
Host: Dr. Pei Zhou

Y. GRACE CHEN, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunobiology & Genetics
Yale University
Date: May 17, 2024
Title: N6-Methyladenosine in Immunity
Hosts: Dr. Kate Meyer

GARY WU, PhD, Professor, Division of Gastroenterology
University of Pennsylvania
Date: May 24, 2024
Title: TBA
Host: Dr. Shuo Han


The Henry Kamin Memorial Lecture
Henry Kamin’s scientific prowess was recognized by two five-year appointments to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, membership on the National Science Foundation Panel on Metabolic Biology, and the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences. The Henry Kamin Memorial Lecture honors his 42-year career at Duke University, his steadfast integrity, and his many contributions to nutritional biochemistry.

In 1997 his wife, Mrs. Dottie Kamin, initiated the lecture to honor her husband using monies provided by the Henry and Dorothy Lingle Kamin Endowment Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation.

The Hsieh Memorial Lecture
Established in memory of Tao-Hsieh, PhD, who was known as a highly regarded mentor, teacher, and researcher with accolades including an American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Award. This lecture is made possible by a generous gift from his lifelong friends, Yan-Tsong Chen, MD, PhD and Mrs. Alice Chen through the Chenzyme Foundation.

The Modrich Distinguished Lecture
This lecture honors the myriad contributions Paul Modrich has made to the field of nucleic acid biochemistry during his illustrious career at Duke University. A number of generous gifts from former graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and friends of Paul, as well as members of the Department of Biochemistry have made this lecture series possible.  

The Nozaki Memorial Lecture
Yas Nozaki spent four decades at Duke doing painstaking work in pure compounds and precise measurements as the basis of solid progress in scientific knowledge. He had a love of learning and science and was a great friend and approachable colleague. His daughter Yoko Nazaki Ax and her husband Emanual Ax (the noted concert pianist) have made this lecture possible through their generous donation.

The Philip Handler Lecture
This lecture is in remembrance of Philip Handler, who has been described as a legendary instructor, with a talent for taking the most difficult medical school subjects and turning them into unique learning experiences.