Several GlycoNet Network Investigators were front and centre in an organizing role during the 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CSC) in Edmonton.

Dr. Chris Phenix, Network Investigator, who has Métis ancestry, organized an indigenization and reconciliation in chemistry education symposium featuring Indigenous speakers from across Canada. The session covered the history of Indigenous people in Canada’s education system, ways to improve enrolment of Indigenous students in science programs and successful practices currently underway at universities across Canada.

GlycoNet’s Scientific Director, Dr. Todd Lowary, together with Network Investigator Fred West, organized the Organic Division Program at the meeting consisting of 11 symposia. This involved liaising with the symposium organizers and the CSC, some fundraising and organizing the divisional mixer.

“The CSC is the largest chemistry meeting in Canada and brings together annually approximately 2,000 Canadian and international scientists to talk about ground-breaking advances in the field,” says Lowary. “Together with my colleagues Fred West and Florence Williams, I was pleased to be able to take a role in making this a successful event.”

As part of his role as CEO of 48Hour Discovery Inc., Dr. Ratmir Derda, Network Investigator, chaired a pre-conference workshop and facility tour called ‘The Molecular Discovery at your Fingertips!’

“The half-day workshop provided insight to our exciting new technology and work pipeline, and involved hands-on experiments and real-time data analysis,” says Derda. “The workshop described how participants could leverage 48Hour Discovery’s pipeline for their own research endeavours.”

The workshop hosted representatives from University of PEI, University of Manitoba, Simon Fraser University, Mestrelab Research and Gilead Sciences, and was supported by GlycoNet.

The 48Hour Discovery team also took part in the speed networking evening where they highlighted their commercialization efforts to participants, described key skills for professional development and increased the scientific community awareness of their services.

Dr. Chris Cairo, Network Investigator, University of Alberta, served as the Division Representative for Biological and Medicinal Chemistry at this year’s conference. He also organized a session, served as a judge for oral and student poster presentations and acted as treasurer for the Operation Division.