Research Festival Marks Tenth Anniversary
September is back, bringing us indian summer days, back-to-school sales, baseball pennant races -- and the NIH Research Festival. The annual gathering of the NIH clans is scheduled for Sept. 16-20 and is chaired this year by Dr. Henning Birkedal-Hansen, scientific director of NIDR. Along with the usual program of symposia, workshops, and poster sessions, this special 10th anniversary edition of the festival offers some new wrinkles: a lunchtime picnic, VIP poster presentations, and a Job Fair for NIH postdocs.
The week kicks off in the Natcher Bldg. main auditorium on Monday, Sept. 16, with a symposium titled "Prion Diseases." It features presentations by several guest speakers from Europe. After the lectures, visitors can drop by the lobby to view more than 80 posters -- the first of four poster sessions. An added treat during each poster session will be the "VIP posters" presented in person by several scientific directors and others. The concept revives one of the popular features of the first "Research Day" held a decade ago.
Hungry festivalgoers can purchase a box lunch in the Natcher picnic tent contributed by the Technical Sales Association (TSA). One-dollar tickets must be purchased in advance at R&W stores; proceeds benefit the Children's Inn at NIH. After the lunch break, the program continues with 13 workshops running from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., followed by a second 2-hour poster session.
The festival resumes on Tuesday, Sept. 17, with a second symposium, "Genetics of Complex Disease: From Phenotype to Gene." It too takes place in Natcher and is followed by another round of workshops sandwiched between morning and evening poster sessions.
On Wednesday, Sept. 18, the festival transforms into a Job Fair. Nearly a dozen job openings from outside organizations have been posted with the NIH Office of Education. Throughout the morning, NIH postdoctoral fellows are invited to visit information booths in the Natcher lobby. Representatives from several companies will be available to discuss job openings and to arrange interviews in the afternoon.
Also on Wednesday, NIDR presents an alumni symposium in honor of retiring scientist Dr. Stephan E. Mergenhagen, titled "Matrix, Microbes and Mucosa: Four Decades of Microbiology and Immunology." The session begins at 2 p.m. in the Natcher Bldg. main auditorium.
The festivities conclude with the ever-popular TSA exhibits on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 19-20. The show accentuates the "festival" atmosphere with dozens of vendor demonstrations, product giveaways, and free refreshments, all held under two tents in parking lot 10-D, near the Clinical Center.
To learn more about the presentations, job fair postings, and schedule of events, look for one of the Research Festival booklets being distributed desk-to-desk, or visit the festival home page at http://mantis.dcrt.nih.gov/festival/. For more details call the NIH Visitor Information Center, 6-1776, or email Greg Roa at gr25v@nih.gov.
Up to Top