By Lookout Staff

March 2, 2012 -- Immune cells to fight cancer, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s influence on science and oceans in peril are the topics of an upcoming lecture series that kicks off this month at Santa Monica College.

All the talks in the Spring 2012 "Distinguished Scientists Lecture Series" are designed for lay audiences and are free. The lectures will be held at 11:15 a.m. in Science Lecture Hall 140 on the
main SMC campus, 1900 Pico Boulevard.

The series kicks off March 13 with "Lessons Learned from the Study of Immune Cells in Cancer Cells and Stem Cells," by Dr. Anahid Jewett, UCLA associate professor and member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Tumor Immunology Program Area. Jewett will discuss her research on finding ways to increase the potential of immune cells to eliminate cancers.

On April 5, Dr. F. Charles Brunicardi will deliver "Leadership Principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," which probes how Dr. King's ideas can be effective in the practice of medicine. Dr. Brunicardi is a professor andChief of the Santa Monica-UCLA General Surgery Group and a vice chair of the Department of Surgery for Surgical Services at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital.

The final lecture on May 22, "Oceans in Peril: A Sailing Voyage Across the South Pacific," will be by SMC biology professor Dr. Garen Baghdasarian, chair of the Life Sciences Department and former director of the SMC Center for Environmental and Urban Studies. He will discuss his research in the South Pacific of ocean pollution.

The lecture series is sponsored by the SMC Physical Science and Life Science departments and the SMC Associates, a private organization that funds speakers and special events on campus.

Seating is on a first-arrival basis. For information, call (310) 434-4303 or go to http://www.smc.edu/associates .