13 Sep 2017
SCI’s Young Lipid Scientist Award recognises excellence and emerging talent in research relating to lipids, in any field across the physical and life sciences and engineering. In June this year, Sarah-Beth Amos, from the University of Oxford, won this award and was given the opportunity to give an oral presentation at the EuroFed Lipid Congress 2017. Here she reports on her experience.
‘I was able to attend the 15th EuroFed Lipid Congress with generous support from SCI’s Lipids Group. The conference took place in Uppsala, Sweden on 27-30 August 2017. Uppsala is a University town about an hour north of Stockholm and was a wonderful setting for an interesting meeting.
‘My talk followed the Health & Nutrition session on palm oil and I presented an overview of my work on molecular simulations of PIP kinases, including how disordered regions contribute to substrate lipid recognition and orientation. I was also able to present some new work on lipid diffusion and clustering in large model membranes.
‘It was very interesting to attend the conference and hear many different talks on areas of lipid science that were unfamiliar to me; in particular, talks from industry and government staff on the role of lipid science in food security. I enjoyed meeting a number of European scientists who worked on protein-lipid interactions, but it was also fascinating to engage with scientists working on completely different systems and using a wide range of techniques. It gave me a new appreciation of where research is in food security, and how that is influenced by public perception and pressure.
‘The highlight of the conference for me was being able to view posters from institutions across Europe on a diverse range of scientific topics. As a theoretical scientist it is important to engage with experimentalists in a way that leads to mutual understanding. The EFL Congress was an excellent opportunity for me to do this.
‘I am hugely grateful to the SCI Lipids Group for enabling me to present my work at an international conference and to make new contacts which will be very useful for my future work and career. I would highly recommend entering for the Young Lipid Scientist Award to any PhD student as I believe that it offers excellent presenting experience and opportunities which are essential for any scientist.’
Sarah-Beth Amos
Department of Biochemistry
University of Oxford
Visit Blog