After a summer break, we are back with some news from the PDA front! The biggest event that we had this summer was our annual PDA retreat on August 4 and 5. This year we went to the peaceful and quiet Skytop lodge, a golf resort in the middle of the Pocono Mountains in the heart of Pennsylvania. Just a 2.5-hour drive outside of the city—it seemed another world. No stinky cars, no rushing people, no city noise. The perfect setting for a getaway to talk science, hang out, and have fun.

Photographs by Spyridon Mylonas

This year we had more than 80 participating postdocs and two guest speakers, Nobel laureate Dr. Richard Axel from Columbia University and Dr. Fred Cross from RU. 13 postdocs made the effort of presenting their work in a 25-minute talk.
We had a great mix of people from different research areas and labs. We heard about how axons from excitatory and inhibitory neurons behave after plucking whiskers (Sally Marik, Gilbert lab); how mutations in a set of viral transmembrane proteins affect viral replication and viral assembly (Ramnath, Rice lab); why we (or in this case, mice) like sugar more than artificial sweeteners (Ana Domingos, Friedman lab); how the lagging strand DNA polymerase knows when to fall off the template and how this is triggered (Isabel Kurth, O’Donnell lab). We also learned how general arousal correlates with the electrophysiological, anatomical and protein expression properties of neurons in the mGi (Eugene Martin, Pfaff lab);
how modulating the synaptic transmission of ABCG1 neurons makes Drosophila copulate for hours without getting tired (Michael Crickmoore, Fuchs lab); that hair follicle stem cells undergo intrinsic reprogramming once they exit their niche and become part of the hair germ (Ting Chen, Fuchs lab); how heroin-dependent rats behave much like humans when they are in acute withdrawal: every rat very differently (Katharine Seip, Kreek lab); how volunteers that received sound stimuli behave differently depending on the relative levels of dopamine to dopamine-degrading enzyme COMT (Manuel Garcia-Garcia, Freiwald lab); how Nucleobinding 1 (nucb1) prevents amyloid fibril formation, which has been implicated in 25 different human diseases (Ruchi Gupta, Sakmar lab); that the Hid protein successfully translocates the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (iaps)—which are upregulated in a number of cancers—to the mitochondria, where they are efficiently degraded (Anshuman Kelkar, Stellar lab); how one can transduce surface epithelium of mouse embryos by infecting with fluorescently-traceable lentiviruses carrying RNAi or Cre-recombinase and how this technology can be used to study the role of tumor suppressor a1-catenin and the function of Ctnna1, Hras1-Mapk3 and Trp53 pathways in regulating skin proliferation and apoptosis (Beronja Slobodan, Fuchs lab); or what factors affect spindle orientation by promoting asymmetric cell divisions (Williams Scott, Fuchs lab).

The talks were distributed in five sessions over two days with sufficient time in between to discuss the results and exchange ideas, while nibbling on the yummy cookies and sipping coffee or tea. A highlight of the retreat was Richard Axel’s keynote address during which he gave a mesmerizing talk on the logic of olfactory coding from the nose all the way into the piriform cortex. It was inspiring to hear and see how a scientist can constantly evolve in new directions and keep innovative research going. His calm, witty and very thoughtful presence was a very enriching experience for everybody. We then engaged the two faculty members in a panel discussion on a variety of topics, including how they got to where they are, what inspired them along the way and where they think science will evolve. Who had ever thought that Fred Cross would get into what he did by random choices rather than a specific determination for what he wanted to do? One recurring comment that both Richard and Fred made was to encourage all of us to share data, to talk about what we are doing and to not be afraid of someone stealing ideas. It has worked out pretty well for them and it makes us have faith in creating and keeping a collaborative and open scientific environment.

The first day ended with a party with music and great food. The free drinks made sure that everybody was happy with his or her evening. And as the night progressed, some even got courageous enough to shake some butts on the dance floor.

The second day was filled with talks, and some free time in the afternoon for hikes, canoeing, archery, minigolf, volleyball—or just doing nothing and chilling at the pool or lying in the grass. The weather was sunny and hot, the perfect day for some outdoor activities. After the last BBQ, we packed up in the evening
and hopped back onto the bus to return to the busy city. Overall, the retreat turned out to be a very fun, pleasant and interactive event, where one finally got to know some of the faces that appear around campus.

This past month, back from the refreshing retreat, the PDA has been dealing with some issues regarding the CFC. We performed a survey to get an understanding of the most urgent problems that people face regarding childcare. It turned out that the wait list for childcare, in particular the infant room, is the main issue. Some parents wait up to 24 months to get a slot at the CFC. We had a very constructive meeting with Virginia Huffman from hr and Karen Booth, the director of the CFC and are currently brainstorming and investigating different options to address the issue of hard-to-get infant care on campus. Stay tuned for more updates on this topic; and you are always welcome to email with your ideas, questions or suggestions!