Another successful Biochemistry Summer Student Symposium was held on Tuesday, August 13th.   The 3rd annual symposium had a record turnout as well as a record number of presenters.  Dr. Tony Lam from the University of Toronto and Dr. Gordon Zello of the University of Saskatchewan were the keynote speakers.

The symposium showcased the work of graduate students with oral presentations and undergraduate students with poster presentations.  The students’ prizes were graciously provided by Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher, and private donations.  The winners of this year’s awards were graduate student first prize, Craig Ayre (Dr. Christian); runner-up, Joy Hopley (Drs. Van Vliet & Christian); undergraduate student first prize, Madeline Fitzpatrick (Dr. Brown); runner-up, Alex Dickie (Dr. S. Brosnan).  On behalf of the department, congratulations to all who participated, especially to our four winners!

Presenters at the symposium in the photo are Top Row (L-R): Brian Harnett, Alexander Dickie, Craig Ayre, Matthew Nosworthy, Mohammad Khatami, Brad Feltham, Dr. Gordon Zello. Middle Row (L-R): Dr. Tony Lam, Rahul dev Kalsi, Madeline Fitzpatrick, Yanbo Yang, Breanne Coady, Andreas Taschke, Alexander Brannan, Jason Robinson, Nikitha Kendyala. Front Row (L-R): Sara Young, Emma Cole, Joy Hopley.  Missing from the photo are Maaran Suntharamoorthy and Justin King.

Nicole Smith started as a Research Assistant in Dr. Christian’s lab this month.  Nicole has recently finished her M.Sc. here in this department.  Welcome, Nicole, to the staff group here.

The Biochemistry headship search committee announced at the end of the month that they had compiled a shortlist of candidates, and anticipated that those applicants would be coming for interviews this fall.  Further details will be known in September.