Regina Fernandez
Conference Travel Grant
Please provide the tile and a brief summary of your research/conference presentation.
Title: Development of a Cell-Free System for Producing Vaccines Against S. pneumoniae Summary: We developed a cell-free system for producing glycoconjugate vaccines against S. pneumoniae by enzyme engineering and strain optimizing.
What made you initially interested in researching your project in particular?
I am extremely interested in the research and development of biotechnologies that can impact people’s health. Professor Michael Jewett’s lab implements interesting and novel technologies within the field of Synthetic Biology. I wanted to learn more about it and gain those tools, so I was extremely grateful for the opportunity in the vaccine project.
What conference(s) did you present at and how did you find out about them?
I presented at the AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) national conference in Orlando. I heard about it when I was a junior (last year) from other older chemical engineering students at Northwestern.
What was it like presenting at a conference? Anything that you didn’t expect?
It was an awesome experience! I really liked how the judges ask you questions and challenge your research making you have to think on your feet. I also enjoyed getting the opportunity to meet faculty and students from other institutions and learn about their research.
Any tips or advice you have for students similar to you that are interested in presenting at a conference one day?
Go for it! Talk to your PI and the grad student you are working with that you want to present. You are not in this alone! They will help you put a poster or powerpoint together and prepare. Also, practice many times before. You probably know your research very well, but it is important to make sure you can present it to people from diverse backgrounds that may know very little about your field.