Calendar of events, awards and opportunities

Every week, we update this list with new meetings, awards, scholarships and events to help you advance your career. If you’d like us to feature something that you’re offering to the bioscience community, email us with the subject line “For calendar.” ASBMB members’ offerings take priority, and we do not promote products/services. Learn how to advertise in ASBMB Today.

March 30: Life Lessons from a Small Creature

The Lasker Foundation is hosting a free Lasker Lessons in Leadership lecture at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on March 30. The speaker, Cynthia Kenyon, is a biogerontologist and vice president of aging research at Calico Labs. Her talk is titled "Life Lessons from a Small Creature" and will be about the genetics of aging as revealed through studies of the roundworm. Register.

March 30: Mechanisms of oxygen intake and blood pressure

This is a free webinar by the American Physiological Society, one of our sister societies. It'll be moderated by Ole H. Petersen of Cardiff University and have talks by Jose Lopez–Barneo of the University of Seville Medical School and David M. Pollock of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It's at 11 a.m. Eastern on March 30. Register.

March 31: ASBMB Lipid Research Division Seminar Series

The ASBMB Lipid Research Division features the work of young investigators at noon Eastern on Wednesdays.

On March 31, Melinda Diver will give a talk titled "Low temperature snapshots of a cold sensor provide structural insights into lipid regulation of TRPM8"  (see paper), and Anastasiia Stratiievska of Bloodworks Northwest will give a talk titled "Reciprocal regulation among TRPV1 channels and phosphoinositide 3-kinase in response to nerve growth factor" (see paper).

If you are interested in presenting at a future LRD seminar, please contact John Burke. Register once to access the whole series.

March 31: Implicit bias and stereotype threat

This is another free webinar by the American Physiological Society. It will be moderated by María Lourdes Alarcón Fortepiani, a professor at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. And the featured speaker will be Crystal L. Hoyt, a professor and associate dean at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond in Virginia. The program will answer the following questions: What is implicit bias and stereotype threat? How does bias affect physiology and other STEM fields? Are we aware of our own biases and negative stereotypes? Is a culture of implicit bias in our institutions embedded in our policies and practices? What tools can we use to retrain our brains and our institutions to reduce or eliminate implicit bias? Register.

March 31: Deadline for Lasker essay contest

The Lasker Foundation's annual essay contest is now accepting submissions. It's open to all biomedical and public health students, including graduate and medical students, and postdocs and offers a $5,000 prize. This year's prompt asks: "What is the most important scientific lesson you have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic? Discuss how that lesson will influence your research work and/or career." Submit your 800-word essay by March 31. Learn more.

Call for virtual scientific event proposals

The ASBMB provides members with a virtual platform to share scientific research and accomplishments and to discuss emerging topics and technologies with the BMB community.

The ASBMB will manage the technical aspects, market the event to tens of thousands of contacts and present the digital event live to a remote audience. Additional tools such as polling, Q&A, breakout rooms and post event Twitter chats may be used to facilitate maximum engagement.

Seminars are typically one to two hours long. A workshop or conference might be longer and even span several days.

Prospective organizers may submit proposals at any time. Decisions are usually made within four to six weeks. 

Propose an event.

April 1: Excelsior award for underrepresented scientists

The Society of General Physiologists has set an April 1 deadline for applications for the Excelsior Award, which supports underrepresented scientists in physiology and biophysics. The award, which is presented at the society's annual symposium, includes a travel stipend to attend the meeting and present a talk — and, most importantly, two years of formal mentorship by a senior member of the society. This award is for senior postdocs, instructors and other teachers not on the tenure track. Learn more and apply.

April 7: Graduate student mental health and well-being

Join us for a conversation on how to support the mental health and well-being of STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) graduate students. This event will cover issues in the recent National Academies report titled "Mental Health, Substance Use, and Wellbeing in Higher Education: Supporting the Whole Student." Learn more and register.

April 11: Industry mentoring program deadline

In October, ASBMB Today industry careers columnist Courtney Chandler interviewed Brandon Anjuwon–Foster about his career path. One of the steps toward industry that he took was participating in the program we're advertising here: the Scientist Mentoring & Diversity Program. The program has two tracks — biotech and medtech — and offers a year of mentoring for diverse undergraduate and graduate students and for early-career scientists. There's five-day training session, and the participants are paired with industry mentors. Learn more and apply by April 11.

April 12: Early registration deadline for the ASBMB annual meeting

The 2021 ASBMB Annual Meeting, held in conjunction with Experimental Biology, offers unmatched opportunities to showcase your work, learn from other scientists about their latest findings and expand your professional circle. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with scientists from around the globe!

Scientific and education sessions: Start planning how you'll spend your time at the meeting. These events have been curated by pioneers and innovators.

Award lectures: These 12 outstanding professionals are being recognized by their peers for contributions to their fields, education and diversity.

