Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Corrie Whisner, PhD
College of Health Solutions; Arizona State University

"From struggles to snuggles: Insights into sleep and gut microbiome development on infant growth and obesity risk"

**Please note this takes place in 180 Bevier Hall, 905 S Goodwin Ave**

Panel, 12:00-1:00pm
180 Bevier Hall, 905 S Goodwin Ave

"The Science and Practice of Team Science"

Stephen Fiore, PhD
Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, University of Central Florida

Melanie Bauer
Grant Writing Manager, Nova Southeastern University

Reception, 1:00-2:00pm 
Gatehouse Lobby, IGB Administration Building, 1206 West Gregory Drive

The Science and Practice of Team Science panel will provide complementary perspectives on the Science of Team Science (SciTS), an emerging area of scholarship developed to understand and improve teamwork in science. As an interdisciplinary field, SciTS adapts concepts and methods from various areas to study issues ranging from team formation and team composition and how these relate to group dynamics in science teams, to organizational challenges around collaboration in science, and how these relate to professional development (e.g., choices researchers make) and advancement in academia (e.g., tenure and promotion). Drawing on their experience from a multi-year project using a coaching intervention to develop teams for transdisciplinary science, our panelists will provide insights as scientists and practitioners and discuss their challenges experienced when working to translate scientific findings into actionable interventions that improve collaboration. Join us for a reception with hors-d’oeuvres and beverages following the panel. 

Jill Lens, PhD
Dorothy M. Willie Professor in Excellence, College of Law; University of Iowa

Stillbirth: The Experience, and the Laws that Frame it

**Please note this takes place in 180 Bevier Hall, 905 S Goodwin Ave**

Wade Zeno, PhD
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Southern California

"Exploring Intrinsic Disorder at the Protein-Lipid Interface"

**Please note this takes place in 180 Bevier Hall, 905 S Goodwin Ave**

Owen Ryan, PhD
Director of Cell Engineering Research at ADM

"An adventure in yeast synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology"

"The Magic of RNA: New Medicines, Immortality, and the Power to Control Evolution"

Thomas R. Cech, PhD
Nobel Laureate
Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
BioFrontiers Institute
University of Colorado Boulder

I-Hotel and Conference Center 

Reception and book signing to follow. 

Thomas Cech was born in Chicago and grew up in Iowa City. As a child, Cech collected rocks and minerals and would "talk" science with his father and professors at the University of Iowa. In 1966, Cech went to Grinnell College to study chemistry - a subject he really enjoyed. College was a real eye-opener as he met others who were just as excited about academics as he was. He would have stayed in chemistry, but as an undergraduate, Cech worked at Argonne National Laboratory and at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. These research experiences made him realize that it just took too long to gather meaningful data for a chemistry experiment.

In 1970, Cech headed for the University of California at Berkeley for graduate work. Here he discovered the world of molecular biology. As he says, he "was thrilled with the much more rapid interplay between idea and experimental test that was possible in this field," and he "became committed to the interface between molecular biology and chemistry." Cech finished his PhD thesis on DNA chromosome structure and then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for post doctoral work.

In 1978, Cech accepted a position in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder. It was here that he and his research group did the work leading to the discovery that RNA can self-splice and thus can act as a ribozyme. For this discovery, Cech shared the 1989 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Sidney Altman.

In 1988, Cech became an Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and in 2000, assumed duties as the President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Among his many honors and awards, Cech received the 1995 National Medal of Science.

(A)ll (G)amers (C)ome (U)nwind with RNA Trivia Night at 25 O’Clock Brewing Company.

Come for the drinks and stay for the nerdy science trivia. 

Teams of up to 6, free to play, prizes for the winners.