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Orange County October Meeting
Wednesday, October 20, 2021, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM PDT
Category: Orange County

The Orange County Chapter of Bruin Professionals will be hosting Gay M. Crooks M.B.B.S, Co-Director, UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research and Melody Li. Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics as our guest speakers at our October zoom meeting

Dr. Gay Crooks is a stem cell scientist and physician and is co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. Dr. Crooks’ interest in stem cells was born from her clinical work as a bone marrow transplant physician, caring for children with leukemia and genetic diseases of the blood and immune system. Through this experience, she developed a fascination with blood stem cells and has since dedicated her research to understanding how these stem cells create the immune system. Her ultimate goal is to develop methods to produce immune cells that help patients fight disease more effectively.

 Dr. Melody Li received her B.S. in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine in 2006 and Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2011. As an undergrad, she trained with Dr. Bert Semler, who studies poliovirus, and ventured into the fascinating world of molecular virology. Melody then studied with Dr. Michael Emerman, where she elucidated how genetic variations in a host antiviral gene affects an individual’s susceptibility to HIV.

 Melody subsequently completed her postdoctoral work studying how the host immune system fights mosquito-borne viruses at Rockefeller University with Dr. Peggy MacDonald and Dr. Charlie Rice who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine in 2020. Melody started her own lab at UCLA in fall 2017 to investigate how cellular pathways including innate immunity interact with mosquito-borne viruses and recently SARS-CoV-2.

Time will be set aside for attendee introductions, so using the video feature throughout the meeting is encouraged. Please watch the training and read the documents on the BP ZOOM Resource Center, so you are prepared for the meeting.

Cost: Free
When registering, please ensure you are choosing the correct meeting from the drop down menu.

RSVP HERE!