Several hundred National Cancer Institute staff converged on NCI’s Shady Grove campus last month to celebrate the annual NCI Director’s Awards ceremony in a way they hadn’t been able to for the past several years: together.

Coworkers and colleagues greeted each other in person while enjoying refreshments and watching pre-recorded award videos from senior NCI leaders in a hybrid, open-house version of the 2022 awards ceremony.

Maryland scientists recently came together to discuss next-generation vaccine formulation and delivery, as the Biotech Connector speaker series returned to Frederick. The Biotech Connector is a quarterly networking and speaker series, hosted by the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. The scientific event invites experts across disciplines and backgrounds for an inside look at local advances in innovative technologies in biological sciences to improve human health.

Spring is upon us again, and the Spring Research Festival is following quickly on its heels. However, by both pandemic and pre-pandemic standards, this won’t be an ordinary year. It’s the festival’s first in a hybrid format. That means for the first time since May 2019, participants will be able to attend events in person if they desire.

What do Nikola Tesla; National Science Board vice chair and former astronaut Ellen Ochoa, Ph.D.; and NCI Frederick’s own Howard Young, Ph.D., have in common? They’re all fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Young is among the newest additions to the esteemed group, recently elected as a 2022 fellow alongside 504 other distinguished contributors to the sciences.

New research by Frederick National Laboratory researchers and their colleagues takes an important step toward explaining complex mutations in a gene called NF1 that is known to cause a disorder known as neurofibromatosis type 1. The study also has potential implications in research against several cancers. 

Take Your Child to Work Day, a beloved pre-pandemic event, is poised to return to NCI Frederick this summer. Past years saw the campus host as many as 300 children for a day of hands-on activities meant to illuminate scientific principles and inspire curiosity. Tori Seal, the event’s lead coordinator this year, hopes to capture some of that excitement again.

The Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) Annual Symposium returns on March 24. Scheduled to occur both on-site in Bethesda and virtually, the event will play host to scientists, clinicians, and stakeholders from NCI and the larger cancer research community. Staff from Frederick are eligible to attend.

Ashley Waters, DPA, executive director of Woman to Woman Mentoring, Inc., spoke from a lectern at Hood College. People with mentors, she said, have better prospects in life. Mentoring was one of the reasons Waters and several dozen others—both in person and virtually—had come to the small Frederick campus. They were gathered for Women in Science Speak, a celebration of women and girls in science and a mentoring discussion about overcoming the substantial disparities and gender bias in the field.

The Biotech Connector, a quarterly networking and speaker series, is returning to Frederick, Md, on March 1. The event, which is jointly hosted by the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, brings together entrepreneurs, industry members, and scientists of all kinds for an inside look at local advances in research to improve human health.

Frederick National Laboratory’s Academic Summer Trainees Program provides graduate and undergraduate students with the chance to work with and learn from some of the nation’s leading scientists. The program now includes students from several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and offers them increased access to advanced research and training, along with experience in biomedical programs, cancer research, and state-of-the-art technologies at FNL.