Your source of monthly updates from BMEGG and more!

Upcoming Events

Save the Date: November BESA Meeting

The next BESA meeting will take place on Nov. 16, at 1 pm. The Zoom link will be sent out closer to that date. In the meantime, we invite you to join the BESA Slack Group here to be in the loop about opportunities for you to get involved!

Second BESA Health Committee Meeting

The second BESA Health & Wellness Committee Meeting will be on Nov. 22, at 11 am. Join if you are interested in getting involved in BESA and are passionate about mental health and wellness! Contact Lauren Gloekler for more info.

BESA Student Seminar Series

The student seminar series is a great opportunity to practice your QE presentation in a low-key friendly environment. If you are interested in presenting your research to your peers (virtually), please email Abby Niesen.

Stay Up to Date with the BESA Events Google Calendar

Click here to add the BESA calendar to your other Google calendars and stay on top of all upcoming BESA events! 

Announcements and Awards

Congratulations to Prof. Weijian Yang on receiving a $1.45M National Institutes of Health Brain Initiative R01 Grant!

Prof. Weijian Yang received a NIH Brain Initiative R01 Grant, titled "Large-field-of-view high-throughput two-photon endoscope to image neuronal activity," co-funded by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and National Eye Institute (NEI). In this project, his group will develop an endoscope that combines smart optical design and computational algorithms. This endoscope can record neural activity across a large brain volume with high spatial and temporal resolution in freely behaving mice. Read more here!

BESA t-shirt design contest is on!

BESA is excited to bring back the t-shirt design contest (for real this time!). Whether you are artistically inclined or just have a fun idea, we would love to see your designs! The winning designer will receive a free t-shirt or equivalent item of their choosing! Designs can be submitted as graphics files, CustomInk design files, or whatever shows off your design best! Please submit designs to besa@ucdavis.edu by Monday, Nov. 16. Have questions? Please contact Caitlin.

Support BESA by ordering business cards or buying some BESA swag!

Business cards are available through Repro Graphics for interested students and post-docs. Standard cards are $28.55 for 500. Please contact our treasurer Caitlin for more info. Christal also has a variety of BESA items for purchase in her office, including some BESA pint glasses, the most recent BESA T-shirt, and a variety of older BESA T-shirts. You can find pictures of the shirts here!

SARS-CoV-2 Updates

Stay up-to-date with Yolo County COVID-19 measures

In an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Yolo County, there is a continued requirement for face coverings in public and social distancing. This includes anywhere in the UC Davis campus. Furthermore, in addition to the State's guidance that limits gatherings to 3 households, 2 hours and outdoors only, the County is also placing an added restriction of a maximum of 16 people. These restrictions also apply to business social gatherings, such as holiday parties. Visit the Yolo County COVID-19 website for more info.

UC Davis COVID-19 Graduate Student FAQ page launched

Check out this FAQ page for your questions about coursework, teaching, and more. And in case you didn't know: all BIM graduate courses, including the BIM 290 seminar, will be conducted virtually for Winter Quarter 2021.

Career Development & Other Resources

Seminar series, journal clubs, workshops, conferences, and jobs

BME Seminar Series: Every Thursday 9am to 10am

Upcoming speakers:

• Nov. 5, Shana O. Kelley, Ph.D. Host: Erkin Seker, Ph.D.
• Nov. 12, Stephane Larochelle, Ph.D. Host: Sanjeevi Sivasankar.
• Nov. 19, Maroney-Bryan Lecture by Pamela Munster, M.D, special time @ 4 pm.

Monthly Biophotonics Meeting

Speaker: Dr. Xavier Intes from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Join via Zoom on Nov. 10, 9 - 10 am. See flyer here.

Neuroengineering & Medicine Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Chethan Pandarinath from Emory University. Join via Zoom on Nov. 4, 4 pm.

Upcoming Fall Quarter Writing Workshops:

• Keys to Successful Conferences: From Proposals to Presentations, Nov. 4
• Writing a Dissertation or Thesis: Getting Started Getting Done! Nov. 7, (half-day event - includes sessions on Establishing Priorities and Setting Goals; Managing Large Projects; Principles for Writing a Humanities/Social Science Thesis/Dissertation; Principles for Writing a STEM Thesis/Dissertation; Overcoming Writing Blocks; Moving from Research to Writing; Principles of Clarity for Multilingual Writers; Literature Reviews: Synthesizing the Literature)

Click here for more details and to register!

