Skip to content
Search
Close this search box.
Genomics Education Partnership logo
Contact Us
Genomics Education Partnership logo
Contact Us
Home » Regional Node Event » Page 4

Regional Node Event

Southeast Regional Node Meeting November 12, 2021

Southeast Regional Node Meeting – November 12, 2021

The GEP Southeast Regional Node held a virtual meeting on November 12, 2021, with 43 students and faculty in attendance, representing colleges and universities from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. Keynote speaker Dr. Sarthok Rahman, a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Alabama, discussed how bumblebees got their colors. His address described scales of life ranging from molecular to ecological, including aspects of epigenetics, gene mapping, signal transduction, developmental biology, convergent evolution, Müllerian mimicry, biogeography, and more. Dr. Sarthok’s presentation exemplified how high-quality genome annotations are useful for comparative genomics.

After the keynote address and ensuing discussion, the 30 undergraduates were divided into two breakout rooms, where they presented their research as five-minute talks. Students shared their challenges, progress, and results in reconciling, annotating coding sequences, and annotating promoter regions.

Students reported that the annotation projects have been a valuable introduction to the world of bioinformatics and participating in our Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience has helped them to make order and sense from overwhelming amounts of data. Faculty reported that it was interesting to hear a broad diversity of student talks.

The two-hour event continued a series of community-building Southeast Regional Node events. We look forward to seeing faculty and hearing from more students at the next meeting!

Pacific Northwest Regional Node Meeting November 7, 2021

Pacific Northwest Regional Node Meeting – November 7, 2021

The Pacific Northwest (PNW) Regional Node, which currently includes members from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, held a virtual Regional Node Meeting (RNM) on November 7th, 2021. The meeting was organized by Norma Velazquez-Ulloa (Node Leader), with feedback from all current Node members: Catherine Reinke, James Bedard, Jack Vincent, Holly Paquette, and Tealia Slagle. There were five current members, three prospective members, and eight undergraduate students in attendance, from six different institutions (Lewis & Clark College, Linfield University, The University of the Fraser Valley, The University of Washington-Tacoma, The College of Western Idaho, Boise State University, and Portland Community College).

Sessions at the Regional Node Meeting included:

  • Undergraduate talks presenting GEP gene annotations on the F-Element and Pathways Projects
  • Faculty implementation talks
  • Q&A time for attendees

This successful event was the second RNM for the PNW Regional Node.
Texas and Oklahoma Regional Node Meeting November 5, 2021

TX/OK Regional Node Meeting – November 5, 2021

The Oklahoma Universities in the Texas/Oklahoma Regional Node held a node meeting at the Oklahoma Academies of Science Technical Meeting in Ada, OK at East Central University. Fifteen GEP students presented their annotation projects either in poster or oral formats. GEP students and faculty from East Central University and Oklahoma Christian University ate lunch together and shared experiences.

Southeast Regional Node Meeting – April 23, 2021

The GEP’s Southeast Regional Node held its Spring 2021 Regional Node Meeting on Friday, April 23, with over 60 in attendance, including students and faculty from constituent states Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. The keynote speaker Whitley Kelley, MS, Certified Genetic Counselor at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, AL, provided a fascinating overview of how genomics can be practically applied in careers in genetic counseling (see recording below). Faculty were inspired by the talk to include similar professional development training for students at their own institutions.

Following the keynote address, virtual breakout rooms offered a platform to undergraduate and graduate students to present 5-minute poster sessions on their GEP research projects. Again, faculty response was extremely positive; one professor commented, “Seeing the student presentations with the RNA-Seq provided even more weight to the benefits of the GEP Gene Annotation Curriculum in providing hands-on experiences with multiple data-sets and the feasibility of implementing this curriculum with other scientific questions.”

The two-hour online event served as a brief yet effective forum where students and faculty alike were empowered and motivated to continue active engagement in genomic research.

TX/OK Regional Node Meeting – January 5, 2021

The Texas/Oklahoma node held their first virtual Regional Node Meeting (RNM) on January 5, 2021. The meeting was organized by several members of the TX/OK node including Lindsey Long and Alisha Howard. The morning session focused on providing training on the Parasitoid Wasps annotation project for current GEP faculty. This session was led by Dr. Nathan Mortimer and attended by seven GEP faculty members.

The afternoon session was open to faculty, postdocs, and students in the TX/OK region who were either affiliated with, or interested in, the GEP project. This session was hosted on the interactive platform Gather Town and was attended by 13 faculty and students from eight different institutions. Dr. Nathan Mortimer kicked off the afternoon with a presentation on his Parasitoid Wasps research project. This talk was followed by a virtual poster session by current and former GEP students. Finally, the GEP faculty hosted a Q&A session for new and prospective GEP faculty members.

Carolinas New Member Training December 2020

“This could not have been more than what I needed” was the comment of Jeffrey French from North Greenville University in South Carolina on the last day of the workshop. Dr. French was one of nine trainees that completed the New Member Training Workshop of the Carolinas Regional Node and his comment could not have been more perfect to encapsulate the feeling that this was a successful workshop. Everyone walked away feeling empowered and with plans to implement. Who was everyone?

