CEZID/CBID Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series
Friday, October 24, 2025, 3:00 PM CST
Dr. Boris Striepen 
"The Biology of Parasite Sex"
Dr. Boris Striepen studied biology at the universities of Bonn and Marburg, and conducted undergrad
research on liver flukes in Bonn, and trypanosomes in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Boris earned a PhD
for work on parasite biochemistry with Ralph Schwarz, was a postdoc with David Roos, studying
parasite cell biology, and started his own laboratory at the University of Georgia in 2000. In 2017 he
moved to the University of Pennsylvania. Boris studies the cell and molecular biology of apicomplexan
parasites. His current research focus is the parasite Cryptosporidium, a leading global cause of severe
diarrhea and mortality in young children. His lab pioneered molecular genetics and mouse models for
this important infection and leads a range of interdisciplinary efforts to understand fundamental
parasite biology, and to advance translation towards drugs and vaccines. Boris is also engaged in
education and training. He taught undergraduate and graduate classes, directed NIH training grant
programs in parasitology, served as lecturer, faculty, and director of the Biology of Parasitism summer
research course at the MBL for many years, and hosts the online Global Parasitology Seminar Series.
Friday, September 12, 2025, 3:00 PM CST
Dr. Joe Fox
"Fast and Catalytically Inducible Bioorthogonal Chemistry"
Joseph M. Fox is Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware, where he also is the Director of the NIH-funded Center of Biomedical Research Excellence on the Discovery of Chemical Probes and Therapeutic Leads. In 2023, he was named a Francis Alison Professor—UD’s highest faculty honor. He has built a multidisciplinary program that centers on reaction development in chemical biology. Work in his
group has included the development and application of tetrazine ligation— a widely-used bioorthogonal reaction that allows for extremely rapid conjugation to biological macromolecules in living systems. Applications of our work span biology, drug discovery, radiochemistry, imaging, therapy and materials science.
Join us on Zoom Meeting
https://app.zoom.us/wc
ID: 82156157765
Passcode: 879449
Friday, June 6th, 3:00 PM CST
Dr. Christopher Hunter
Presents: “Understanding and improving mRNA vaccination for CD8+ T cell responses”
Dr. Hunter has been working on various aspects of parasitic infections of the CNS since 1989 and for over 30 years there has been a focus on understanding how the immune response to Toxoplasma gondii is regulated and how this relates to other infections, most notably Cryptosporidium sp. Thus, his lab studies the events that lead to the development of protective immunity as well as the processes that limit T cell mediated pathology. He continued to explore the impact of the STAT signaling pathways that are targeted by T. gondii and that also coordinate the immune response. He is also able to utilize different combinations of transgenic parasites and T cells to provide high resolution analysis of individual parasite specific T cell populations and apply multi- photon microscopy to image the innate and adaptive response to T. gondii. These data sets also provide the foundation for the development of mathematical approaches to describe and predict how T cells respond to infection with T. gondii.
Friday, March 14th, 3:00 PM CST
Dr. Qijing Zhang
Presents: “Evolution of highly pathogenic Campylobacter: a threat to One Health”
Dr. Qijing Zhang is currently Clarence Hartley Covault Distinguished Professor and Dr. Roger and Marilyn Mahr Chair in One Health at Iowa State University. His research focuses on transmission, evolution, pathogenesis, and antimicrobial resistance of bacterial pathogens important for animal health and food safety. Over the years, his team has discovered emergence of highly pathogenic bacterial variants and revealed novel pathogenic and antibiotic resistance mechanisms. His recent effort has expanded to developing broadly protective vaccines against bacterial diseases that cause significant economic losses in animal agriculture. Dr. Zhang has served on a number of editorial boards, grant review panels, and various committees for professional organizations. Dr. Zhang was a recipient of the AAVMC Excellence in Research Award. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Microbiology, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Friday, March 7, 2025, 3:00 PM CST
Dr. Paramjit Arora
Presents "Control of Oncogenic Signaling by Synthetic Protein Mimics"
Paramjit Arora is a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at New York University. His research utilizes expertise in organic chemistry to develop synthetic inhibitors of protein-protein and protein-nucleic acids interactions, and catalysts for peptide and protein synthesis.
Friday, February 28th, 2025, 3:00 PM CST
Dr. Brian Conlon
Presents "Antibiotic Failure and the Role of the Host"
Brian Conlon is a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. His research focuses on antibiotic tolerance and resistance in the infection microenvironment.