Asking Different Questions Seminars

Register for these upcoming seminars here

• Studying Race, Sex, and Gender, Nov. 6
• Addressing Privilege & Anti-Blackness in Science, Nov. 20

Inaugural Rising Stars in Engineering in Health

A virtual workshop for postdoctoral fellows/research scientists and graduate students who are 1-2 years away from applying for a faculty position. Applicants are encouraged to submit their application as soon as possible and no later than Nov. 30.

Connections: Big Bang! + Little Bang! 

A bi-weekly gathering for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs who want to get the most out of the Big Bang! and Little Bang! competitions. The next workshop will be on Nov. 3, 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm. Register here.

Fall Quarter Meditation Sessions by Staff and Faculty Health and Well-Being

Staff and Faculty Health and Well-Being will continue to offer three weekly meditation sessions through Nov 25.  These sessions are open to everyone: whether you are new to mindfulness or you have been practicing for a while.  And if you think you can’t meditate – they’ve got you covered, too. Register here.

Faculty Opening: Center for Synthetic Biology and Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at Northwestern University

The Center for Synthetic Biology and Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine invites applications for a full-time tenure track Investigator at the rank of Assistant Professor. Responsibilities include establish an extramurally funded basic or translational research program that applies synthetic biological approaches. Ideal candidates should also demonstrate strong communication and leadership skills, and actively contribute to the rapidly growing Center for Synthetic Biology. Formally launched in 2016, the Center for Synthetic Biology represents a university-wide initiative to formalize and grow synthetic biology as a research theme. For more information and to apply visit the Center of Synthetic Biology website.

Funding Opportunities

Maury Hull Endowed Fellowship for Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research

The Maury L. Hull Endowed Fellowship was established in 2012 by Scott Maxwell ’84, MS ‘86 to support a graduate student engaged in research with an emphasis in the area of musculoskeletal biomechanics. The fellowship award amount this year is $4,500. Application due on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. Read more here.

NIH Individual Fellowships F31 and F32

The deadline for the current cycle of NIH individual fellowships (F31 and F32) is Dec. 8, 2020! More information can be found here.

Annual Internal Fellowship Competition for Continuing Graduate Students

UC Davis Internal Fellowship Application for continuing academic graduate students is open! This application is used to award fellowship funding for the upcoming academic year.

• Learn more about the eligibility requirements and application process by visiting the Fellowship Program website.
• Fellowships will be open from Sep. 23, 2020 to Jan. 15, 2021.

Know of more funding opportunities and want them featured in the next newsletter? Email them to Alex or Jun before the first of each month. 

Publications

Check out these new publications from BMEGG students and faculty!

• Kho, A. M., Zhang, T., Zhu, J., Merkle, C. W., & Srinivasan, V. J. (2020). Incoherent excess noise spectrally encodes broadband light sources. Light: Science & Applications, 9(1), 1-9. Read the news here.
• Spencer, B. A., Berg, E., Schmall, J. P., Omidvari, N., Leung, E. K., Abdelhafez, Y. G., ... & Bao, J. (2020). Performance evaluation of the uEXPLORER Total-body PET/CT scanner based on NEMA NU 2-2018 with additional tests to characterize long axial field-of-view PET scanners. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, jnumed-120.
• Casella, A., Panitch, A., & Leach, J. K. (2020). Endogenous Electric Signaling as a Blueprint for Conductive Materials in Tissue Engineering. Bioelectricity.
• Dehghani, T., & Panitch, A. (2020). Endothelial cells, neutrophils and platelets: getting to the bottom of an inflammatory triangle. Open Biology, 10(10), 200161.
• Becker, A. E., Hernandez, A. M., Schwoebel, P. R., & Boone, J. M. (2020). Cone beam CT multisource configurations: evaluating image quality, scatter, and dose using phantom imaging and Monte Carlo simulations. Physics in Medicine & Biology.
• Becker, A. E., Hernandez, A. M., Boone, J. M., & Schwoebel, P. R. (2020). A prototype multi-x-ray-source array (MXA) for digital breast tomosynthesis. Physics in Medicine & Biology.

And in case you missed it...

The BESA Halloween pet costume contest and trivia took place on Thursday, Oct. 29. Groups were randomly paired and placed in break rooms to play trivia. Pets were dressed up, too! Look how cute and spooky they are!

Photo credits: Rachel Mizenko

Want to Never Miss a BESA Event?

Click the button below to add the BESA Google calendar (view only) to your other Google calendars to stay up to date on all BESA-related events!

Have feedback, questions, or something you'd like added to the next newsletter? Email Jun Zhu and Alex Vargas.