October 24, 2023
Several lab members attended the Midwest Drosophila Conference at the beautiful Allerton Park & Retreat Center in Monticello, IL.
Within driving distance of Iowa City, Allerton has hosted the Midwest Drosophila Conference for many years. Organized by Lori Wallrath, Jacob Kagey, and Cale Whitworth, this conference is a great opportunity to network and has a strong focus on talks and posters from students, postbaccs, and postdocs (along with some PIs).
Lori Wallrath opened the conference to a standing-room-only audience with general information and a historical overview. This year, over 100 attendees came from 10 states (some even further than the Midwest!). In recent years, information was lost about how the meeting started and how long it has been going. As it turns out, the meeting was started by Susan Lindquist and this year marks the 41st annual meeting.
Hannah attended as her first meeting after joining the lab, and presented a poster on her research on motor pattern changes in the Drosophila NF1 model.
Val presented her latest research on molecular mechanisms of metabolic regulation with Nf1 deficiency.
Seth gave the keynote at this year's meeting.
On the way out, we snapped the obligatory lab photo. This was taken just outside the Allerton Park & Retreat Center building.
It was great to catch up with friends & colleagues, meet some new ones, and learn about a lot of the great research across 10 states. See you all again next year!