2012 America Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting By Risa Burr
I am a second year graduate student in Peter Espenshade’s lab in the Cell Biology Department and the BCMB program. I received funding from the graduate student association to give a poster at the Genetics Society of America Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology meeting at Princeton University that occurred this summer.
The week-long conference focused on all aspects of yeast research, from the origin of lager-brewing yeast, to replicative aging, to optogenetic tools to control protein degradation. The conference featured both oral and poster presentations, as well as talks from preeminent scientists in the field. I especially enjoyed the lifetime achievement award lecture given by John Pringle of Stanford, in which he discussed his early days in graduate school figuring out how to use SDS-PAGE to identify the molecular weight of protein, as well as his current work on dinoflagellate-cnidarian symbiosis. In addition to the formal presentations, there was also ample time to talk with faculty at meals. I had never been to a conference before, and I learned that they are excellent venues for putting your research into the perspective of the field, and to hear about all kinds of exciting and cutting edge techniques.
One of the best things about this particular conference is that they are very focused on making it a productive event for the numerous graduate students and post-docs in attendance. Almost all of the oral presentations were given by students, and anyone who submitted an abstract was allowed to give a poster, which resulted in a gymnasium full of over 500 posters. As a second year, this was especially helpful for me, because the research I presented in my poster was very preliminary and I got a lot of good feedback. It was also a great experience giving a poster at a meeting and I learned skills that I will use again and again in my future career. As an added boon to early career scientists, there were career discussion sessions where faculty and industry representatives shared their insight on all aspects of career development. In our free time, students and faculty would explore the campus, talk shop at bars on Nassau Street, or get ice cream at the Bent Spoon. All told it was a great experience that I would highly recommend for any budding scientist. I feel very lucky to have been able to attend a conference so early in my graduate career, and I thank the GSA for helping to make it possible.
The week-long conference focused on all aspects of yeast research, from the origin of lager-brewing yeast, to replicative aging, to optogenetic tools to control protein degradation. The conference featured both oral and poster presentations, as well as talks from preeminent scientists in the field. I especially enjoyed the lifetime achievement award lecture given by John Pringle of Stanford, in which he discussed his early days in graduate school figuring out how to use SDS-PAGE to identify the molecular weight of protein, as well as his current work on dinoflagellate-cnidarian symbiosis. In addition to the formal presentations, there was also ample time to talk with faculty at meals. I had never been to a conference before, and I learned that they are excellent venues for putting your research into the perspective of the field, and to hear about all kinds of exciting and cutting edge techniques.
One of the best things about this particular conference is that they are very focused on making it a productive event for the numerous graduate students and post-docs in attendance. Almost all of the oral presentations were given by students, and anyone who submitted an abstract was allowed to give a poster, which resulted in a gymnasium full of over 500 posters. As a second year, this was especially helpful for me, because the research I presented in my poster was very preliminary and I got a lot of good feedback. It was also a great experience giving a poster at a meeting and I learned skills that I will use again and again in my future career. As an added boon to early career scientists, there were career discussion sessions where faculty and industry representatives shared their insight on all aspects of career development. In our free time, students and faculty would explore the campus, talk shop at bars on Nassau Street, or get ice cream at the Bent Spoon. All told it was a great experience that I would highly recommend for any budding scientist. I feel very lucky to have been able to attend a conference so early in my graduate career, and I thank the GSA for helping to make it possible.