Postdoc Research Day is coming up on December 2nd. This link will direct you to the abstract book:
For the event schedule (quick to download), please check the following link:
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Postdoc Research Day on Monday, December 2nd
sponsored by STEMCELL Technologies
Our biggest event of the year is coming up! Postdoc Research Day is a full day of interdisciplinary talks by postdocs at UBC in a fantastic venue at a large capacity.
Everyone is welcome to attend, but only UBC affiliated postdocs can present.
Abstract submission has closed now, but we are still accepting registrations until Nov 30 at noon!
Find the abstract book here: https://bit.ly/35JGb6e
Where? Pharmaceutical Sciences Building, UBC Campus
When? Monday, December 2nd
Research Day: 9 am – 5.30 pm
Evening reception from 5:30 pm onwards (networking + dinner)
This year’s speaker line-up is showcasing the diversity of research by postdocs at UBC!
08:30 – 09:00 Registration (Atrium)
09:00-09:15 Welcome & Introduction, Dr. Daniel Anstett, President UBC PDA (Lecture Theatre)
09:15 – 10:30 Research Session 1 (Lecture Theatre)
Full talks:
09:15-09:30 Dr. Victoria Hemming, Forestry
Who to trust? How to derive improved quantitative judgements from experts for models and decisions
09:30-09:45 Dr. Rohan Abraham, BC Cancer Research Centre
Machine Learning CADx process for classification of sub-cm Lung nodules in the PanCan study
09:45-10:00 Dr. Jesse Chao, Cell & Physiological Sciences
A premalignant cell-based model for functionalization and classification of PTEN variants
Lightning Talks:
10:00-10:05 Dr. Marita Rodriguez, Engineering
3D Bioprinted human cardiac tissues for toxicity screening applications
10:05-10:10 Dr. Doris Chow, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Eyes as a window to global motion perception: A validation of an oculomotor tracking task to assess motion sensitivity in depth
10:10-10:15 Dr. Angelica Araujo de Melo Maia, Education
What does it take to be (come) an inclusive teacher?
10:15-10:20 Dr. Kiran Pawar, Department of Medicine, ICORD
Non-invasive chronic spinal stimulation as multi-session therapy to improve cardiovascular function after spinal cord injury
10:20-10:25 Dr. Dustin Heeney, Food Science
The green wave of medicine: Exploring the anti-inflammatory potential of Canadian hemp to treat irritable bowel disease
10:30-11:00 Coffee Break (Atrium)
11:00-12:15 Research Session 2 (Lecture Theatre)
Full talks:
11:00-11:15 Dr. Antonin Machac, Biodiversity
Diversity dynamics across scales
11:15-11:30 Dr. Omid Haji-Ghassemi, Biochemistry
Modification of heart channel proteins via stress signalling
11:30-11:45 Dr. Peifan Wu, Vancouver School of Economics
Firm demographics and the Great Recession
Lightning talks:
11:45-11:50 Dr. Chelsea Little, Zoology
Animals link ecosystems through resource movement
11:50-11:55 Dr. Christina Gray, Architecture
Architectural clients in the era of consumer empowerment
11:55-12:00 Dr. Sarah Grasedieck, Michael Smith Laboratories
Vitamin C-induced epigenomic remodelling as a preventive therapy for leukemic transformation
12:00-12:05 Dr. Lisanne de Vries, Wood Science
Plants are alternative for fossil fuels
12:05-12:10 Dr. Jon Breen, Occupational Science & Therapy
Measuring workplace attitude towards disabled employees
12:15-13:30 Lunch (Atrium)
12:45-13:30 Townhall (Lecture Theatre)
13:30-14:15 Research Session 3 (Lecture Theatre)
13:30-13:45 Dr. Elvin Ong, Public policy & Global affairs
Is it worth it? Building opposition alliances in electoral autocracies
13:45-14:00 Dr. Rohan Khadilkar, Cell & Physiological Sciences
Stem cell-niche interactions regulate signalling micro environment and innate immune response in Drosophila
14:00-14:15 Dr. Emanuel Serban, Engineering
New solar power conservation architecture for renewable energy systems
14:15-14:30 Short break
14:30-15:30 Keynote Lecture by Dr. Josef Penninger, From haploid stem cells to blood vessel engineering (Lecture Theatre)
15:30-16:00 Coffee Break (Atrium)
16:00-17:15 Postdoc Careers Panel Discussion (Lecture Theatre)
17:15-17:30 Prizes & Wrap-up (Lecture Theatre), Dr. Daniel Anstett, President UBC PDA
17:30 onwards Evening Reception Drinks & light supper
In addition to the interdisciplinary talks by postdocs, there will be a keynote lecture by Dr. Josef Penninger about his research “From Haploid stem cells to blood vessel engineering” and about experience in academia and industry and his path to becoming the director of the Life Sciences Institute at UBC.