  • Dr. Eric Goff, Midlands Technical College
  • Dr. Jeffrey French, North Greenville University
  • Dr. Karen L. Baracskay, Tri-County Technical College
  • Dr. Kristen Delaney Nguyen, Fayetteville State University
  • Dr. Mara Robu, Furman University
  • Dr. Maria Fadri, Wake Technical Community College
  • Dr. Mark Dugo, Johnson C. Smith University
  • Dr. Robert K. Reid, Meredith College
  • Dr. Taek H. You, Campbell University

We were thrilled to have three of our trainees coming from community colleges, contributing to one of the goals of our IPERT grant. One of the institutions is a HBCU and another one an all-women’s college.

This was the inaugural event for the Carolinas Regional Node after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the one we had planned for Spring 2020. We debated the dates and format and finally settled for the tried-and-true 15 hours over two weeks online training that Drs. Catherine Reinke and Jenny Mierisch perfected over the summer. They both were very helpful providing resources and advice, and Catherine met with us as we were in the planning stages and she also attended some of the training.

We had the privilege of having Dr. Laura Reed do the “Introduction to GEP” on the second day and Katie Sandlin gave the tour of the new GEP website that she and Wilson Leung developed on day seven. Katie also developed a terrific webpage for the training to keep everything organized and accessible at the click of a link. In the colors of the GEP, the training website had the same professional look of our new GEP website. Chinmay Rele created an awesome video for us to use for recruiting new members for the workshop.

The participants were really appreciative of the resources and support, and they bonded together. On our last day, Taek reflecting on the working days together, said: “do you realize that we were strangers just last week and now we are part of this group, supporting each other?” Mark shared a bioinformatics exercise he developed around SARS-CoV-2; we discussed having a symposium-like event next year at the end of the summer with our students; and Kristen also suggested a hackathon type of event for our students. Everyone was feeling energized and we, the trainers, were happy.

Our thanks go to everyone who helped with planning, developing, and executing. Laura, Katie, Wilson, Chinmay, Catherine, and Jenny. We could not have done it without you!

—
The Carolinas crew: Me (Marisol Santisteban), Indi Bose, Michelle Eller, Cathy Silver Key, Vida Mingo, Scott Tanner, and Catherine Ward.

MN/IA/Dakotas Regional Node Meeting – December 11, 2020

The GEP’s Minnesota, Iowa, and Dakotas Regional Node held a virtual Regional Node Meeting on December 11th, 2020.

The meeting was organized by Andy Arsham (Node Leader) and Paula Croonquist. The 55 attendees included 13 faculty, 1 postdoc, 51 undergraduates, and 1 administrator from 4 community colleges and 2 four-year institutions (St. Paul College, North Hennepin Community College, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Minneapolis College, Wartburg College, and Bemidji State University).

The virtual poster session at the Regional Node Meeting included:

  • Undergraduates presenting their bioinformatics research projects analyzing evolutionary conservation of growth factor signaling pathways in Drosophila species separated by about 40 million years of evolution
  • Capstone classroom research presentations from BSU’s Gene Expression class investigating the role of repetitive DNA in triggering gene silencing by heterochromatin
  • Introduction and lightning talks by Dr. Laura Reed, GEP Program Director and Pathways Project Leader, and Dr. Nathan Mortimer, GEP Wasp Venom Project Leader
  • Q&A and information for prospective faculty

Pacific Northwest Regional Node Meeting – November 1, 2020

The GEP’s Pacific Northwest (PNW) Node, which currently has members from Oregon and Washington in the U.S. and from British Columbia in Canada, held their first Regional Node Meeting virtually, on November 1st, 2020.
 
The meeting was organized by Norma Velazquez (Node Leader), with input from the node members, Catherine Rinke, James Bedard, and Tealis Slagle, and Shan Hays, who is a visiting member in the PNW Node.
 
Attendees to this event included 3 faculty members, 14 undergraduate students, and 3 GEP alumni from 4 different institutions (Linfield College, Lewis & Clark College, the University of Fraser Valley, and Oregon State University (visiting faculty)).
 
Sessions at the Regional Node Meeting included:
 
  • Undergraduate talks from beginner and advanced students presenting GEP data
  • Q&A with professors
  • Alumni Panel
 
This successful event was part of the GEP’s second year of NIH IPERT-supported regional activities and created a template for future events for the PNW Node.
""

Midwest North Regional Node Meeting

The Midwest North Node, which covers Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, held the GEP’s first NIH-funded Regional Node Meeting in Detroit, MI, at the University of Detroit Mercy, on September 7th – 8th, 2019.

The meeting was organized by Martin Burg (Node Leader), Jacob Kagey (Host Site Leader), and Jamie Siders. The 32 attendees included 12 faculty, 2 postdocs, and 18 undergraduates from 9 institutions (Albion College, Grand Valley State University, Illinois State University, Mount Mary University, Oakland University, Ohio Northern University, University of Detroit Mercy, University of Michigan, Wayne State University).

Sessions at the Regional Node Meeting included:

  • undergraduate talks presenting GEP and other CURE data
  • benefits of becoming a Teaching Assistant
  • dos & don’ts of applying to graduate and professional school
  • GEP faculty discussion about future node events
  • faculty breakout sessions on CURE implementation
  • keynote by Nathan Mortimer titled “Invasion of the body snatchers: A functional genomics approach to understanding parasite virulence proteins”


This successful event kicked off the GEP’s first year of NIH IPERT-supported regional activities and created a template for future events as we ramp up activity under the 5-year IPERT grant.