Welcome to the KBC DAYS 2020!

Conference overview

Time: Tuesday, 3 November - Wednesday, 4 November, 9:00-16:30

Location: online

This year, one of the main topics of the KBC DAYS is sustainability and research that contributes to a sustainable world - similarly to the 2020 focus of Umeå University. The second topic deals with different aspects of science communication with the public. We welcome you to listen to plenary lectures and a panel discussion and actively discuss these two topics by asking your questions, chatting, and posting your comments during the conference.

There will also be many inspiring presentations from KBC, including talks by new faculty members, large grants and award recipients, and video research pitch presentations from PhD students.

The research infrastructures / technical platforms will present their services in a panel showcase discussion and will offer round-table discussions where you can meet the infrastructure representatives, ask questions and learn more about their services and resources and how they can support you to proceed with your research projects.

We are also planning to include several interactive elements in the conference programme. Check for updates on the KBC DAYS homepage and announcements in the KBC Event letters!

Deadline

Registration deadline: 19 October 2020

PROGRAMME

Times in the programme are:
Central European Time (CET): e.g. Stockholm, Umeå.

Please note! The programme is still under construction and all times/titles are the subjects of change.

DAY 1, Tuesday 3 November

SESSION 1

(Chairperson: Stefan Björklund)

9.00 Welcome
Stefan Björklund
Scientific Coordinator for KBC

9.15 Opening of the KBC DAYS 2020
Hans Adolfsson
Vice chancellor, Umeå University

9.30 Plenary lecture I: Multiscale, transdisciplinary research to guide the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative
Deborah Goffner
CNRS, France and Stockholm Resilience Centre

10.15 Responsible Artificial Intelligence
Virginia Dignum
Department of Computing Science, Wallenberg Chair, Program Director WASP-HS, Umeå University

10.35 To the rescue of sustainability - Society, the environment, and the humanities
Janina Priebe
Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies

10.55 Coffee break

SESSION 2: NEW FACULTY MEMBERS, AWARD AND GRANT RECIPIENTS AT KBC

(Chairperson: Judith Lundberg-Felten)

11.05 Chemo-optogenetic knock-on/off approach in autophagy research
Yaowen Wu
Department of Chemistry, Director of the Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR)

11.25 Molecular players of photoprotection in plants
Alizée Malnoë
Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), Umeå University

11.45 Lunch break and time to ...
- watch video research pitch presentations by PhD students
- participate in Agrisera Antibody Quiz and win a free antibody
- upload a photo for the photo contest with the theme "Sustainability"

SESSION 3: PANEL DISCUSSION ON SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

13.00 Panel discussion: Science communication with the public

Moderator: Hanne Kjöller, Journalist and writer

Panel members: 

Annika Egan Sjölander, Associate professor at the Department of Culture and Media Studies, Umeå University
Carina Keskitalo, Professor of Political Science at the Department of Geography, Umeå University, Sweden, and guest professor at the Unit for Landscape Studies at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå
Joacim Rocklöv, Professor at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Section of Sustainable Health, Umeå University
Johnny Ludvigsson, Professor emeritus, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV), Linköping University
Stefan Jansson, Professor at the Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), Umeå University
Ulrika Björkstén, PhD, Head of Science at Swedish Public Radio (Sveriges Radio)

14.30 Coffee break

SESSION 4: DISCUSSIONS with PhD STUDENTS

14.40 Break-out room discussions organised by the PhD students
(Video Research Pitch presentations are available for watching and commenting throughout the conference. In the break-out room session, the PhD students will be available to answer questions and discuss their research projects)

Bacterial stringent response and antimicrobal resistance
Tetiana Brodiazhenko
Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University

Forest residues for combined edible mushroom and biofuel production
Feng Chen
Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, SLU

Impact of root colonization by ectomycorrhizal fungi on drought resistance in pine seedlings
Lill Eilertsen
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), SLU

Memory material for cancer early detection
Chau Huynh
Department of Chemistry, Umeå University

Apolipoprotein E and amyloid-beta in Alzheimer’s disease
Tohidul Islam
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Umeå University

How bacteria can spread their genes
Lena Lassinantti
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Umeå University

Quest for Unknown: Hazardous Chemicals in the Environment
Andriy Rebryk
Department of Chemistry, Umeå University

Penicillin-binding proteins: key players to build the wall
Barbara Ritzl-Rinkenberger
Department of Molecular Biology, Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå University

Investigating how nutrient addition changes microbial communities
Andreas Schneider
Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), Umeå University

Impact of the pharmaceuticals residues from the sewage water on the river biota
Aleksandra Umanets
Department of Chemistry, Umeå University

Identification and characterization of transcription factor proteins that regulate wood formation and carbon allocation in trees
Sonja Viljamaa
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), SLU

Corrosion into Refractory Materials
Naresh Kumar Wagri
Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University

SESSION 5: INTERVIEW WITH HANNE KJÖLLER and PLENARY LECTURE II

(Chairperson: Ludvig Lizana)

15.25 Ola Nordebo, political editor in chief for Västerbottens Kuriren, interviews Hanne Kjöller, journalist and writer, about her book ”Kris i forskningsfrågan: eller vad fan får vi för pengarna”. (The interview will be in English!)

