This week's edition of Visitor of the Week is a double feature! We approached two meeting participants of The Biology of Genomes meeting - one a newcomer and the other a veteran to this meeting - and below are our individual Q&A chats with Federica di Palma and Andre Rendeiro. Read on to meet them.

Meet Federica Di Palma, Director of Science of the Earlham Institute (United Kingdom) and Professor of Regulatory Genomics at the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom). Federica is back on campus for The Biology of Genomes and to support two junior scientists who she works with and who were each selected to present a talk. Read on for what and why Federica keeps returning for The Biology of Genomes meeting.

What are you working on?
Vertebrate Evolution and Adaptation. One of the projects I have been working on lately is the evolution of traits in cichlid fishes of East African lakes which display explosive speciation and adaptive radiations. We study the evolution of regulatory networks underlying some of the major adaptations in these beautiful fishes.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting?
Single cells and integration of complex datasets.

How many CSHL meetings have you attended?
I have been attending The Biology of Genomes meeting every year since since 2007. This is my 11th meeting and I will plan to continue attending future iterations of this meeting.

Was there something specific about The Biology of Genomes meeting that drew you to attend? 
I love this conference! Cannot miss it! For me, this meeting is the annual spa for the mind in the field I am. Also, the work on cichlids by my talented postdoc, Tarang Mehta was selected for a talk and so was the work on mammalian gene expression evolution of a super talented MIT PhD student Jenny Chen I have had the honor to work with. 

If someone curious in attending this meeting asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her? 
Try it once and you are hooked!

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
The high quality of science presented each year. Also, CSHL is a fantastic place to catch up with colleagues and collaborators.

Meet Andre Rendeiro of CeMM Research Centre for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Austria). Andre is a PhD student at Christoph Bock's lab and is on campus for The Biology of Genomes, his very first CSHL meeting. He presented a poster today titled "Pooled CRISPR Screening with Single-Cell Transcriptome Readout". Read on this first-timer's take on the meeting. 

What are you working on?
I study how variation in gene regulation helps explain phenotypes during normal development but more specifically in human leukaemias.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting?
Knowledge in biology is accelerating at an extraordinary pace and is definitely the science of the 21st century.

How many CSHL meetings have you attended?
This is my first and I would most likely attend another one in the near future. 

Was there something specific about The Biology of Genomes meeting that drew you to attend?
I was drawn to the fact that this is a very well-known meeting and it is set in a historic place for science. Additionally, a lot of the talks are relevant to my research topic and it is always great to meet people doing great science in the areas of genomics and gene regulation.

If someone curious in attending this meeting asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
The CSHL campus is beautiful and worth a visit by itself. The meeting has a dense and demanding program but there are still plenty of opportunity to meet and network with other attendees.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
I met a lot of great people, and the perfect weather helped me to enjoy the campus.
 

Thank you to Federica and Andre for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured scientists - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course – go here.