Crossroads in Biology 2019
REMIX outreach activity: Crossroads in Biology 2019
Two REMIX fellows Hien and Yvonne joined the organizing committee of the 7th international symposium Crossroads in Biology 2019 in Cologne. This symposium takes place every other year and is completely organized by students of the Graduate School for Biological Science of the University of Cologne and affiliated institutes. The aim of the symposium is to bring together students and leading scientists to promote multidisciplinary discussions and to establish a network for future collaborations. Thanks to many sponsors and supporters, one of the being REMIX, the symposium is completely free of charge. After many months of planning and organizing the symposium finally took place on the 28thand 29thMarch 2019. REMIX fellows, Pamella, Mujeeb and Ana participated both days. The first day started with the session on Mitochondrial biology REMIX PI Alexey Amunts, an invited speaker of the Mitochondrial biology session opened the symposium with his talk on the method of cryo-EM for studying the mitochondrial ribosome followed by the newest insights of the structure of the mammalian ribosome. After the keynote lecture given by Werner Kühlbrandt, the day continued with a meet the speakers lunch, a session of Gene expression and poster presentations. During the welcome party participants, speakers and organizers had time to deepen scientific discussions in an informal atmosphere. The second symposium day consisted of two more sessions on session of Cell death and Apoptosis and Drug development. For us REMIX fellows it was not only a great event learning about new developments in diverse fields but it was also a good experience to learn how to organize such an event. We participated in finding speakers for the different sessions, organized the venue and the accommodation of speakers, promoted the event in Cologne and also to other European universities, found sponsors and supporters and were involved in the financial organization. We learned many new skills that will eventually be useful for our future careers both within and outside academia.
