2016 Research Week highlights include world-renowned lecturers and creative competitions

The 2016 Health Sciences Research Week, featuring events from the Carver College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, Institute for Clinical and Translational Science and VA Health System, will take place Tuesday, April 12 through Thursday, April 14 on the University of Iowa health sciences campus. The 2016 event topic is “Molecular Machines in Human Disease.”

Keynote Lectures:

Two keynote lectures from internationally-known researchers will headline Research Week events:

Feng Zhang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present on Tuesday, April 12 at 12:00 p.m. in the Prem Sahai Auditorium (1110 MERF). He is perhaps the most transformative biologist of his generation, having co-developed CRISPR-Cas9, a gene-editing technology that has the potential to do everything from curing sickle-cell anemia to creating a strain of wheat that is resistant to powdery mildew. Still only 34-years-old, Zhang’s unprecedented productivity dates back to his days a high school student in Des Moines, where he discovered a structural protein capable of preventing H.I.V. from infecting human cells. His ultimate goal is to utilize genetic advancements to treat diseases of the mind, such as autism, depression and schizophrenia.

George Daley, MD, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, will then present on Thursday, April 14 at 12:00 p.m. in the Prem Sahai Auditorum. The Daley Laboratory at Harvard Medical School is working to translate stem cell biology insights into improved therapies for genetic and malignant diseases. Their differentiation of germ cells from embryonic stem cells was recognized by Science magazine as a “Top Ten Breakthrough” in 2003 and the generation of disease-specific pluripotent stem cells was heralded as the “Breakthrough of the Year” in 2008. Daley was an inaugural winner of the National Institutes of health Director’s Pioneer Award. He is also Director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Boston Children’s Hospital & Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Poster Sessions and Cover Art Contest:

In addition to the keynote lectures, Research Week will offer poster sessions and the 2016 Cover Art Contest.

There will be two separate Research Week poster sessions. The Graduate, Medical and PharmD Student session will take place Tuesday, April 12 and the Postdoctoral Fellows, Faculty and Staff session will take place Wednesday, April 13. Both poster sessions will be located in the Medical Education and Research Facility (MERF) Atrium. Posters must be posted by 2:30 p.m. and can’t be taken down before 4:30 p.m. Posters from all disciplines are welcome.

The poster registration deadline is Monday, March 28 at 5:00 p.m.

All Research Week researchers, staff and faculty are also invited to participate in the 2016 Cover Art Contest. Submissions emphasizing one of this year’s two categories, “Scientific Humor” and “Creative Cover Art,” will be displayed at the Research Week poster sessions. Prizes will be awarded to the top three submissions in each category. Submissions must be sent electronically by Monday, April 4 at 5:00 p.m.

Story Source: Benji McElroy, UI Carver College of Medicine, 200 College of Medicine Administration Building, Iowa City, Iowa 52242

Media Contact: Jennifer Brown, UI Health Care Marketing and Communications, jennifer-l-brown@uiowa.edu