15.45 Coffee break and time to …
- participants’ voting for the best PhD student presentation

16.00 Plenary lecture II: Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World
Jevin D. West
Information School at the University of Washington, co-founder of the DataLab, and director of the Center for an Informed Public

DAY 2, Wednesday 4 November

SESSION 6: RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES

(Chairperson: Magnus Wolf-Watz)

9.00 Presentation of the KBC infrastructures: Panel showcase discussion. 

Moderator: Linda Sandblad, Department of Chemistry and Director of Umeå Core Facility for Electron Microscopy (UCEM), Umeå University

Panel members:
András Gorzsás, Vibrational Spectroscopy Core Facility (ViSp)
Annika Johansson, Swedish Metabolomics Centre Umeå (SMC)
Hans Stenlund and Jeanette Tångrot, Computational Life Science Cluster (CLiC)
Henrik Larsson and Annie Cox, Technical platforms at Umeå Marine Sciences Centre
Irene Martinez Carrasco, Biochemical Imaging Centre Umeå (BICU)
Natuschka Lee, Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH)
Per Liljelind, Trace Analysis Platform (TAP)
Stina Berglund Fick, Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden (CBCS)
Tobias Sparrman, NMR Core facility
Uwe Sauer, Protein Expertise Platform (PEP) and X-ray Crystallography Platform
Xiao-Ru Wang, Ancient and Environmental DNA (aeDNA) Lab
Cheng Choo (Nikki) Lee, Umeå Core Facility for Electron Microscopy (UCEM)

9.30-9.35 Technical break

9.35 Building networks: Cross-university bioinformatics and sequencing coordination
Kristina Benevides
Bioinformatics coordinator. UPSC Bioinformatics Facility, and National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI), Umeå University

9.45 Infrastructure at the Translational Research Centre
Ola Billing
Department of Surgery and Perioperative Sciences, Umeå University

9.55 Infrastructure at the Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, SLU
Michael Finell
Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, SLU

10.05 SLU Stable Isotope Laboratory (SSIL) - Adaptive excellence in analysis of elemental isotopes
Mats Öquist
Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Director of the analytical infrastructure SLU Stable Isotope Laboratory (SSIL), SLU

10.15 Presentation of the KBC infrastructures: round-table discussions in break-out rooms

Ancient and Environmental DNA (aeDNA) Lab (Host: Xiao-Ru Wang)
Biochemical Imaging Centre Umeå (BICU) (Host: Irene Martinez Carrasco)
Bioinformatics (Host: Kristina Benevides)
Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden (CBCS) (Host: Anna Eriksson)
Computational Life Science Cluster (CLiC) (Hosts: Hans Stenlund and Jeanette Tångrot)
Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) (Host: Natuschka Lee)
NMR Core facility (Host: Tobias Sparrman)
Protein Expertise Platform (PEP) (Host: Mikael Lindberg)
Swedish Metabolomics Centre Umeå (SMC) (Host: Annika Johansson)
Trace analysis platform (TAP) (Hosts: Per Liljelind and Erik Björn)
Technical platforms at Umeå Marine Sciences Centre (Hosts: Henrik Larsson and Annie Cox)
Umeå Core Facility for Electron Microscopy (UCEM) (Hosts: Sara Henriksson and Michael Hall)
Vibrational Spectroscopy Core Facility (ViSp) (Host: András Gorzsás)
X-ray Crystallography Platform (Host: Uwe Sauer)

10.45 Coffee break and time to…
- vote for the best "Sustainability" photo

SESSION 7: UMEÅ POSTDOC SOCIETY INITIATIVE

(Chairperson: Magnus Wolf-Watz)

11.00 Umeå Postdoc Society: What the heck is that?
Kerstin Seier
Umeå Postdoc Society (UPS), Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University

11.15 Roundtable with alumni: "Life after a postdoc at Umeå University"
Moderator: Andreu Vidal-Albalat, Umeå Postdoc Society (UPS), Department of Chemistry, Umeå University

Alumni guests:

Lindon Moodie, Associate Senior Lecturer at Uppsala University (Sweden)
Raquel Rodrigues, Project Manager at Coimbra University (Portugal)
Stefan Frost, Group Leader at Roche Innovation Center Munich (Germany)
Valerie Valeriano, Research Engineer at Karolinska Institute (Sweden)

12.00 Lunch break and time to...
- participate in Agrisera Antibody Quiz and win a free antibody
- vote for the best "Sustainability" photo

SESSION 8: NEW FACULTY MEMBERS, AWARD AND GRANT RECIPIENTS AT KBC

(Chairperson: Christoffer Boman)

13.00 Umeå Transformation Research Initiative (UTRI) - a new university-wide research network
Carina Keskitalo
Department of Geography, Umeå University

13.10 Hydrogen research, now and in the future
Thomas Wågberg
Department of Physics, Umeå University

13.30 Structural characterization of type-V fimbriae
Karina Persson
Department of Chemistry, Umeå University

13.50 Why is there so much non-coding transcription?
Peter Kindgren
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), SLU

14.10 Redesigning photosynthesis for future food security
SSF Agenda 2030 Research Centers (ARC)
Åsa Strand
Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), Umeå University

14.30 Single cell damage: Detection of early plant stress responses after wounding
Peter Marhavy
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), SLU

14.50 Understanding the fate of phosphorus in thermochemical energy conversion
Nils Skoglund
Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University

15.10 Concluding remarks
Announcement of the prize winners of the PhD Student presentation and of the "Sustainability" photo contest.