Virtual Go Further Girls STEM Conference - October 19-26, 2020

November 18, 2020

During the week of October 19-26, 2020, BCB graduate students participated in a virtual Go Further Girls STEM Conference hosted by ISU’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE). Three groups explained different bioinformatic topics to local Ames 8th – 10th grade female students.

Two graduate students sitting at a computer smiling
‘Bioinformatics in Real Life Actions’, presented by BCB graduate students Shofi Andari (4th year) and Ha Vu (3rd year), introduced the students to the interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics. Students learned about how biology, statistics and computer science can be combined to answer biological questions.
Visualizing the building blocks of life
Sayane Shome (5th Year) and Alexis Marsh (1st year) presented ‘Visualizing the Building Blocks of Life’. Students learned about how DNA and proteins are essential for life and how they are key to developing targeted medicines for diseases. During this session, students built a model of DNA and explored computational chemistry and biophysics through interactive webpages. 
A day in the life of a Bioinformatics Researcher
BCB graduate students, Robert Schmidt (3rd year) and Kelby Kies (2nd year)  and Dr. Natalie Clark, a post-doc in Dr. Walley’s lab, presented about ‘A Day in the Life of a Bioinformatics Researcher’. Students were guided through an experiment to explore how bioinformaticians use computational techniques to analyze biological data.