Distinguished Lectures

Workshops & Lectures in Precision Medicine

Tom Maniatis' 80th Birthday Symposium

Event program can be found here.

Join us in celebrating Tom Maniatis’ 80th Birthday. Tom and his students and post-doctoral trainees pioneered the development of genomic technology, and its application to the study of the molecular mechanisms of gene regulation. Their cloning of the human β-globin gene cluster in 1978  provided the means of isolating genes and identifying mutations that result in defects in transcription and RNA splicing associated with β-thalassemia, and to advances in the understanding of the mechanisms of transcription and RNA splicing.Their studies of the human β-interferon gene led to the discovery of multi-protein enhancer complexes (enhanceosomes) that regulate gene expression, and the role of the ubiquitin proteosome pathway in the activation of innate immunity. This, in turn, led to important insights into the mechanisms by which autophagy and neuroinflammation accelerate disease progression in ALS. Most recently, the lab has focused on the complex genomic organization and expression of the protocadherin gene cluster, which has led to insights into mechanisms by which complex “barcodes” are generated on the surface of all neurons, and how clustered protocadherins function in neural circuit assembly. Former members of the Maniatis lab will present their recent work.

Exposmics Workshop: Environmental Factors in Human Disease

Columbia-based investigators will discuss how to incorporate environmental exposures into studies. In addition to geospatial approaches, this symposium will explore the utility of using the exposome framework (high-resolution mass spectrometry, environmental epigenetics) to provide comprehensive analysis of complex exposure in human samples. 

Mihaela van der Schaar: Learning Engines for Healthcare: Using Machine Learning to Transform Clinical Practice and Discovery

Professor van der Schaar is John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Medicine at the University of Cambridge and a Turing Faculty Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute in London, where she leads the effort on data science and machine learning for personalized medicine.


Alondra Nelson: Even a Moon Shot Needs a Flight Plan: Genetics and Ethics in the Obama Administration

October 4, 2018

Alondra Nelson is president of the Social Science Research Council. She is also professor of sociology at Columbia University, where she served as the inaugural dean of social science and director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality....

Life Science Bio Entrepreneurship Series: Richard Scheller, PhD, Chief Science Officer, 23andMe

March 15, 2018

Dr. Richard Scheller joined 23andMe in 2015 as chief science officer and head of the newly formed therapeutics group. In his role, Dr. Scheller is responsible for building a dedicated research and development team that will use human genetic data as the starting point for identifying new therapies for both common and rare diseases.

Douglas C. Wallace: A Mitochondrion Etiology of the "Complex Diseases"

January 24, 2018

More than 35 years ago, Dr. Wallace and his colleagues founded the field of human mitochondrial genetics. The mitochondria are the cellular power plants, organelles that generate most of the cell’s energy....

Cori Bargmann: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: Accelerating Science through Tools and Collaborations

January 8, 2018

Cori Bargmann, President of Chan Zuckerberg Science, is an internationally recognized neurobiologist and geneticist, leads the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s science work....

DuBois Bowman: Statistical Methods for Linking Big Data with Precision Health

April 18, 2017

Dr. Bowman is an internationally recognized scholar in the analysis of brain imaging data and other complex, large-scale data sets. Dr. Bowman has built an active research program involving the...

Herbert "Skip" Virgin - Transkingdom Interactions with the Virome Regulate the Genotype/Phenotype Relationship

March 6, 2017

Dr. Herbert ‘Skip’ Virgin is the Edward Mallinckrodt Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA....

Garret FitzGerald - Precision Medicine, Translational Research, and Therapeutics

December 5, 2016

Dr. Garret FitzGerald is the McNeil Professor in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he chairs the Department of Systems Pharmacology...

Hank Greely - Approaching Precision Medicine: Ethical, Legal, and Practical Challenges

April 22, 2016

Hank Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Professor...

Stephen Quake - Single Cell Genomics

March 22, 2016

Stephen Quake studied physics (BS 1991) and mathematics (MS 1991) at Stanford...

Hans Clevers - Gut Stem Cells, Organoids, and Precision Medicine

December 14, 2015

Dr. Hans Clevers is a pioneer in gut stem cell biology. He was the first to identify...

Richard Lifton - Genes, Genomes, and the Future of Medicine

March 19, 2015

Richard Lifton is Chair of the Department of Genetics, Sterling Professor of...

Harold Varmus - How Cancer Research is Transforming Cancer Control

February 19, 2015

Harold Varmus, corecipient of the Nobel Prize for studies of the genetic basis of...

David Goldstein - The Genetics and Genomics of Precision Medicine

December 1, 2014

Dr. Goldstein was trained in theoretical population genetics, and has studied many aspects of human genetic variation with a particular focus on the genetics of disease and treatment response. Dr...