All posts by Anna Holmström

Successful meeting on infections and antibiotics in Umeå 3-6 September

The international conference NSCMID 2015 with focus on infections and antibiotics was held in Umeå 4-6 September 2015. The meeting featured high profile speakers providing basic as well as clinical research perspectives. Two pre-event workshops were held 3 September: the Meet the Experts workshop and a mini course in epidemiology. Altogether more than 100 posters were presented. It was gratifying to note that about half of all 170 participants of the National Doctoral Programme in Infections and Antibiotics (NDPIA) and several international partners of NDPIA had accepted the offer of free participation at NSCMID 2015 on behalf of NDPIA. Of these, more than ten were chosen to present their abstracts orally and delivered high quality presentations. Also a vast majority of NDPIA members participated in the appreciated Meet the Experts sessions where nine different experts introduced specific topics and led parallel group discussions around topic related issues of interests to participants.

NSCMID 2015 discussionNSCMID 2015 poster discussions

The conference was organized by the Nordic Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (NSCMID) in collaboration with Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR), the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) and our NDPIA programme. The meeting was also supported by a grant from the Infections and Antibiotics programme of the Swedish Research Council to MIMS.

New autumn activities – first application deadline 30 September

Please access information about new autumn activities via the links below.

Thematic day on Zoonotic Infections
Thematic day in Uppsala 151014 (free of charge)
Registration deadline 30 September

Introduction to bioinformatics using NGS data
2 ECTS course in Lund 151116-151120
Course fee 1800 SEK
Application deadline 5 October

Assay development in high throughput screening
2 ECTS course in Umeå 151116-151120
Application deadline 26 October

Metagenomics
1 ECTS course in Uppsala 151124-151126
Course fee 1000 SEK
Application deadline 27 October

After having been accepted to the courses participants of the National Doctoral Programme in Infections and Antibiotics (NDPIA) can apply for co-funding of travel and accommodation costs (not for co-funding of course fees) via relevant event page by accessing https://ndpia.se/current_events/.

 

Autumn courses provided by SciLifeLab – application deadlines from 17 August

Please access information about upcoming autumn courses provided by SciLifeLab via the links below.

Introduction to Bioinformatics using NGS data
2 ECTS course in Uppsala 150914-150918
Course fee 1800 SEK
Application deadline 17 August

RNA-seq
1 ECTS course in Uppsala 151020-151022
Course fee 1000 SEK
Application deadline 22 September

De novo Genome Assembly
1 ECTS course in Uppsala 151116-151117
Course fee 1000 SEK
Application deadline 19 October

After beeing accepted to the courses participants of the National Doctoral Programme in Infections and Antibiotics (NDPIA) can apply for co-funding of travel and accommodation costs (not for co-funding of course fees) via relevant event page by accessing https://ndpia.se/current_events/.

Information about the courses above together with other courses provided by SciLifeLab (but not announced via NDPIA) can also be found via http://www.scilifelab.se/education/courses/.

Summary of NDPIA survey spring 2015

During the spring of 2015 a survey aiming at facilitating planning of future activities of the National Doctoral Programme in Infections and Antibiotics (NDPIA) in line with participant’s suggestions was distributed. 25 NDPIA participants (of current 150) undertook the survey and the results are briefly described below.

Personal communication and information via e-mail were the most common ways of learning about NDPIA. Participants joined the programme to attend courses and for networking opportunities. Both thematic and non-thematic future network meetings were considered. A majority of respondents were in favor of discussions in smaller groups, however, to some extent also poster sessions (divided) and short PowerPoint presentations were considered. Both overview and in-depth lectures was requested and there was an interest in speakers discussing synergies between basic and clinical research. A variety of topics/themes for lectures were suggested. A majority of participants reported that it was likely or very likely they should network with other NDPIA participants via social media: LinkedIn > ResearchGate > Facebook > Other (such as www.academia.edu, www.ndpia.se, YouTube channel/video lectures). All planned course/workshop topics were of interest for the respondents, bioinformatics being most popular. Additional topics were suggested.
All but one of the respondents found www.ndpia.se useful or very useful. A vast majority of participants access the page once a month and/or when they are notified via e-mail.

The opinions on the overall views of the network meeting in Uppsala varied a lot and so did the opinions on the specific networking opportunities and the lectures. The networking opportunities together with the smaller format of the meeting were appreciated although increased time for poster sessions was suggested.

Many thanks to all NDPIA participants who filled out the survey!