Spring Research Festival

If you're interested in presenting a poster for the Spring Research Festival or signing up as a judge, don't forget to register by Monday, April 2.

In a ceremony at the Fort Detrick Community Activities Center earlier this week, Maj. Gen. Barbara R. Holcomb, the commanding officer of the Fort Detrick garrison, distributed the awards for outstanding presentations and posters at the 2017 Spring Research Festival.

For two days at the annual Spring Research Festival, Fort Detrick was abuzz with scientific discussion as researchers and visitors from the site’s many resident government agencies and contractors gathered to share findings and recognize collaborative research. Each year, the festival focuses on intermural scientific work, as well as challenges and discoveries in the fight against cancer and infectious diseases. Spread across three separate venues and packed with seven events that included lectures, a poster session, and a vendor expo, this year’s festival did just that.

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.

The 20th annual Spring Research Festival (SRF) took place at Fort Detrick on May 3 and 4. The event included two seminar sessions, a keynote speaker, a Poster Blitz, and two poster sessions. During the event, scientific staff, including students, technical support staff, postdoctoral fellows, and principal investigators, had the opportunity to present their research to the joint scientific communities.

The SRF, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, aims to “acquaint our [NCI at Frederick and Fort Detrick] neighbors––scientists, citizens, and especially students––with the nature of our research and to facilitate collaboration between partner agencies.”  The event is open to the Fort Detrick and NCI at Frederick communities and invited guests.

NCI and Frederick National Laboratory staff members were among those honored at the Spring Research Festival Awards Ceremony on May 28. The ceremony was the culmination of the festival, which was sponsored by the National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (NICBR), May 4–7.

Maj. Gen. Brian Lein, commanding general, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), presented the awards.

One of the highlights of the 19th annual Spring Research Festival (SRF), held May 4–7, was a visit from Terry Alban, Ph.D., superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS), and Mike Markoe, deputy superintendent, FCPS.

They toured the event on May 7, talking to researchers and students about their posters. “Dr. Alban was very interested in hearing what the Werner H. Kirsten students were presenting at their posters,” said Andrea Frydl, public affairs specialist, Office of Scientific Operations, NCI at Frederick. “Many WHK students are also FCPS students, some of whom Dr. Alban and Dr. Markoe knew personally.” Alban tweeted (@FCPSMDSuper) photos and information about four of the students whose posters she visited during the tour.

WHAG-TV (Hagerstown, Md.) visited Fort Detrick to highlight the 2015 Spring Research Festival (SRF), sponsored by the National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (NICBR). Visit the WHAG-TV website to see the video broadcast, which aired May 6. The video was produced by WHAG Reporter Mallory Sofastaii.

The video featured Linganore High School senior Rebecca Matthews, a Werner H. Kirsten student intern in the Human Retrovirus Pathogenesis Section, Vaccine Branch, NCI Center for Cancer Research; Lanessa Hill, public affairs specialist, 

By Ashley DeVine, Staff Writer

The 19th Annual Spring Research Festival (SRF), sponsored by the National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (NICBR), will be held May 4–7, at the same location as last year: just off Porter Street, in the back parking lot of Building 1507 (Odom Fitness Center).