The 1st Florida Translational Cell Biology Symposium was held on September 22, 2017 on the campus of the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, FL. After being given the idea by Dr. Eric Vitriol during journal club, graduate students Joseph Black and John Calise submitted an Early Career Meeting Grant application to the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in January 2017. Once ASCB committed to supporting their meeting, Joe and John recruited fellow Molecular Cell Biology graduate students Breanna Burkes and Kristen Skruber to round out the organizing committee. For the next six months, with the help of Heather Smith from ASCB and Brett Looney, James Dean, and Amy Davis (UF College of Medicine Office of Graduate Education), the student committee raised funds and organized every detail of the symposium.
That day, they hosted nearly 120 participants from seven different institutions around Florida for the inaugural symposium. Keynote speaker Ryohei Yasuda from the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience captivated the audience with 2-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy of single dendritic spines in his keynote address. Early-career researchers gave oral and poster presentations on topics ranging from the cell biology of rare genetic disorders and cancers to actin dynamics and signal transduction. Students and postdocs also interacted with faculty in small-group formats to discuss career development opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities in biomedical science. This fantastic day culminated in an evening reception where participants formed new friendships and made exciting plans for the 2018 symposium.
Check out the complete 2017 program.
Organizing Committee:
S. John Calise – UF
Joseph Black – UF
Kristen Skruber, MS – UF
Breanna K. Burkes – UF
Sponsors:
American Society for Cell Biology Early Career Meeting Grant
Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences – UF College of Medicine
Clinical and Translational Science Institute – UF Health
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology – UF College of Medicine
Department of Oral Biology – UF College of Dentistry
Beckman Coulter
BMG Labtech
Corning Inc.
Cytoskeleton, Inc.
DWK Life Sciences
Qiagen
Selleck Chemicals
Thermo Fisher Scientific
VWR International
Invited Speakers:
Ryohei Yasuda, PhD – Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (keynote)
Laurence Morel, PhD – Professor and Vice Chair For Research and Academic Affairs, UF College of Medicine Department of Pathology
Laura Ranum, PhD – Professor and Director of Center for NeuroGenetics, UF Department of Genetics and Microbiology
Rolf Renne, PhD – Professor, UF Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Southeastern Translational Cell Biology Symposium 