Maura Cotter's Conference Summary

    Maura Cotter
     Ph.D. Student
     Physiological Sciences GIDP

     Conference Summary
     International Gap Junction Conference
     Glasgow, Scotland

I had a truly wonderful experience at the International Gap Junction Conference (IGJC) in Glasgow, Scotland from July 29 – August 2, 2017. The IGJC attracts the world’s leading experts in the field of gap junction research in addition to many other highly talented scientists, post-docs and students. This year, there were about 250 attendees from around the world, and with 62 talks and 121 posters, nearly every gap junction lab was represented in one way or another. This is a really important and unique aspect of attending such a specialized conference; it allows those in our field the opportunity to stay abreast of current and cutting edge gap junction research. Such an intimate environment also fosters scientific collaborations, networking opportunities, and the chance to receive very valuable feedback. After my oral presentation in Plenary Session 13 – Translational and Therapeutics, I received great thought-provoking questions, ideas I hadn’t thought about, and suggestions for future experiments to advance my research.  I even had another student come up to me interested in pursuing a collaboration. Furthermore, because so many prominent researchers from our field attend this meeting, graduate students can really get to know the faculty from different institutions around the world and can begin to think about where they may be interested in doing a post-doc. I was able to meet with several PI’s, including Jean Jiang from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and James Smyth from Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. Dr. Jiang’s research on connexins in bone is right up my alley, considering I am interested in pursuing a career looking at bone marrow niche interactions with stem and immune cells in a gap junction context. Dr. Smyth presented his work as an “Emerging Leader” in the field, and he does some very fascinating research looking at how the heart responds to injury, particularly upon infection by adenoviruses. Considering that I want to move into the immune system in the future, I will follow up with both of them when I begin looking for a post-doc position. Overall, attendance at this conference has been a very valuable experience, and I am extremely grateful for the Herbert E. Carter Travel Award for making this trip possible.