Herzenberg Lectureship Award
2023 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
John Nolan, PhD
Professor
Scintillon Institute
Title: Cytometry at the Limits of Detection: Measuring Macromolecular Assemblies
John Nolan is Professor at Scintillon Institute where his lab develops new tools for cell and molecular analysis. Previously he was Professor at the La Jolla Bioengineering Institute, and Director of the National Flow Cytometry Resource at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). He received BS degrees in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Illinois, a Ph.D in Biochemistry from Penn State University, and post-doctoral training at LANL. Recent work in his lab has focused on the development of high-resolution spectral flow cytometers and the measurement of synthetic and biological nanoparticles, including extracellular vesicles (EVs). He is founder of Cellarcus Biosciences, which provides products and services for EV and nanoparticle analysis. He is an ISAC past-president and an editorial board member of Cytometry and Current Protocols in Cytometry.
2022 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Jonathan M. Irish, PhD
Jonathan M. Irish, PhD is an Associate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University. The Irish lab uses bench and computational cytometry techniques to study how signaling controls cell identity in healthy human tissues, cancer, and immune disorders. Jonathan trained at Stanford University with Garry Nolan (PhD) and Ronald Levy (postdoc) and was a pioneer in the use of phospho-flow cytometry to reveal and characterize risk-stratifying blood cancer cells. The Irish lab at Vanderbilt has adapted the immunologist’s single cell toolkit to study human tissue and tumors, including neural stem cells and brain cancers. In addition to the discovery of clinically significant cancer cell subsets, Jonathan and the Irish lab have developed widely-used computational tools and algorithms, including Cytobank, MEM, RAPID, and T-REX. Jonathan is also active in the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) and is Scientific Director of Vanderbilt’s Cancer & Immunology Core (CIC).
2021 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Nima Aghaeepour, PhD
Nima Aghaeepour is an Assistant Professor at Stanford University. His laboratory develops machine learning and artificial intelligence methods to study clinical and biological modalities in translational settings. He is primarily interested in leveraging multiomics studies and wearable devices to address global health challenges. His work is recognized by awards from numerous national and international organizations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the March of Dimes Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
2019 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Wayne Yokoyama, MD
As an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dr. Yokoyama is internationally recognized for advancing knowledge of how natural killer (NK) cells in the body’s immune system recognize and kill cancer or infected cells. He received numerous Distinguished Service Teaching Awards and the 2011 Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Yokoyama earned his medical degree from the University of Hawaii and completed internal medicine and rheumatology clinical training at the University of Iowa Hospitals. He was a research fellow at Iowa and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was recruited to Washington University in 1995 as chief of the Rheumatology Division, a position he held until 2007 when he became MSTP director.
2018 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Eric Long (NIAID, National Institutes of Health)
Dr. Long has a biochemistry degree from the ETH Zürich, Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After postdoctoral research at the Carnegie Institution for Science and the National Cancer Institute, he returned to Geneva as a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology. There, he applied molecular approaches to isolate the first cDNA clones for MHC class II molecules. In 1983, he joined the Laboratory of Immunogenetics at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH. While studying processing pathways for antigen presentation to CD4 T cells, he discovered that MHC-II can present endogenous antigens through a pathway that is independent of the transporter for antigen presentation. He became Senior Investigator and Head of the Molecular and Cellular Immunology Section in 1988. In the mid-90’s, his main interest turned to the regulation and function of natural killer (NK) cells, after his team identified molecular clones for KIR, a family of NK cell inhibitory receptors that prevent killing of healthy cells. In 2001, this work was selected as one of the Basic Discoveries in Biology by the NIH Intramural Research Program. The discovery of the signaling basis for inhibition by these receptors was named one of the “classic papers that present seminal insights into natural killer cell function” by Nature Immunology in 2008, and one of the "Pillars of Immunology" by the Journal of Immunology in 2013. More recently, his research reported on imaging of the dynamics of receptor–ligand interactions at inhibitory immunological synapses, demonstrated activation of NK cells through synergistic combinations of coactivation receptors, and a reprogramming of NK cells to promote vascular remodeling through a specialized receptor for soluble HLA-G. His current work includes studies on the role of NK cells in providing protection against malaria in individuals living in an area of high Plasmodium falciparum transmission.
