The Microbial Sciences Institute at Yale University held its third annual retreat on Friday, June 2, 2023. MSI members, including 40 postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and professors, came together at the New Haven Lawn Club to share a day of research discussions and presentations.
The day began with opening remarks from graduate student Elizabeth Culp, whose welcome set the stage for highly interactive and cross-disciplinary conversations on diverse scientific challenges researchers are currently facing. Small groups comprising members from all five MSI labs heard brief presentations on a selected topic and then worked together to offer new insights and solutions for each challenge. Formal talks throughout the day also showcased research based on a variety of microbial species and techniques from trainees in each lab: Maia Baskerville (Hatzios), Shoichi Tachiyama (Liu), Sibel Yalcin (Malvankar), Aman Kumar (Goodman), and Carissa Chan (Groisman). In addition, retreat attendees enjoyed poster presentations from nearly all participants as well as a final reception to continue building relationships across MSI labs post-retreat.
The group is happy to share a photo gallery from the event and looks forward to further growth when Hualiang Pi opens her new lab at MSI in Fall 2023, in partnership with the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis.