Session III:
May 11, 2026, 1:00 to 3:00 PM EST
A Joint session with Society of Ultrastructural Pathology
Detail of this special session will be announced soon
(Coming soon)
Thank you Sponsors!
Yongxin (Leon) Zhao
Making Super-Resolution Imaging Practical: Magnify Expansion Microscopy for Research and Translational Applications
Short Bio
Antentor Hinton, Jr.
Advanced Sample Preparation and Quantitative Structural Analysis in Human, Mouse, and Cell Models: Linking Organelle Morphology to Mechanistic Function
Dr. Antentor Hinton is the Ernest E. Just Early Career Investigator, a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Science Leadership Investigator, and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund CASI Investigator. He is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences, with joint appointments in the Division of Cardiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Meharry Medical College. His research integrates advanced electron microscopy (SBF-SEM, FIB-SEM, and CLEM) and molecular genetics to investigate how mitochondria regulate mtDNA stability, nucleoid remodeling, and MERC communication, and how estrogen receptor signaling shapes neurohormonal control of blood pressure and pregnancy. His group also develops next-generation EM protocols and AI-based pipelines to classify mitochondrial ultrastructure and organelle interactions.
With an h-index of 35, Dr. Hinton has published 149 papers, delivered more than 200 invited talks, and received over 60 awards, including the ASCB Mentoring Keynote Award and the Vanderbilt Postdoc Faculty Mentor of the Year Award. He has trained and mentored over 90 trainees, including graduate, medical, postdoctoral, and undergraduate students. His mentees have achieved notable successes, including a Fulbright Scholar and a Marshall Scholar, in addition to securing competitive residencies and faculty positions. Dr. Hinton also serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences and Current Protocols, and is a member of the editorial boards of Circulation Research, Aging Cell, and several other leading journals.
Baktiar Karim
The Role of Pathology in Cancer Research
Dr. Baktiar Karim is a cancer researcher whose work centers on the molecular mechanisms of disease, animal disease models and preclinical research. He received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Baghdad and continued his training with a combined pathology residency/PhD in the Department of Comparative Medicine at Johns Hopkins where he focused on focusing on the role of the Apc/Wnt signaling regenerative pathway. His training integrates core biological sciences, veterinary medicine, histopathology, and toxicology which provide a strong foundation for investigation of cancer development and progression, as well as therapeutic interventions.
Currently, Dr. Karim serves as Director at the Molecular Histopathology Laboratory at the Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research. His lab provides comprehensive pathology support to investigators at the National Cancer Institute and other NIH agencies, as well as to extramural collaborators. His responsibilities include grading and staging cancer in mouse models, conducting animal health diagnostics, performing digital image analysis to quantify biomarkers, and developing AI-assisted algorithms to distinguish invasive cancer from pre-neoplastic lesions.
His expertise lies in in-depth investigation of tissue regeneration, tumor initiation, and tumor inhibition and he has experience with many different cancer models including pancreatic, kidney, lung, skin, ovarian, mesothelioma, melanoma and mammary cancer. His work directly supports translational cancer research and preclinical model validation. His team provides expertise and services in mouse histology and cutting edge molecular pathology including multiplexed RNAScope and immunohistochemistry and spatial transcriptomics.
Daniel Crooks
Respiratory Extremes in Kidney Cancer: Exploration of Mitochondrial Ultrastructure and Metabolism in Human Hereditary Renal Cancer Syndromes
Dr. Crooks’ research is focused on the characterization of altered tumor and mitochondrial metabolism in hereditary cancers, including those caused by mutations in the Krebs cycle enzymes fumarate hydratase (HLRCC) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH-RCC), as well as renal tumors associated with Birt-Hogg-Dubé and von Hippel-Lindau syndromes. The approach is to utilize stable isotope-resolved metabolomics, genomics, transcriptomic, proteomic and molecular techniques to identify targetable metabolic alterations in human tumors and tumor cells, to offer new therapeutic possibilities for these unique patient populations. Dr. Crooks is also the Acting Director of the CCR Clinical Cancer Metabolism Facility located in NIH Building 10 for the conduct of collaborative intramural metabolomics studies and metabolic imaging, with a focus on targeted analysis of human tissue samples, isotope-resolved metabolomics studies of patient-derived tissues and cells, and utilization of pre-clinical and human metabolic imaging technologies.