External events

Online, on 9-13 September 2024

Placental Biology Course - online on demand lectures with daily interactive live sessions. This online course is aimed at students, post-docs, established researchers, medical & veterinary healthcare professionals and industry colleagues interested in cutting-edge placental biology and research.

The 2024 course will run online with updated course content around four key themes:

• Pre- to peri-implantation development
• Establishment of placentation
• Placental pathology
• Physiology and metabolism

A small number of full or partial bursaries/scholarships will be available to eligible candidates based on need.

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 17th-19th September 2024

If someone from within Cambridge is interested to participate, please email Julia Blackwell (hodsec@dpmms.cam.ac.uk) before 9am on Monday September 9, so that you can be registered.

Cambridge-Antwerp, 18^th-20^th September 2024

Our hackathon will run from 18^th-20^th September simultaneously in 2 European venues: University of Cambridge, and VIB- University of Antwerp. 
This is your chance to spend 3 days working on a bioinformatics related project, either alone or in a collabroative project. Work on anything related to mathematical or computational biology.

Maxwell Centre, JJ Thompson Road, West Cambridge Site, on 23 September 2024

The Cambridge Centre for Data Driven Discovery (C2D3) seeks to create an interdisciplinary data science and AI community for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and students, as a place for supporting researchers and their ideas, sharing solutions and networking. 

C2D3 is hosting a half-day interdisciplinary conference, where student and ECR from all schools, using AI/machine learning in their research, will provide a forum to exchange ideas, discuss research problems and solutions, and make new connections. During the conference we will hear presentations from the C2D3 ECR Seed Fund Awardees (2023 and 2024) and lightning talks from the ECR and student community. 

This is a relaxed and welcoming conference, and the day itself will be run by a group of Cambridge students and ECRs.

There a few slots remaining for the flash talk sessions which are aimed at:

• I have a solution to share  
• I have a problem to solve 

There will be panel discussions at the end of the flash talk sessions. This is a great opportunity for those who would like to improve their presenting and talking skills, and also to exchange knowledge. Deadline for flash talk expression of interest forms to be submitted to C2D3 (coordinator@c2d3.cam.ac.uk) is Sunday 18^th August.

Take look at our website for registration, the flash talk expression of interest form, draft agenda and further details.

Please contact coordinator@c2d3.cam.ac.uk for any queries.

Online on 24^th September 2024 at 4:00 – 15:00

This Gateway to Translation Webinar Series (G2T) will host Dr Rabia Khan, CEO of Serna Bio Ltd. Serna Bio is a Stevenage based biotech which is building the world's first map of the druggable transcriptome in order to advance the development of RNA based therapeutics. As always, everybody is welcome to attend and to ask questions during the Q&A session.

G2T webinar series is a joint initiative between CATS (University of Cambridge) and Translation Manchester (The University of Manchester).  Monthly online talks are aimed to inform academics about new technologies and translational research developed in pharma/medtech/biotech sector, as well as to facilitate collaboration between academia and commercial sphere.

Click here to register: www.tickettailor.com/events/g2tgatewaytotranslation/1369268

Accelerate Programme for Scientific Discovery – Michaelmas Term workshops in AI for Science

Register now

The Accelerate Programme for Scientific Discovery, based in the Department of Computer Science and Technology, offers support for researchers across the University to use AI in their research. We are pleased to announce that our training courses & workshops for next term are open for booking!

Join them for courses exploring key topics in AI as well as two hands on workshops to apply your AI skills:

• Wednesday 2 October                AI & Large Language Models
• Monday 14 October                    Hands on LLM workshop
• Wednesday 6 November            An Introduction to Diffusion Models in Generative AI
• Monday 18 November                Publishing and Packaging Python Code for Research
• Monday 2 December                  An Introduction to Docker
• Wednesday 4 December            Hands on AI workshop

Open to all postgraduate students and staff our courses are designed to support you at all stages of implementing AI in your research. All courses take place from 09:30 – 17:00 at the West Hub and registration is free.

PostDoc Centre at Eddington, 105 Eddington Pl, Cambridge CB3 1AS, on 18th October, 11.00 to 17.00

Cambridge Infectious Diseases is organising a career development workshop for Early Career Researchers. The workshop 'Exploring Career Pathways' aims to showcase career paths that a researcher with a PhD can take that are different from the traditional academic route. It will include talks by speakers working on industry, funding bodies, scientific communications, and academic research-related roles, followed by active discussions with the audience.

More info coming soon!

Hinxton Hall, Cambridgeshire, UK, 27–28 November 2024

Synthetic and Engineering Biology stand at the forefront of innovation, combining advances in biosciences, physical sciences, computer sciences, and engineering. These fields take rigorous engineering principles and apply them to the design of new biological systems.

How can we harness biology to address global challenges in healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and the environment? What are the latest scientific breakthroughs and advancements that will allow us to deliver on the promise of synthetic and engineering biology?

We welcome researchers and students from across the UK to join us and learn more about cutting-edge research in Engineering Biology, one of the UK government's five critical technologies for the future of UK research. Synthetic Biology UK will take place from 27-28 November 2024 in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire where we will explore questions such as:

• How can synthetic biology help ensure global food security in the current climate crisis?
• How is engineering biology transforming the healthcare sector?
• How does synthetic biology intersect with the latest advancements in AI and machine learning?
• How can we design proteins, and even whole genomes, for new applications?
• How can we engineer cells from the bottom-up to act as minature bioreactors or drug-delivery systems?
• How can we refine biological control systems and make engineering biology easier?
• How can we do all of this in an ethical, responsible and secure way?

REGISTER NOW - Abstract & early booking deadlines: 27 September 2024.

This event is co-hosted by the Biochemical Society and the Engineering Biology Interdisciplinary Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. For more information or queries, please contact Dr. Stephanie Norwood at coordinator@engbio.cam.ac.uk.