Agenda

Day 1

9:00-9:05         Welcome         Suzanne Tomlinson, Gulf Coast Consortia
Mehmet Sen, University of Houston

Convenor:       Mehmet Sen, University of Houston

9:05-9:50         Keynote Presentation
How do Protein Domains of Low Sequence Complexity Create Dynamic Morphological Order Within Cells?
Steven McKnight, University of Texas Southwestern

Session I         Scholars’ Choice

Convenor:       Josephine Chu Ferreon, Baylor College of Medicine

9:50-10:10       Extrachromosomal DNA Amplifications Shape Tumor Heterogeneity and Spatial Organization in Human Brain Tumors
Kadir Caner Akdemir, MD Anderson Cancer Center

10:10-10:30    AI-assisted Directed Evolution of Immunogens
Jimmy Gollihar, Houston Methodist Research Institute

10:30-11:00    Vendor Networking Break-Event Hall

Session II        Scholars’ Choice

Convenor:       Josephine Chu Ferreon, Baylor College of Medicine

11:00-11:20    Native Mass Spectrometry of Membrane Channels and Transporters
Art Laganowsky, Texas A&M University

11:20-11:40    Control and Monitoring of Intact Brain with Noninvasive Neuroengineering
Jerzy Szablowski, Rice University

Session III       Trainee Presentations, selected from abstracts

Convenor:       Alexander Vela, University of Houston

11:40-11:55    Effector Domain Classification of Human Transcription Factors Using Unsupervised Learning
Eduardo Ayala, University of Houston

11:55-12:10    Unraveling the Structure of the Philadelphia Chromosome Using Super-Resolution Microscopy
Gabrielle Dewson, University of Texas Medical Branch

12:10-12:25    Biochemical Profiling and Structural Basis of ADAR1-Mediated RNA Editing
Xiangyu Deng, Rice University

12:25-12:45    Lightning Poster Talks even-numbered posters

Yousef Elmakdah, University of Houston
Elucidating the Structures and Binding Kinetics Associated with α-1, α-2, α-10, and α-11 Collagen-Binding Domains, Poster 2

Victoria Flores, UTMB
Global Knotting is Infrequent in the Salmonella Genome, Poster 4

Aravind Govindaraju, Rice University
Modeling Quantal and Ephaptic Transmission in Vestibular Dimorphic Neurons, Poster 6

Gundeep Kaur, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Structural Insights into HELLS and Its Interaction with CDCA7 and Non-B Form DNA, Poster 10

Chen-Yu Lo, Rice University
Cryo-EM Structures of the Plasmodium Falciparum Apicoplast DNA Polymerase, Poster 12

Sayantan Pradhan, University of Houston
Von Willebrand Factor Dimerizes Despite Absence of Prodomain, Poster 14

Aditi Singh, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
Investigating Mechanisms of Cancer Cell Apoptosis with Low Frequency Ultrasound, Poster 18

Deepak Kumar Yadav, Houston Methodist Research Institute
Effects of Modified Nucleotide Bases on RNA 3D Structure, Poster 20

12:45-2:30       Lunch and poster presentation-Event Hall
12:45-1:30   Lunch
1:30-2:30     Poster presentation-even numbered posters

Convenor:       Gül Zerze, University of Houston

2:30-3:00         Rising Star Plenary Speaker
Mapping Molecular Dynamics and Nanoscale Cellular Architectures in Health and Disease
Anna-Karin Gustavsson, Rice University

Session IV      Scholars’ Choice

3:00-3:20         Engineering DNA Probes for Super-Resolution and Single-Molecule Proteomics
Mingjie Dai, Rice University

3:20-3:40         Integrin Conformation Under Tension: Mechanistic Insights into Transmigration
Travis Moore, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston 

3:40-4:00         Senescent Cell and Animal Rejuvenation by Low Frequency Ultrasound
Michael Sheetz, University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston

4:00-4:30         Mechanisms of DNA Double-Strand Break Repair
Tanya T Paull, University of Texas Austin

4:30-5:30         Reception-Event Hall

Day 2

Convenor:       Ewan McRae, Houston Methodist Research Institute

9:00-9:45         Keynote Presentation
Using Biophysical Tools to Study Amino-Acid Based Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer
Cecilia Tommos, Texas A&M University

Session V       Scholars’ Choice

9:45-10:05       Force Generated by Blood Flow Triggers mTOR-dependent Mitochondrial Remodeling in Hematopoiesis
Pamela Wenzel, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

 10:05-10:25    DNA Hypomethylation and Genome Instability
Xiaodong Cheng, MD Anderson Cancer Center

 10:25-10:45    A New Mechanical Model of the Nucleus
Tanmay Lele, Texas A&M University

10:45-11:05    Reenginnering CRISPR-Cas Effector Complexes
David Taylor, University of Texas Austin

 11:05-11:30    Vendor Networking Break-Event Hall

Session VI

Convenor:       Mehmet Sen, University of Houston

11:30-12:00    Rising Star Plenary Speaker
Mark Herzik, University of California, San Diego

12:00-12:25    Lightning Poster Talks odd-numbered posters

Angelina Albelo,  University of Houston
Construct as a First Step to Determining Ligand Preferences For Next-Gen Drug Design, Poster 1

Viraj Ghosh, Rice University
Single Molecule Force-Extension Measurements of EWS-FLI1/DNA Co-condensates, Poster 5

Paola Gueva, University of Houston
Deciphering GPIbα-vWF Binding: A Structural Approach to Understanding Platelet Activation, Poster 7

Wesley Leung, Rice University
Characterization of Intrinsically Disordered Protein-Polymer Interactions with Fluorescence Polarization, Poster 11

Rulong  Ma, University of Houston
The Tilting Motion of the Central Core Reveals the Transport Mechanism of the Sarco/endoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+-ATPase, Poster 27

Anthony Pastore, University of Texas Medical Branch
Protein Refolding of an Adhesion Molecule Relevant to Sensory Gating, Poster 13

Kosar Rahimi, University of Houston
Comparison of Advanced Sampling Techniques for Atomistic Scale Simulation of RNA Folding, Poster 15

Hasan Siddiqui, University of Houston
Conformational Dynamics of ICAM-1: Exploring the Role of G241R and K469E Mutations in Disease Pathogenesis, Poster 17

Justin Van Riper, Baylor College of Medicine
Novel Insights into the Structure and Activation of the SLFN14 Ribonuclease, Poster 19

Haiqing Zhao, UT Medical Branch Galveston
Proteome-scale Predictions of Protein-Protein Interactions for Human and E. coli, Poster 21

12:25-2:00       Lunch and poster presentation-Event Hall
12:20-1:00   Lunch
1:00-2:00     Poster presentation-odd numbered posters