| 8:00am |
Registration and Continental Breakfast Healthy Kentucky Research Building |
| 8:30am | Welcome |
| 9:00am |
Dennis E. Discher, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania From curvature sensing and rupture to chromosome loss |
| 10:15am |
Andrew Stephens, Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Amherst Interphase based changes from G1 to G2 in actin and nuclear mechanics dictate nuclear integrity |
| 11:30am |
Lunch and Poster Competition Healthy Kentucky Research Building Atrium |
| 2:30pm | John Marko, Ph.D. Northwestern University |
| 3:30pm | Presentation of Poster Awards |
| 4:00pm | Close of 50th Annual Naff Symposium |
Speakers
Dennis E. Discher, Ph.D.
Robert D. Bent Professor, and Director, Physical Sciences Oncology Center/Project
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
The Discher lab has sought to identify and elucidate some soft matter concepts across cell, molecular and tissue biology. They also have, occasionally, used biological approaches to inject some biological insights into soft matter science and engineering. Early discoveries included matrix elasticity effects on stem cell maturation and differentiation (Cell 2006), mechanosensing by a cell’s nucleus (Science 2013), and properties scaling of amphiphilic polymer assemblies for nano-delivery (Science 2002). Current efforts focus on physics-driven evolution of mutations (Cell 2016) and engineering of macrophages to attack solid tumors (Nat BME 2023). The latter followed molecularly detailed studies of ‘foreign’ versus ‘self’ recognition (Science 2013). Dozens of trainees have secured positions in academia or industry around the world. Discher has been elected to the US National Academy of Medicine, the US National Academy of Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he serves on Editorial Boards of Science, Molecular Biology of the Cell, and PNAS Nexus among other journals.
Andrew Stephens, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Prof. Andrew Stephens was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City and studied dynein processivity in single molecule assays. Stephens completed his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in Dr. Kerry Bloom's lab where he studied the pericentromeric chromatin spring's essential role in yeast mitosis. He continued as a Post Doc in Dr. John Marko's lab at the University of Northwestern to adapt micromanipulation force measurements to single nuclei and study the importance of chromatin mechanics in controlling abnormal nuclear morphology which is present in many human diseases. He is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Stephens Lab was started in 2020 and uses a combination of nuclear force measurements and cell biology to determine the mechanical force balance between the nucleus and the cytoskeleton which controls nuclear shape, integrity, and function.
2025 Naff Committee:
Dr. Ryan Cheng, Chair
Department of Chemistry