Sara Lewis Conference Summary

Sara Ann Lewis
Ph.D. Candidate
Neuroscience GIDP

Conference Summary
Genetics Society of American Drosphila
Research Conference
Chicago, Ilinois
March 4-8, 2015

Thanks to the generous support of the Carter Award, I was able to attend the Genetics Society of America Drosophila conference held in Chicago.

This conference has historically been the place where some of the most exciting new findings and promising new technologies have been unveiled ahead of publication. This year was no exception; I attended numerous talks and workshops with novel findings and methods. What is most remarkable about this is the willingness of the fly community to share expertise and resources. One of the workshop presenters was not only teaching others to use a technique that they pioneered, but also brought along genetic reagents to give to interested individuals. There was also an entire session of talks on using Drosophila as a model for studying neurological disorders, which is my specific research focus.

I presented a poster on my dissertation research and received very helpful feedback that will help me wrap up my experiments and prepare my results for publication. I found these discussions helped rekindle enthusiasm in my research and motivate me to try for some loftier goals in the next few years.

One of the biggest benefits of attending scientific conferences, particularly as an early career scientist, is the networking opportunities. I was able to meet other graduate students to share experiences and insights. Additionally, I met established researchers in the field and individuals who maintain community resources that I use daily. Since this is an international conference, I had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with researchers from around the world who run labs which have interesting postdoctoral research opportunities. This has given me a head-start in finding a job for after graduation and continuing my career as a scientist.

I am grateful I had a chance to attend this genetics conference. I discovered first-hand the wonderful community of researchers who use the fly as a model system. I met others using Drosophila to study brain development and neurological disorders and I was able to exchange ideas and find future directions for my research.