![2014 Retreat Group Photo](/medicine/microbiology/images/Research_Retreat/2014_Retreat_Group_Photo.jpg)
October 17-19, 2014, microbiology department faculty, and special guests gathered at Alabama’s beautiful Joe Wheeler State Park for the annual microbiology department retreat. This has always been one of our favorite retreat venues because of its convenient (about 2 hours from Birmingham) and beautiful location near Rogersville, Alabama, on Wheeler Lake, a 60 mile long body of water created by Wheeler Dam along the Tennessee River. This year’s retreat was a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty and postdocs to focus on science and to establish new collaborations away from the distractions of everyday life. The weather this year could not have been better. An added treat was the unveiling of the new microbiology department T-shirt during the retreat registration. Images on the shirt were provided by microbiology graduate student Shane Kelly (Bedwell lab) and depicted squamous epithelial cells isolated from the buccal mucosa of the cheek. Shane’s artwork was awarded Judge’s Choice in the 2014 UAB School of Medicine Art Show.
![2014 Retreat posters](/medicine/microbiology/images/Research_Retreat/2014_Retreat_posters.jpg)
Before breaking for lunch on Saturday, the department’s own Dr. Peter Prevelige swapped his structural virology hat for that of photographer extraordinaire and took the retreat group photo. After lunch, faculty and trainees joined in a roundtable discussion about advanced courses in the department of microbiology. Many positive suggestions for possible courses, including an advanced virology course and a new course on the microbiome, came from the discussion.
The highlight of the retreat was the Saturday evening talk by keynote speaker Dr. William R. Jacobs, Jr. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, located in the Bronx borough of New York City. Bill is an
alumnus of the UAB Department of Microbiology, having received his Ph.D. in molecular cell biology in 1985. He studied Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, while in the laboratories of Drs. Roy Curtiss III and Josephine Clark-Curtiss. After receiving his Ph.D., he accepted a postdoctoral position in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine with Dr. Barry Bloom, studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Bill established his own laboratory at Einstein in 1987. His contributions to this field have been enormous and well recognized. He has been a Howard Hughes Investigator since 1990, and in 2013 he was elected to the US National Academy of Science. In his talk at the retreat, Bill delighted the audience with highlights of his scientific discoveries, including the “Bronx bomber,” a highly virulent bacteriophage, lytic for certain mycobacteria, which he isolated from soil in his backyard in the Bronx and which has been instrumental for genetic analysis of these organisms. His talk was insightful, entertaining and even had an audience participation component. It was in the true sense of an overused word, awesome.
![2014 retreat keynote speaker dinner](/medicine/microbiology/images/Research_Retreat/2014_retreat_keynote_speaker_dinner.jpg)
The retreat concluded on Sunday morning with three interesting talks by departmental faculty members, Drs. Dave Bedwell, Hui Hu (a new recruit to the department) and Jan Novak. This was followed by the awards ceremony with closing remarks by department chair, Dr. Fran Lund, during which she announced that our department had received the UAB Dean’s Award for Excellence.
2014 RESEARCH RETREAT AWARD RECIPIENTS |
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ORAL PRESENTATIONS Graduate Students 1st - Kathryn Doornbos 2nd - Lindsey Padgett New Investigators 1st - Shannon Ramano 2nd - Alex Dalecki Postdoctoral Fellow 1st - Shannon Kahan 2nd - Jianlin Geng |
POSTER PRESENTATIONS Graduate Students 1st - Yuan Tian 1st - Xiaojiao Xue 2nd - Gwendolyn Gunn New Investigators 1st - Brady Spencer 2nd - Katherine Taylor Postdoctoral Fellow 1st - Avi Mitra 2nd - Kanupriya Gupta |