Distinguished Lecturer Seminar Series
Prof. Ayelet Erez - Weizmann Institute
Date: 02.07.2026
Time: 11:00
Location: Main Auditorium
Hosts: S. Wiemann
Titel: "Deciphering tumor-host crosstalk to improve cancer diagnosis and therapy"
About:
Ayelet Erez, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist who bridges the gap between clinical genetics and basic science to advance precision healthcare for cancer patients. Her research centers on the metabolic crosstalk between the host and tumor, with a strong focus on translating metabolic insights into therapeutic and diagnostic innovations.
Dr. Erez earned her medical degree from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. After completing her pediatric residency, she pursued a PhD in Cancer Genetics at Tel Aviv University. She then trained at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where she completed a clinical genetics fellowship and conducted postdoctoral research on the metabolism of human diseases.
In 2012, Dr. Erez returned to Israel to join the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she currently serves as Dean of the Weizmann MD-PhD School and Head of the Center for Rare Genetic Diseases. Beyond her academic leadership, she co-founded the Oncogenetics Clinic at Schneider Children’s Medical Center, where she volunteers weekly, providing genetic counseling to pediatric patients with suspected hereditary cancer syndromes.
Itai Yanai - NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Date: 01.10.2026
Time: 11:00
Location: Main Auditorium
Hosts: C. Plass
Titel: to be announced
About:
Itai Yanai is a Founding Director of the Institute for Computational Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is also a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU. Yanai has published extensively in bioinformatics and theory. He has also done seminal experimental research in cell biology.
In 2016 Yanai co-authored a popular book; “The Society of Genes”, for the general public.
Together with Martin J. Lercher, Yanai has written a series of editorials on the creative side of the scientific process, which he called "Night Science" in reference to François Jacob. He also co-hosts a popular podcast with the same name.
Prof. Benjamin Tu - UT Southwestern Medical Center
Date: 09.10.2026
Time: 11:00
Location: Main Auditorium
Hosts: A. Teleman, J. Cleland
Titel: to be announced
About
Dr. Benjamin P. Tu is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He received his A.B. and A.M. degrees in Chemistry from Harvard College in 1998, where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. James C. Wang. He then received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco in 2003 under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan S. Weissman. He pursued postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Dr. Steven L. McKnight in the Department of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern. He started his own lab at UT Southwestern in 2007. He currently holds the titles of UT Southwestern Presidential Scholar, Martha Steiner Professorship in Medical Research, and W.W. Caruth, Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research. He was appointed as an HHMI Investigator in Nov 2021.
Dr. Claire Rougeulle - Institute Curie
Date: 01.03.2027
Time: 11:00
Location: Main Auditorium
Hosts: D. Odom
Titel: “X chromosome activity in mammals: when dose matters”
About:
Claire Rougeulle is the Director of the Institut Curie Research Center. She was until 2024 the Deputy Director of the Epigenetics and Cell Fate center at Université Paris Cité, France and Professor at Ecole Polytechnique. She established her independent research group from 2007 and joined the Epigenetics and Cell Fate Center in Paris in 2009, of which she was one of the seven founding members. She has been working in the field of epigenetics for her entire career, with a strong focus on X chromosome inactivation in mammals, as a paradigm of epigenetic regulation. The work of her group contributed to decipher the role played by non-coding RNAs in X-inactivation and in the plasticity of epigenetic regulations in evolution. She also pioneered functional studies of X-inactivation in human, and her group is currently studying the control of X chromosome activity in relation to cell fate in human and non-human primates. She has been supported by numerous national and international funding schemes, including the INSERM Avenir program (Young Investigator funding) in 2007, an ERC Starting Grant in 2008 and ERC Adv Grant in 2021. She was awarded the Bronze and Silver Medals CNRS Awards in 2007 and 2019. She was elected EMBO member in 2016.
DDLSS Committee Members
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Dr. Michael Milsom
Head of DDLSS Committee
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Prof. Dr. Aurelio Teleman
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Prof. Dr. Klaus Maier-Hein
Head of Division
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Prof. Dr. Darjus Felix Tschaharganeh
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Prof. Dr. Hedda Wardemann
Division Head
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Prof. Dr. Mathias Heikenwälder
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Prof. Dr. Volker Arndt
Head
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Prof. Dr. Claudia Scholl
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Prof. Dr. Christoph Plass
Division Head
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Prof. Dr. Christiane Opitz
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Prof. Dr. Leif Schröder
Abteilungsleitung Translationale Molekulare Bildgebung
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Priv. Doz. Dr. Titus Brinker
Abteilungsleitung
