On December 9th, BPI hosted Research Day 2022 at the Life Science Centre and welcomed around 200 guests including industry/government partners representing 35 external organizations. This annual event resumed as a full in-person gathering after two year's pause due to the pandemic during which BPI researchers continued making advancements in developing innovative bio-based solutions. The opportune festive time of the year set the perfect atmosphere for everyone at the event celebrating the remarkable achievements and rejoicing over the wonderful partnerships with colleagues and partners.
Dean James Olson opened the event with a welcome address followed by Dr. Orlando Rojas, BPI Scientific Director, who gave a brief report on BPI's progress over the last two years. Then, five BPI Theme Leads, Dr. Lindsay Eltis, Dr. Emily Cranston, Dr. Scott Renneckar, Dr. Heather Trajano, and Dr. Qingshi Tu, took over next to present overviews of the research activities under their themes.
One of the highlights was the Poster Competition which was generously sponsored by the Faculty of Applied Science. 70 graduate students and postdocs participated in the competition and presented their research covering a wide range of topics from enzymes/nano-materials to bio-refineries. This year a few industry partners joined the judging panel and helped select the below APSC Dean's Poster Prize winners.
APSC Dean's Poster Prize Winners: Benedikt Golisch, Brianne Newman, Kruse Lars, Gio Ferson Bautista, Anna Zeleny, Yi Lu, Lucas Andrew, Xun Niu, Yizhou Sang, Ruby Osei-Bonsu, Anderson Veiga, Rasmita Sahoo
In addition, Runru Liu and Xia Sun received a People's Choice Award from each of the two poster sessions getting the most votes from the participating audience. Congratulations to all winners!
Anna Zeleny, PhD Student, commented "Attending the Research Day was an incredible opportunity to be in a space dedicated to bioproduct research. I especially enjoyed connecting with other poster presenters, and learning more about the endless possibilities in biomaterials.". “This Research Day was the best Friday I have had this year. It was absolutely wonderful to learn about the most cutting-edge research happening at BPI, as well as to connect with industry people.” said Dr. Yi Lu, Postdoctoral Fellow. Brianne Newman, Master's Student, added "It was inspiring to hear about so many different groups and projects all focused on the same issue but with such varying approaches. I loved being able to share my story with a new audience and teach them about bacterial siderophore production!"
The technical program was wrapped up with three keynote presentations by Gustavo Oliveira (BC Ministry of Forests), Bill Adams (Mercer International), and Gurminder Minhas (Performance BioFilaments) who spoke to the market trends and shared their expert insights on the future bio-economy.
Dr. Rojas acknowledged the tremendous impact of the industry/government partnerships and expressed his appreciation for faculty, researchers and staff saying "Without their wonderful teamwork, it wouldn't have been possible to create such an engaging and inspiring Research Day. We will continue to develop more venues and channels to reach out to broader communities, to share our vision and to facilitate collaborative spaces for creating a more sustainable future."
Congratulations to everyone who came and made the Research Day a huge success! We look forward to seeing you again in 2023.
Watch the Recordings of Research Day 2022 Presentations
- Dean James Olson - Welcome Address
- Dr. Orlando Rojas - Welcome & BPI Overview
- Dr. Lindsay Eltis - Theme #1 Biocatalytic Transformation and Engineering of Biomass
- Dr. Emily Cranston - Theme #2 Bio-nanoparticle Enabled Materials
- Dr. Scott Renneckar - Theme #3 Bio-based Polymers and Carbon Materials
- Dr. Heather Trajano - Theme #4 Biorefinery Systems
- Dr. Qingshi Tu - Theme #5 Bioproducts Ecosystem Analysis
- Gustavo Oliveira (BC Ministry of Forests) - Keynote #1 Building BC's Bioeconomy
- Bill Adams (Mercer International) - Keynote #2 Intro to Mercer International
- Gurminder Minhas (Performance BioFilaments) - Keynote #3 Making Great Materials Better
- Awards Presentation and Closing by Dean James Olson
Event Photo Slideshow