Conference Agenda

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Nicholson Tower Auditorium, OU Health Campus

7:00 am – 8:00 am - Conference Registration & Breakfast

SESSION I: Welcome Addresses from University of Oklahoma Administration (8:00 am – 8:35 am)

8:00 am – 8:05 am - Robert Mannel, MD, Director, OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center

8:05 am – 8:10 am - Matt Hulver, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Partnerships, University of Oklahoma

8:10 am – 8:20 am - Gary Raskob, Ph.D., Vice President and Provost, University of Oklahoma Health Campus

8:20 am – 8:35 am - Joseph Harroz, Jr., JD, President, University of Oklahoma

Break (8:35 am – 8:40 am)

SESSION II : Connecting the Dots (8:40 am – 10:50 am)

Chairs: Jed Friedman, Ph.D., and Michael Bronze, MD

8:40 am – 8:45 am - Session Introduction by Chairs

8:45 am – 9:20 am - KEYNOTE: James P. Allison, Ph.D,
Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Cancer Immunotherapy: Mechanistic Insights Provide New Therapeutic Opportunities

9:20 am – 9:50 am - Sabrina Diano, Ph.D.
Brain-body Crosstalk: Nutrient Signals Shaping Metabolism

9:50 am – 10:20 am - Ali Shilatifard, Ph.D.
Chromatin and Transcriptional Elongation in the Regulation of Development Gene Expression, Aging, and Disease

10:20 am – 10: 50 am - Celeste Simon, Ph.D.
Leveraging Metabolism to Treat Primary and Metastatic Kidney Cancer

Coffee Break (10:50 – 11:00 am)

SESSION III: Connecting the Dots (11:00 am – 12:05 pm)

Chairs: Ann West, Ph.D., and Souvik Maiti, Ph.D. (IGIB, India)

Faculty Short Talks

11:00 am – 11:05 am - Session Introduction by Chairs

11:05 am – 11:15 am - Binukumar B.K., Ph.D.
Cdk5 as a Molecular Link Between Type 2 Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease

11:15 am – 11:25 am - Dipanjan Pan, Ph.D.
Let There Be Blood: Pursuing the Holy Grail of Transfusion Medicine Through Nanotechnology

11:25 am – 11:35 am - Julie Craft Van De Weghe, Ph.D.
From Genetic Heterogeneity to a Unified Mechanism: Cross-genetic Ciliary Proteomics Identifies Dysregulated Wnt and Hedgehog Signaling as a Convergent Pathomechanism in Joubert Syndrome

11:35 am – 11:45 am - Karen Jonscher, Ph.D.
Investigating the Translational Potential of PQQ to Ameliorate Maternal Metaboinflammation in a Baboon Model of Diet-Induced Obesity

11:45 am – 11:55 am - Qinggong Tang, Ph.D.
A Non-Invasive, Whole-Organ Imaging Strategy for Assessing Human Donor Liver Viability

11:55 am – 12:05 pm - Sarah Ocañas, Ph.D.
Ovarian Aging as a Potential Driver of Female-Biased Neuroinflammation

Lunch and Networking (12:05 – 12: 50): Round Table Discussions

SESSION IV: Connecting the Dots (12:50 pm – 3:00 pm)

Chairs: Julia Busik, Ph.D., and Greg Blakey, MD

12:50 pm – 12:55 pm - Session Introduction by Chairs

12:55 pm – 1:30 pm - Kristi Anseth, Ph.D.
Adaptable and Responsive Hydrogels to Develop Tissue Models for Drug Screening

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm - Ron DePinho, Ph.D.
Aging: Insights and Interceptions

2:00 pm – 2:30 pm - Natalie Artzi, Ph.D.
Supercharging Immunotherapy Through Nanotechnology: Chemical Structure Matters

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm - Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, Ph.D.
Rewiring Oncogenic Transcriptional Complexes with Domain-ALTeration Chimeras (DALTACs) in Prostate Cancer

Coffee Break (3:00 PM – 3:10 PM)

SESSION V : Connecting the dots (3:10 pm – 5:05 pm)

Chairs: Judith James, MD, Ph.D., and Karl Hansen, MD, Ph.D.

3:10 pm – 3:15 pm - Session Introduction by Chairs

3:15 pm – 3:50 pm - KEYNOTE: Randy Schekman, Ph.D.
Extracellular Vesicle Biogenesis and Plasma Membrane Repair

3:50 pm – 4:20 pm - Shana Kelly, Ph.D.
Implantable Electrochemical Sensors for Real-Time Physiological Tracking

4:20 pm – 4:50 pm - Philip Scherer, Ph.D.
Lean and Connected: How Losing Weight Makes Fat Cells Talk Smarter

4:50 pm – 5:00 pm - Acknowledgements - Resham Bhattacharya, Ph.D., Co-Chair, Web of Life Conference

RECEPTION

(Space was limited to the first 200 who registered for the event)

Location: First Americans Museum
Catering: Thirty-Nine Restaurant

5:30pm – 5:55pm - Transportation for Speakers to the Reception

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm - Reception including passed hors d’oeuvres, viewing of the museum and watching a performance by the Oklahoma Pow Wow Dance Club

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm - Dinner

9:00pm - Transportation for Speakers to the Colcord Hotel

Friday, April 17, 2026

Nicholson Tower Auditorium, OU Health Campus

7:00 am – 8:00 am - Conference Registration & Breakfast

SESSION VI: Connecting the Dots (8:00 am – 10:20 am)

Chairs: Matt Hulver, Ph.D., and Courtney Griffin, Ph.D.

