Seminar Series
Immunology, Inflammation, Infection, and Transplantation Seminars
New Season of I3T Seminars: In Person
The I3T Seminar Series 2025-26 is back in person this year with an outstanding lineup of speakers. We have already confirmed dates with the speakers below. All our seminars start at noon and conclude at 1pm. Contact us at I3T@mednet.ucla.edu for any questions.
2025 - 2026 Seminars
October
Speaker: Theodore Scott Nowicki, MD, PhD
Title: Assistant Professor-in-Residence, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, MIMG
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Oct 21, 2025
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Reverse-engineering superior cell therapy products for solid tumors"
Speaker: Lena Pernas, PhD
Title: Assistant Professor, MIMG
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Oct 28, 2025
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Mitochondria – Microbe Conflict"
November
Speaker: Robert Damoiseaux, PhD
Title: Adjunct Professor, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Nov 4, 2025
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
December
Speaker: Devesha Kulkarni, PhD
Title: Professor of Medicine
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Dec 2, 2025
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
Speakers: Dr. Aurelien Colamartino (Kohn Lab) & Sebastian Zolog (O'Sullivan Lab)
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Dec 9, 2025
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Additional Information: Research In Progress
Talk Titles: "TBA"
January
Speakers: Marissa Pioso (Prins Lab) & Dr. Anne Zaiss (Arumugaswami Lab)
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Jan 13, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Additional Information: Research In Progress
Talk Titles: "TBA"
Speakers: Samuel French, MD, PhD & Javier Nicolalde, MS, PhD
Respective Titles: Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Director of Research Technology
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Facilitating Human Studies into Federal Grants"
Speaker: Greg P. Donaldson, PhD
Title: Assistant Professor, MIMG
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Jan 27, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Weird functions of immunoglobulin A in the gut"
February
Infectious Disease Panel
Moderator: Melody Li, PhD
Panelists: Hector Aguilar-Carreno, PhD, Vaithi Arumugaswami, PhD, Otto Yang, MD, Karin Nielsen, MD, PhD
Date: Tuesday, Feb 3, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Emerging Threats and Countermeasures"
Speakers: Gregory Whitehill, PhD (Butte Lab) & Itzetl Avila (Covarrubias Lab)
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Feb 10, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Additional Information: Research In Progress
Talk Titles: "TBA"
Speaker: Hector Aguilar-Carreno, PhD
Title: Professor & Department Chair, MIMG
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Feb 17, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
Speaker: Mehdi Bouhaddou, PhD
Title: Assistant Professor, MIMG
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Feb 24, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
March
Gene Therapy Panel
Moderator: Don Kohn, MD
Panelists: Caroline Kuo, PhD, Melissa Spencer, PhD
Date: Tuesday, Mar 3, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
Speaker: Brad R. Rosenberg, PhD
Title: Associate Professor, Microbiology
Institution: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Date: Tuesday, Mar 10, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
Speakers: Christian Bustillos (Su Lab) & Keshvad Hedayatyanfard, PhD (Agak Lab)
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Mar 17, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Additional Information: Research In Progress
Talk Titles: "TBA"
Speaker: Cristina Puig Saus, PhD
Title: Assistant Professor, MIMG; Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Mar 24, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Engineering a potent T cell response against melanoma"
April
Immunotherapy Panel
Moderator: Gay Crooks, MD
Panelists: Cristina Puig Saus, PhD, Lili Yang, PhD, Yvonne Chen, PhD
Date: Tuesday, Apr 7, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "New Approaches to CAR-T Cell Therapy"
Speakers: Min Deng, PhD (Agak Lab) & Nicole Wilkinson, PhD (Su Lab)
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Apr 14, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Additional Information: Research In Progress
Talk Titles: "TBA"
Speaker: Suhas Kallapur, MD
Title: Chief, Divisions of Neonatology and Developmental Biology, Professor of Pediatrics
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, Apr 21, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
May
Speaker: Aaron Meyer, PhD
Title: Associate Professor, Vice Chair of Graduate Student Affairs, Bioengineering
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Building an integrative understanding of immunity and immune states"
Speakers: Brian Czaya, PhD (Nemeth Lab) & Sarowar Jahan, MD (Agak Lab)
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Additional Information: Research In Progress
Talk Titles: "TBA"
Transplantation Panel
Moderator: Elaine Reed, PhD
Panelists: Jennifer Zhang, PhD, Michelle Hickey, PhD, Carrie Butler, PhD, Olga Timofeeva, PhD, Rebecca Sosa, PhD
Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "Fighting Fire with Science: Transplanting the Highly Sensitized Patient"
JUNE
Speaker: John A. Belperio, MD
Title: Chief & Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Allergy
Institution: UCLA
Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Location: In-person CHS 23-105
Talk Title: "TBA"
Series Leadership
Gay Crooks, MD
Director
Robert M. Prins, PhD
Co-Director
Anthony Covarrubias, PhD
Co-Director
Timothy O'Sullivan, PhD
Co-Director
For more information, please contact i3t@mednet.ucla.edu.
Archived Series Events
