Symposiums

Conference brings experts in regenerative medicine to CU Boulder

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 21:38:40 +0000

Conference brings experts in regenerative medicine to CU Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/04/2018 - 15:38

Josh Rhoten

Some of the top researchers in the field of regenerative medicine attended the RegenerativeBIOX Conference on CU Boulder’s East Campus last week.

Hosted by the BioFrontiers Institute, the conference was designed to be interactive and help scientists and engineers from academia, national laboratories, students and industry partners identify and explore the growing challenges and opportunities in regenerative biology, engineering and me dicine. Especially those that require overlapping and converging research approaches, including advances like growing human organoids and tissues for drug screening or new cell based therapies to treat diseases like arthritis.

The event was co-sponsored through the CU Boulder College of Engineering and Science’s Precision Biomaterials Interdisciplinary Research Theme.That group of faculty and students within the college has similar goals to the conference: bringing together bioengineers and biomaterials scientist with researchers from the bioscience and medicine to pioneer new directions in healthcare products

“Like the Precision Biomaterials research theme, the goal for the symposium was to bring together a diverse group of people from those developing new technologies to those that are answering basic scientific questions to those that are treating patients,” Precision Biomaterials IRT Director and CU Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth said. “The question was: How can we work together to make major discoveries that will impact human health.”

The interactive symposium and workshops were held at the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnical Building and featured speakers from Harvard University, University of California, Los Angeles, Columbia University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, among others. The prestigious group included two members of the National Academy of Engineering, two members of the National Association of Manufacturers and one member of the National Academy of Sciences. They were jointed by nine working group leaders who were early to mid-career scientist from the across the nation. These individuals were selected for their creativity and demonstrated achievements, and they led the breakout sessions and community building. Nearly 200 people attended the conference in all, including CU graduate students, postdocs, facuty and research staff and representatives from neighboring institutions like Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines and the Anschutz Medical Campus.

While the first portion of the symposium followed a standard lecture format, it also featured ample time for questions from the audience on the various presentations. The three main themes of the lectures addressed advances in the chemistry and processing of biomaterials, in vitro tissue and disease models and manipulating tissue regeneration and biological responses in vivo.

The second half of the symposium saw attendees break into workshops to explore the issues discussed in the lecture, then share their perspective and possible plans with the whole group. Anseth’s vision was primarily to build a community to help tackle the grand challenges, and the outputs will be widely distributed, including a co-authored perspective by the meeting leaders that aims to shape collaborative research in regenerative medicine in the future.

“We wanted to reach not just within the walls of CU Boulder, but to extend our interactions and lead collaborations throughout the region, nation and world,” Anseth said of hosting the conference. “Our vision is to make us - the research theme, the BioFrontiers Institute, the college of engineering and CU Boulder - a hub of not only scientific activity, but leadership in transformative discoveries in regenerative biology, engineering and medicine.”

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Advocating for Science Symposium: Exploring the Changing Landscape of the Scientific Enterprise

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 06:00:00 +0000

Advocating for Science Symposium: Exploring the Changing Landscape of the Scientific Enterprise Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/29/2016 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

By Tess Eidem, Ph.D.

Last week I had the privilege to attend the Advocating for Science Symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I heard Mr. Corb’s and other science advocates’ message on how to use our diverse skills to move science forward. The mission of the two-day symposium was to:

Provide valuable advocacy resources to young investigators (grad students and postdocs)
Identify obstacles faced by the scientific community
Establish a plan of action to overcome those obstacles

The symposium consisted of workshops and interactive panels with policy leaders and communicators designed to help scientists distill their message for a lay audience and explore alternative career paths in science communication, policy, and media. The program also featured a keynote presentation by Dr. Rush Holt, former Congressman and CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Many of these presentations can be viewed online at the Advocating for Science Symposium Webcast.

“The first question people ask is, ‘What do you do?’ A good way to answer that as a scientist is to say, ‘I work for you.’”
-Ben Corb, Director of Public Affairs of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).

I was very fortunate to receive the Advocating for Science Symposium Travel Award from the Future of Research (FoR) to attend the symposium. FoR started as a grassroots organization of postdocs in the Boston area with the goal of understanding the complexities of the scientific enterprise and creating a platform for early career scientists’ voices to be heard.