Josef Martin Penninger, born in Gurten, Austria, is an Austrian geneticist and the Canada 150 Research Chair in Functional Genetics. Dr. Penninger is currently the Director of the Life Sciences Institute (LSI) at the University of British Columbia. He studied medicine at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. From 1990 to 1994 he worked as post-doctoral fellow at the Ontario Cancer Institute, thereafter until 2002 at the Department of Immunology and Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. As Principal Investigator of Amgen, his independent lab contributed to the development of the antibody Denosumab for bone loss and also found the first connection for RANKL to mammary gland development in pregnancy and breast cancer. In 2002, he moved to Vienna, Austria to start and develop the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which is now the largest and most successful institute of the Academy based on high impact publications and the number of European Research Council grants received.
Dr. Penninger envisions to recreate this environment at the LSI to nurture and train the best and brightest young minds of UBC scholars. His major accomplishments include pioneering insights into the molecular basis of osteoporosis, breast cancer and metastasis, and he has published extensively in several multidisciplinary scientific journals, with over 60 publications in Cell, Nature, and Science. He has received numerous awards including the Wittgenstein Prize of the Austrian Federal Government. the Descartes Prize for Research, the Ernst Jung Prize for Medical Excellence, the Innovator Award of the US Department of Defense, and most recently the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art First Class.
During lunch, we will hold our first ever Postdoc Townhall Meeting
The UBC PDA wants to hear from you! As the independent organization working to represent all UBC postdoctoral fellows and advocate on their behalf, the PDA would love to hear about your life postdoc-ing! Should we have more coffee parties or pub crawls? Are you satisfied with your professional development opportunities? How about that extended benefits package? Come chat with the PDA exec team and help us prepare an advocacy agenda that represents you!
An industry focused career panel in the afternoon will feature representatives from local companies that are employing PhDs (to be announced). This year’s line-up for the career panel includes:
Dr. Theresa Grieco, STEMCELL technologies
Dr. Ellen Schelew, Lumerical Inc.
Dr. Conny Lin, College of Pharmacists BC
Dr. Friderike Moon, Science World
Dr. Stefanie Vogt, AbCellera
Dr. Sherry Wang, Genome Sciences Centre
We are looking forward to seeing you at Postdoc Research Day 2019!
Registration: https://bit.ly/2MXleOJ
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(Photo: Vancouvertrails.com)
Get your hiking boots ready, because we are planning to hike Mount Strachan on August 24th, followed by dinner.
What? Mount Strachan Hike
When? Aug 24th, 9 am
Where? Cypress Mountain Ski Resort parking lot
We are meeting at the Cypress Mountain Ski Resort parking lot at 9 am. Registration is required so that we can organise carpooling.
This will be a joint event co-hosted by us and the SFU PDA.
You can find more information about the trail here.
It’s a 10.5km loop with 550 m elevation gain that’s rated as intermediate.
Mount Strachan is one of the three mountains in the Cypress Mountain Ski Resort area and the challenging terrain on the hike is rewarded on a clear day with views of Howe Sound and backcountry mountains as far north as Garibaldi Provincial Park. Another point of interest along the trail is the historical crash site of a Royal Canadian Navy T-33 Jet where several pieces of the aircraft still rest today.
What to bring:
After this strenuous day, you are more than welcome to join us for dinner. Also feel free to come just for dinner if hiking isn’t your thing or you aren’t able to join for the first part of the day due to time or physical limitations. Dinner will be be tentatively set for StormCrow on Commercial Drive at 6 pm, but there’s a slight chance the venue might change – we will keep you posted. The first round of appetizers is on us!
What? Dinner – for hikers and non-hikers 🙂
When? Aug 24th, 6 pm
Where? StormCrow on Commercial Drive (we will let you know in case this changes)
If you want to join for the hike, dinner or both, please
Register HERE: https://bit.ly/2MNvMQM
The registration is necessary so that we can organise car pooling and can estimate how many people will join for dinner.
