A Message from the TGS Board
We are thrilled to see all of you at this year’s annual meeting. We have a tight schedule; packed with fantastic talks, great posters, a workshop, research competition, and much more! If you are excited as we are, please check below for the invited speakers! You can download a copy of the meeting agenda here:
Your 2025 TGS Annual Meeting Speakers
2025 TGS Barbara Bowman Distinguished Geneticist
Loren Skow, Texas A&M University
Veterinary Integrated BioSciences
Reflections on the Golden Age of Genomics
Dr. Loren Skow is Senior Professor Emeritus in the Department of Veterinary Integrated BioSciences at Texas A&M University. His research has been devoted to the comparative analysis of mammalian genomes with emphasis on animal models of human genetic disorders. He served on the organizing committees for both the bovine and the equine genome sequencing initiatives and is particularly interested in how variation in the architecture and evolution of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) influences the function of the immune system.
Keynote Speaker
Sarah Williams-Blangero, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Human Genetics in South Texas
Dr. Sarah Williams-Blangero is a genetic epidemiologist who received her Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University in 1987. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and was then appointed to the faculty of Texas Biomed in 1990. Dr. Williams-Blangero became Chair of the Department of Genetics at Texas Biomed in 1999 and additionally Deputy Director of the Southwest National Primate Research Center in 2012. In 2014, she moved to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) to become the Founding Director of the South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute, and in 2017 was appointed Chair of the Department of Human Genetics in the UTRGV School of Medicine. Dr. Williams-Blangero’s research has focused on the genetic determinants of risk for complex diseases in minority populations, including the Jirel ethnic group of Nepal and Mexican Americans.
Keynote Speaker
Alicia Rogers, University of Texas Arlington
RNAi pathways coordinate to protect fertility
Dr. Rogers investigates the mechanisms that maintain RNA interference (RNAi) pathway homeostasis to ensure robust gene regulation and execution of cellular and physiological processes, such as fertility and development, during normal and stress conditions. Dr. Rogers completed her undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Baylor University before pursuing her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in the laboratories of Dr. Kata Fejes Toth and Dr. Alexei Aravin at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to investigate the molecular mechanisms of RNAi-mediated transcriptional silencing in D. melanogaster. Then, as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Carolyn Phillips at the University of Southern California (USC) where she studied the mechanisms by which RNAi pathways maintain fertility during stressful environmental conditions in C. elegans. In January 2022, she opened her independent laboratory at the University of Texas at Arlington.
R Workshop Director
Heath Blackmon, Texas A&M University
Dr. Heath Blackmon is an Associate Professor who joined the Biology Department at Texas A&M University in 2017. He earned his BS in Environmental Science at Oregon State University and his Ph.D. in Quantitative Biology at the University of Texas at Arlington. His research is in genome evolution, specifically sex chromosomes and structural evolution. His group develops methods and databases that accelerate the analysis of data within theoretical, quantitative genetic and phylogenetic frameworks. His recent work has shed light on the evolutionary forces that shape chromosome number evolution across the tree of life. He is a member of the Genetics Society of America, Society for the Study of Evolution, American Genetics Association.
2025 Meeting Sponsors
A Special Thank you to Our Patron Tier Sponsors and Their Commitment to TGS!