8:00 am – 8:05 am - Session Introduction by Chairs

8:05 am – 8:40 am - KEYNOTE: Dafna Bar-Sagi, Ph.D.

8:40 am – 9:10 am - Speaker TBD

9:10 am – 9:40 am - Carl June, MD
Updates in CAR T Cells

9:40 am – 10:20 am - Padmanee Sharma, MD, Ph.D.
From the Clinic to the Lab: Investigating Mechanisms of Response and Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Therapy

Coffee Break (10:20 – 10:30 am)

Session VII: Connecting the Dots (10:20 am – 12:30 pm)

Chairs: Ian Dunn, MD, and Jun Li, Ph.D.

10:30 am – 10:35 am - Session Introduction by Chairs

10:35 am – 11:10 am - KEYNOTE: William G. Kaelin, MD
The von Hippel-Lindau Hereditary Cancer Syndrome: Insights into Cancer, Oxygen Sensing, and Drugging the Undruggable

11:10 am – 11:40 am - Chad Mirkin, Ph.D.
The Emerging Era of Structural Nanomedicine

11:40 am – 12:10 pm - Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, Ph.D.
Selective Autophagy: Ensuring Healthy Aging One Protein at a Time

LUNCH (12: 10pm – 1:10 pm) - Trainee Flash Talks

Chairs: Geeta Rao, Ph.D., and Surendra Shukla, Ph.D.

12:10 pm – 12:15 pm - Session Introduction by Chairs

12:15 pm – 12:20 pm - Brian Thomas, Ph.D.
DUSP11: An Intracellular RNA Phosphatase as a New Immuno-Oncologic Target

12:20 pm – 12:25 pm - Chao Jiang
Hepatocyte MLKL drives senescence and mitochondrial dysfunction in aging mouse liver

12:25 pm – 12:30 pm - Eric Moore
Untangling Relationships Between Metabolism and Microbiome, In Aging Outcomes of Maternal Obesity Offspring

12:30 pm – 12:35 pm - Estefania Valencia-Rincon
An Ounce of Prevention: How Insulin Management Might Prevent Breast Cancer Transformation

12:35 pm – 12:40 pm - Joshua Seaberg, Ph.D., MS
Enhancing mRNA Therapy Through Iterative Delivery

12:40 pm – 12:45 pm - Panini Patankar, MBBS, MD
Sex- And Stress-Dependent Relationships Between Cerebral Blood Flow and BDNF Signaling After Traumatic Brain Injury

12:45 pm – 12:50 pm - Paulo H. C. Mesquita, Ph.D.
Diaphragm Collagen Proteostasis Declines with Age and is Rescued by mTOR Inhibition

12:50 pm – 12:55 pm - Rhitajit Sarkar, Ph.D.
Differential Tumor-Immune Microenvironment Underlies Metastatic Potential in Thyroid Microcarcinoma

Session VIII: Connecting the Dots (1:30 pm – 3:40 pm)

Chairs: Leonidas Tsiokas, Ph.D., and Isabella Grumbach, MD, Ph.D., FACC, FAHA

1:10 pm – 1:15 pm - Session Introduction by Chairs

1:15 pm – 1:50 pm - KEYNOTE: Aaron Ciechenover, MD, DSc
The Ubiquitin Proteolytic System - From Basic Mechanisms thru Human Diseases and on to Drug Development

1:50 pm – 2:20 pm - Milan Mrksich, Ph.D.
Next Generation Class of NanoMedicines with MegaMolecules

2:20 pm – 2:50 pm - Clay Semenkovich, MD

2:50 pm – 3:20 pm - Jeremy Reiter, MD, Ph.D.

Coffee Break (3:20 pm – 3:30 pm)

Session IX: Connecting the Dots

Chairs: Jimmy Ballard, Ph.D., and Barish Edil, MD

3:30 pm – 3:35 pm - Session Introduction by Chairs

3:35 mm – 4:10 pm - KEYNOTE: Drew Weissman, MD, Ph.D.
Nucleoside-Modified mRNA-LNP Therapeutics

4:10 pm – 4:40 pm - Speaker TBD

4:40 pm – 5.10 pm - Jonathan Long, Ph.D.

RECEPTION

(Space was limited to the first 150 who registered for the event)

Location: Oklahoma History Center Museum
Catering: Rococo

5:20 pm – 5:45 pm - Transportation for Speakers to the Reception

5:45 pm – 6:30 pm - Reception including passed hors d’oeuvres, and viewing of the museum

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm - North Indian Classical Music (Flute and Tabla)

7:30 pm – 9:00 pm - Dinner

9:00 pm - Transportation for Speakers to the Colcord Hotel