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1 - Postdoc Appreciation/
2009 Diabetes Symp
2 - Nossal Winners -
DDK Brimming with Pride
3 - Upcoming Events/
Announcements
4 - FARE Winners/
PhD Comics/
Announcments

National Postdoc Appreciation Day
by Tara Martin

September 24th marked the first National Post-Doctoral Fellows Appreciation Day sponsored by the National Post-Doctoral Association. Events were held across the United States and included seminars, symposia, picnics, and popsicles. Here at the Bethesda campus, fellows were served free popsicles by Principle Investigators and OITE staff while enjoying live jazz in front of Building One. We were joined by NIH Director Francis Collins, and invited to introduce ourselves and discuss our work. Booths from several fellow-oriented organizations, including event coordinators Fel-Com and OITE, offered information and goodies to those attending the event. Lori Conlan, Director of OPS, and Sharon Milgram, Director of OITE, donated 50 cents to a charity of our choice for each fellow that participated in the group photo. The possible charities were the National Postdoc Association, Children’s Inn or the I Have a Dream Foundation. Fellows voted on one of these three charities, and this resulted in over $400 being donated to the I Have a Dream Foundation. Group photos were taken at all NIH campuses and presented to Dr. Collins as a welcome gift from the NIH Fellows. All of the group photos are available on the OITE website (http://www.training.nih.gov/trainees/postdoc-appreciation-day.asp).

(Above photo: Postdocs along with Drs. Francis Collins (Director, NIH), Raynard Kington (Deputy Director, NIH), and Lori Conlan (Director, OPS) (1st row) gather in front of Building 1 for a group photo.)

2009 Mid-Atlantic Diabetes Symposium
by Chithra Keembiyehetty

Diabetes research groups in the area gathered at Lister Hill Auditorium on September 25, 2009 for the Mid-Atlantic Diabetes Symposium to discuss major issues and share exciting, novel findings in the field. Dr. Samuel Cushman, from the Experimental Diabetes, Metabolism and Nutrition Section in the Diabetes Branch of NIDDK, chaired the organizing committee for the 2009 Annual Symposium. This one day symposium included several talks and poster presentations not only from scientists at NIH but also from the Midwest.

The morning session was chaired by Dr. Jesse Roth (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) and the afternoon session was chaired by Dr. Lester Salans (Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and Columbia University Medical Center). Presentations started with Dr. Marc Reitman (Merck & Co. Inc), delivering a talk on 'Genomics and Pharmacogenetics in the physiology and treatments of diabetes and obesity'. Dr. Walter Pories (East Carolina University) discussed the issues and concerns of bariatric surgery on conquering diabetes. Other major talks included 'Metabolic effects of Myostatin' by Dr. Alex McPherron from the Genetics of Development and Disease branch of NIDDK and 'Novel pathways for preserving beta cell functions' by Dr. Chris Newgard from Duke University Medical Center. To conclude the symposium, Dr. Sam Cushman shared his most recent findings on dynamics of GLUT4 trafficking. About 40 posters were presented around the lobby area throughout the day and selected papers were presented as short presentations highlighting a variety of interesting points from mathematical modeling, to diabetes research using alternative experimental models like Drosophila. Information about this meeting as well as upcoming events is announced via the Diabetes Interest group. You can sign up for this group at on the listserv to receive upcoming event information.

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