Pathways to Excellence

Pathways to Excellence Seminar Presentations

For information about this seminar series, please contact Dr. Feng Tao.

Email Dr. Feng Tao at ftao81@tamu.edu

2026 Seminars

January 29, 2026 Immune and Neuroimmune Mechanisms of Post-Traumatic Epilepsy, Addiction, and Dementia

Lee A. Shapiro, PhD, Associate Professor - Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University

February 11, 2026 FGF23: Phosphate Control and Emerging New Functions

Aline Martin, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Center for Translational Metabolism and Health, Feinberg Cardiovascular and Renal Research Institute Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

March 18, 2026 Unlocking Circuits and Designing Cross-Species Tools for Pain Discovery and Therapeutics

Rebecca P. Seal, PhD, Professor, Center for Neuroscience University of Pittsburgh.

April 9, 2026 Highs and Lows of Cannabinoid Analgesia

Igor Spigelman, PhD, Professor & Chair for the Section of Biosystems and Function, UCLA School of Dentistry

May 6, 2026 Advancing Translational Pain Research With Human Peripheral Nervous System

Steve Davidson, PhD, Associate Professor, New York University, Associate Director of NYU Pain Research Center

May 26, 2026 Glutamate Delta 1 Receptor: Neural Circuits, Plasticity, and Disease

Shashank M. Dravid, BVSc, PhD, MBA; Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Texas A&M University Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine

2025 Seminars

January 22, 2025 The Brain Mechanism Underlying Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation

Jian Kong, MBBS, MS, MPH, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Mass General Research Institute, Harvard Medical School

February 12, 2025 Unraveling the Immunoregulatory Mechanisms of Wound Healing

Qing Lin, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine (ACCM), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

February 26, 2025 Structure-Based Design of Bitopic Opioid Agonist Analgesics Targeting Sodium Site Signaling by Mu and Delta Opioid Receptors

Jay McLaughlin, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacodynamics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida

March 26, 2025 CRISPR and Imaging Technologies for the TMJ

Alejandro Almarza, PhD, Professor, Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences and Bioengineering Center for Craniofacial Regeneration , McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh

April 9, 2025 Indirect Voltage-Gated Ion Channel Modulation as a Gateway to Pain Relief

Kimberly Gomez, PhD Postdoctoral Associate Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, College of Medicine, The University of Florida

April 29, 2025 Data-Driven Discovery in Dentistry: Integrating AI and Simulation to Understand and Treat Orofacial Disorders

Benedikt Sagl, PhD, Head of the Competence Center Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry, University Clinic of Dentistry, Vienna, Austria - Adjunct Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University

May 7, 2025 Pain and Aging: A Clinical Translational Approach

Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, MSPH, PhD, Tenured Associate Professor, Associate Director, Pain Research & Intervention Center Of Excellence, University of Florida College of Dentistry

September 17, 2025 From Pixels to Pathways: Toward an AI-Enabled Proteotranscriptomic Atlas of HNSCC

Kevin M. Byrd, DDS, PhD, Assistant Professor, PI, Lab of Oral & Craniofacial Innovation (LOCI), Virginia Commonwealth University

October 15, 2025 How Systems-level “Omic” Insights Inform Our Understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease and Therapeutic Development Paradigms

Todd Eliot Golde, MD, PhD, Director of the Emory Center for Neurodegenerative Disease, The Goizueta Institute at Emory Brain Health, Professor, Emory University School of Medicine

November 21, 2025 Understanding Chronic Pain After TBI

David J. Clark, MD, PhD, Director of the Palo Alto VA Pain Clinic, Professor of Anesthesiology, Stanford University School of Medicine

December 3, 2025 Immune Cellular Stress in Neurotoxicity: A Translational Approach

Edgar Alfonso Romero-Sandoval, MD, PhD, Professor with Tenure, Department of Anesthesiology, Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

2024 Seminars

February 28, 2024 Insights Into Orofacial Pain Pathology and Novel Treatment Strategies Insights Into Orofacial Pain Pathology and Novel Treatment Strategies

Paul Durham, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Provost Fellow for Research, Missouri State University

March 20, 2024 Lysosome Shifting by Cells Under Stress

Julie Hollien, PhD  Professor School Of Biological Sciences, University of Utah

April 11, 2024 Targeting the Blood Brain Barrier and the Gut Microbiome in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

David Gozal, MD, MBA, PhD (Hon), Dean, Vice-President for Health Affairs, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University

September 25, 2024 CD91/LRP1, an Essential Receptor for Immunosurveillance of Cancer

Robert J. Binder, PhD, Professor, Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

October 16, 2024 Cell-Type Logic of Pain States in the Spinal Cord

Allan-Hermann Pool, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

December 11, 2024 Hyperspectral Imaging for Cancer Detection and Image-Guided Surgery

Baowei Fei, PhD, Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Science, Director, Center for Imaging and Surgical Innovation, Professor of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Professor of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center

2023 Seminars

February 22, 2023 Mummies and Crania to Reconstruct the History of Peru

Sonia Guillen, PhD, Director of Centro Mallqui, Instituto de Bioarqueología, Professor, Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza, Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences

March 22, 2023 Diagnostic Saliva Panel for Identification of Features of Periodontal Disease: Perio/Reveal™

Jeffrey Ebersole, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Associate Dean for Research, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

April 19, 2023 Neuropathic Spontaneous Pain Triggered by Piezo2-Mediated Vasculature-Neuron Interactions in the Dorsal Root Ganglion

Jun-Ming Zhang, MD, MSc, Professor & Vice Chair for Research, Endowed Chair of Anesthesia Research and Education, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

September 6, 2023 Dialing Down Neuropathic Pain With Antagonists of Nav1.7 Channels

Rajesh Khanna, PhD, MSc, Director, NYU Pain Research Center, Professor, Department of Molecular Pathobiology, NYU College of Dentistry, Professor, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Investigator, Neuroscience Institute, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

October 11, 2023 Mechanistic and Therapeutic Studies of Initiation and Expansion of Heterotopic Ossification

Qian Cong, PhD, Instructor of Developmental Biology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard University

November 8, 2023 The Evolutionary Tale of the Jaw Joints for Eating and Hearing During the Evolution of Mammals

Jin Meng, PhD, Curator-in-Charge of Fossil Mammals, Division of Paleontology, Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History

December 6, 2023 Temporomandibular Disorders: Risk Determinants and Modifiable Determinants as Treatment Targets of a Complex Disease

Richard Ohrbach, DDS, PhD, Professor, Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences, Director, Center for TMD and Facial Pain Research, School of Dental Medicine, University at Buffalo