BiomedLink 2019: A successful student conference

Biomed Link, an annual conference held at St Vincent's Hospital, was attended by nearly 100 students on 6 November.

Now in its tenth year, the St Vincent's Student Society one-day conference unites Australian health and biomedical research students to provide them with an opportunity to present their work to like-minded peers in an informal, relaxed setting.

Professor Jenny Graves (La Trobe University) opened the conference, with Professor Andreas Strasser (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute) and Dr Danijela Mirosa (Takeda Pharmaceuticals) delivering the keynote addresses.

For the first time, since its inception, this year's conference included a mini 3Minute Thesis competition.

Sarah Thomas Broome (University of Technology Sydney) won the competition with her research targeting neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease.

Mariah Alorro (Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute) won this year's oral presentation prize on Selective Stat3 Inhibition in the Tumour Microenvironment Restricts Gastrointestinal Tumour Growth.

Samantha Davis (Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne) won the poster prize on Non-Specific IgA Inhibits HIV Broadly Neutralizing Antibody Functions.

Congratulations to Martha Blank, Crystal Nguyen and the rest of the organising committee and thanks to generous sponsors for travel grants awarded to interstate students.