KU TO HOST INAUGURAL CHEMICAL BIOLOGY SYMPOSIUM

Through the joint effort of the NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease (CoBRE CBID), the NIH-sponsored Dynamic Aspects of Chemical Biology Graduate Student Training program (DACB), and the Higuchi Biosciences Center, The University of Kansas will present its inaugural Chemical Biology Symposium on October 21 & 22 at the Oread Hotel and the School of Pharmacy in Lawrence, Kansas.

This two-day event will connect graduate DACB graduate students and CBID investigators with regional scientists and guest speakers and aims to promote the sharing of research associated with Chemical Biology. Sixteen graduate students have been selected to give lightening talks and poster presentations, and close to 100 people will be attending the event.

“This symposium brings together regional scientists to share their ideas and approaches of chemistry and biology to better understand biologic processes.” said Scott Hefty, professor in Molecular Biosciences and Director of the Center for Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease, “One of our primary goals is to support the research endeavors of this growing scientific community as well as provide professional development opportunities for our graduate students”

This event will showcase a keynote address by Dr. Nozomi Ando, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at Cornell University. Her research employs a combination of biophysical and biochemical techniques to study enzymes in action, and her lab has established X-ray scattering approaches to understand conformation disorder. Dr. Ando has received an NIH MIRA award, an NSF CAREER award, and won an Early Career Award from the American Crystallographic Association.

The symposium will also feature invited speaker, Dr. Jimmy Ballard, Professor and Chairman George Lynn Cross Research Professor, PI/Director, Oklahoma Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunity, CoBRE in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. His research focuses on the biochemical functions of bacterial toxins and the role of these virulence factors in disease. Over the past decade his lab has defined key differences between C. difficile TcdB from hypervirulent and historical strains of this important human pathogen.  Dr. Ballard has authored ~90 manuscripts and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology.

Due to space being limited registration was required and closed on September 30th. More information can be found on the Chemical Biology Symposium webpage.

This symposium is possible through support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences CoBRE in Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease (P20GM113117), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Graduate Training in Chemical Biology (T32-GM132061) and the Higuchi Biosciences Center.