The hike will be weather permitting and we will contact all participants via e-mail a day before the hike to confirm.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions!
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Spring has finally arrived in Vancouver – and the new PDA executive team 2019-2020 has taken over. Meet the new officers who were elected at the AGM on March 11th:
The new PDA executive team is looking forward to planning a lot of events including events highlighting the awesome research by postdocs at UBC, professional development events, and – of course! – fun socials. We want to help everyone make the best of their postdoc experience at UBC.
We are looking back to a very productive year 2018-2019 in which the PDA could grow as an organisation. Highlights of the year 2018-2019 include:
We are just about to embark on our Whistler trip. Stay tuned for upcoming PDA news and events! Subscribe to our newsletter and follow the PDA on social media. If you want to get involved in the executive team, please contact us.
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It’s less than a week till this year’s Postdoc Research Day!
Thank you very much for those who submitted the abstracts. As usual, it was a tough choice for us to select the final competitors from so many excellent submissions across UBC. Here is the abstract book this year, which includes all the participating abstracts (both oral and poster presentations) as well as in-depth details for Keynote Lecture and Career Panel Discussion.
In order to minimize our carbon footprint, we do not have a physical abstract book. So please feel free to download the Abstract book linked above on your device for quick reference.
In case you have not signed up for our event yet, please go ahead and register here.
Hope to see you on December 3rd!
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Join us for a hike and/or dinner Saturday September 29th. Register for one or both components here.
Hike details:
The hike will take place weather permitting! Update will be sent close to event time.
When: meet at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, September 29th
We will meet up in front of the kiosk at the farthest end of the upper Mt. Seymour parking lot.
The hike will be the Mt. Seymour trail, which is ~9km return and elevation gain of 450m. If you would prefer less or more challenging options, there are other trails that departs from the same parking lot.
Details: please remember to bring plenty of water, a lunch, sunscreen, a hat, and the 10 essentials for hiking. We will arrange a car pool for anyone interested – please indicate if you need a ride or can offer a ride on the registration form.
The hike will be weather permitting – we will email all registrants the day before the hike to confirm.
Dinner details:
When: 6:00 p.m., Saturday, September 29th
Where: Colony Kitsilano (3255 W Broadway)
First round of appetizers is on us.
Details: please RSVP even if you’re not planning to attend the hike, so that we know how big of a table to get.
We will meet for dinner rain or shine!
Contact Ido Hatam if you have any questions about this event.
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Meeting fellow postdocs from SFU is always awesome! Join us Thursday, May 24th, at Portside Pub , 7 Alexander Street Vancouver.
We start at 17:30 but feel free to drop in later.
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We are very pleased to announce that we have secured a major new funding agreement with UBC that will allow the PDA to greatly increase its activities going forward.
The Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies and the Vice President, Academic have both agreed to contribute to the PDA on an annual basis. Before this, we relied on funding from just one UBC institute, the LSI, which has backed us from the beginning. Their continuing support combined with the new funding means the PDA budget will be 3 times bigger from this year!
This will allow us to offer our members – all UBC postdocs – much more in terms of research and social events, while continuing to be an independent voice advocating for postdoctoral researchers at UBC and beyond.
The new funding will mean:
Do you have ideas about how we can use our new funds? Our purpose is to work for you! Let us know by getting in touch, or shape the future of the PDA by joining the Executive Committee.
The PDA Annual General Meeting is coming up next month, so come along to hear our plans. If you really want to make a difference and gain some great skills along the way, you can stand for an Officer position.
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ciWe are excited to announce the call for nominations for candidates to be part of the UBC Postdoctoral Association’s 2018/19 Executive Team.
Deadline extended! Apply by Monday March 12th
The PDA is run by Elected Volunteer Officers (the President and 6 Vice-Presidents). All 7 positions will be elected for the 2018/19 year at our Annual General Meeting, held on Wednesday, March 14th in LSC room 1330 (5 pm). Find a list of open positions and a description of their roles below.
All UBC postdocs and research associates are encouraged to attend the AGM on March 14th for the elections. The event will be followed by a celebration with food and drinks!
Self-Nomination: Download the UBC PDA nomination form here. Please fill out this form and return it to ubc.postdoc@gmail.com along with a recent photo and a short Letter of Interest (100-200 words) detailing why you would like to serve and any relevant experience.
Further details
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Let’s meet with SFU postdocs on Thursday, March 1, at 7:00pm in Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar (Gastown). RSVP to Jessica if you plan to come
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