2025 Program

When What Who Where
Light Breakfast & Registration
9:00AM-4:00PM Registration Organizing staff Lucas Room/Cone University Center
9:00AM-9:50AM Light Breakfast All participants Lucas Room/Cone University Center
Opening Remarks
9:50AM-9:55AM UNC Charlotte R1 Status and Research Dr. John Daniel, Vice Chancellor for Research, UNC Charlotte McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
9:55AM-10:00AM Welcome remarks from DBS and CBES Dr. Christine Richardson, DBS Chair and CBES Director, UNC Charlotte McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
Morning Session
10:00AM- 10:30AM Keynote Address: CHAMP1 complex directs heterochromatin assembly and promotes homology-directed DNA repair Dr. Alan D. D’Andrea, Harvard University McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
10:30AM- 10:50AM Invited Lecture: Biomolecular condensates in cancer Dr. Greg Wang, Duke University McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
10:50AM- 11:00AM Contributed Talk: Mechanistic studies of nucleolar DNA damage response in genome integrity and cancer therapeutics Dr. Shan Yan, UNC Charlotte McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
11:00AM- 11:05AM Break (5 minutes)   McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
11:05AM- 11:25AM Invited Lecture: Mechanisms for repair of chromosome breaks by end joining Dr. Dale Ramsden, UNC Chapel Hill McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
11:25AM- 11:40AM Contributed Talk: Arginine methylation of BRD4 by PRMT2/4 governs transcription and DNA repair Dr. Wenjian Gan, Medical University of South Carolina McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
11:40AM- 11:50AM Contributed Talk: Targeting Aurora A to overcome cisplatin resistance in HNSCC Xin Li, PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
11:50AM- 12:00PM Contributed Talk: Defining the function of cohesin and SMARCA5 in R-loop-mediated DNA repair Elizabeth Irvin, PhD student at NCSU McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
Lunch & Poster Session
12:00PM-2:00PM Lunch All participants Lucas Room/Cone University Center
12:00PM-2:00PM Sponsors displays and discussions Symposium sponsors Lucas Room/Cone University Center
12:30PM-1:45PM Poster presentations Poster presentations and judging Lucas Room/Cone University Center
Afternoon Session
2:00PM-2:30PM Keynote Address: Shaping the dynamic chromatin landscape for gene expression at single- molecule resolution Dr. Carl Wu, Johns Hopkins University McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
2:30PM-2:50PM Invited Lecture: Histone genetics as a tool to study epigenetic regulation during animal development Dr. Robert Duronio, UNC Chapel Hill McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
2:50PM-3:05PM Contributed Talk: Cross- regulation through mutual modifications among histone H3 modifiers Dr. Ke Zhang Reid, Wake Forest University McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
3:05PM-3:10PM Break (5 minutes)   McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
3:10PM -3:20PM Contributed Talk: Self- clustering of three CBX2 proteins drives bridging- induced phase separation to promote facultative heterochromatinization of Polycomb target genes Dr. Xiaojun Ren, UNC Charlotte McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
3:20PM -3:35PM Contributed Talk: The SWI/SNF pathway regulates transposable element expression and provides a new therapeutic opportunity for pediatric tumors Dr. Tara Doucet-O’Hare, Clemson University McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
3:35PM -3:55PM Invited Lecture: Chromatin regulation of neuronal maturation Dr. Anne Elizabeth West, Duke University McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
Poster Award Presentation
4:00PM-4:15PM Poster Award Announcement Announced by Dr. Shan Yan and Dr. Xiaojun (XJ) Ren & Awards presented by Keynote Speakers McKnight Auditorium/Cone University Center
Closing & Social Hour
4:00PM-5:30PM Light Refreshments and Networking All participants Lucas Room/Cone University Center