2017 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
David Hedley, MD
Dr. Hedley trained in internal medicine and medical oncology in the UK, including a three year thesis project on tumour immunology at the Royal Marsden Hospital/Institute for Cancer Research, University of London. From 1981-89 he was junior faculty at the University of Sydney, Australia, with staff positions as medical oncologist, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and head of the flow cytometry laboratory, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. In 1990 he was appointed as a clinician/scientist in medical oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital, and senior scientist, Ontario Cancer Institute, with the rank of associate professor of medicine, University of Toronto. Since 1998 he has been a full professor, with cross appointments in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. His major laboratory focus is on cancers arising in the pancreas and biliary tract, and aligns closely to the clinic in order to understand the high lethality of these cancers, and to explore novel approaches to treatment.
Preclinical and early clinical development of molecular cancer therapeutics. My main goal is the development of new, more effective forms of cancer treatment. This effort involves bridging the divide between basic science, pathology, and clinical oncology, and I consider my wide breadth of knowledge and experience at the interface between clinical medicine and basic science, and my ability to form effective collaborations across a broad range of disciplines, to be my strongest personal attributes. For the past 15 years my main focus has been on pancreatic cancer. My laboratory was one of the first to make use of primary xenografts to study cancer biology and molecular therapeutics. Utilizing my expertise in cellular analysis based on flow cytometry and advanced fluorescence imaging, I have been able to develop sophisticated approaches for studying complex biology in human cancers, and then use this to examine how novel agents are working at the molecular level. I have a particular interest understanding the mechanisms of drug resistance in pancreatic cancers, and in the way responses to tumour microenvironments alter the response to anticancer agents.
2016 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Philippa Marrack, PhD
Born in the United Kingdom, Marrack had just obtained her in B.A. in biochemistry from Cambridge University, and was about to start graduate work at 22 years old. But she attended an academic cocktail party, became slightly inebriated, and met Alan Munro, an up-and-coming immunology researcher who, she said, was "better looking" than her chosen mentor, whose lab investigated a different subject.
Munro chatted her up, discussing her great uncle John, an immunologist who had discovered an aspect of antibody function. Munro told her he thought it would be interesting to have a relative of John Marrack in his laboratory.
Kidding aside, Marrack concedes she decided to work with Munro because he was starting a laboratory at the prestigious Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. The MRC then housed four Nobel Prize winners and was known for its free exchange of scientific information. Indeed, Marrack routinely lunched with Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick, the codiscoverer of DNA's structure, when she was there.
At the time, though, Marrack says there really was no way to predict that immunology would prove to be so rewarding to her professionally and personally. T cells, which would become the focus of her research, had only recently been discovered and little was known about their biology. How was she also to know that immunology would allow her to meet another important person in her life, John Kappler.
The two met as postdoctoral fellows in 1971 at the University of California, San Diego. Two years later they married, moved to the University of Rochester, established a joint laboratory, and have collaborated doing research about T cell biology ever since. They came to Denver in 1979 and have appointments at both the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and National Jewish Health.
2015 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Dr. C. Garrison Fathman, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. Fathman also serves as Past Chairman of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) and Director of the Center for Clinical Immunology at Stanford (CCIS). Dr. Fathman’s contributions in translational medicine in the areas of cellular and molecular immunology, as well as adoptive cellular gene therapy, have brought him international recognition. In particular, he is acclaimed for his establishment and exploitation of the technologies of antigen-specific T-cell cloning and adoptive cellular gene therapy, accomplishments that have facilitated a remarkable series of subsequent advances in understanding conventional immune response and treating autoimmune diseases.
As Founder and Past Chairman of FOCIS, Dr. Fathman led an extremely successful international effort to acknowledge and develop the field of clinical immunology. As Director of the CCIS, the Stanford-based FOCIS Center of Excellence, Dr. Fathman has initiated multi-disciplinary studies to generate novel approaches for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. He has also developed state-of-the-art technologies of genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to integrate approaches to diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of these diseases.
