First Optical Biology PhD Student Retreat in Lisbon
16-19 June 2024
University College London - Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência - Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown
Our Optical Biology PhD student Retreat kicked off with a keynote speech from Prof. Rita Fior, who discussed current progress in using "Zebrafish Avatars for Personalized Medicine" which aims to bring bench-side cancer drug screening results to cancer patients in a mere 10 days. Prof. Michael Orger gave an intriguing talk on "Imaging Structure and Function in the Larval Zebrafish Brain" focusing on in-house imaging setup across multiple scales, leveraging the optical accessibility of zebrafish. Prof. Ricardo Henriques focused on cutting-edge super-resolution microscopy and shared with us recent efforts to develop tools for microscopy imaging which ended with an amazing roundtable discussion on the “randomness” and reproducibility of data produced with deep learning-based methods.
Followed by the keynote talks, the group leaders of imaging facilities talked to us about the imaging setups available on campus, how their staff is uniquely positioned to help researchers both within Portrugal and through collaboration as part of the “EuroImaging” Group. We also had tours of imaging centres and the campuses led by local students. All keynote speakers from both institutes joined us for the roundtable sessions, coffee breaks, and lunches, meaning that most of us were able to interact and connect with the speakers directly to talk about research and their career in science.
On the afternoons of the Retreat, we had amazing poster sessions in the tropical gardens of Champalimaud surrounded by greenery and student “blitz talks” in IGC. Both posters and student talks covered a huge range of topics from population genetics and mechanochemical signaling of wound healing, from retinal development to acousto-optic lens based imaging system. All of us appreciated the chance to practice our presentation skills in a friendly environment and discuss our research with other students alike.