16th Annual Conference
2026
The 16th Annual Ohio River Valley Cytometry Association Meeting
Imaging and Cytometry Research Day
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Keynote Speaker
George Tsokos, M.D.
Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Title: T cell metabolism in lupus
George C. Tsokos, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His laboratory has led the field in identifying molecular abnormalities in immune cells and mechanisms of tissue injury in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, uncovering novel pathways that have informed new therapeutic strategies now in development.
Dr. Tsokos has held numerous leadership roles, including President of the Clinical Immunology Society and board positions with the American College of Rheumatology and the Lupus Foundation of America, as well as service on federal study sections and editorial boards of leading journals. He is a recipient of multiple prestigious honors, including an NIH MERIT Award, the Kirkland, Lee C. Howley Sr., and Evelyn V. Hess awards, the ACR Distinguished Basic Investigator Award, the Lupus Insight Prize, and the Carol Nachman International Prize for Rheumatology. He is a Master of ACR, ACP and APLAR and Fellow of AAAS.
Featured Speaker
Anna Belkina, M.D., Ph.D.
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Title: You are what you make: mapping T cell functional diversity with high parameter cytometry
Dr. Belkina received her M.D. from Russian State Medical University and her Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from BU School of Medicine investigating the epigenetic regulation of inflammatory responses driven by bromodomain proteins. Her breadth of knowledge of flow cytometric applications includes the development of intra- and extra-cellular staining protocols and panels for use in a wide variety of applications, including immunophenotyping of mouse and human cells, apoptosis assays, cell cycle profiling and stem cell isolation. At the BU flow cytometry core, Dr. Belkina assists users with experimental design, panel development, data analysis and many other facets of flow cytometry, and is a fully proficient BD FACS ARIA operator. She also trains new users and is responsible for instrument maintenance.
Anna’s research is focused on the intersection of immunology and computational biology, for her current research efforts include investigating the immune landscape of chronic inflammatory diseases and developing computational techniques to assess high-parameter single cell cytometry data. Anna is an active member of ISAC (International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry) and has been named 2015 –2019 ISAC SRL Emerging Leader.
Local Speaker
Rana Herro, Ph.D.
Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Title: Shedding LIGHT on fibrosis
Dr. Herro’s lab focuses on developing effective therapeutics and identifying novel prognostic biomarkers for fibrotic diseases, which contribute to more than 45% of deaths in the United States. The lab’s work centers on members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)superfamily and their roles in inflammation and fibrosis. Dr. Herro’s lab investigates whether TNF-related molecules can serve as therapeutic targets to reduce disease symptoms and ultimately reverse fibrosis in conditions such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, neutrophilic asthma, and atopic dermatitis, among others.