The Keck Seminar Series, begun in 1990, focuses on contemporary interdisciplinary science involving quantitative or computational, biomedical informatics and data science, bioinformatics, chemical, and/or physical approaches to biological and biomedical problems. The speakers, selected by a committee of GCC-supported trainees, are drawn from GCC institutions, and institutions nationwide. Everyone is welcome to attend. You can find recordings from certain past seminars on our YouTube page.
The Keck Seminar Series is also a 1-credit graduate course at Rice University, BIOS 592 Topics in Quantitative Biology & Biomedical Informatics. Seminars are also offered online via Zoom; however, trainees affiliated with GCC training programs are required to attend the seminars in person, except those at UT Medical Branch at Galveston.
Fall 2025 Keck Seminars will begin on September 5, and the final seminar will be on December 5. Seminars take place from 4:00-5:15 pm Fridays in Rice University’s BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) room 280. Rice map.
Those not on the Keck Seminar listserv are to please contact Elizabeth Lawrence for the Zoom login information for a particular seminar; it is not the same every week.
If you would like to receive the Keck Seminar listserv weekly reminders, please email Elizabeth Lawrence.
For questions, speaker suggestions, or to join our trainee Keck Seminar planning committee, email Elizabeth Lawrence or Jim Briggs.
Keck Seminar Series - Spring 2025
January 24, 2025 Monica Guidry, LCSW, ACSW
Associate VP, Office of Employee Assistance and Wellbeing Programs
UTHealth Houston
Seminar Title: A Practical Guide to WorkLife Coordination and Path to Resilience and Flourishing
Host: Christina van Hal
January 31, 2025 Jessica Galloway-Peña, PhD – ZOOM ONLY
Assistant Professor, Veterinary Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M University, College Station
Seminar Title: Integration of Multi-omics and Machine Learning Uncovers Prognostic Microbiome Signatures within Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Host: Will Shropshire
February 7, 2025 Tucker Netherton, PhD, DMP
Assistant Professor, Radiation Physics
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Seminar Title: Global Radiation Oncology: Using AI for Staffing and Resource Shortages
Host: Matt Cheung
February 21, 2025 Diana Chow, PhD
Professor, Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy
University of Houston
Seminar Title: Development of IV Busulfan (Busulfex®) as Preparative Regimen for Hematological Transplantations
Host: Jacob McPherson
February 28, 2025 Matt Meyer and Budi Utama
Electron Microscopy Research Scientist, Biological Electron Microscopy Lab;
Research Scientist and Manager, Optical Imaging Facility
Rice University
Seminar Title: Establishing and Operating Clinical Diagnostic and Research Electron Microscopy Core Facilities; Career in Core Facility – an Alternative Career in Academic/Research Institutions
Host: Alex Kang
March 7, 2025 DurreShahwar “Durre” Muhammad, PhD – ZOOM ONLY
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Seminar Title: Intersectionality of Plant Science and Human Health
Host: Alex Kang
March 14, 2025 34th Keck Annual Research Conference Poster Winners
Dr. Alex Kang, Houston Methodist Research Institute;
Dr. Austin Marshall, Houston Methodist Research Institute;
Rongbin Li, UTHealth Houston;
Larissa Tavizón, UTHealth Houston
March 28, 2025 Zheng Zhou, PhD
Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Baylor College of Medicine
Seminar Title: Burying the Corpse: Clearance of Dying Cells in the Nematode C. elegans
Host: Hanwen Feng
April 4, 2025 Theresa Loveless, PhD
Assistant Professor, BioSciences
Rice University
Seminar Title: DNA Recording to Study the Biology of Development, Stress, and Cancer
Host: Megan Daneman
April 11, 2025 Kai “Jack” Zhang, PhD – ZOOM ONLY
Assistant Professor, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Yale University School of Medicine
Seminar Title: High-Resolution in situ Structures of Mammalian Respiratory Supercomplexes
Host: Hanwen Feng
April 25, 2025 Matthias Koch, PhD – ZOOM ONLY
Assistant Professor, Biology
Texas A&M University, College Station
Seminar Title: The Bacterial Sense of Touch: How Micron-Small Cells Measure Substrate Mechanics Using Molecular-Scale Fingers
Host: Christina van Hal
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