BSCB-BSDB Spring Conference - Day 2

Second post from the British Society of Cell Biology and British Society of Developmental Biology joint spring meeting, written by Ret Mutant, who blogs at Clear Sci.

Name: Ret Mutant
Location: Kent University, Canterbury
Date: 28th April, BSCB/BSDB joint Spring Meeting - Day 2

For the first full day of the conference, the BSDB focus was on Signalling & Development and Plasticity & Evolution, whilst the BSCB investigated the latest research on Cell Adhesion & Migration and Pathogens and Membrane Traffic.

Morning highlights included Suzanne Eaton's discussion of the role of lipoproteins in hedgehog signalling and Marie-Anne Felix presented the means by which different Caenorhabditis species define vulval cells. The Enterprise-D from Star Trek even managed to put in an appearance as part of Nancy Papalopulu's investigation of heterogeneous responses through time and space.

Over lunch several workshops were available for attendees. Graduate students were encouraged to attend Science - The Bigger Picture. This was a panel-based event which introduced Peter Wilmhurst a consultant cardiologist who believes in good science, not good profit for big pharmaceutical companies. We also met Rose Wu from Sense about Science, which actively engages and addresses science issues that are currently important to the general public, which places great importance on the need for young scientists to engage more with the media. Finally there was Jenny Rohn, Post-doc, writer, blogger, activist, broadcaster, journalist, author etc. who was integral to the campaign to maintain science funding from the British government. All three gave very emotive and inspirational presentations on their experiences in the world of science and why they feel that it is important for us to communicate better with the government and the people.

I defected briefly to the BSCB in the afternoon session, hearing from Mark March about HIV in macrophages, which is important to both early and late stages of HIV infection. I also heard from Tom Wileman about the means that picornaviruses use to alter secretory trafficking in host cells and ensure successful virus reproduction.

Back with the BSDB, Alistair McGregor showed us how formation of the naked valley is controlled in and varies between Drosophila species and Enrico Coen rounded off the schedule by discussing computer modelling of morphological development.

The BSCB also presented its science writing award to John Ankers from Liverpool for his essay "What makes us tick?" and they awarded the Hooke medal for outstanding research to Alex Gould from NIMR London, who presented on the process of organ sparing, a selective response to nutrient deprivation.

In the evening, I went to a meeting for friends of The Node, a developmental biology blog run by Development. This was followed by the first of the poster sessions, where I spoke to Niki Wyatt about her work on Stra6 proteins, Emma Hall about primary cilia and hedgehog signalling, Niki Kennerley about cytoskeleton dynamics in the early chick embryo and learned about plakoglobin and plakophilin in zebrafish from Rebecca Ryan. Thanks guys for such fascinating discussions.