Keynote Speakers

Prof. Alexander earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University, before completing postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania working on nuclear speckles and founding her research lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in 2024. Her research focuses on elucidating the role of nuclear speckles in gene regulation and the mechanisms by which they interact with DNA in the nucleus. Prof. Alexander is also a member of the CSHL Cancer Center, where her work on the regulation of nuclear speckle state provides potential for the improvement of disease treatment and survival outcomes. 

Prof. Fawzi received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering at University of California (UC)-Berkeley/UC-San Francisco for his work with Teresa Head-Gordon (a CBP 2025 keynote speaker), before completing his postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in biomolecular NMR spectroscopy of protein association and aggregation. The Fawzi group studies the structure, dynamics, and molecular interactions of protein granule assembly and protein aggregates that are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, using a combination of NMR spectroscopy and atomistic simulation supplemented by biophysical and imaging methods.

Prof. Forde completed her B.Sc. at the University of Toronto before receiving a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of Chicago and postdoctoral studies at UC-Berkeley, where she worked on single-molecule biophysics. The Forde Lab focuses on the development of high-throughput single-molecule force spectroscopy techniques such as centrifuge force microscopy, magnetic tweezers and optical tweezers, and uses a combination of computational and synthetic biology approaches to study the mechanical properties of extracellular matrix and motor proteins. She also serves as Graduate Chair of the Physics department at Simon Fraser University and has received several awards and accolades for her undergraduate and graduate training. 

Prof. Hargrove earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin followed by a NIH postdoctoral fellowship at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Prof. Hargrove’s laboratory focuses on developing small molecule probes to investigate the structure and function of RNA molecules relevant to human disease. The lab works to understand the fundamental drivers of selective small molecule:RNA recognition and to use this knowledge to functionally modulate viral and oncogenic RNA structures. Prof. Hargrove also serves on the editorial advisory boards of ChemComm, Current Protocols, Medicinal Research Reviews, and Supramolecular Chemistry.

Prof. Leslie completed her B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics at University of British Colombia and a Ph.D. in optical and atomic physics from UC-Berkeley, before transitioning to her work in biomolecules at Harvard University, where she invented Convex Lens-induced Confinement (CLiC) as part of her postdoctoral training in single-molecule imaging. Her research at the Michael Smith Laboratories is centered on single-molecule biophysics where she has further established CLiC imaging into a platform for the study and quantification of DNA, RNA and other biopolymers in living cells. 

Prof. Shea completed her B.Sc. in Chemistry at McGill University, followed by a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and postdoctoral studies at Scripps Research Institute. Research in the Shea group focuses on the application of computational tools, such as Protein Language Models and Reinforcement Learning to solve biological problems such as in vivo protein folding and aggregation. Prof. Shea also serves as Associate Dean of the College of Letters and Science at UC-Santa Barbara, and as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry.