{"id":29074,"date":"2024-05-16T11:25:20","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T15:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biology.mit.edu\/?p=29074"},"modified":"2024-05-16T11:27:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T15:27:08","slug":"2024-catalyst-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biology.mit.edu\/2024-catalyst-symposium\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Catalyst Symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second annual Catalyst Symposium, sponsored by the Department of Biology and Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, invited postdocs from across the country to meet with faculty, present their work to the MIT community, and build relationships.<\/span><\/h4>\n

For science \u2014 and the scientists who practice it \u2014 to succeed, it must be shared. That\u2019s why members of the MIT community recently gathered to learn about the research of eight postdocs from across the country for the second annual Catalyst Symposium, an event co-sponsored by the <\/span>Department of Biology<\/span><\/a> and The <\/span>Picower Institute for Learning and Memory<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The eight Catalyst Fellows came to campus as part of an effort to increase engagement between MIT scholars and postdocs excelling in their respective fields from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in science. The three-day symposium included panel discussions with faculty and postdocs, one-on-one meetings, social events, and research talks from the Catalyst Fellows.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the name of this symposium because we\u2019re all, of course, eager to catalyze advancements in our professional lives, in science, and to move forward faster by lowering activation barriers,\u201d says MIT Biology Department Head Amy Keating. \u201cI feel we can\u2019t afford to do science with only part of the talent pool, and I don\u2019t think people can do their best work when they are worried about whether they belong.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>cohort of 2024 Catalyst Fellows<\/span><\/a> included: Chlo\u00e9 Baron from Boston Children\u2019s Hospital; Maria Cec\u00edlia Canesso from The Rockefeller University; Kiara Eldred from the University of Washington School of Medicine; Caitlin Kowalski from the University of Oregon; Fabi\u00e1n Morales-Polanco from Stanford University; Kali Pruss from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Rodrigo Romero from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and Zuri Sullivan from Harvard University.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Romero, who received his PhD from MIT <\/span>working in the Jacks Lab<\/span><\/a> at the Koch Institute, said that it was \u201cincredible to see so many familiar faces,\u201d but he spent the Symposium lunch chatting with new students in his old lab.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially having been trained to think differently after MIT, I can now reach out to people that I didn\u2019t as a graduate student, and make connections that I didn\u2019t think about before,\u201d Romero says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He presented his work on lineage plasticity in the tumor microenvironment. Lineage plasticity is a hallmark of tumor progression but also occurs during normal development, such as wound healing.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the general mission of the symposium, Romero agreed with Keating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to lower the boundary for other people to actually have a chance to do academic research in the future is important,\u201d Romero says.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Catalyst Symposium is aimed at early-career scientists who foresee a path in academia. <\/span>Of the 2023 Catalyst Fellows<\/span><\/a>, one has already secured a faculty position. Starting in September 2024, Shan Maltzer will be an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Pharmacology and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute studying mechanisms of somatosensory circuit assembly, development, and function.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another aim of the Catalyst Symposium is to facilitate collaborations and strengthen existing relationships. Sullivan, an immunologist and molecular neuroscientist who presented on the interactions between the immune system and the brain, is collaborating with <\/span>Sebastian Lourido, an Associate Professor of Biology and Core Member of the Whitehead Institute<\/span><\/a>. Lourido\u2019s studies include pathogens such as <\/span>Toxoplasma gondii<\/span><\/i>, which is known to alter the behavior of infected rodents. In the long term, Sullivan hopes to bridge research in immunology and neuroscience \u2014 for instance by investigating how infection affects behavior. She has observed that two rodents experiencing illness will huddle together in a cage, whereas an unafflicted rodent and an ill one will generally avoid each other when sharing the same space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pruss presented research on the interactions between the gut microbiome and the environment, and how they may affect physiology and fetal development. Kowalski discussed the relationship between fungi residing on our bodies and human health. Beyond the opportunity to deliver talks, both agreed that the small group settings of the three-day event were rewarding.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to meet with faculty throughout the symposium has been invaluable, both for finding familiar faces and for establishing friendly relationships,\u201d Pruss says. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to try to catch them when you\u2019re running past them in the hallway.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Eldred, who studies cell fate in the human retina, says she was excited about the faculty panels because they allowed her to ask faculty about fundamental aspects of recruiting for their labs, like bringing in graduate students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kowalski also says she enjoyed interfacing with so many new ideas \u2014 the spread of scientific topics from among the cohort of speakers extended beyond those she usually interacts with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Laub, Professor of Biology and HHMI Investigator<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Yadira Soto-Feliciano, Assistant Professor of Biology and Intramural Faculty at the Koch Institute<\/span><\/a>, were on the symposium’s planning committee, along with <\/span>Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer Hallie Dowling-Huppert<\/span><\/a>. Laub hopes the symposium will continue to be offered annually; next year\u2019s Catalyst Symposium is already scheduled to take place in early May.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought this year\u2019s Catalyst Symposium was another great success. The talks from the visiting Fellows featured some amazing science from a wide range of fields,\u201d Laub says. \u201cI also think it\u2019s fair to say that their interactions with the faculty, postdocs, and students here generated a lot of excitement and energy in our community, which is exactly what we hoped to accomplish with this symposium.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second annual Catalyst Symposium, sponsored by the Department of Biology and Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, invited postdocs from across the country to meet with faculty, present their work to the MIT community, and build relationships. For science \u2014 and the scientists who practice it \u2014 to succeed, it must be shared. That\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1783,"featured_media":29083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6223,6227,6245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-building-68","category-diversity-outreach","category-event-coverage","placement-placement-homepage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n2024 Catalyst Symposium - MIT Department of Biology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biology.mit.edu\/2024-catalyst-symposium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2024 Catalyst Symposium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The second annual Catalyst Symposium, sponsored by the Department of Biology and Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, invited postdocs from across the country to meet with faculty, present their work to the MIT community, and build relationships. 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