EVENTS

Journal Club

Our Journal Club format allows for students to meet faculty from each program under the Biomedical Science Program umbrella, and also allows for students to learn about research going on in fields they may be unfamiliar with. The way our Journal Club is conducted is with one faculty facilitator from each program being chosen to represent their program, and selecting the paper that will be discussed. BSP students then choose a date, according to their programs of interest and/or areas of interest they want to be the paper coordinator. Depending on how many students are in the class, some may present twice.

At the beginning of each class, the student coordinator will present a brief (~10 minutes) introduction to the paper, while the faculty mentor may interject to help with the “big picture”. After the introduction, the faculty moderator(s) will select a member of the class to present Figure 1; each student should be prepared to present every figure in every class. The selected student will briefly outline the experimental question being asked in the figure, the approaches used, what the experiments were intended to show, and what the experiments actually showed. After the figure is presented, the floor is open for questions and discussion from any student in the class. The questions should draw out the understanding of the figure(s) with respect to the validity of the data, its interpretation, and significance for the conclusions drawn in the paper. The faculty moderator(s) should try to allow the students to run most of the discussion, but can of course help direct, clear up a discussion that is going astray or bring to light overlooked issues after the students have made their contributions to the discussion. The class continues like this until all figures are presented.

The pace of the discussion should allow 10 to 15 minutes at the end of each class to discuss the overall implications of the paper, the status of the field, and what future experiments might be, to give some ideas concerning potential research within the discussed area as an introduction to the type of research performed in that program.

Retreats

Each student in the Biomedical Science Program is encouraged to attend one, but no more than two, program retreats in the fall and/or spring semester of their first year. Students should attend the retreat(s) of the program(s) they are interested in possibly joining to be able to meet students and faculty of that program, and also learn about the current research taking place. Retreats are held in many different locations, ranging from one day on-campus student run symposiums to hotels or cabins in the mountains for a weekend. Students should contact the Program Administrator for more detailed information on a specific retreat.

Photos from Past Events