CBQB hosts fourth annual research symposium
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UIC’s Center for Bioinformatics and Quantitative Biology (CBQB) hosted its fourth annual Research Day on October 28 to bring together researchers, including students of all levels and faculty, to share their recent work, learn from each other, and create potential collaborations.
The conference brought together stakeholders from across campus to discuss bioinformatics and quantitative biology. The event had a large turnout, with almost 80 attendees, 37 poster presentations, and 11 oral presentations from PhD, master’s, and undergraduate students, along with postdoctoral students and research staff. Participants in this year’s event included students from engineering, medicine, biochemistry and genetics, physics, and several other colleges.
“It’s been exciting to see the other departments and their students who came to the event,” said Meishan Lin, BME clinical assistant professor, Center for Bioinformatics and Quantitative Biology assistant director, and organizer of the research day. “Especially, that the work being done in BME is interesting to them, and we can connect various departments at UIC as well as in the Chicagoland area, and we hope to also connect with other universities throughout the Midwest.”
Students from the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Chicago Biomedical Consortium joined those from UIC at the event.
Keynote speaker Jianhua Xing, a professor of computational and system biology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, spoke about his work in epigenetics, transcription, and chromosome folding. He noted during his speech that researchers are at a good point for doing biological physics research because of all the opportunities.
Research topics at this year’s event included lung cancer disparity mechanisms, individualized microbial networks, anxiety-related EEG changes, microprotein identification, stochastic models in gene expression, temporal dynamics and interactions, and many more.
“Research Day feels like a safe space to practice your science, to make mistakes, and to grow from them,” said Suzanne Alvernaz, a bioinformatics PhD and MSTP student. “One of the biggest reasons why they want students to participate is not only to present your work but also to give you a chance to practice presenting science and fielding questions in a space where you can actually grow from it.”
The symposium’s organizers awarded prizes to the top three oral and poster presentations at this year’s event. Winners from this year include:
- Third Place Poster Presentation Award: Mary Menhart
- Second Place Poster Presentation Award: Mehrdad Zandigohar
- First Place Poster Presentation Award: Alisha Budhathoki
- Third Place Oral Presentation Award: Huiyu Li
- Second Place Oral Presentation Award: Andi Rosner
- First Place Oral Presentation Award: Suzanne Alvernaz
This symposium was fully sponsored by the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Office of Vice Chancellor of Research.