Variant Effects Seminar Series (VESS)

In this series, early-career scientists from around the globe share and discuss their research related to interpreting human genetic variation. Seminars are held on the 1st Tuesday each month from 9-10am Pacific (4-5pm UTC).

NEXT SEMINAR: April 7th, 2026

9-10am Pacific timezone converter

Add these events to your calendar

Previous Seminars

Upcoming Speakers

KBTBD4 Cancer Hotspot Mutations Drive Neomorphic Degradation of HDAC1/2 Corepressor Complexes

Olivia Zhang (She/Her)

Liau’s Lab, Harvard University (Cambridge, USA)

Presentation Date: 7 April 2026 1st speaker

EVENT FLYER for VESS_April_2026

Olivia Zhang recently obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University in Dr. Brian Liau’s Lab. Her research focused on understanding chemical and genetic mechanisms to regulate the LSD1-HDAC1/2-CoREST (LHC) repressor complex. In particular, she investigated the mechanism of cancer hotspot mutations in the E3 ligase KBTBD4 in promoting the degradation of CoREST. Using deep mutational scanning and a diverse array of biochemical and cell based assays, her work along with extensive collaborations reveal the mutational landscape of the KBTBD4 hotspot that can promote neomorphic protein-protein interactions that drive subsequent protein degradation. Her work aims to address how we can use genetic methods to uncover protein-protein interactions that can inform therapeutic applications

Scaled multidimensional assays of variant effect for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Yuta Yamamoto (He/Him)

Stanford University (USA)

Presentation Date: 7 April 2026 2nd speaker

EVENT FLYER for VESS_April_2026

Yuta Yamamoto is an Instructor of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford. He completed a postdoc training at the Ashely lab at Stanford. His research focuses on decoding genetic variants associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy using scalable functional genomics.

Seminar series FAQ's

When is it?

1st Tuesday of each month (9am Pacific)
Start time is 9am Pacific (timezone converter)
We have members and presenters from around the globe (multiple time zones)
Our inaugural seminar was Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

Who presents?

Early career scientists: Students, postdocs, and new faculty (<1 year in position)

If you are interested in presenting or would like to recommend someone, please fill out this online SPEAKER NOMINATION FORM

What is the format?

One hour long virtual meetings (zoom)
Each month, two presenters discuss their work in 20-minute talks, followed by lively Q&A sessions.
Questions from the audience can be asked using chat or Q&A during the webinar
AVE members can also follow / continue conversations on our VESS AVE Slack Channel (#variant-effects-seminar-series)

Who can attend?

Our meetings are over Zoom and anyone is welcome to attend.
We use the webinar format, but participants can ask the speaker questions using the chat or Q&A

Do you need to be a member of AVE to attend?

Anyone can attend. However, if you are interested in becoming a member of the Alliance, please sign up > HERE

Who are the organizers?

The Variant Effect Seminar Series Committee members are listed here https://www.varianteffect.org/vess-committee/

Are the talks recorded?

If speakers consent, the recordings will be publicly available on our YouTube channel
Speakers can also now link their VESS talks to bioRxiv preprints!
You can also find a list of previous speakers and talks > HERE

Where can I find the zoom link and calendar invite link?

Here! > VESS ZOOM LINK
and here! > Add these events to your calendar.

Future Seminars

We are looking for speakers, including students, postdocs, and new faculty (<1 year in position)!!

If you are interested in presenting or would like to recommend someone, please fill out this online >> SPEAKER NOMINATION FORM

or contact one of the VESS Organizers on our AVE slack channel!

(sign up to become a member and join conversations on slack https://www.varianteffect.org/membership/)