Speed Mentoring is a fun, fast-paced event in which PDFs will have the opportunity to interact with as many expert mentors as possible. Mentors from all areas of research and training will be participating, to offer brief one-on-one advice to postdocs, ten minutes at a time. With registration, the PDFO will organise the time into ten minute increments, ideally with a chance for each PDF to meet with their choice of mentor. These questions can be regarding academic or industry career topics such as:

Job search strategies
Grant writing
Interview process
Funding issues
Knowing Where You Are Going
Tenure
Skill Development
Collegiality and Independence
Life Balance
Gender Differences
Peculiarities Unique to Arts, Science and Medicine

Flyer- Speed Mentoring – Nov 27 2012

Thanks to everyone who submitted an abstract. Unfortunately we have limited time on the day, so we’ve had to select eight talks, chosen to give a feeling of the exciting and broad research at UBC. We will also have a number of posters at the reception at 4pm; we still have space, so even if you have not registered for a poster, feel free to bring one along.

1.00pm – John Whitlock, Oral Health Sciences “Rapid tooth replacement in sauropod dinosaurs: applying molecular biology to questions in palaeontology”

1.20pm – Marjorie Gonzalez, Physics and Astronomy/Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre “Novel Analysis Method for Positron Emission Tomography: Applications to Parkinson’s Disease”

1.40pm – Nina Maeshima, Microbiology and Immunology. “Identifying regions of human TLR4 important for recognition of Bordetella pertussis lipid A”

2.00pm – Wendy Adams, Psychiatry/Psychology “Chronic lithium treatment reduces motor impulsivity in rats: Potential role of cytokines” Coffee

2.40pm Ariane Noel de Tilly, Art History, Visual Art & Theory “On the Early Exhibitions of Video Art in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom: Different attempts to disseminate a new medium”

3.00pm – Wei Wei, Medical Genetics “Genome-wide microRNA and mRNA profiling in mouse liver development implicates mir302b and mir20a in repressing TGFbeta signaling”

3.20pm – Junaed Sattar, Computer Science “From the deep seas to our homes – towards a seamless interface for human-machine interaction.”

3.40pm – Michael Yuchi, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” “Disease Mutations in the Ryanodine Receptor Central Region: Crystal Structures of a Phosphorylation Hot Spot Domain”

4pm – Posters, Wine, Cheese.

As part of UBC’s Research Week (March 2-9) the Postdoctoral Association is organizing a science outreach event on Thursday March 8th at Science World, Vancouver’s science center.  The event will take the form of a poster fair, but with a twist: Science World’s audience isn’t other researchers and academics, but children on school trips, most of whom are 7-12 years old!

This will be an excellent opportunity to spark the imaginations of the next generation of researchers, as well as honing your skills at communicating research to the public.  We’re looking for volunteers to design posters (3’x4′) for this event, and to be present at Science world from 11am-2pm on Thursday March 8th to answer questions about them.  We will take care of getting the posters printed, mounting boards, etc, and will provide guidance on how to design posters appropriate for a 7-12 year-old audience.  There are only a limited number of spaces available for participants, so let us know if you want to take part as soon as possible.

-Chris Parker, VP Social

parkerca@ieee.org

Read the latest PDA_newsletter!  It features articles on proposed changes to Policy 61, the new travel awards for postdocs, monthly postdoc seminars, and changes to health benefits, as well as other tidbits about the new PDA executive committee, socials, and professional development.

The winter 2012 semester of PDA yoga will start on Tuesday 31st January and run for 10 weeks until April 3rd. Classes are held from 5:15-7:00 in room 460 of the LSK building (333 Agricultural Road) and are taught by Andrea MacDonald, a registered yoga teacher since 2003 (please see her website www.drelika.com for more information about her training and teaching philosophy).

The cost for for participants who sign up for the full session of classes will be $86.25 (the class will only run if we have 8 or more participants, but if there is significantly more than 8 participants we will reduce the price!).Drop-in participants are also welcome at a price of $12/class.

The class currently has participants with a wide range of skill levels and new participants are always welcome. Andrea offers modifications of each pose so you can work at your own skill level, and she is able to accommodate any physical restrictions and to make sure you avoid any past injuries.

Please note that you will have to supply your own yoga mat although we do have 1 or 2 that can be lent out if you forget yours/want to give the class a try before buying your own. Mats can be bought from most department stores (e.g., London Drugs), specialty yoga stores (Halfmoon Yoga and Lululemon) or from the UBC gym.

As an added bonus, the class is a great way to meet other postdocs and RAs at UBC, and we schedule regular “extra-relaxation” sessions after class outings at our favourite eating/drinking establishments.

Please don’t hesitate to e-mail me with any questions. If you are interested then send me a quick e-mail to let me know if you plan on joining the full-session or just dropping in.

Hope to see you all on January 31st!

Amy Saunders

amy.saunders15@googlemail.com

PDA Yoga club organizer

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 12-1

Life Sciences Centre, Rm 1510

Please join us for the first postdoc seminar of the year!

Speaker:  Alisdair Wallis

Title: “Ultracold molecules – doing physics and chemistry in the cold”

Dept: Chemistry