VGN Events - 2003

2^nd Annual Retreat (August 13, 2003)

2^nd Annual Career Day (April 16, 2003)

VGN Events - 2002

1^st Annual Retreat (August 14, 2002)

1^st Annual Career Day (April 13, 2002)

The Vermont Genetics Network (VGN) 2nd Annual Retreat was held on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 at Clarion Hotel in South Burlington.      After the "meet and greet"session, the day began with a welcome from VGN Co-Directors, Christopher Allen, PhD and Judith Van Houten, PhD.

The following faculty members from the University of Vermont as well as faculty from VGN's partner colleges gave presentations describing their VGN funded research: University of Vermont C. William Kilpatrick Matthew Poynter, PhD Laurie Whittaker, MD St. Michael's College Malcolm Lippert, PhD Middlebury College Sunhee Choi, PhD Robert Cluss, PhD David Parfitt, PhD Grace Spatafora, PhD

After a short break, the keynote speaker of the day, Dr. Cynthia McMurray of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, delivered a presentation titled "Hijacking of Mismatch Repair to Cause the Trinucleotide Expansion Mutation." Her presentation drew the highest praise from all in attendance      A delicious buffet lunch was next on the agenda. After lunch, Ahmad Chaudhry, PhD, Microarray Facility Director, and Timothy Hunter, Microarray Facility Manager, updated the guests about the progress of the Microarray Facility. Many VGN funded researchers are currently using the facility for their research. Next on the agenda was Jeffrey Bond, PhD, Bioinformatics Core Director, who gave an overview of the VGN Bioinformatics Core. During his presentation, Dr. Bond showed the guests how to access the Biodesktop; the program where microarray data is stored and analyzed.

The final activity was the poster presentation. The following persons presented posters depicting their VGN funded research: graduate students, Byron Barton, Yan Liang, and Sederick Rice of the University of Vermont; faculty members Richard Bunt, PhD and Sallie Sheldon, PhD from Middlebury College; William Karstens, PhD and Mark Lubkowitz, PhD from St. Michael's College; and Alan Howe, PhD from the University of Vermont.      The Retreat ended with awards given to the graduate students who presented posters. In addition, Dr Van Houten gave a sincere thank you to Dr. McMurray and all the faculty who gave presentations about their VGN funded research.

For more information about the Vermont Genetics Network, please contact the VGN office at: (802) 656-4087 Contact VGN - BRIN at Vermont.GeneticsNetwork@uvm.edu

The presentations were excellent and the guests were encouraged to ask questions of the panelists. The students were impressed with descriptions of what each panelist experienced before reaching their current career.

The evening was a huge success and we look forward to working with these promising, science students throughout the summer.

Please mark your calendar for the next important VGN gathering - the 2nd Annual VGN Retreat. The event will be held on Wednesday, August 13, 2003, at the Clarion Hotel in South Burlington. Also, look for periodic announcements about the Retreat.

If you would like additional information about the Vermont Genetics Network, contact Teri Hart, VGN Project Coordinator, at (802) 656-4087 or by email at Vermont.GeneticsNetwork@uvm.edu.

     The Vermont Genetics Network (VGN) held its first annual Retreat on August 14, at UVM’s Marsh Hall. The purpose of the Retreat was to bring together students and faculty from UVM as well as other VGN associated colleges; Johnson State College, Middlebury College, Norwich University and Saint Michael’s College.

VGN Co-Directors Christopher Allen, PhD and Judith Van Houten, PhD welcomed the guests, summarized selected achievements of the first year including the establishment of the microarray facility and officially kicked off the Retreat! One of the highlights of the day was the presentation of talks and posters by the VGN-funded undergraduate students, who summarized the summer research they had done.      First prize was awarded to Andrea Klayman and Kate Saltstein of Middlebury College, who

did research on“Hormonal Stress Response in Adult Mice to Determine the Effects of Maternal Separation”. David Parfitt, PhD served as Andrea and Kate’s mentor this summer. Second prize went to Julie Nicole-Fylling of Johnson State

College, who gave a presentation on her research topic “Linking Alzheimer’s Disease to Notch Signaling”. Julie worked at the University of Vermont over the summer with Rae Nishi, PhD who served as her mentor. Congratulations go to all of the students on the outstanding job they did with their summer research! .      Next on the agenda was a three part session. Four groups of students were taken on a tour of some of the following UVM science facilities: the Microarray facility, the DNA Analysis facility, the Flow Cytometry facility, the Life Science Computer Center, the Molecular Modeling facility, the Cell Imaging facility and the Center for X-ray Crystallography. Many thanks

go to the following lab directors, who conducted the tours: Ahmad Chaudhry, PhD, Mark Rould, PhD, Doug Taajes, PhD, Ramiro Barrantes-Reynolds, Timothy Hunter and Scott Tighe. The tours were intended to introduce the students to what types of services are available at UVM.

     The Faculty attended a Bioinformatics workshop given by Jeffrey Bond, PhD, and Director of the VGN Bioinformatics Core. Dr. Bond gave an overview of the Bioinformatics Core and its services to VGN faculty and

students. In addition, VGN faculty gave their input on what types of educational workshops they would like to receive from the Bioinformatics Core.      Following the workshop was a networking session directed by Dr. Allen inviting VGN faculty to share their comments, suggestions and ideas on how the Vermont Genetics Network can facilitate research partnerships between faculty at higher educational institutions across the state. We invite faculty from all colleges to continue to share their comments. Contact us at Vermont.GeneticsNetwork@uvm.edu

At 12:30, everyone met back in Marsh Dining Hall and a buffet lunch was served.      The featured guest speaker of the day was William Bress, PhD, DABFT, Chief of Environmental Health and Toxicology/State Toxicologist with the Vermont Department of Health, who gave an “eye-opening” presentation on “Bioterrorism Issues Since 9/11”, a topic on which this country must become more educated. Dr Bress answered the many questions from the enthusiastic crowd.      The Retreat wrapped up at 2:00 pm with a sincere thank you from

VGN Co-Directors Christopher Allen and Judith Van Houten.

For more information about the Vermont Genetics Network, please contact the VGN office at: