2025 BCB Department Retreat
Our annual department retreat, hosted on May 27th by Dr. Jonathan Nelson at the Port Jefferson Country Club, was an exciting day filled with collaboration, discovery, and celebration. It was a fantastic opportunity for colleagues to connect and learn about the groundbreaking work happening within our department. We also took immense pride in celebrating the achievements of our graduate students and the department's success in recruiting new faculty members.
BCB department chair and recent faculty recruits. From left: Drs. Lina Carlini, Julia Rogers, Benjamin Lin, Wali Karzai, Jonathan Nelson, Jae Ho Lee, Kathryn Gunn, and Stuti Sharma
The day kicked off with an insightful talk from Dr. Jae Ho Lee, who joined our department in January. His presentation, "Cotranslational complex assembly is directed by nascent chain interactions and elongation dynamics," offered a fascinating glimpse into his research. To delve deeper, be sure to visit the Lee Lab website!
Enjoying the sunshine in Port Jeff. From left: CAS Dean David Wrobel, Amy Liu, Wali Karzai, Carol Juliano, Sharon Schmidt, Estephany Ferrufino, Megan Alberti, and CAS Sr. Director of Development Michael D'Ambrosio
Following a delicious lunch, Dr. Wali Karzai presented the 2nd Annual Simon's Fellowship Award, a prestigious honor endowed in memory of Dr. Sandy Simon. A huge congratulations to Eric Girardi, a graduate student in the Hu Lab, for receiving this year's well-deserved award!
Simon's Fellowship founder Dr. Amy Liao (left) presents this year's award to Eric Girardi (right).
Simon's Fellowship founder Dr. Amy Liao (left) with 2024 Simon's Award recipient, Melanie Cragan.
The afternoon talks began with another one of our new faculty members, Dr. Lina Carlini. She presented an engaging talk titled "Engineering the divide: structural insights into the central spindle." You can learn more about her research by visiting the Carlini Lab webpage!
We then enjoyed a series of other presentations throughtout the day from:
Taylor Rahn, a graduate student in the Airola Lab
Amalia Napoli, a postdoctoral fellow in the Wollmuth Lab
Diksha Parwana, a graduate student in the Bahar Lab
Samantha Stettnisch, a graduate student in the Martin Lab
Bob Gaglione, a research technician from the Hollingsworth Lab
Betty Du, a graduate student from the London Lab
Dr. Wali Karzai with poster award winner Courtney Tello
The retreat also featured an amazing array of posters presented by undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs, showcasing the breadth of research in our department. Special congratulations to our poster presentation winners: Courtney Tello from the Martin Lab and Jiyao Choi from the Airola Lab!
Dr. Wali Karzai with poster award winner Jiyao Choi
The day concluded with a delightful ice cream social, a perfect end to a truly wonderful department retreat filled with fun, science, and of course, ice cream!
Ice cream social :)