MCCB Seminar Series 

MCCB’s research programs are greatly enhanced by our departmental seminar series and other research enrichment activities that foster collaboration, research sharing and critical discussions to drive innovation.

MCCB hosts two seminar series:

 In-House Seminar Series 

This weekly seminar series provides a forum for researchers in MCCB and other UMass Chan labs to present their findings in an informal setting. Most of the in-house seminars are given by graduate students or postdocs; in general, two trainees present their work at each seminar. Approximately once a month, a faculty member from MCCB or other UMass Chan department presents their work. 

This forum serves two important purposes. First, it exposes all members of the MCCB community to the ongoing research in our department and in other labs at the institution. Second, it provides students and postdocs with the experience of presenting their work to a general audience, and allows for constructive criticism of their experimental approach, results and presentation. All MCCB predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees are expected to participate in this seminar series.

 Special Seminar Series 

This monthly seminar series features invited scientists and physician-scientists who are leaders in their fields, and covers a broad range of topics in molecular and cancer biology. Each speaker is invited and hosted by a faculty member.

To improve the impact of these seminars on our graduate students, each speaker is requested to provide one or two recent papers from their laboratory, which are distributed to MCCB students at least two weeks ahead of the seminar. One week prior to the seminar, the students meet to discuss these papers and formulate questions about the speaker’s research, which are then discussed during lunch with the speaker.

Speakers for the 2024-2025 academic year include: Christopher Lengner, PhD (University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine), Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, PhD (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Mara Sherman, PhD (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), Yoav Shaul, PhD (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), William Mair, PhD (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), Vikram Paralkar, MD (University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine) and Diane Krause, MD, PhD (Yale School of Medicine).

In addition, MCCB also frequently holds seminars given by faculty candidates or, when an MCCB lab chooses, a postdoctoral candidate. These additional seminars that serve as another source of scientific enrichment.