Greetings from San Antonio
What do you know about San Antonio?
You probably know it’s the site of the Alamo, and you might have seen photos of the lovely River Walk. But what else?
When the editors of ASBMB Today were brainstorming ways to get folks excited about the setting for Discover BMB 2024, scheduled for March 23–26 in San Antonio, we decided the best way to tell you about this city would be to invite ASBMB members who live there to introduce themselves and share their impressions and experiences.
We wrote to our members in San Antonio (except the undergraduates — you’ll hear from them later) and received the following essays in response. They come from a wide variety of perspectives: graduate students and senior PIs, San Antonio natives and newcomers to the city. And whether it’s the food, the sights, the history, the diversity or the science, these folks really love San Antonio.
We think you will too — and we look forward to seeing you there.
San Antonio, my new home
Audrey Lamb reflects on her family’s pandemic-era move to Texas and recommends things to see and do while you’re in town for Discover BMB.
A good place to live and study cancer
Jason Liu was attracted to San Antonio by good start-up funding for cancer researchers.
A safe place where biochemistry is valued
Weixing Zhao moved to San Antonio four years ago to kickstart his career in bread cancer research.
A place for growth and collaboration
Cynthia Veliz, the first member of her family to attend college, is a biochemistry research assistant in the physiology department at UTHSCSA
Warm people, good tacos — and a light show
Leticia Rodrigues fell in love with San Antonio during a 10-day solo driving trip around the big cities of Texas.
Beauty at a geographic intersection
Sandeep Burma, a recent transplant to San Antonio, loves the nature preserves and trails just outside his neurosurgery research lab.
‘Nowhere else I’d rather be!’
Madisyn Johnson grew up in San Antonio and is now a Ph.D. student at UTHSCSA.
Building the first cryo-EM facility in South Texas
In 2022, Lijia Jia assembled a $3 million microscope with a field engineer from Thermo Fisher and set up its computing infrastructure.
A warm city of warm hearts
Seema Nath has worked for a year in the structural biology core at UTHSCSA preparing purified proteins in bulk.
Welcoming vibes for all
In San Antonio, Ph.D. student Subhash Khadka has found restaurants serving food from around the world – including his native Nepal.
ʻThe perfect place to do scienceʼ
Thiago Pasin, a postdoc at UTSA and native of Brazil, has found that the street language in San Antonio isn’t just English.
A place with plentiful research support
Zoe Hoffpauir, a postdoc at UTSA, is a native Texan who studies essential bacterial enzymes and makes San Antonio memories with her son.
Ticks, blood and unexpected connections
Robert Renthal, a professor of biochemistry, writes about his almost five decades of living and working in San Antonio.
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