Cell Death Meeting

Visitor of the Week: Ying Zhang

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Meet Ying Zhang of the Walter and Elizabeth Hall Institute of Medical Research (Australia). The Chinese national and postdoctoral fellow is a member of Guillaume Lessene’s lab in ACRF Chemical Biology Division. Ying is with us for our meeting on Cell Death as a poster presenter.  

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
My present research is mainly focus on cell death signaling pathways, particularly, the regulation of necroptosis signaling. We primarily use live cell imaging techniques to characterize necroptosis-related biological processes.

How did you know you wanted to make this the focus of your research?
During my PhD, I was studying the mechanism of how bacterial pathogens manipulate host immune responses during infection, such as the inhibition of cell death signaling and/or inflammation signaling. From that study, I noticed how closely cell death is related with numerous diseases. Cell death signaling is incredibly complicated, and there are still many gaps in this field that remain elusive, especially the regulation of cell death during or after disease development.

How did your scientific journey begin?
During my bachelor in food science and engineering, I took a few biology courses, such as microbiology and biochemistry, and became strongly interested in them. Consequently, I started my journey in science by doing my master’s and PhD in medical biology. Scientific research work is creative and challenging. The longer I stayed in science, the more I am fascinated by it.

Was there something specific about the Cell Death meeting that drew you to attend?
CSHL conferences have a very good reputation and a lot of researchers who have been here highly recommended it for me. It is a good opportunity to meet other people in the cell death field and get to know their work. It is also a perfect platform where I can get feedback for my study.

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
From this meeting, I learned a lot not only in my area but many others. A number of the speakers gave brilliant overviews of their topics which expanded my understanding about the research happening in cell death.

What and/or how will you apply what you’ve learned from the meeting to your work?
I learned that besides experimental work, the regulation of signaling pathways can also be studied by constructing models via computational analysis. It could be very useful to apply this in my study.

If someone curious in attending this meeting asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
I’ll definitely recommend this meeting to people who are doing cell death research. This is a conference that covers a good variety of different research topics.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
CSHL is a very nice place to stay. Besides the conference, there are other activities we can do like go to the gym or swim. The staff here are friendly, professional and helpful.

Thank you to Ying 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.

Visitor of the Week: Mateus Milani

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Meet Mateus Milani of the University of Liverpool (UK). The PhD student is a member of Shankar Varadarajan's lab in the Department of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine with the Institute of Translational Medicine. Mateus made his first visit to CSHL to attend the 2017 Cell Death meeting.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
Our lab is interested in studying the mechanisms by which cells can undergo apoptosis (a programmed form of cell death). We want to understand how key proteins that control apoptosis can be exploited as targets for cancer therapy. Currently, I am working on how to optimally target these proteins in several kinds of cancer and determining the cellular consequences of targeting them for cancer therapy, such as changes in mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum.

Was there something specific about the Cell Death meeting that drew you to apply?
The caliber of the speakers and research from by the community made for an excellent motive to attend the meeting.

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
In order to provide an ideal treatment for cancer patients, we still have a lot to do and understand about cell death. We have to put our efforts together in a collaborative way so as to greatly improve people's life and make good science.

If someone curious in attending a future Cell Death meeting asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
Be prepared to be amazed: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is based in an astonishing location surrounded by nature and beautiful views. On top of that, the meeting gathers the very best in the field who present their most advanced discoveries. The combination cannot go wrong: having good ideas and feedback in a beautiful place is all a researcher can ask for.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
The Laboratory is a natural spectacle and walking around it is just so calming and beautiful. The gardens and art scattered throughout campus are delightful, and the beach is an added bonus. 

Thank you to Mateus 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.