Thanks to Dean Jing Folsom (center), the Skyline College STEM department and the Perkins grants for supporting this year’s attendees at the 24th annual CBA meetings.

Do you remember pre-COVID going to a conference in the field that you were studying? Do you remember the excitement of meeting people who are doing what you want to do? Do you remember listening to the talks and getting a little bit excited about the topic, but also being feeling blown away by the amount and complexity of the information that was presented?  Skyline College students did exactly that on Saturday, October 8, 2022 when they attended what may well be their first ever “Scientific Conference”.  For the past 7 years, Skyline College faculty have worked with the Chinese Bioscience Association (CBA) Conference to provide attendance with Skyline College students at low or no cost. The conference takes place at the Crown Plaza in Foster City. The Chinese Bioscience Association (CBA) is a non-profit organization founded in the San Francisco Bay area in 1997. Its mission is to promote education, networking and community building for life science professionals. This year’s conference focused on Next-Generation Medicine: From Gene, Protein to Cell Therapy.  The conference was a great opportunity for students to become aware of the new technologies and innovations that are key to transitioning from being a student to being a Biotech employee.

During a Break in the talks, Student Grace Xu took a selfie with Dr. Greg Semensa, the 2019 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine after hearing his well-crafted talk on the mechanisms of cell adaptation to Oxygen availability. Dr. Semensa showed how good a communicator you usually are when you win the Nobel. He was also very gracious and posed for pictures with many Skyline College students.

Students from the Biology, Microbiology, and Biotechnology programs joined Dean Jing Folsom and instructor Nick Kapp to network with Bioscience industry leaders and over 100 CBA general members. Skyline College students deftly shared their educational and professional accomplishments and practiced their networking skills. 

For more information about the Biotechnology program and other Career Advancement Academies, please contact Nick Kapp at kapp@smccd.edu or (650) 738-4415.

Article by Nick Kapp | Photos by Grace Xu and Jing Folsom

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