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CBC 7 – Conference Feedback

FOUR PATICIPANTS SHARE THEIR VIEW ON
CELL FACTORIES AND BIOSUSTAINABILITY 2015

MEIYAPPAN LAKSHMANN

RESEARCHER, AGENCY FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH, SINGAPORE

Why are you participating at the conference?

– There are two reasons – the networking part and the people who are involved. There are a lot of top names from the area I am interested in.

What has been the highlight of the conference?

– The best thing is the way the conference is a mix between social networking and scientific content. You socialize but at the same time there are more formal speaking sessions. It is really well balanced. I hope that many of the future conferences, I will go to, are organized this way.

– The editors’ corner was a new concept for me. The ability to meet the editors from big journals such as Science and Nature was great. I learned new perspectives on the editorial work – and got a sense of what they are thinking and what criteria they evaluate the papers on.

What do you bring home?

– I may want to collaborate with some of the other participants who have given me new perspectives on my topic. I might even collaborate with some of the speakers. Also, I have no second thoughts that I will recommend the conference to my colleagues. I can’t describe the conference with words – you have to go and experience it yourself.

DOUGLAS B. KELL

PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY AND MANCHESTER INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOCENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM

Why are you participating at the conference?

– All of the areas my group and I are interested in are represented here.

What has been the highlight of the conference?

– Overall it has been terrific. I think it is a good thing that it is just 4 days – because I will be completely exhausted by the end of it. By staying up late, talking, listening, discussing and eating great food. There hasn’t been one talk that wasn’t interesting.”

What do you bring home?

– New ideas on how to do things differently – and a better knowledge of what other people are doing – both published and unpublished work. You can’t read every single paper so it is hard to keep up. Most of Friday will involve transcribing my notes to find the relevant papers and read them. Going away make you think about your own stuff.  If I don’t come back with a dozen decent projects it hasn’t been a very good conference. But this time I will definitely do so.

TIAN ZHANG

ORGANIZER & GROUP LEADER, THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION BIOSUSTAINABILITY CENTER, DENMARK

Why are you participating at the conference?

I am an organizer from the CFB-center and I heard from my colleagues, who were here two years ago, that it is a fantastic conference.

What has been the highlight of the conference?

The conference has been like a knowledge brainstorm. I have got a lot of new inspiration from the talks and from talking to experts from different fields.

I liked both the PI-corner and Editors Pub a lot. I have always thought – how can I reach these people? At this conference they are standing right in front you. You mingle while having a drink together and it becomes a casual talk about science. In our fields that doesn’t happen everyday.

What do you bring home?

To me: a lot of new inspiration and ideas on my own research.

To the center: The Center for Biosustainability is still quite new, so the conference is a great way for us to reach people from all over the world. We get to hear what they think of us and how they like our center. It is also a way to talk about possible collaborations with the researchers as they come from different institutes around the world.

I began working at the Center in March 2013 and I think it is a great place for a young researcher to start your career.

SUSANNAH TRINGE

DR., DOE JOINT GENOME INSTITUTE, SAN FRANCISCO, THE UNITED STATES

Why are you participating at the conference?

– It’s a gathering of the top synthetic biology groups around the world to discuss strategies and techniques. It has been really good – well organized, good talks and events.

What has been the highlight of the conference?

– The venue is unique. Much nicer than most conferences I go to. It’s great how international the group is. I don’t travel a lot outside United Stated, so having people from Europe, Asia, United States and around the world at the same place is really unique.

– I was assigned to evaluate the graduate student posters in the poster competition. Many of them are just few years in to their program, but everyone I have talked to seem very on top of their subject and able to explain it really well.

What do you bring home?

– My institute is increasingly getting into this area, so as a part of an institution I feel like there is a lot I can learn and take back to my colleagues.