3^rd Annual Biology Graduate Research Forum 2012

Presented by the Graduate Students of the Department of Biology, Western University

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Mission Statement

The Biology Graduate Research Forum (BGRF) is organized by the graduate students of the Department of Biology at the University of Western Ontario. The primary mandate of this event is to provide a forum for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to showcase their research in biological sciences by poster and invited oral presentations. It is also the aim of this research forum to host an invited speaker who will present their current endeavours within the field of biological sciences.
The aim of the BGRF is to bring together students within the multi-disciplinary umbrella of biological sciences to exchange novel and exciting ideas within their respective fields. It is also our hope that this annual event will foster inter-disciplinary collaborations which would add and enhance the academic and scientific research experience of the participants here at Western.

This year there will be sponsored awards and more oral presentations.

*** Reminder *** The abstract submission deadline is September 7^th, 2012.

Keynote Speaker

We are pleased to announce that this year's plenary speaker will be Dr. Andrew Mason from the University of Toronto at Scarborough. Dr. Mason's research focuses on the sensory processes underlying communication and decision-making.The goal of his research is to understand the mechanisms by which the nervous system controls ongoing activity and how these mechanisms relate to behavioural adaptation. The Mason group uses invertebrate model systems to identify basic principles of sensory integration of complex stimuli, mulit-modal communication, and how organisms adapt to biophysical constraints on these processes.

Ongoing projects in Dr. Mason's lab include: localization and sensory integration in parasitoid flies, multi-modal communication in jumping spiders, and vibrational communication in katydids.

More information about Dr. Mason can be found at http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~amason/contact.html.

Photo Contest

This year we are introducing a photo contest. For more information, please click here.