The Spring Research Festival Is Just Around the Corner

By Marie Haughey, Staff Writer; contributed images, photo by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer
An NCI employee explains his research

An unpredictable winter has finally given way to spring, and as the trees and shrubs come into bloom, the Spring Research Festival is now just over a month away.  

On May 2 and 3, the Spring Research Festival will give students, scientists, and the broader community an opportunity to collaborate on and learn about the research at Fort Detrick and the National Cancer Institute at Frederick.

Now in its 21st year, the festival attracts roughly 1,000 attendees from inside the Fort Detrick gates as well as an increasing number of visitors from the Frederick area.

Registration is open for presenters at the Scientific Poster Display, judges for the Poster Display, and speakers for the Post-Bac/Post-Doc Scientific Symposium. You can go here to register, and guidelines for both judges and presenters can be found here.

No registration is required to attend the festival, which will be held behind the fitness center on Porter Street. A shuttle will run between the festival and the Building 549 Conference Center/Library/Café at regular intervals, and a shuttle schedule will be posted closer to the event.

The festival will begin with the Post-Bac/Post-Doc Scientific Symposium and Poster Blitz at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 2 in Building 1529 (the Community Activities Center, also known as CAC). This event allows young investigators to present their research in either the traditional lecture format or the non-traditional poster overview format. By interspersing longer and shorter presentations, the organizers hope to create a dynamic event.

Later that day, at 1:30 p.m., the Keynote Speaker and Mini Symposium will take place in Building 1529, featuring Steven Holland, M.D., as the keynote speaker. Angelique Biancotto, Ph.D., and Brian Sellers will present "Next-Generation Proteomics: Implementing the SOMAscan Assay;" Kristen Reifel, Ph.D., and Brandon Swan, Ph.D., will present "Capturing Genomic Diversity Using Sorting Flow Cytometry and Next-Generation Sequencing;" and Amir Erez will present "Monocytes in the Bone Marrow: Flow and Cytof Perspective."

From noon to 4:00 p.m. on May 2 and from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on May 3, attendees can tour the Biomedical Research Equipment and Supplies Expo in the tent behind Building 1507. More than 200 exhibit booths presented by major vendors will provide the local community with an opportunity to learn about a broad selection of equipment, instruments, and services designed to facilitate biomedical research.

Wednesday, May 3, begins with the Scientific Poster Display in the Auditorium in Building 1520 from 9:00 a.m. to noon, where presenters will describe their research and answer questions. The Spring Research Festival will then end with the NICBR Research Collaboration Forum, during which investigators on collaborative projects with two or more NICBR partners will present their research.

Finally, a shred truck sponsored by the R&W Club as part of the Green Team initiative will be present on the first day of the festival for those who want to do a little spring cleaning.

The shred truck will be located in the parking lot of building 549 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Up to five boxes or bags of material are permitted per person. Accepted materials include paper, folders, hanging folders, paper clips, staples, rubber bands, and binder clips, while newspapers, magazines, three-ring binders, metals and plastics, carbon, cardboard, trash, and media such as x-rays, CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks will not be accepted.

Below is the full schedule of events for the Spring Research Festival. More information can be found on the website.

Tuesday, May 2

Post-Bac/Post-Doc Scientific Symposium
CAC, 09:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Poster Blitz
CAC, 09:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Biomedical Research Equipment and Supplies Expo
Tent Show, 12:00 p.m. - 04:00 p.m.

Keynote Speaker/Mini Symposium
CAC, 01:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 3

Scientific Poster Display
Auditorium, 09:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Biomedical Research Equipment and Supplies Expo
Tent Show, 10:00 a.m. - 03:00 p.m.

NICBR Research Collaboration Forum
CAC, 01:00 p.m. - 03:00 p.m.

Map of this year's festival