MBB Graduate Colloquium 2016 & Alumni Mixer

"SFU/MBB Celebrates 50/15"

Abstract selection is done! See Schedule and Abstract Booklet below.

The MBB Graduate Colloquium is a full one-day event comprised of presentations from MBB undergraduate research assistants, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, so we may learn about the exciting research going on throughout our department. We encourage everyone to use this opportunity to share their recent results, practice presenting, and develop collaborations.

This year, the colloquium is being organized in conjunction with our first-ever MBB Alumni Event! MBB Alumni will be invited to the colloquium and we will all celebrate SFU's 50th and MBB Department's 15th anniversaries with a mixer in the evening with catering and drinks. This will be complemented by a MBB alum giving the keynote presentation and faculty members reminiscing how far we've come as a department and field. 

Event Details

Time and Place

The 2016 Colloquium will take place on Thursday, April 28th, 2016 at SFU's Leslie & Gordon Diamond Family Auditorium (across from the library, next to Higher Grounds Coffee Shop). 

Good news! The colloquium is set to start at 10:00. Late risers, rejoice! See schedule below for more details. 

Registration

 ⟶ Now open until April 20th! 

This year, we have a tiered registration system; see the fees below. You may register at the MBB Office or on Eventbrite, where you can pay via credit card. 

• Student & Postdoc: $5
• Alumni: $10
• Faculty & Staff: $15

Food and Drinks

Lunch, dinner and one drink are included in the ticket price. Lunch will be at the Highland Pub at SFU, next to the Diamond Family Auditorium. Dinner and drinks will take place in the foyer of the auditorium. 

Presentations

There are three types of presentations throughout the day, each of which are judged for prizes! 

• 12-minute Talks: Give a detailed presentation of your recent experiments, results and conclusions.
• 5-minute Talks: Give a brief overview of your research project. Ideal for new projects or students.
• Poster Presentations: Present your results on a poster to members of the department. Posters can stay up for the entire day.

Judging and Prizes

Various faculty members and postdoctoral fellows will judge the oral and poster presentations and come to a ranked listing for each type of presentation. Note that prizes are only available to graduate students. They will be awarded as follows. 

• 12-minute Talks
  • 1st prize: Dr. Bruce Brandhorst Graduate Prize in MBB (Approx. value: $250)
  • 2nd prize: $100
  • 3rd prize: $50
• 5-minute Talks
  • 1st prize: $50
• Poster Presentations
  • 1st prize: Dr. Bruce Brandhorst Graduate Prize in MBB (Approx. value: $250)
  • 2nd prize: $100
  • 3rd prize: $50

Abstract Submission

Abstract submission is now closed! Deadline for submission was Friday, February 26th, 2016. You must be an undergraduate research assistant (i.e. working in a lab), graduate student or postdoctoral fellow in order to present at the colloquium. And make sure you are available on April 28th, 2016. 

Oh, and word count is 300 max. 

[Closed] http://websurvey.sfu.ca/survey/231930973

Abstract Selection

We wish to give as many students and postdoctoral fellows as possible the opportunity to present their research. However, we may receive more submitted abstracts than we can reasonably fit in a single-day colloquium, even with the help of caffeine. 

Accordingly, the MBB Graduate Caucus reserves the right to have the submitted abstracts judged and ranked by faculty members and select the top candidates. Ranking will be based on the following criteria. 

• Clarity of the abstract for the target audience (i.e. the MBB Department)
• Scientific impact to the field in question
• Representation from as many labs and topics as possible
• Expected number of years until graduation (newer students have future opportunities to present)
• Number of past colloquium presentations (provide the opportunity to new students)

Judging Criteria

The MBB Graduate Caucus created criteria that will serve as guidelines for judging. You may see these criteria by following the links below. 

• For oral presentations
• For poster presentations

Schedule

You can find an overview of the colloquium and alumni evening mixer below. A more detailed schedule for oral presentations is available here. 

Note that the schedule is still a work in progress and might change before the event. 

Speakers

Keynote speaker:

Brian Kwok, VP of Product Development, Fusion Genomics

Guest speaker:

Dr. Lorena Braid, President & Chief Scientist, Aurora BioSolutions Inc.

Presenters for "50 years in MBB":
Dr. David Baillie

Dr. Bruce Brandhorst

Dr. Jonathan Choy

Dr. Lisa Craig

Dr. Nick Harden

Abstract Booklet

You can view the abstract booklet here. 

More Information

We will continue to update this website as we finalize the details of the event. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the caucus president on the Executive Team page. 

Acknowledgements

Donors

We would like to thank the following departments and organizations for their support of the MBB Graduate Colloquium. 

• Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
• Alumni Association
• Faculty of Science
• Dean of Graduate Studies
• Graduate Student Society

Sponsors

We also appreciate the support we obtained from sponsors.