WACD 2026 Program: Stronger Together in Changing Times
2026 Talks now available where links indicate. Please check back for further updates.
Current Abstracts and Bios Now Available
Monday, September 28th
1:00-5:00 Pre-meeting workshop: Business Skills
Overall theme: Value of Cores
Topics: Business Planning, Strategic Planning
Julie Auger, Executive Director Research Operations (Salk Institute)
Tuesday, September 29th
8:30-9:00 Registration: Coffee and Pastries
9:00-9:15 Welcome & Opening Remarks – Host: Diane Miller (WACD President)
Land Acknowledgement
9:15-11:00 Session 1: Expanding the Horizons of Core Technologies
Sponsor: Takara
Moderator: Ben Abrams (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Speaker: Neil Doherty, Graduate Student, Salama lab (University of California, Santa Cruz)- “Pushing the boundaries of long time course imaging of organoids in a core facility”
Speaker: Jerome LaCombe, Assistant Professor (University of Arizona)- “Organ-on-chip technologies as an integrative hub for biomedical research: toward a connected core facility“
Speaker: Cassie Sather, Associate Operations Director, Shared Resources (Fred Hutch Cancer Center) “Shared Infrastructure, Shared Opportunity – a novel institutional pathway connecting a life-science incubator with academic shared resource“
Speaker: Ben Smith, Director, CRL-MIC (University of California, Berkeley)– “Expanding Beyond Imaging: Technology Development as a Strategic Service for Core Sustainability”
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-1:15 Session 2: Negotiating Skills
Sponsor: 10x Genomics
Moderator: Jenn Page (Salk Institute)
Speaker: Holly Schroth, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer and Distinguished Teaching Fellow- Haas School of Business (University of California, Berkeley) – “The Art of Working with People to Get Things Done”
1:15-2:10: Lunch, Vendor Visits and Networking
- Vendor Booths OPEN
2:10-3:25 Session 3: Non-Federal Funding Mechanisms
Sponsor: Illumina
Moderator: Jenn Page (Salk Institute)
Speaker: Amy Sprowles, Professor and Director of the Humboldt-CIRM Shared Resources Laboratory (California Polytechnic Institute Humboldt)- “The Humboldt-CIRM SRL: Opportunities and Challenges in Building a Stem-Cell Modeling Core Facility in one of California’s Most Remote and Geographically Isolated Areas“
Speaker: Kartoosh Heydari, Director, Cancer Research Laboratory FACS Core Facility (University of California, Berkeley)- “From FACS to Hi-D Clinical Trial FACS”
Speaker: Donna Hendricks, Managing Director (California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences at UC Berkeley)- “Core funding sources – sources for sustainability”
3:25-3:55 Coffee Break
3:55-4:30: Lead into Keynote Address
ABRF Introduction: Sara Bowen (Barrow Neurological Institute)
Sponsor: QIAGEN
Moderator: Cherise Stanley (University of California, Berkeley)
4:30-5:30 Session 4: Keynote
Speaker: Uri Manor, Associate Professor (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital) – “Novel Molecular and Computational Tools for Imaging Organelle Dynamics”
5:30-7:00: Cocktail Reception
Sponsor: QIAGEN
Wednesday, September 30th
8:30-9:00: Coffee and Pastries
9:00-10:45 Session 5: AI advances, ethics, and workflows
Sponsor: NEB
Moderator: Sara Bowen (Barrow Neurological Institute)
Speaker: Adeela Syed, Associate Project Scientist & Manager, Optical Biology Core (University of California, Irvine)- “The Core of It All: Science, Mentorship & Responsible AI“
Speaker: Yasmin Kassim, Postdoctoral Fellow (University of California, San Diego)- “From Months to Minutes: Scaling 3D Biomedical Image Analysis with AI“
Speaker: Siva Ponnan (Seattle Children’s Research Institute)
Speaker: Sorena Nadaf-Rahrov (Ci4CC- Cancer Center Informatics Society)
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:15 Session 6: Recharge Setting and Guidelines
Sponsor: LabGiant
Moderator: Cassie Sather (Fred Hutch Cancer Center)
Speaker: Julie Auger, Executive Director Research Operations (Salk Institute) “Q&A: Recharge Setting, Compliance & Guidelines“
Speaker: Kevin Karl Mack, Assistant Director, Costing Policy & Analysis (University of California, Berkeley)- “Recharge at UC Berkeley”
Speaker: Isabelle Girard (University of California, Davis)
12:15-1:30: Lunch, Vendor Visits, Networking
- Vendor Booths OPEN
1:30-3:00 Session 7: Cores in the Community
Sponsor: Roche
Moderator: Cassie Sather (Fred Hutch Cancer Center)
Speaker: Kristin Kleinhofer, Patient Advocate and Speaker (Independent)- “The Power of Shared Resources: A Patient’s Story of Hope, Survival, and the People Behind the Cores Who Made It Possible“
Speaker: Luis Alvarez, Adjunct Professor (Merritt College- Bioscience Program)- “Merritt Microscopy Program: Changing Lives Through Community “
Speaker: David Kililea, Program Manager (University of California, San Francisco)- “A Core Journey – Possibility to Adversity to Community“
3:00-3:15 Coffee Break
3:15-4:45 Session 8: Core Sustainability
Moderator: Aarya Vaikakkara Chithran (Seattle Children’s Research Institute)
Speaker: Raj Uthamanthil, AVP, Research and Innovation (Seattle Children’s Research Institute)- “Regional Partnership for Core Sustainability”
Speaker: Vincent Nguyen, Systemwide Procurement Life Science Category Manager (University of California Office of the President)- “Cores of a Good Contract: Negotiation and Staying Compliant“
Speaker: Aaron Larson, Director of Operations, Shared Research Resources (Seattle Children’s Research Institute)- “Automated Core Facility Charges: Integrating the API to create core requests for users and ensure reliable revenue capture”
4:45-5:00 Closing Remarks
