A Summer School on Cell & Molecular Mechanics in Biomedicine with a focus on Cancer was held at the Centre for Life Sciences, National University of Singapore from 25 June to 6 July 2007. This two-week long summer school is the second in the series, following the inaugural summer school held at MIT in August 2006 (with a focus on infectious diseases). This was also held in conjunction with the GEM4 Conference on Cancer at Suntec City, Singapore from 1 July to 6 July 2007. It was attended by over 60 participants from 33 universities/institutions and 10 countries.
The course outline included topics from both biology and mechanics. Participants were exposed to a broad range of issues encompassing physiology, cell and molecular biology, immunology, basic biology of cancer, cancer diagnosis and treatment as well as continuum and statistical mechanics, and cell and molecular biomechanics. Advances in nanotechnology and their applications to diagnosis and therapy were also discussed. Finally, a state-of-the-art laboratory experience and exposure to local research facilities were provided in addition to the introductory and advanced tutorials. Speakers included world renowned biologists and bioengineers from institutions such as Columbia, Brown, Caltech, Duke, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Penn State, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Weizmann Institute of Science, Nagoya University and the National University of Singapore.
The participants comprised graduate students, post-docs, research fellows and faculty members. Participants enjoyed interacting and networking during the two-week programme.
Prof Peter So from MIT giving his lecture.
GEM4 participants.
Participants interacting with one another during a coffee break.
Dr Kevin Tan (Dept of Microbiology, NUS) giving an introductory note of the next speaker,Dr Paul MacAry (Dept of Microbiology, NUS).
It was all smiles for the speakers and participants as they took a group photo