FoR has been building momentum over the last three years, tracking and surveying Ph.D.’s, publishing current challenges in the academic research setting, including Shaping the Future of Research: a perspective from junior scientists, hosting science advocacy meetings nationally and internationally, and helping others organize their own FoR Symposium.

Photo: Daniel Curtis, MIT Graduate Student Council External Affairs Chair, and Tess Eidem chatting following the discussion panel. Photo Credit: Future of Research.

The Advocating for Science Symposium provided many valuable resources, including information on where a biology Ph.D. will take you, publications that describe the current challenges in the academic research setting, and opportunities to write to your local government representatives to Help Save Science.

I was happy to hear about the growing number of policy and media programs that immerse scientists in government and communication, including the CU Boulder and AAAS Workshop Catalyzing Advocacy in Science & Engineering for graduate students and the AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows Program, to name a few. I was also excited to learn that scientists can participate in the National Academy of Sciences Science & Entertainment Exchange to contribute to scientific accuracy in movies and TV programs (hopefully avoiding some of these hilarious disasters: thatsnothowyoupipette).

I’ve always used PowerPoint to make my figures and presentations, but I can’t wait to try other visual communication tools and tutorials like those offered by Canva. I particularly enjoyed the “Making your own infographic” activity by Dr. Christine Oslowski, which walked participants through the steps of designing a catchy and visually appealing infographic using data from a survey we filled out earlier that day.

To overcome the current obstacles faced by the scientific community, it is imperative that we nurture all of our skills and talents to turn these challenges into opportunities. After attending the symposium, I feel more prepared to develop, hone, and implement my diverse skill set as a science advocate; moreover, the conference brought together an amazing group of scientists who are motivated to do the same. Perhaps most importantly, this symposium confirmed that a scientist is much more than just a researcher; we are entrepreneurs, communicators, managers, mentors, artists, and effectors of change—all wrapped up in one lab coat.

For more information and additional resources, please see the links below:

Advocacy Groups and Publications

Fellowships and Programs

Art and Communication Resources

10 Steps to a Perfect Science Talk
SciArt Center
Visual communication tips, tools, and tutorials: easel.ly | Inkscape | PIXLR

Advocating for Science 2016 Awardees

Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Brian Aguado for his helpful comments and suggestions.

Tess Eidem, Ph.D. is a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Postdoctoral Fellow in the Goodrich-Kugel Laboratory in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. Tess has a passion for science communication and outreach and was recently awarded a travel grant to attend the Advocating for Science Symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where participants discussed the challenges faced by scientists and alternative paths one can pursue with a Ph.D. Read more about the symposium and find science advocacy resources here.

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JSCBB Mini Symposium

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 07:00:00 +0000

JSCBB Mini Symposium Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/19/2013 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

JSCBB Mini Symposium Encourages Collaboration

It looks a lot like the other buildings on the CU-Boulder campus, with its rustic Italian-inspired tile roof and red brick, but the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building (affectionately known by its inhabitants as JSCBB) is something quite different. It was designed to support those scientists and engineers whose research was driving them into other academic areas, and who wanted to use the best tools from other disciplines to do their work. This building houses engineers, biologists, chemists, biochemists, computer scientists and physicists. These are the CU faculty that speak “interdisciplinar-ese”.

In a building where a biochemist can have barbecue with a biofuels expert, good ideas are bound to proliferate. The challenge is getting these dedicated researchers away from their labs and talking to each other. It takes conversation to initiate collaboration. To help this process along, the JSCBB Mini Symposium was born.

The JSCBB Mini Symposium took place on July 29 with 15 faculty members presenting on topics that spanned from biomarkers for cancer, to tissue engineering, biofuels and the microbiome. Faculty members represented the groups in the JSCBB: the BioFrontiers Institute, the Division of Biochemistry and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. JSCBB’s Butcher Auditorium was packed for all five sessions throughout the day.

“It’s sort of like being at an international conference. We’re hearing all these great talks and listening to incredible talent,” says BioFrontiers Institute Director, Tom Cech. “The best part is that we never have to leave the building.”

Talks during the day highlighted just how broad the research is at JSCBB. Ryan Gill, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering detailed the challenges of creating the genome of new bacteria that could break down biomass and turn it into biofuels.

