Spring 2026
January 29, 2026
Dr. Tomo Kawashima, Associate Professor, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky
“Moving Nuclei, Making Seeds: How Actin Controls Fertilization and Shapes Seed Development”
To be held in VBRB 305, 9:15am – 10:15am
February 19, 2026
Dr. Tom Okita, Regents Professor, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University
“mRNA transport and localization in plants: the final chapter”
To be held in VBRB 305, 9:15am – 10:15am
March 12, 2026
Dr. David Ehrhardt, Senior Staff Scientist, Plant Biology, Carnegie Science
“Shaping the plant cell: Dynamic nano-patterning of exocytosis and cell wall biosynthesis”
To be held in VBRB 305, 9:15am – 10:15am
March 26, 2026
Dr. Christine Quietsch, Professor, Genome Sciences, University of Washington
“Learning the grammar of plant regulatory DNA with MPRAs and long reads”
To be held in VBRB 305, 9:15am – 10:15am
April 2, 2026
Dr. Hans-Henning Kunz, Professor, Plant Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
“On the Study of Chloroplast Ion Homeostasis and new Research Directions inspired by it”
To be held via Zoom, 9:15am – 10:15am
May 7, 2026
Dr. Ljiljana Pasa-Tolic, Laboratory Fellow, Lead Scientist for Visual Proteomics, Environmental Molecular Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
“Single Cell and Spatial Omics using Nanodroplet Processing and Advanced Mass Spectrometry”
To be held in VBRB 305, 9:00am – 10:00am
May 21, 2026
Dr. Isabell Molina, Professor, Biology, Algoma University
“Tracing the biosynthesis of extracellular estolide oils in tobacco wet stigmas”
To be held via Zoom, 9:00am – 10:00am
June 9, 2026
Dr. Richard Dixon, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas
“From Basic to Applied: Navigating the Two Sides of Plant Biotechnology”
To be held in VBRB 305, 9:00am – 10:00am