On April 12, 2021, the MiBio/iBGS Symposium went virtual. This year’s theme “Branching Out: The Untapped World of Biological Systems.”
MiBio/iBGS Symposium Speakers:
Keynote – Dr. Michelle Wang “DNA Mechanics in Fundamental Processes” (Cornell University)
Other invited speakers – Dr. Erin Goley (Johns Hopkins University), Dr. Masa Onishi (Duke University), Dr. Rick Baker (UNC CH), and Dr. Emily Hatch (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)
Awards:
Best Oral Presentation
· Gabrielle Budziszewski (Graduate Student): The C-terminus of VRK1 governs interactions with nucleosomes to influence histone H3 threonine 3 (H3T3) phosphorylation
· Wilton Snead, PhD (Post-doctoral Fellow): Membrane surfaces regulate assembly of a polyQ-RNA condensate
Best Poster Presentation
· Emma Hinkle (Graduate Student): Splice it like it’s hot: Splice forms of F-actin capping protein affect skeletal muscle cell morphology and dynactin levels
· Aaron Crain (Graduate Student): Distinct functions of PR-Set7 and H4K20 methylation in cell proliferation
Special thanks goes to our Organizers
Student organizers – Gabrielle Dardis, Keean (Aki) Braceros, Adam Luthman, Kevin Cannon* (*graduated but helped in early stages of planning)
Special shout-out to Gabby, Keean, and Adam; they put together an awesome program, and their fast and effective response to the early technical problems was a thing of beauty.
Special thanks goes to our Sponsors and administrative help
MiBio & iBGS program directors – Dale Ramsden & Bob Duronio
Administration – Delphine Bull
Website & logo – Michael Kerr & Rachel Cherney
Highlights & Feedback
Although we experienced technical hiccups, we are proud to say that our incredible invited speakers retained the attention of the majority of our attendees hopping between Zoom links. Our keynote speaker, Dr. Michelle Wang, especially enraptured our audience with many faculty claiming it was the “best talk they have ever heard.” Our student speakers and poster presenters additionally gave wonderful presentations that impressed our UNC and invited faculty members. MiBio and iBGS aim to promote interdisciplinary and mechanistic research, and the impressive diversity of research presented at our symposium was hugely success towards this goal.