Fall 2026
This semester,
at a glance.
Presented by MCBcDNA
Fall 2026 Speaker Series
This fall, MCBcDNA is hosting 12 events featuring biotech and the life sciences' most
prominent leaders at UC Berkeley, a weekly series of evening talks and fireside chats spanning
industry, academia, medicine, public health, and government, running September through December.
Each event pairs a marquee speaker with our community of Berkeley students, researchers,
and faculty, followed by open networking. Most sessions are held on and around the UC Berkeley
campus, with select sessions in San Francisco and over Zoom.
September
Jackson Egen, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Research Oncology, Gilead Sciences
Leads oncology research at Gilead, advancing the company's cancer immunotherapy and targeted therapy pipeline.
Sep 14
8:00 – 9:30 PM PT
Bakar Labs
Lloyd Minor, M.D.
Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine
Physician-scientist and dean of Stanford Medicine. Identified superior canal dehiscence syndrome and developed its surgical treatment; a national voice on precision health.
Sep 22
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
VLSB 2040
Joe Betts-LaCroix
CEO & Co-Founder, Retro Biosciences
Co-founder and CEO of Retro Biosciences, a longevity biotech working to add ten years to healthy human lifespan. Previously founded OQO and Vium, and is an inventor on over 100 patents.
Sep 30
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
N100 Chou Hall
October
Hal Barron, M.D.
CEO, Founder & Board Co-Chair, Altos Labs
Cardiologist and former President of R&D at GSK and Chief Medical Officer at Genentech. Now leads Altos Labs, focused on cellular rejuvenation programming.
Oct 1
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Bakar Labs
David Schaffer, Ph.D.
Director, QB3 & Bakar Labs, UC Berkeley
Berkeley professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering and bioengineering. His directed-evolution work on AAV gene-therapy vectors underpins therapies now in clinical trials; co-founder of 4D Molecular Therapeutics.
Oct 7
5:00 – 6:30 PM PT
IGI, UC Berkeley
Frank McCormick, Ph.D.
David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology & Cancer Research, UCSF
Cancer biologist known for foundational work on the Ras oncogene. Founder of Onyx Pharmaceuticals and former director of the NCI's RAS Initiative.
Oct 14
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
N270 Chou Hall
John Maraganore, Ph.D.
Founding CEO, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which he led from its early days to the first FDA-approved RNA-interference (RNAi) therapeutic — establishing an entirely new class of medicines.
Oct 15
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Zoom + C230 Cheit Hall
Syra Madad, D.H.Sc. & Jake Glanville, Ph.D.
Chief Biopreparedness Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals · CEO, Centivax
An epidemiologist and special-pathogens expert in conversation with a computational immunologist developing broadly protective vaccines. Both were featured in Netflix's “Pandemic.”
Oct 22
6:00 – 8:00 PM PT
Cooley
Peter Chin, M.D. & Joseph Lewcock, Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer & Head of Development · Chief Scientific Officer, Denali Therapeutics
Peter Chin, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development, joins Joseph Lewcock, Chief Scientific Officer, to discuss Denali Therapeutics’ work developing medicines for serious diseases, including neurodegenerative conditions.
Oct 29
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
MBC BioLabs
November
Elias Zerhouni, M.D.
Former Director, National Institutes of Health
Radiologist who directed the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2008 and later served as President of Global R&D at Sanofi.
Nov 12
6:30 – 8:00 PM PT
TBD
Randy Schekman, Ph.D.
Professor of Molecular & Cell Biology, UC Berkeley · Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for uncovering the machinery that regulates vesicle traffic inside cells. His lab now studies extracellular vesicles and their role in neurodegenerative disease.
Nov 18
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
N100 Chou Hall
December
Pradeep Natarajan, M.D.
Vice President, Head of Cardiometabolic Research & Head of Human Genetics, Amgen
Cardiologist and human geneticist leading cardiometabolic and human-genetics research at Amgen, connecting genomic discoveries to new treatments for heart disease.
Dec 1
7:30 – 9:00 PM PT
Bakar Labs
Interested in partnering? Reach out to
aidanheller@berkeley.edu.
With thanks
Our partners for the series.
The Fall 2026 Speaker Series is free and open to everyone because of the
organizations below. Our thanks to each of them for backing Berkeley’s
life-science community.
Never miss an event.
Events are open to students, researchers, faculty, and the broader Bay Area life-science community. Subscribe to the Luma calendar and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for the schedule.
