Monday Noon Seminars

Hope Center Monday Noon Seminars are organized by mini-series topic, typically with 4 seminars per topic. Each mini-series is an opportunity to hear from Washington University investigators as well as those at other institutions who are leaders in their fields.

Each spring, we solicit the community for topics to feature in the next academic year. We welcome suggested topics which are relevant to some research programs at Washington University, such that those investigators can give talks in the mini-series.

To see mini-series topics from previous seasons, visit the archives.

Have an idea for a mini-series topic? Let us know!

Up next: Mini-series, Obesity and Brain Health

Location: Fort Neuroscience Research Building Auditorium

  • January 6: Tamara Hershey (WashU Psychiatry)
  • January 13: Daniel Castro (WashU Radiology)
  • January 27: Michael Krashes (NIDDKD/NIH)
  • February 3: Kevin Hall (NIDDKD/NIH)

Check back for Zoom information. (WUSTL Key required)

2024/2025 Monday Noon Seminars

Mondays, 12-1p
September – May
Location: Fort Neuroscience Research Building Auditorium and Zoom

Check back for full lists of speakers and talk titles. For inquiries contact the Hope Center.

Mini-series Topics

Role of Neurovascular Unit and Neurovasculature in Aging and Degeneration
Organizers: David Holtzman and Fareeha Saadi (WashU Neurology)

For inquiries contact the Hope Center.

Rescheduled from September 30, kindly note location: Fort Neuroscience Research Building 9101

December 9: Ikbal Sencan Egilmez (WashU Radiology) “Optical quantification of neurovascular health and function in brain and beyond”

Zoom links (WUSTL Key required)
  • RESCHEDULED – September 30*: Ikbal Sencan-Egilmez (WashU Radiology) “Optical quantification of neurovascular health and function in brain and beyond”
  • October 14: Gregory Zipfel (WashU Neurosurgery) “Role of STAT3 and oxidative stress in Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Alzheimer’s Disease”
  • IN-PERSON ONLY – October 21: Jonathan Kipnis (WashU Pathology & Immunology) “Immune decoding of brain health through its juices”
  • October 28: Chenghua Gu (Harvard University) “Neuro-vascular interactions in the CNS”
Applications of -Omics Technology to Study Complex Inheritance in Neurological Disorders
Organizer: Celeste Karch (WashU Psychiatry)

For inquiries contact the Hope Center.

  • November 4: Laura Ibanez (WashU Psychiatry) “Uncommon RNAs: role in neurodegeneration and potential as biomarkers”
  • November 11: Mayssa Mokalled (WashU Developmental Biology) “Comparative Omics reveal repair mechanisms after spinal cord injury“
  • November 18*: Bess Frost (Brown University) “Transposable element activation in neurodegenerative tauopathies”
    *NOTE virtual-only
  • December 2: Ting Wang (WashU Genetics) “Functional genomics in the era of human pangenome”

Obesity and Brain Health
Organizers: Alexxai Kravitz and Justin Wang (WashU Psychiatry)

For inquiries contact the Hope Center.

  • January 6: Tamara Hershey and Zhaolong Adrian Li (WashU Psychiatry) “Biopsychosocial links to obesity and brain health in youth”
  • January 13: Daniel Castro (WashU Radiology) “Pancreatic opioids regulate ingestive and metabolic phenotypes”
  • January 27: Michael Krashes (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases/NIH) “A Hypothalamic Circuit that Modulates Feeding and Parenting Behaviors”
  • February 3: Kevin Hall (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases/NIH)

Biological vs. Chronological Aging
Organizers: Beau Ances and Peter Millar (WashU Neurology)

For inquiries contact the Hope Center.

  • February 17: Peter Millar (Ances lab, WashU Neurology)
  • February 24: Yun Ju Sung (WashU Psychiatry)
  • March 3: Elizabeth Pollina (WashU Developmental Biology)
  • March 10: Albert Higgins-Chen (Yale University)
Optical Neurotechnologies to Understand Neuroplasticity Following Stroke
Organizer: Adam Bauer (WashU Radiology)

Check back for lists of dates, presenters and talk titles!

Neurodevelopment and Neurological Disease
Joint mini-series with the Department of Developmental Biology and the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC@WUSTL)
Organizers: Christina Gurnett (WashU Neurology) and Joseph Dougherty (WashU Genetics)

Check back for lists of dates, presenters and talk titles!

Special Seminars

Special Hope Center/Neurology Seminar (12p, Fort NRB Auditorium and Zoom)

  • June 2: Presentations by winners of the 2025 Hope Center Awards

Seminars also are listed on the ONR Calendar.

View archive of mini-series topics and speakers