4th DNA Repair/Replication Structures and Cancer Conference: A students perspective

By: Gemma

Insights by Antonia Kefala-Stavridi (University of Cambridge)

Heading over to my first conference, on the other side of the world, I didn’t really know what to expect. Arriving in the Bahamas my conference started by accidentally swimming next to a baby shark, definitely not prepared for it. 

The first event included a student and post-doc lunch, where I got to meet and discuss research with people from all around the world, working on very different things but at the same time with a great overlap to my work. I even had the opportunity to get some expert advice on my project and a new idea for an experiment just from a five-minute discussion! Great!

Even from the very first session of this conference, I was impressed by the level of exceptionalism and expertise all represented groups had in the area of DNA repair. The level of research progression was impressive and gave me so many ideas that would apply to my project, while it even challenged me on parts of my research. 

The poster session was also very useful, not only because I got to see the research taking place elsewhere from students at my level, but because I was given the opportunity to present my work, got praised but also challenged, and was provided with amazing feedback and suggestions for the future. I have already applied some of those onto my experimental plan! 

I was also given the opportunity by my supervisor to present my work as part of his talk. That was an invaluable opportunity for me, given I still am at a very early stage of my research. It gave me the chance to practice how to clearly present my work and also be able to clearly answer challenging scientific questions! 

Most importantly, this conference opened opportunities for future collaborations with people I would most likely not come across during my PhD research!

I am super grateful I was given this amazing opportunity. The conference organisation was beyond excellent and I couldn’t be more grateful to the Fusion Conferences team for arranging everything in such a professional manner. Thank you once again!