Keypoint Newsletter: Fellows Community Updates & Call for Applications

By Heather Gerhart

Keystone Symposia’s flagship Fellows Program is now accepting applications for the Class of 2025! This unique, cutting-edge, life science Fellowship is designed to support the career development of postdoctoral and early-career scientists from underrepresented and other disadvantaged backgrounds who are engaged in biological or biomedical sciences research.

Established in 2009, the Fellows Program has become a highly competitive premier professional advancement opportunity for rising scientists, providing support tailored to meet the unique challenges at these pivotal career stages.

Fellows benefit from unique networking opportunities and participate in conversations at the forefront of biology with academic, industry and government thought leaders from around the world. Fellows engage directly with eminent scientists from our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) through a variety of formats including immersion in three SAB meetings, monthly “Fellows Friday” virtual meetings, and one-on-one mentorship tailored to the Fellow’s career trajectory and professional goals.

Now Accepting Applications to the Keystone Symposia Fellows Class of 2025!

Learn more & apply:

https://www.keystonesymposia.org/diversity/fellows-program

Please help us spread the word about this valuable professional advancement opportunity with this flyer

Support for the Keystone Symposia Fellows Program is made possible by our Program partners, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Eli Lilly and Company (see blog feature Partnering with Eli Lilly to Empower Diversity in the Biomedical Workforce here) and Cytokinetics, Inc., as well as generous gifts from individual donors.

We Welcome Additional Sponsors!

Please consider joining us in our mission to support the next generation of a diverse biomedical and life science workforce! 

Contact:  DLSP@keystonesymposia.org

Donate to Keystone Symposia Diversity Programming Here!

Fellows Community News

Current and alumni Fellows serve as leaders in their communities. Below we highlight recent news and accomplishments from recent Fellows classes.  Find more on social media at #KSFellows!

Fellows Organizing Conferences:

As Keystone Symposia kicks off our 2024/2025 conference season next month, we’re celebrating four Fellow alumni who have stepped up to organize Keystone Symposia conferences this season!  We hope you will support them by spreading the word and encouraging your colleagues and trainees to attend (as a reminder, we offer financial aid for students, postdocs, and early-career scientists):

• Positive Strand RNA Viruses: Interdisciplinary Advances in Virology, Pathogenesis, Immunology, and Technology Development / Kizzmekia S. Corbett-Helaire (Class of 2018), William B. Klimstra and Jolanda M. Smit / Oct 21 – 24, 2024 • INEC Killarney Convention Centre • Killarney, Co. Kerry • Ireland – Early Registration Deadline: Sept. 4^th
• Microproteins: from Discovery to Applications / Thomas F. Martínez (Class of 2022), Lena Ho and Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis / Feb 6 – 8, 2025 • Wylie Center and Tupper Manor at Endicott College • Beverly, MA • USA – Scholarship Deadline: Nov. 6^th
• Organoids: Engineering Innovative Approaches for Basic and Translational Insight / Quinton Smith (Class of 2022), Matthias Lutolf and Kelly R. Stevens / May 11 – 14, 2025 • Fairmont Chateau Whistler • Whistler, BC • Canada – Scholarship Deadline: Feb. 11^th
• Autophagosomes and Endolysosomes: From Fundamental Mechanisms to Disease Implications / Christina Towers (Class of 2022), Rupert Beale and Leon O. Murphy / Jun 25 – 28, 2025 • Fairmont Chateau Whistler • Whistler, BC • Canada – Scholarship Deadline: Mar. 27^th

Fellows News & Features:

• Esperanza Arias-Perez (Class of 2023) was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine & Pathology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
• Samira Asgari (2023) and Vinicio de Jesus Perez (2014) have joined Keystone Symposia’s Health Equity Working Group and are helping to shape our programming that showcases how scientists are bringing molecular, cellular, and genetic approaches to bear on health equity research and outcomes. 
• Cesar de la Fuente (2024) and colleagues are generating attention on NPR for their APEX deep learning model that uses AI to mine ancient organisms’ genomes for therapeutic molecules, dramatically accelerating antibiotics discovery (more below). 
• Antentor “A.J.” Hinton, Jr. (2024) and the Hinton lab were recognized, with A.J. receiving Faculty Mentor of the Year, his postdoc (now an instructor) receiving Postdoc Mentor of the Year, and his graduate student awarded best graduate student (she also landed a postdoc job & fellowship!).
  Erika Moore (2022) has been selected as a 2024 TED Fellow!
• Sonya Neal (2023) received the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) Mentoring Keynote Award! 
• Yvon Woappi (2024) was featured in the NIGMS/NIH Biomedical Beat Blog.
  
  
  

Hot Off the Presses:

• Class of 2023 Fellows David Alagpulinsa and Samira Asgari collaborated on a recent publication in Diabetologia.
• Cesar de la Fuente (2024) is applying new AI models to antibiotic discovery; recent publications include:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-024-01201-x and https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00522-1.
• Sonya Neal (2023) and Antentor “A.J.” Hinton, Jr. (2024) published in the special DEI issue of the Journal of Cellular Physiology, with A.J. playing a major role in orchestrating this issue. 

Fellows on the Move:

• Nick Martinez (2024) will start a new postdoc in Wolfgang Peti’s lab at UConn Health in September.
• Henry Ruiz (2023) has accepted a tenure-track faculty position at the New York Institute of Technology in Westbury New York.
• Evan Scott (2018) has joined the University of Virginia’s faculty as the Thomas A. Saunders III Family Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished University Professor.
• Amol Kulkarni (2015) was awarded an R21 from NIDA – a fantastic start to building a strong extramurally-funded research program at UTEP after his move from Howard University.
  
• Abby Cheruiyot (2024) was awarded an NIDDK MOSAIC K99/R00.
  

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Return to the September 2024 Keypoint Newsletter

About the Author

Heather Gerhart

Heather Gerhart earned her MA in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College, and brings an understanding of how social science principles can be brought to bear in support of inclusive program design and development. She has worked in support of Keystone Symposia’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leadership since the inception of the organization’s Diversity in Life Sciences Program in 2007. Previously Keystone Symposia’s Sr. Grant Coordinator and Program Analyst, she helped to found, develop, and acquire funding for the Program in response to biomedical workforce development priorities at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.