Conference and Symposium Update
Northeast Regional Laboratory Staff and Core Directors Annual Meeting
Dr. Christopher Hemme attended the Northeast Regional Laboratory Staff and Core Directors Annual Meeting in October 2022. The annual meeting is an opportunity for core leaders and staff to network, meet with vendors, and get updated on new technologies and best practices in biological data science. The consensus among the core leaders is that biomedical data science has reached an inflection point in the adoption of new single-cell and spatial technologies. While bulk omics methods such as RNA-seq are not going away any time soon, the field is rapidly moving towards a new paradigm of single-cell resolution spatial multiomics methods, often employing cloud computing and machine learning algorithms.
2023 Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science
This past October, three students previously supported by the SURF program, the RI-INBRE Training Core Director, Dr. Samantha Meenach, and several other URI programs attended the 2023 National Diversity in STEM Conference (NDiSTEM) hosted by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). More than 4,000 students, faculty, staff, and professionals attended the conference
in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from October 27–29, 2022, shortly after their recovery from Hurricane Fiona. Conference activities included presentations of cutting-edge STEM research, professional development sessions, motivational keynote speakers, and a graduate school and career expo, in addition to multicultural celebrations and traditions and an inclusive and welcome community of peers, mentors, and role models.
Dana Allababidi (SURF ’21) and Camila Cersosimo (SURE ’21) presented their RI-INBRE-related projects at the poster sessions, where more than 1,000 students presented their research, with more than 50% of these presenters being first-generation students.
2022 National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence
The 8th Biennial National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence (NISBRE) was held virtually from December 12-14, 2022. NISBRE is a national scientific meeting that showcases the scientific and training accomplishments of the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The IDeA program develops scientific centers of excellence and trains biomedical scientists in IDeA-eligible states. Rhode Island has four IDeA programs that include the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), the IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), the IDeA Co-Funding, and the IDeA Clinical and Translational Research Programs (CTR).
Kelsey Hunter (SURF ’21), a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island was invited and presented a Flash Talk entitled “Altered retinoic acid metabolism and signaling in Faconi Anemia” representing her research in Dr. Niall Howlett‘s lab.
RI-INBRE Program Director Bongsup Cho was a member of the NISBRE Organizing Committee and moderated an INBRE/COBRE Joint Session.