DBI retreat sparks collaborations

Kelvin Lee, Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering and DBI Faculty Fellow, at his keynote talk at the scientific retreat.

5:11 p.m., Oct. 22, 2007--The Delaware Biotechnology Institute's second annual science retreat, held Sept. 29-30 at the Virden Center in Lewes, brought together 100 life science faculty, postdoctoral researchers and students to discuss current research and potential new scientific collaborations.

The institute, a major research center of the University of Delaware, currently involves faculty from four of the University's seven colleges, including 11 departments. It is located in the Delaware Technology Park in Newark.

“The weekend is focused on science and gives our multidisciplinary group of researchers the opportunity to see where new scientific collaborations could happen,” said David Weir, director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. “It also allows people to talk informally, in ways they can't always manage given very full schedules,” Weir noted.

One collaboration already emerging from the event brings together marine researchers and materials scientists. Lisa Waidner, a postdoctoral researcher working with Thomas Hanson, assistant professor of marine and Earth studies, is studying microbes in the Delaware Bay. It turns out that the work of Kristi Kiick, associate professor of materials science and engineering, is a perfect fit for the next step in Waidner's research.

“At the retreat, I saw that Kristi Kiick's lab was synthesizing molecules--'analogues' of biological molecules--that we could use in our studies,” Waidner said. “We're going to study the uptake of those molecules by our microbes.”

Thanks to the retreat, Waidner noted, a new research collaboration has been established among three labs, led by Hanson, Kiick and David Kirchman, Maxwell P. and Mildred H. Harrington Professor of Marine and Earth Studies. Kirchman is based at the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes.

“We have follow-on meetings planned now as a result of the retreat,” added Ulhas Naik, professor of biological sciences.

The DBI scientific retreat ended with a cricket match between the east and west labs. Shown, from left, batsman and postdoctoral researcher Marcello German, Prof. Ulhas Naik and graduate student Manoj Pillay.

Naik said he expects to forge a mutually beneficial collaboration on megakaryocyte development with the laboratory of Terry Papoutsakis, the Eugene duPont Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering. Megakaryocytes are extremely large cells that produce platelets, which are critical to the formation of blood clots.

The retreat wasn't all work, however, and ended with a lively cricket match between the two wings of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute--“DBI-East” and “DBI-West.” This year, the west side of the building prevailed, and the trophy is now proudly displayed in the laboratory of Robin Morgan, professor and dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Next year's retreat already is in the planning stages and will focus on helping to build scientific careers for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, Weir said.

The Delaware Biotechnology Institute is a partnership among government, academia and industry to help establish the First State as a center of excellence in biotechnology and the life sciences. It was established at UD in 2001.