2014 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Lewis Lanier, Ph.D
Lewis Lanier, Ph.D obtained his B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. After postdoctoral studies at the Lineberg Cancer Center at the UNC – Chapel Hill and then as a Damon Runyon – Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fellow at the University of New Mexico, he joined the Research & Development Department at the Becton Dickinson Monoclonal Center in Mountain View, CA. In 1990, he joined the DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Palo Alto, California, where he advanced to Director of Immunobiology. In 1999, Dr. Lanier joined the faculty of UCSF School of Medicine in San Francisco. His research group studies Natural Killer (NK) cells, which recognize and eliminate cells that have become transformed or infected by viruses.
2013 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Brent Wood, MD, Ph.D
Brent Wood, MD, Ph.D obtained his MD and PhD from Loma Linda University followed by a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle. After a fellowship in Hematopathology at the University of Washington, Dr. Wood accepted a faculty position in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington where he is currently Professor and Director of the Hematopathology Laboratory. His responsibilities include extensive clinical service work and teaching Hematopathology to medical technology students, medical students, residents and fellows. Flow cytometry is an area of particular interest for Dr. Wood and he is responsible for implementing the first use of 9 and 10 color flow cytometry in the clinical laboratory and exploiting its potential for the identification of minimal residual disease in acute lymphoid and myeloid leukemia. His laboratory serves as one of two national reference laboratories for the identification of minimal residual disease in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia for the Children's Oncology Group and is involved in similar protocols with the Southwest Oncology Group. Dr. Wood lectures both nationally and internationally on clinical applications of flow cytometry and is President of the International Clinical Cytometry Society.
2012 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Zbigniew Darzynkiewicz, M.D., Ph.D.
Zbigniew Darzynkiewicz, M.D., Ph.D. is the Director of the Brander Cancer Research Institute at the New York Medical College and the Professor of Pathology, Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology at the same College. Dr. Darzynkiewicz has been a Member of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, N.Y. and Professor of Cell Biology and Genetics at Cornell University Medical School. He received his M.D. (with the highest honors) and Ph.D. degrees from the Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland and completed post-graduate studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo and at the Medical Nobel Institute of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. His research concentrates on cell biology with a focus on molecular mechanisms associated with cell proliferation, apoptosis, and sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs and he has developed analytical methods with world-wide application. He has been the president of the Cell Kinetics Society and the International Society for Analytical Cytology. His research has been supported, by grants from the NIH (including a prestigious MERIT award) and NASA. Dr. Darzynkiewicz is the Editor or/Co-editor of 5 scientific journals and a Member of the Editorial Board of 11 other scientific journals. He is a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN; Warsaw), Polish Academy of Learning (PAU, Krakow) and a Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). He has published over 680 peer-reviewed articles, and has authored and/or edited 15 books. He holds eight US patents. His publications have been cited over 28,000 times in the scientific literature and 86 of his publications were cited over 86 times, which ranks him at # 86 citation metrics Hirsch "h-index". He has presented over 345 invited lectures and seminars at national and international congresses, symposia, and in various research institutions.
2011 Herzenberg Lectureship Award
Dr. Garry Nolan
Dr. Garry Nolan received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in Genetics emphasizing his research on Rhizobium Genetics, later under the direction of the Leonard and Leonore Herzenberg lab he received his PhD in Genetics from Stanford University on CD8 cloning; heritability of transcription states and FACS-Gal assay for in vivo measure of transcription. Dr. Nolan then completed his Postdoctoral at MIT/Rockefeller University in the Laboratory of David Baltimore focusing his studies on NF-kappa B, Bcl-3, BOSC23 transient retroviral producer systems.
Dr. Nolan now runs his own lab at Stanford University and has become a renowned scientist and expertise in studying cancer, autoimmunity, and the molecular manners in which single cells can be distinguished from normal human tissues and their biology. His lab uses advanced Flow Cytometry analysis (FACS) of phospho proteins in single cells. They have successfully developed advanced signaling analysis approaches at single cell levels, coupled these to high throughput proteomics technologies and Bayesian mathematics to facilitate understanding of signaling pathways in normal and diseased cells.For more information on his lab and their studies visit the Nolan Lab website to learn more.