Check the link below for current updates on the thematic research training at EASTBIO:

http://www.eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk/strand-1-research-skills

The EASTBIO Newsletter Winter 2015 is out, with news from our students and updates on PIPs, training and the Annual Symposium.

To browse, click on the image below:

EASTBIO is delighted to announce its annual Research Training, which will be structured this academic term around four face-to-face meetings per thematic cohort.

From the first meeting of the Bioenergy & Industrial Biotechnology first year cohort (25 November 2014, Dundee)
 

The training represents an opportunity for first-year PhD students to meet supervisors and invited speakers, discuss key issues in their field, develop critical reading skills and follow up with specially designed events and activities. Each theme and session is organised by individual leaders who decide on the content and structure in consultation with volunteer students. These meetings are mandatory for first year EASTBIO students.

For further information and updates on the programme for each of the four key themes, click here.

The EASTBIO Annual Symposium will be held in Edinburgh on Monday 15 - Tuesday 16 June 2015. The Symposium will take place at the John McIntyre Conference Centre, University of Edinburgh and will focus on the industrial impact of bioscience research.

Further details on the 2-day, student-led event will be advertised on our website.

EASTBIO Symposium 2014 (Dundee): Group photo of our students and supervisors (cohorts 1&2)

During a visit to the University of Edinburgh on Friday 3^rd of October, Business Secretary Vince Cable announced £125M of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funding over five years to support the training and development of PhD students in Bioscience.

The funding will train students in world-class bioscience to boost the economy by building on UK strengths in agriculture, food, industrial biotechnology, bioenergy and health.

A £7.5 million investment from BBSRC into EASTBIO DTP will be matched by £7 million funding committed by the EASTBIO partner Universities.

During the visit, Dr Cable visited the labs at the Roslin Institute and discussed bioscience research with BBSRC-funded students and supervisors from the School of Biological Sciences and the Roslin Institute. Dr Cable also met with the EASTBIO Management Group and discussed training of bioscience students.
 

 The 2014 EASTBIO Symposium was held in Dundee on the 28th and 29th of August with robust participation by our students and supervisors.

Leave your (anonymous) feedback here.

Congratulations to our two winners for best student presentation:

• first-year student Sybille Ursula Mittmann for her poster presentation on "The control of meiosis and recombination in barley"
• second-year student Magali Sivakumaran on "Out with the old, in with the new: Novelty judgements as a translational tool to assess healthy ageing", done in PechaKucha format

Thanks to our Organising Committee and host institution colleagues for their hard work in the last few months and to our EASTBIO supervisors for attending the Symposium and for their engagement with the students' work.
 

We are happy to announce that the EASTBIO Induction Day 2014 will be held on Tuesday 21st of October and kindly hosted by the University of Dundee.

More information and details about the programme will be posted here soon.

Booking is now open for two bioinformatics short courses in Edinburgh this June.

R/Bioconductor and Unix * 10th-12th June * 10:00-17:00 *
Course Leader: Dr Simon Tomlinson
Booking Link: http://goo.gl/7PkNPc

This course focuses on the analysis of gene expression data from microarray and high-throughput sequencing platforms, using R, Bioconductor and Unix: data analysis approaches, principles and common pitfalls; an introduction to R, Bioconductor and other resources for data analysis; analysis of microarray gene expression data and of next-generation sequencing data (RNA-seq). Day 3 is an optional session for attendees to drop in and work through problems with support from Simon.

Introduction to Python * 23rd-27th June * 09:00-17:00*
Course Leader: Dr Martin Jones
Booking Link: http://goo.gl/0tRrBZ

The programme for the EASTBIO Annual Symposium is viewable here. For the summaries of the talks scheduled, click here.

If you are an EASTBIO student, sign up here.

If you are an EASTBIO supervisor, sign up here.

Final deadline for signing up is Wednesday 21 August at 17:00.

Practical information about the Symposium can be found here.

Our warmest thanks to Anuj, Becky, Magali, Matt and Vrushali (cohort 2012 student representatives) for their brilliant ideas and the considerable time they've put into organising the symposium.