For Your Health
For Your Health

News from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences

Tak Mak to be keynote speaker at 2019 Frank Low Day April 25

The 39th annual Frank Low Research Day will be held at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) on Thursday, April 25, 2019.

Named in honor of the former SMHS anatomy professor who came to UND in the 1960s and pioneered a series of new techniques for the electron microscope, Frank Low Research Day is the culminating event of the academic year for many area researchers working in the biomedical and health sciences.

Tak W. Mak, PhD, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Frank Low Research Day. Dr. Mak is currently Director of the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and a University Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Department of Immunology, University of Toronto.

Dr. Mak’s academic research interests center on recognition and regulation in the immune system as well as cell survival and cell death in normal and malignant cells. He is best known as the leading scientist of the group that first cloned the genes of the human T cell antigen receptor and elucidated the function of the first immune checkpoint regulator, CTLA-4. Both of these discoveries helped paved the way to today’s breakthroughs in immunotherapy. His talk is entitled “Fire and Water are Good Servants but Bad Masters.” His presentation will be at 1 p.m. in the SMHS Charles H. Fee, M.D. Auditorium (E101) in Grand Forks.

At this year’s event, more than 160 faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and students will present oral and/or poster presentations on a wide range of basic biomedical, health sciences, translational, and clinical topics. Poster presentations will be on display in the West Atrium on the first floor of the SMHS.

“We’re excited, as always, about Frank Low Research Day,” said Dr. Jamie Foster, assistant professor in the SMHS Department of Biomedical Sciences. “The event seems to grow in size and scope each year. In so doing, it not only contributes to the intellectual culture of the community but the health and workforce needs of North Dakota.”

Frank Low Research Day is free and open to the public.