Fall Symposum - Danforth Center

Last week we attended the Fall Symposium at the Danforth Center. I was honestly a little scared to go because it seemed like such a professional event. To start of our adventure at the Symposium we talked to workers for biotechnology and lab companies. Surprisingly, it was super interesting. I really enjoyed listening to Mrs. Kremer from Promega talk about the company and the cool technology they have developed. Promega took the illuminating gene from lightning bugs and modified it so it can be inserted into parts of the human body or other organisms to see if the cells are living or not. If the cell glows then the cell is living. This technology can be used for cancer research, testing health products/medicines, and research in plants. After we talked to a few other tables we then went to hear two lectures in the main auditorium. Both of them were cool topics, but way over my head. But that's alright because the experience of listening to this research gave me a good taste of what a researcher's job is like. Overall, the Fall Symposium was one of our first networking and glimpses into the real science world.