Weekly Colloquium on Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases

Brought to you by the Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases (ABCD) at the University of Arizona:

TOPIC: “Introduction and Overview”
SPEAKER: Xingnan Li, PhD — Assistant Professor (Research Scholar Track), Division of Genetics, Genomics and Precision Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson | Member, Division of Pharmacogenomics, Center for Applied Genetic and Genomic Medicine, UA Health Sciences
WHEN: Friday, Jan. 18, 2018 | 9-11 a.m.

Weekly Colloquium, Spring 2019 – Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases
(CMM, MCB, GENE, IMB, PCOL 595H)
Fridays, 9-11 a.m., Keating/BIO5 Room 103, Jan. 11-April 26 (except for March 1, 9-11 a.m., Keating/BIO5 Room 247)

SPEAKERS SCHEDULE: Click here [PDF] for a printable schedule for the entire series.

About the Speaker
Dr. Xignan Li earned a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Peking University in Beijing, China; a master’s degree in Statistics and Probability and doctorate in Genetics from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. Afterward, he completed a research associate fellowship at the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Wake Forest Univesity in Winston-Salem, N.C. Among his honors and awards, he received travel awards to present at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Assembly on Allergy, Immunology and Inflammation (AII) in 2010; XXII World Allergy Congress in Cancun, Mexico, in 2011; and the Symposium of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum in Jeju Islands, South Korea, in 2012. He won an ATS Abstract Award (2014) and the ATS David Bates Award for the Environmental, Occupational and Population Health Award Assembly (2015). Dr. Li has been an associate editor of the journal BMC Medical Genetics since 2016. He came to the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson in 2017 and is a faculty member for the Division of Genetics, Genomics and Precision Medicine in the Department of Medicine as well as a member of the Division of Pharmacogenomics at the UA Health Sciences Center for Applied Genetic and Genomic Medicine.

About the Lecture Series
Human complex diseases such as asthma, cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, are major biomedical challenges, because they are common but difficult to decipher. The complexity of these diseases is reflected by their phenotypic heterogeneity and likely results from intricate interactions among genetic, environmental and developmental factors that modify disease susceptibility and severity.

Understanding complex diseases is urgent, because these conditions impose a burden on our society. Yet, this goal cannot be achieved by isolated research disciplines. Rather, it requires a novel paradigm that successfully integrates basic and clinical research across multiple fields and translates mechanisms into phenotypes and phenotypes into treatments. This novel paradigm provides the underpinning for this Colloquium.

This colloquium features speakers who are nationally and internationally renowned for their work on environmental biology, immunological and clinical phenotyping, microbiota, developmental biology, epigenetics, genetic epidemiology, population genetics, functional genomics of human and animal models. The series’ theme and vision are unique in that the discussion focuses particularly on the biological components shared by ostensibly distinct complex diseases (for instance, asthma, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases).

The underlying assumption, supported by much emerging evidence, is that these shared components are features that define the mechanistic architecture of complex diseases as a group. The goal of the Colloquium is to provide a platform that will catalyze broad, expert discussions on these foundational topics, thereby fostering the emergence of a new experimental and conceptual paradigm in complex disease biology.

For further information, contact ABCD Director Donata Vercelli, MD, colloquium organizer: donata@email.arizona.edu