April 12: Nominations for C&EN's Talented 12 program due

C&EN’s Talented 12 program, now in its seventh year, showcases the brightest minds who are doing the cutting-edge science to tackle a global challenge. C&EN is seeking nominations for early-career candidates who are doing impactful research. The program is sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific. Nominate.

April 14: How to create an engaging video abstract

The American Society for Cell Biology is hosting a webinar titled "Science Sketches: How to Create an Engaging Video Abstract" at 2 p.m. Eastern on April 14. This is especially good for those of you who are giving prerecorded poster talks at the ASBMB annual meeting and those of you who are interested in science outreach and communication. The speakers at this webinar are Lisa Dennison of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Liam Holt of New York University. They're the co-founders of Science Sketches, a website with short, accessible videos about research. Register.

April 21: Webinar on biological aging

The American Physiological Society and InsideScientific are co-hosting a webinar series on aging science. Here's how APS describes the topic at hand: "Attempts to cure age-related diseases have proven unsuccessful, and the impact of 'disease-first' approaches continue to be incremental. Recent advances in understanding the mechanisms linking biological aging to disease (geroscience) have identified interventions that directly target the molecular hallmarks of aging. Unlike disease-specific approaches, such interventions have the potential to prevent multiple diseases of aging simultaneously, thereby greatly enhancing health span and life span for most individuals." The guest speaker will be Matt Kaeberlein of the University of Washington. Though registration wasn't open when we went to press, you can keep an eye on the event page for a registration link.

May 4–5: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the PDB

This celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Protein Data Bank as the first open-access digital data resource in biology will include presentations from speakers from around the world who have made tremendous advances in structural biology and bioinformatics. Students and postdoctoral fellows are especially encouraged to attend and will be eligible for poster awards. Learn more.

May 5: Deadline for ASBMB annual award nominations

The ASBMB Annual Awards are given to outstanding professionals who have been recognized by their peers for contributions to their fields, education and diversity. The recipients will give talks about their work at the 2022 ASBMB Annual Meeting. You can nominate or self-nominate. See a list of available awards and prepare your nomination package.

 

May 10: Colloquium on G protein–coupled receptors

This colloquium, an extension of the Experimental Biology meeting, will feature as the keynote speaker Nobel laureate Brian Kobilka, who will give a talk titled "Structural Insights into the Dynamic Process of G Protein–Coupled Receptor Activation." (Read our feature on Kobilka, who won the 2013 ASBMB Earl and Thressa Stadtman Distinguished Scientist Award.) See the full list of speakers. Also, please note that you must have already registered for EB to attend this add-on event.

May 27: Application deadline for DOE internships

The U.S. Department of Energy is accepting applications through May 27 for the fall cohort of its Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships Program. This program allows undergraduates and recent grads to conduct mentored research in DOE labs across the nation. Learn more.

May 31: Application deadline for IUBMB editorship

The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is seeking a new editor for its journal Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry. The editor has a three-year term. Applications are due May 31. See the job description and application instructions.

June 20–25: Teaching science with big data

This international meeting guides faculty on how to teach using web-based, free-access large data sets. How big is "big data"? Data that is so large, fast or complex that it's difficult or impossible to process using traditional methods. Join us to learn these valuable teaching skills to prepare students for the future. Sponsored by the ASBMB and the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Registration and abstract submission opening soon.

June 21: Flux-independent signaling by ionotropic receptors

Save the date for the virtual event "Flux-independent signaling by ionotropic receptors: Unforeseen roles and complexities" on June 21. The organizers say it will be of interest to neuroscientists, cell biologists, molecular biologists and biochemists, among others, involved in the study of cell physiology and function in health and disease. We'll update this item as soon as we know about the abstract and registration deadline. In the meantime, read the event description.

July 21–23: Extracellular vesicle studies: From benchtop to therapeutics

Extracellular vesicles are secreted, membrane-bound compartments containing DNA and cytoplasmic constituent molecules of all types that are thought to act as mediators of intercellular communication. They are classified by both size and location/mechanism of cellular origination. They are thought to be produced by an ever-expanding diversity of cell types and species. However, there is also considerable skepticism related to their existence and utility, as it can be difficult to isolate EVs since there is no EV-specific molecular marker to target. (Editor's note: See this ASBMB Today feature on EVs by former science writer Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay.)

A primary focus in recent years has been to describe the mechanisms of molecular sorting that would allow researchers to target proteins produced from exogenously introduced DNA to EVs for cellular secretion and uptake. The potential value of EVs to therapeutics is thought to be enormous, thanks to the role of EVs in cell–cell communication as a robust, native delivery vehicle.

This event will appeal to a broad audience, including molecular biologists, biochemists, biophysicists, secretion experts, cell–cell communication specialists, clinicians, physiologists and others. Submit an abstract by May 27. The early registration deadline is June 25, and the regular registration deadline is July 16. Visit the event homepage.