6th Retreat 2017
The Location
The Systems Biology PhD Retreat 2017 took place in the French-speaking area of Switzerland close to Lausanne from 4th to 6th of October. Students and speakers gathered at the Hotel Prealpina in the wine-growing village Chexbres. The hotel offered us a stunning view on Lake Geneva as well as on the mountains which we were not only able to enjoy from our modernly equipped seminar room but also from the hotel’s generously constructed outdoor area.
The Scientific Program
Due to a request from the students for industry-related talks, the scientific part of the program included not only talks from speakers within academia but also within research-affiliated companies. We were happy to welcome the following speakers to our retreat: María Martínez (IBM), Nick Luscombe (UCL), Bart Deplancke (EPFL), Florian Nigsch (Novartis), Patrick Descombes (Nestlé), Bas Teusink (VU Amsterdam) and Randall Platt (ETH Zurich). The talks covered diverse topics in the field of systems biology concerning basic research in genomics as well as metabolomics, but also applied approaches like disease modelling and drug discovery.
Besides the talks, the scientific retreat program also included a student assignment which encouraged the students’ creativity, innovative thinking and team work. The task was to develop, in small groups, ideas to push one of the student’s PhD project into the academic as well as in the industry direction and to present it as vivid and descriptive as possible, e.g. as poster or handcrafted model. The invited speakers functioned as jury and awarded the team with the most innovative but also feasible ideas.
Finally, we had the great opportunity to have a career round-table discussion with the invited speakers where they shared their professional development with us. The speakers not only told us about their major steps in their career but also about the alternative options they were considering at each step and the aspects that influenced their decisions. We were also very grateful that the speakers were available for continuing the discussions during coffee breaks, lunch and dinner.
The Social Program
The social activity took place in the Läderach ChocoAtelier in Vevey in form of a chocolate tasting/making. After having an introduction to the general chocolate making process we tasted the basic Läderach chocolate types and got to know the different flavors of dark chocolate depending on the cocoa beans’ country of origin. One of the highlights was for sure the opportunity to make our own chocolate bar where everyone had the chance to get creative in adding and arranging her/his favorite toppings. While waiting for the chocolate bar to completely solidify we tasted several special themed pralines and were surprised about some unusual combinations of chocolate and non-sweet ingredients, like ginger or pepper.
Feedback
The students’ feedback on the overall organization and the social activity was very positive (Rating: 4.9/5 for organization, 4.6/5 for social activity). The students particularly enjoyed the group assignment and having the chance to get to know other students from the PhD program and their field of research. The nice location clearly encouraged a relaxed atmosphere for having inspiring discussions not only with the other students but with the speakers as well.
Organizers
Charlotte Nicod (Aebersold group), Sarah Cherkaoui (Zamboni/Sauer group), Christine Lang (Iber group)
Photo credits: Lukas Widmer