These bacterial helpers have to be resistant to invaders, tolerant of solvents and good at breaking down cell structures. This work piqued the interest of BioFrontiers’ Rob Knight who is an associate professor of biochemistry studying the bacteria, fungus and viruses that populate the human gut, skin and mouth. These researchers, who have collaborated before, will likely meet up again on this challenge.

BioFrontier’s Tom Cech explained the importance of telomerase in the health of human cells, and its role in cancer. During a question session after his talk, BioFrontiers Chief Scientific Officer Leslie Leinwand mentioned that there are virtually no cancers that attack heart muscle tissue, one of her specialized areas of study. “Has anyone studied the telomerase in that tissue?” she asked.

Cech paused momentarily, thinking and replied: “Not that I know of. But we could do it,” he said…hinting at the possibility of a future collaboration between the two.

If the goal of the JSCBB Mini Symposium was to get these talented scientists and engineers communicating with one another, it was successful. Faculty members caught up with each other during the lunch break and reception. In addition, students had free reign to ask questions about the information they had seen during the event. Probably the best measure of success of this event is the desire by these very busy researchers to do it again—a goal that was more than met.

“This will be one of many,” says Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Marv Caruthers. “It’s something we should do twice a year…or maybe more.”

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IQ Biology Blog: On the leading edge

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 06:00:00 +0000

IQ Biology Blog: On the leading edge Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/06/2013 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

Studying Quantitative Genomics in Italy

By: Nora Connor

I returned this past weekend from a conference and workshop called Quantitative Laws of Genome Evolution in Lake Como, Italy. An Italian physicist named Marco Lagomarsino created the conference, which brought together an interdisciplinary group of statistical physicists, biophysicists, chemists and biologists to talk about genomics.

My personal research interests lie in understanding horizontal gene transfer in bacteria and its relationship to the development of antibiotic resistance. I talked with many attendees – who were mostly European grad students and postdocs – about my own research on bacterial genome size. But to really understand the talks and lectures, I needed a solid grounding in a broad range of fields.

In that regard, I couldn’t have been better prepared for this conference. IQBiology gave me the background I needed to understand and appreciate almost every seminar for ten jam-packed days. I had done a project on protein folding for the IQBiology Foundations course, which enabled me to talk with a Danish researcher about his work on metabolic networks. I understood the talks about evolutionary processes in software packages because of my advisor Aaron Clauset’s research about macroevolution – and I spoke with those physicists about their work, how it relates to genetic evolution, and future collaborations. I could converse with biophysicists studying biofilm growth because I had done wet lab work with Bacillus subtilis and watched (and smelled!) my colonies grow wrinkly biofilms. And I was able to engage with researchers studying nucleosome methylation and its potential role in tumor-cell replication, because I understood the nucleosome’s role in transcriptional regulation, thanks to my Statistical Genomics class with Robin Dowell and Manuel Lladser.


*Nora enjoyed this view on her daily conference commute.*

Many of the senior scientists at the conference are interested in the next frontier in biology. They asserted that the years 1990-2010 were the era of genomics, and the years 2010-2020 will be the years of “pangenomics.” The pangenome describes the whole universe of possible genes that might be available to an organism, and thus the possible functions or traits that an organism might be able to adopt. In bacteria, these can be acquired via horizontal gene transfer or viral transduction. The incredible conclusion thus far is that the entire prokaryotic pangenome may include only one million genes. Sure, that may sound like a lot of genes, but remember that bacteria and archaea have been evolving for 3.5 billion years! This area is just developing, but there was a lot of enthusiasm about how ecology may constrain functional radiations, and the implications for cell immunity – for instance, whether individual cells can combat cancerous mutations or viral invasions.

Even though many of the physicists and chemists at the conference were engaged in theoretical research, most of them saw direct application of their work to medical and societal problems. The talks alternated between models of so-called “fitness flux”, to the philosophy of the origin of life, to new approaches to combating HIV and antibiotic resistance. This is the frontier of science, being navigated by interdisciplinary researchers from all over the world. I am incredibly grateful to the IQBiology program for my interdisciplinary education to allow me to be on the leading edge of the cutting-edge.

