Feb 13th at Seattle University | Dr. Megan Smithmyer, Staff Scientist, Benaroya Research Institute

Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health studies the immune system and the wide range of diseases that affect it — including autoimmune diseases, allergies, asthma and cancer. Its purpose is to advance the understanding of human immunology: studying the immune system in health and disease, searching for new and better treatments with fewer side effects, and identifying personalized medicines that target the root cause of disease. Researchers at BRI are also working to shift the paradigm of immune system disease treatment by uncovering ways to predict who will develop disease and stop it before it starts. 

BRI recently published a study defining what a healthy immune system looks like, marking a significant step forward in its mission. Megan Smithmyer, PhD, will provide an overview of BRI and its recent works including the Sound Life Project, a unique longitudinal study that followed 100 healthy adults over the course of two years. Findings from this study lay the groundwork for BRI to better understand what goes awry during autoimmune disease and other immune-mediated diseases.      

Agenda -

11:30 am to 12 pm - lunch

12 pm to 12:40 pm - presentation

12:40 pm to 1 pm - audience Q&A

Register on Luma - Discovery Series, Dr. Megan Smithmyer, Staff Scientist, Benaroya Research Institute · Luma

Designed to bring together the state's preeminent researchers, innovative leaders, and elected officials who want to stay on top of important advancements being made in our state, each Discovery Series program includes lunch, networking time, a Q&A session, and an opportunity to meet the speaker.

March 13th at Northeastern University Seattle | Dr. Sid Venkatesh, Assistant Professor, Institute for Systems Biology (ISB)

Details and description coming soon…

Agenda -

11:30 am to 12 pm - lunch

12 pm to 12:40 pm - presentation

12:40 pm to 1 pm - audience Q&A

Register on Luma: Discovery Series, Dr. Sid Venkatesh, Assistant Professor, Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) · Luma

April 10th | Dr. Bruce Maxwell, Teaching Professor & Director of Computing Programs, Northeastern University Seattle

What if the way we prepare images for computers is getting in the way of understanding them?
Most digital images are designed to look good to human eyes. But what’s best for people isn’t always best for machines. Bruce Maxwell, teaching professor at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus, explores how rethinking image formats—especially how brightness and color are represented—can unlock new capabilities in computer vision.

Inspired by how the human eye processes light, Maxwell’s research shows that using alternative formats can make AI models more stable under changing lighting, reveal hidden patterns, and improve performance across tasks like object recognition and image generation. His experiments suggest that small changes in how we feed images to machines can lead to big improvements in how they interpret the world.

This talk invites us to look beneath the surface of everyday images—and discover how seeing differently might help machines see better.

Agenda

11:30 am to 12 pm - lunch

12 pm to 12:40 pm - presentation

12:40 pm to 1 pm - audience Q&A

Register on Luma: Discovery Series, Dr. Bruce Maxwell, Teaching Professor & Director of Computing Programs, Northeastern University Seattle · Luma

Metastasis in Slow Motion: Preventing Cancer’s Return

What if cancer didn’t strike in one dramatic moment—but instead lingered, quietly, for years?Long after a tumor seems gone, cancer cells can lie dormant. And sometimes, they return. This is the mystery of metastatic relapse—and the frontier where Dr. Cyrus Ghajar works.

At Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Ghajar leads research into how dormant cancer cells evade treatment and what reactivates them. His lab bridges oncology, immunology, and bioengineering to explore the role of the immune system in suppressing dormant cancer cells. It’s a delicate numbers game that can tip the balance between remission and recurrence. 

Supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Kuni Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, and other funders, Ghajar holds the Peter S. Lefkarites Memorial Endowed Chair. Ghajar’s. His work is reshaping how we think about metastasis—not as a sudden invasion, but a slow, stealthy process that might be intercepted. Join us to explore how silence in the body might hold the key to preventing relapse. 

Agenda -

11:30 am to 12 pm - lunch

12 pm to 12:40 pm - presentation

12:40 pm to 1 pm - audience Q&A

Register on luma: Discovery Series, Dr. Cyrus Ghjar, Professor, Fred Hutch · Luma

Designed to bring together the state's preeminent researchers, innovative leaders, and elected officials who want to stay on top of important advancements being made in our state, each Discovery Series program includes lunch, networking time, a Q&A session, and an opportunity to meet the speaker.