The Department of Microbiology schedules a variety of seminars each semester, all open to the public.
We invite guest lecturers from throughout the Midwest to present research seminars in our weekly Microbiology Seminar Series.
One to two times per semester, we host world-class microbiologists to present their research in our Distinguished Lecture Series.
In addition, our annual Stark lectures, presented by leading biologists, are funded by the family, friends, and students of Orton K. Stark, the founding chair of the Department of Microbiology.
To keep abreast of the research in our department, our graduate students present their latest research findings in our weekly Graduate Seminar Series.
Spring 2026 Seminars
Microbiology Seminar Series
Pearson Hall Room 218 Wednesdays at 4:25 p.m.
January 28
Steven Baker, PhD Assistant Professor - Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology University of New Mexico "Revealing host regulators of influenza virus by exploring the alternative RNA transcriptome"
February 2
Catherine Freije, PhD Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease The Rockefeller University "Leveraging RNA-based methods for studying viralvariation and host interaction networks"
February 11
Autumn Holmes, PhD Department of Infectious Diseases Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine "Cell tropism and receptor usage in arthritogenicalphavirus dissemination and pathogenesis"
February 25
Craig Altier, DVM PhD Professor - Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine "An eavesdropping pathogen: control of Salmonella virulence through interspecies signaling"
March 18
Tracey Bonfield, PhD Associate Professor - Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
April 1
Hilary Dugan, PhD Associate Professor - Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin–Madison
April 8
Allison Rober, PhD Associate Professor & Assistant Director of SENR for Stone Lab Academic Programming The Ohio State University
April 27/28
David Schatz, PhD(Orton K. Stark lecture) Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Yale School of Medicine
