Lectures & Seminars

Event Description

Dr. David Julius will deliver the 2026 Morris-Inouye Lecture at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in the Main Lecture Hall of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway.  His lecture is titled “Gut Feelings:  Probing mechanisms of visceral pain.”  A reception will follow.

Dr. Julius shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Ardem Patapoutian for work that transformed our understanding of how the nervous system senses temperature and mechanical stimuli.  He discovered the ion channel that detects both the “hot” ingredient in chili peppers and painfully elevated temperature.  His laboratory continues to investigate the structure, regulation, and tissue distribution of sensory ion channels.

In addition to the Nobel, Dr. Julius’ other honors including a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, which he also shared with Dr. Patapoutian. He is professor and chair of the Department of Physiology at UCSF, where he holds the Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the AAAS.

2026 Morris-Inouye Lecture-Leslie Vosshall Flyer

 

Event Description

Dr. Leslie Vosshall will deliver the 2025 Morris-Inouye Lecture at 4 PM on Thursday April 3rd in the Main Lecture Hall of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway. Her lecture is titled “Mosquitoes: Flexible and Dangerous Predators of Humans”. A reception will follow.

Dr. Vosshall studies how mosquitos choose humans for their meals, and which humans they like best. Her lab has identified neurobiological bases of host odor and CO2 perception, as well as egg-laying and the action of insect repellents. Her lectures are accessible and appeal to broad audiences.

Dr. Vosshall is the Robin Chemers Neustein Professor of Neurogenetics and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, as well as Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the 2024 Dickson Prize in Medicine.

2025 Morris-Inouye Lecture-Leslie Vosshall Flyer

 

Event Description

Dr. Kevan Shokat will deliver the inaugural Morris-Inouye Lecture at 4 PM on April 23rd in the Main Lecture Hall of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway. His lecture is titled “Overcoming the Undruggable Nature of the Most Common Human Oncogene, K-Ras”. A reception will be held in the Great Hall will follow.

Dr. Shokat’s research focuses on the discovery of small molecule tools and drug candidates that target kinases, GTPases, and helicases. His laboratory utilizes the tools of synthetic organic chemistry, protein engineering, structural biology, biochemistry, and cell biology.

Dr. Shokat is currently an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the UCSF and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the UC Berkeley. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Inaugural Morris-Inouye Lecture

Event Description

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will learn about constructing an NIH fellowship application. This is also a very valuable workshop for graduate students who are writing their thesis proposals. 

March 3 from 12-1:30pm

This session will be held in-person in Piscataway at EOSHI and New Brunswick at CINJ. Lunch will be served at both locations. Others can participate via Zoom.

There will also be a second optional session on March 16 from 12-1:30pm for those who want to receive feedback on their Specific Aims pages. 

This workshops is sponsored by School of Graduate Studies-BHS, Office of Postdoctoral Advancement and NJ ACTS

Event Description

Learn ways to advance your career through opportunities at Rutgers Innovation Ventures. Their mission is to partner with the Rutgers community to encourage deliberate innovation, protect and leverage Rutgers intellectual property, foster collaboration with industry, and enable entrepreneurship. There are two opportunities for grad students and postdocs:

  1. The Technology Transfer Fellowship Program immerses participants into the exciting world of Intellectual Property through hands-on learning. By the end of the program, fellows will learn how to:

• Effectively protect and commercialize the results of scientific research.

• Evaluate an Invention Disclosure, prepare NonConfidential Summaries, and identify and reach out to prospective licensees.

• Negotiate the business terms of various agreements that govern Technology Transfer in an academic institution.

  1. The TechAdvance Senior Fellowship is an excellent opportunity for graduate students and postdocs to explore career opportunities in broad scientific knowledge, basic business insight and acumen, recognizing potential research proposals and moving technologies into the commercialization phase.
  • Learn the various steps and processes in the funding mechanism: screening applications and ensuring they align with TechAdvance requirements, especially around Intellectual Property (IP), Conflict of Interests, and other disclosures. Identify potential industry reviewers to match the application and capture the details emerging from the review process towards making an effective funding decision meeting.
  • Receive training on our new application submission and review TechAdvance Platform (TAP), including updating data/tracking applications in various stages of the funding and post-award process.
  • Participate in outreach, training programs and philanthropic activities.
  • Coordinate New Ventures & Commercialization Funding Symposium Series and plan other business meetings.
  • Interact with the Licensing Team to better understand the IP around the technology and/or licensing deals/terms associated with the technology.

June 2 from 3-4:30pm

 Click here to see speakers information.

 

Event Description

This virtual workshop will use techniques and case studies from the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) to teach PhD students and Postdoctoral Fellows tools and skills to better mentor undergraduate students in a laboratory setting.  

Attendees will also reflect upon approaches they would use to mentor trainees and employees when

they are running a lab or research group in the future. 

Follow up activities will be suggested for those who wish to get more engaged in this process.

Click here to see slides.

 

Event Description

This workshop covers the basics of converting your highly complex project ideas into a compelling story.  The focus is on the creation of a flawless "Specific Aims" page as the foundation of any well-engineered grant.  This workshop will be useful for those writing Pre-doctoral fellowships as well as their Propositional Qualifying Exams 

Click here to see slides.

Event Description

• Janet Alder and Jim Millonig from the School of Graduate Studies will present a new document from the AAMC on Appropriate Treatment of Research Trainees for faculty to learn about best practices in mentoring

• This will be followed by an interactive session run by CAPS counselors for faculty to learn about approaches and resources for dealing with students in distress.

• Finally we will discuss a case study and share experiences and advice in mentoring biomedical PhD students

 

Event Description

Learn best practices in experimental design, manuscript preparation, and submission to help you get your papers published.

Click here to see slides.

Event Description

This free workshop will be presented by the Financial Planning Association of New Jersey to educate graduate students on budgeting, cash flow, and debt.  We know that living on a stipend while in graduate school can be challenging and many of you also have families to support. The skills you gain in this workshop will help you navigate your financial situation.