Virtual NMJ Research Conference for Early Career Researchers

We are a group of young researchers at the University of Edinburgh with an enthusiasm for studying the neuromuscular junction and are pleased to invite you and your labs to the Neuromuscular junction Research Conference 2021 hosted online by and for early career researchers.

Whilst we envision this as an exciting opportunity for all interested parties to attend, first and foremost we hope that this online conference will provide a platform for MSc, PhD and early postdoctoral researchers to share their research and to network. Please do feel free to share this invite with colleagues or students you believe may be interested.

The Euan MacDonald Centre has kindly provided prize money for the best talks so we encourage all PIs to motivate their students to participate as all abstracts that cover NMJ research are eligible.

Particularly as travel is still restricted across countries and we are keen to connect in a safe and responsible way, we are looking forward to seeing research that happens across the globe. As this conference will be hosted in BST, we are aware that some time zones might not be compatible, however, we do warmly welcome anyone interested. We are also advertising this event on Twitter (@NMJconference), where we will post regular conference updates.

Speaking slots 

There is the option to include graphical abstracts with your submission, which will be promoted on the conference Twitter (@NMJconference) and in the brochure. ECRs can submit two types of abstracts across each of the 6 sessions:

• 5 minute talks - these are ideal for MSc or PhD students to present preliminary data/work in progress or project plans, as this can provide a great opportunity for feedback (if desired) from the community or to simply showcase the exciting research we can expect
• 15 minute talks - ideal for later-stage ECRs

To submit an abstract, please use this online form

Abstract submission deadline: 03 September 2021 and speakers will be notified of the outcome no later than Friday 10 September.

Programme

The meeting will run from 05 - 07 October 2021 and each afternoon will feature two sessions, each with a keynote speaker and a combination of 5 and 15 minute talks from early career researchers. Keynote speakers specialising in the session theme will kick off each topic:

Tuesday 05 October 2021

• Session 1 - Molecular Mechanisms, Keynote Speaker: Dr. Gregorio Valdez (Brown University, USA)
• Session 2 - Electrophysiology, Keynote Speaker: Dr. Kosala Dissanayake (University of Edinburgh, UK)

Wednesday 06 October 2021

• Session 3 - Development and Ageing, Keynote Speaker: Dr. Daniel Ham (Biozentrum Basel, Switzerland)
• Session 4 - Pathology and Diseases, Keynote Speaker: Dr. Helena Chaytow (University of Edinburgh, UK)

Thursday 07 October 2021

• Session 5 - Animal/In vitro models of the NMJ and comparative studies, Keynote Speaker: Dr. Olaia F. Vila (Gladstone Institutes, University of California- San Francisco, United States)
• Session 6 - Methods, Keynote Speaker: Dr. James Sleigh (University College London, UK)

Attendance and networking

The conference itself will be held on Zoom and joining details will be made available closer to the time on the conference Slack channel. Registration and attendance will take place exclusively through the conference Slack channel. If you have not yet registered, please get in touch via email to receive a joining link for the “NMJ conference” Slack, where we have created a multitude of channels which are aimed to promote networking.

We have included a space for extra Q&As which speakers will answer when time runs out, a channel for recent publications where you can share your pre-prints/new publications, and spaces to discuss science, ask methods questions or just chit chat. 

Join the Slack: To receive the joining link for Slack please email ines.boehm@ed.ac.uk or get in touch on Twitter and we will send through an invite link or add you manually.

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NMJconference

If you have any questions regarding organisation, timing, or if you would like to advertise research positions in your lab and you would like to include this in the conference brochure, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the conference committee (email addresses below).

With kind regards, NMJ research conference 2021 organisation committee (Abrar Alhindi, Ines Boehm, Abdullah Ramadan)

ines.boehm[at]ed.ac.uk A.Alhindi[at]sms.ed.ac.uk A.F.Ramadan[at]sms.ed.ac.uk