NEWS The two-day annual conference of the Chemical Biological Centre (in Swedish “Kemiskt Biologiskt Centrum”, KBC) at Umeå University and SLU took place last week. In a celebration of interdisciplinary research and collaboration, the KBC invited keynote speakers, awarded researchers, young scientists, as well as infrastructure and industry representatives, to share their ideas and results, under the theme of “Sensing”.
This year's edition of the KBC DAYS highlighted the theme "sensing", which was celebrated by invited keynote speakers. Here we see Dr. David McKee from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, who spoke about how the Arctic's light cycles affect marine life.
ImageRebecca ForsbergOffering time to connect meant that people stayed together and really did talk
The KBC, an interdisciplinary research centre in collaboration between Umeå University and SLU, brings together life- and natural sciences, medicine and physics. Hosted in the KBC-building, the centre offers an innovative scientific environment, accommodating several research infrastructures. For 15 years in a row, the KBC Days conference has been a forum for discussing research, whilst highlighting research achievements, awards, and new faculty members at KBC.
“The KBC days bring together researchers at the university from different backgrounds, offering an opportunity to share knowledge across different research fields and to build interdisciplinary collaborations”, says Rachel Feeney, doctoral student at the Department of Molecular Biology, and part of the organising committee for KBC Days 2024.
KBC brings together researchers across a wide range of disciplines, with opportunities to work and exchange expertise and experiences with other researchers. The KBC days gather the center's researchers every year during a two-day conference in the KBC building.
Image Rebecca ForsbergThis year's KBC Days showcased cutting-edge research spanning everything from the light cycle in the Arctic, the noisy environment that plants live in, to intricate details of cell walls and the use of biomaterials in healthcare diagnostics, and much more. The first-mentioned topic was brought into a new light by invited keynote speaker David McKee, from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and the Arctic University of Norway. He noted that:
“it is not an uncommon ambition to want to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, but it is notoriously difficult to do it well. I think the KBC Days approach is exemplary, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to take part in this fantastic event”.
In-between the sessions with presentations, participants could learn more about the infrastructures at KBC, interact with representatives from the industry, and share ideas over a cup of coffee.
“Offering time to connect meant that people stayed together and really did talk! I think the social element is crucial in fostering new collaborations”, says David McKee.
The first day featured a session where doctoral students had the possibility to present either a poster or a 2-minute “Elevator Talk” of their research. The best talk, chosen by a committee, was awarded a travel voucher sponsored by the Umeå-based company Agrisera.
“Presenting in front of people scares me a lot, but I think it’s good to practice, because in science we always have to present our work”, says Sophia Hernandez, doctoral student at the Department of Molecular Biology, who won the Elevator Talk prize for her talk about the usage of the Nobel Prize-winning tool CRISPR for characterising malaria parasites. Sophia says she enjoyed the challenge of condensing her research into a few minutes.
“it made me think about the really important aspects of my study”.
During the doctoral session, PhD students from KBC gave "Elevator Talks", where Sophia Hernandez at the Department of Molecular Biology won a travel grant sponsored by Agrisera. Here with Joanna Porankiewicz-Asplund from Agrisera and Stefan Björklund, coordinator at KBC and professor at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics.
ImageAnna ShevtsovaThe participants also voted on the best PhD Poster, which was awarded to Trung Nguyen at the Department of Chemistry, for his poster about sensing water on Mars.
The first day finalised with the conference dinner, where participants could continue to connect and celebrate awards given throughout the year and at the conference.
“The sounds of so many conversations filling the air while everyone shared a meal over candlelight was really special”, says David McKee to the organisers of the KBC Days.
The first day of the conference was finalised with a candle-lit dinner in the KBC-building.
ImageRebecca ForsbergDuring the second day, the KBC infrastructures presented the state-of-the-arts techniques offered in Umeå, and Umeå Postdoc Society arranged both Pitch presentations and a panel discussion on career paths.
“I think my favourite thing was hearing the range of presentations by the researchers, as it really highlights the broad range of research carried out in KBC”, says Ciaran Gilchrist, Postdoc at the Department of Molecular Biology, who won a prize for his Pitch Presentation about multidrug resistance. He shared the prize, sponsored by Umeå Biotech Incubator, with Ilian Giordano Ponce Pineda, Postdoc at the Department of Plant Physiology.
Gilchrist, enthusiastic by the recognition, says that
“I've always enjoyed communicating my research to people, but I tend to be a bit nervous when it gets closer to the presentation – so it's really nice to receive a prize for something I enjoy!”.
Umeå Postdoc Society arranged a session with “Postdoc Pitches” and an apprechiated panel discussion about career paths. The panel consisted of Nora Lehotai (Science Manager at MIMS), Dimitry Malyshev (Staff scientist, Department of Physics), Tulio Teruo Yoshinaga (EC scholar, Clinical Microbiology), Anton Kirch (MCSF scholar, Department of Physics), Sofia Mayans (Director of Business Development Diamyd Medical) and Fariba Mansourizadeh (Staff scientist, Department of Molecular Biology). The discussion was moderaded by Najat Dzaki (Postdoc Department of Molecular Biology).
ImageRebecca Forsberg
Ilian Giordano Ponce Pineda (left, postdoc at the Department of Plant Physiology) and Ciaran Gilchrist (middle, postdoc at the Department of Molecular Biology) won prizes for the Pitch Presentation. The prize was sponsored by Umeå Biotech Incubator (UBI) and handed out by Tobias Tovedal, business coach at UBI.
ImageRebecca ForsbergBeing interdisciplinary is one of the strengths of the KBC community, it is a challenge is to ensure that all research areas are represented in the conference schedule, both in terms of the local presenters and the invited keynote speakers.
“To ensure that we have as fair representation as possible, the organising committee is formed of represenatives from the different departments within the KBC community”, Rachel Feeney explains.
Events like the KBC Days 2024 can only be possible by the combined efforts of the research community, and through the generous support of sponsors, whose contributions ensured a successful event. As the KBC looks forward to the future year to come, this year’s success stands as a testament to interdisciplinary collaboration in driving scientific progress and innovation.
For more details on the sessions, keynote speakers and other highlights from the KBC Days 2024, please visit KBC Days 2024 Event Page.