The Infection and Immunity Research Network is a community of over 250 researchers across the University of Bristol, the two Bristol NHS Trusts, Public Health England and colleagues at other institutions, which supports the very broad research being undertaken in the mechanisms that cause and spread disease.
It has been a challenging nine months for many within our community: for those working 15-hour days to understand how the SARS-COV-2 virus works and how to combat it; for those unable to conduct their lab work due to building closures and social distancing measures; for those who have been furloughed; for those juggling caring responsibilities and an ever-increasing workload; and for those having to adjust to new software and platforms for teaching and meetings, are just a few examples of what our staff and students are facing.
Why did we hold this event?
Keeping conversations flowing and sharing experiences has become increasingly important since migrating to a virtual workplace when those opportunities to chat over a quick coffee or a chance meeting in the hallway have practically disappeared. The Network sought to re-engage our community by hosting an Early Career Researchers’ (ECRs) event which was held online on 13 January 2021, which encouraged our members to get those conversations going again, to share experiences and knowledge, and to see where relationships and collaborations could be built and/or strengthened.
What the morning looked like
The morning event comprised 7 oral (hosted on Zoom) and 11 poster (hosted on Slack) ECR presentations which were chosen based on a competitive abstract submission process.
We also welcomed keynote talks from two invited external speakers:
- Professor Déirdre Hollingsworth, Senior Group Leader, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford who spoke about modelling of COVID-19, and
- Professor Christopher Dye, FRS, Professor of Epidemiology, University of Oxford who presented on his work with the World Health Organisation
We welcomed 81 registered participants from across three faculties and eight schools, as well as colleagues at North Bristol Trust and the University’s professional services.
Presentation prizes
We are delighted to announce the prize winners from the day-
Oral presentations
The quality was superb and so we decided to offer two oral prizes, one to the best postdoctoral researcher and another to the best postgraduate student. So congratulations to-
- Helen Deeks (Research Associate in the School of Chemistry) for Interactive Molecular Dynamics in Virtual Reality is an Effective Tool for Flexible Substrate and Inhibitor Docking to the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease, and
- Fernando Ponce García (Third year PhD student in the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine) for ATM is needed for a proper neutrophil antimicrobial activity
who have each won a £50 cash award.
Poster presentations
Scores for the posters were also very close, so we awarded two 3rd place prizes. Congratulations are extended to-
- Samuel Pearce (BVSc Veterinary Science student) for Automated cleaning and analysis of antimicrobial stewardship data from Bristol Children’s Hospital in an R-based web application
- Christopher Rice (Research Associate in the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine) for Neutrophil dysfunction in Barth syndrome
- Irill Ishak (Postdoctoral Research Associate in Biomaterials Engineering, Bristol Dental School) for Understanding bacterial interaction with the nanostructured surfaces
- Tiah Oates (Second year PhD student in the School of Biochemistry) for A Human CD169+ Cultured Macrophage Model for Investigating Erythroblast-Macrophage Interactions Required for Erythroblast Island Formation
who won £50, £30, £20 and £20 respectively.
Recording
A recording of the event (with a couple of exceptions) is available to view on YouTube. Open the description box for the timings for each talk.