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IQ Bio Blog: Science in pictures

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:00:00 +0000

IQ Bio Blog: Science in pictures Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/20/2012 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

IQ Bio Blog: Science in pictures

Recently I was lucky enough to present a poster at the Ecological Society of America (ESA) conference in Portland, Oregon. This is the largest conference of ecologists and evolutionary biologists in the US with over 4,000 attendees this year. With so many researchers attending a single conference, the diversity of research topics is vast. In my opinion, however, what really made this particular conference interdisciplinary wasn’t so much the range of research discussed, but the setting of the conference itself. I discovered Portland to be a highly interdisciplinary city. I don’t think you can mix disciplines any more thoroughly than bacon on donuts or artsy paintings of PBR cans on billboards.

However, despite the interdisciplinary allure of the city, I was there for the conference. I spent my days navigating the interior of the Oregon Convention Center rather than downtown Portland.

At any given time in the convention center, there were at least 15 different talks being given in any of 20 different exhibit halls or ballrooms. In addition, each session was classified by a different acronym: SYMP (symposium), PS (poster session), COS (contributed oral session), and OOS (organized oral session). I’m told that those last two are actually different, but I have yet to understand why.

The sessions also covered a huge range of topics from the overly vague (“Theoretical Ecology”) to the surprisingly specific (“Rhizophere And Root Function”). However, while the conference was sometimes difficult to navigate, the talks were always worth going to, and provided useful information on current research efforts, different presenting techniques, and how to draw in an audience (tip #1: be Peter Chesson or Brett Melbourne).

On the third day of the conference I was scheduled to present my poster entitled “Temperature dependent selection on microbial genomes: an examination of intergenic regions and GC composition.” The nice thing about poster sessions is that people are just wandering around the room, quite often socializing with a beer in their hand. They are therefore available to be drawn in to a poster through the strategic use of pretty pictures, a friendly smile, and just the right amount of awkward eye contact.

Given the diversity of interests and backgrounds of the conference attendees it was a challenge to adjust the presentation of my poster to accommodate each person. Many people were interested in some element of the poster, but had no background in the others.

One man in particular seemed to have a hard time understanding the poster. Every time I tried to explain it in a different way or using less jargon, he continued to seem confused. After he left I began to feel nervous about the other people who had visited my poster. Were they just being polite and hadn’t really understood what I’d said?

Luckily the man returned later to talk with me more. It turned out he was a musician and was only there because his girlfriend was presenting a poster too. I had not been prepared for this. While I was expecting to explain my poster to a diverse audience, it hadn’t occurred to me that I would be explaining to someone unfamiliar with concepts like DNA or adaptation.

We talked some more, and it became clear that his interest in the poster came from a different place than most other people I had talked to. When I asked him what questions he had about the poster, he kept returning to a picture I included of Morning Glory Pool in Yellowstone National Park (a particularly colorful hot spring).

Apparently what drew him to the poster and what continued to hold his interest was the photo and the idea that the colors in the hot springs were due to the microbes living there. He really wasn’t interested in what genomic adaptations they might have, he just wanted to enjoy the picture and marvel a little bit at how cool nature is. As my friend and fellow IQ Biology student Daniel McDonald says: “Science is all about pretty pictures.”

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Sir Paul Nurse Receives the 2010 Charlie Butcher Award

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Sir Paul Nurse Receives the 2010 Charlie Butcher Award Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/11/2010 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

Nobel Laureate and President of Rockefeller University in New York, Paul Nurse, Ph.D. recently received the 2010 Charlie Butcher Award in Biotechnology for his work in the molecular mechanisms that control cell division and cell shape. This work has furthered our understanding of cell reproduction, growth and development, particularly in the area of cancer research.

Dr. Nurse received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2001 for his discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle. He was also honored with knighthood in Great Britain for services in cancer research and cell biology. He will be returning to the United Kingdom to lead the U.K. Centre for Medical Research and Innovation and as president of The Royal Society, a fellowship of outstanding individuals who represent all areas of science, engineering and medicine.

The Charlie Butcher Award is named for the late Charles Butcher, a successful entrepreneur with a passion for science and innovation. Jane and Charlie Butcher supported the creation of the Butcher Symposium, which recognizes researchers who are leaders in their fields of expertise and who value cross-discipline approaches in their work. Jane has continued supporting these joint efforts.

As part of the Symposium, the Butchers support seed grants to fund interdisciplinary research projects. These seed grants have been incredibly important in fostering collaborations among CU scientists across all campuses. They have also provided generous support to the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology and to the construction of the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building.

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