Spring 2026

(In-person seminars are Wednesdays at 11:30 AM in Room TBA PHARM in Chicago and via remote for Rockford unless otherwise noted)

Wednesday, January 7

NO SEMINAR

(classes start January 12)

Wednesday, January 14

Understanding the mechanistic details of the battle between bacteria and macrolides as a strategy to overcome antibiotic resistance

Maxim Svetlov, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UIC (host: Nancy Freitag)

Wednesday, January 21

Knocking the SOX off prostate cancer

Steven Kregel, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, Stritch School of Medicine Health Sciences Division, Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola University Chicago (host: Terry Moore)

Wednesday, January 28

Seeing is believing: what high-resolution structures tell us about binding of antibiotics to the ribosome and mechanisms of drug resistance.

Yury Polikanov, PhD, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UIC (host: Nancy Freitag)

Wednesday, February 4

TBA

TBA

Tuesday, February 10

SPECIAL SEMINAR

Can AI give a checkmate to cancer and deliver the full implementation of precision oncology?

Istvan Petak, MD, PhD, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Genomate Health, Inc, Cambridge, MA (host: William T. Beck)

Wednesday, February 11

NO SEMINAR

NO SEMINAR

Wednesday, February 18

Unlocking the Molecular Complexity of Life: A Biochemical Approach to High-Resolution Spatial Biology

Ruixuan Gao, PhD, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biological Sciences, UIC (host: Bryan Lampkin)

Wednesday, February 25

TBA

Thao Pham, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (host: Debra Tonetti)

Wednesday, March 4

TBA

Lauren Goodrich, PhD, Head of Platform, Nimble Therapeutics, Abbvie, Madison, WI (host: Bryan Lampkin)

Wednesday, March 11

TBA

Amanda Dombrowski, PhD, Principle Research Scientist, AbbVie, North Chicago, IL (host: Andrew Riley)

Wednesday, March 18

TBA

Snehal Chaudhari, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison (host: Matt Henke)

Wednesday, March 25

SPRING BREAK

SPRING BREAK

Wednesday, April 1

TBA

Sloan Devlin, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School (host: Matt Henke)

Wednesday, April 8

TBA

Helen E. Blackwell, PhD, Norman C. Craig Professor, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, Program Director, NIH Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program, Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison (host: Bryan Lampkin)

Wednesday, April 15

TBA

TBA

Wednesday, April 22

TBA

Michael Lo, PhD, Director, Merck Discovery Chemistry (host: Paul Carlier)

Wednesday, April 29

TBA

William C.K. Pomerantz, PhD, Merck Professor of Chemistry, Distinguished University Teaching Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota (host: Andrew Riley)

NO SEMINAR (Finals Week)

NO SEMINAR

Course Coordinator: Bryan Lampkin