Sponsors:

NSF

IEEE Brain

IEEE Life Sciences

EMBS

IEEE

University of Houston

Cajal Institute

Past Editions:

Biocomplexity 2017Biocomplexity 2016

Biocomplexity 2015Biocomplexity 2014

Biocomplexity 2013Biocomplexity 2012

Biocomplexity 2011Biocomplexity 2010

Biocomplexity 2009Biocomplexity 2009

Biocomplexity 2007Biocomplexity 2005

Biocomplexity 2004Biocomplexity 2003

Biocomplexity 2002Biocomplexity 2001

 

Closing Remarks by Isle Bastille
Closing Remarks by Dhruv Seshadri

Hello everyone,

Isle and I thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight on your behalf at the banquet and share our thoughts over the fantastic one week we had in Chania. The summer school is a start to lifelong friendships and collaborations. As Isle and I try to highlight our week in Chania, there are three words which stand out to us: passion, networking, and family.

Passion
We often hear about this word being used loosely but what does it exactly mean? The 2018 BioX summer school was a prime example of the meaning of this word. It was evident that the faculty clearly loved what they did and that drive and passion exuded through their presentations as shown in Dr. Fotiadis' talk about global health and informatics to Dr. Wang's talk about biomedical informatics to Dr. Pon's talk about neural interfaces for rehabilitation to Dr. Brennan's talk about his work at HiFiBio and various startup companies he founded to Dr. Zahlman's talk about immunotherapy for cancer to Dr. Fenstermacher's talk on data validity and data processing. This passion definitely resonated with the students during the week and will carry on with us as we pursue our various careers.

Networking
Networking is crucial for career advancement. This summer school allowed us to network with leading researchers in their field and our peers all of whom are working on extremely interesting research areas. One thing Isle and I really enjoyed was being able to share meals with everyone and being able to talk science over a cup of coffee overlooking the Mediterranean.

Family
To the students: Thank you for your warmth and collegiality. Our conversations at the beach, dinner table, or on a boat in the town of Chania will resonate with us. We look forward to following your professional journeys and look forward to keeping in touch. Let us use this past week in Chania as a starting point for our friendship and build upon this via reunions and networking events at various conferences down the road.
To the Akays: Thank you for embracing us like your family this week. Your cordiality, warmth, and drive towards science is contagious and made us all feel very welcome at the summer school. Thank you for arranging such a great scientific program where we could develop networks with leading researchers. There are not too many programs like this, so thank you for allowing us to be a part of this journey with you.

To our new, life-long friends, we end our talk with the summer school's favorite word, "Yamas!"

Best,
Isle Bastille and Dhruv Seshadri