Interactive Schedule

Dr. Freda Miller is the Deputy Director of the UBC Michael Smith Labs, Professor in the departments of Medical Genetics and Biomedical Engineering, and an associate member of ICORD. Dr. Miller is best known for her work on dermal and neural stem cells and on mechanisms that regulate neuronal survival and growth. Her discovery of dermal stem cells provided insights into the mechanisms underlying skin maintenance and repair and contributed to providing the conceptual basis for using skin as a major source for genesis of human stem cells. At the same time, Dr. Miller discovered new mechanisms determining whether nerve cells live or die, findings that have implications for our understanding of neurodegenerative disorders. Finally, Dr. Miller has made significant contributions to understanding how stem cells build the brain during normal development and how this goes awry in neurodevelopmental disorders. This led to her recent discovery that the commonly used diabetes drug metformin can recruit endogenous neural precursors and in so doing can promote repair of the injured brain. Together, these discoveries led to clinical trials for therapies that “wake up” our own stem cells to repair the injured brain and skin and to the co-founding of two biotechnology companies. More recently, Dr. Miller has been recognized for her contributions to science, outreach, and mentorship with the naming of the Dr. Freda Miller public school in Calgary.

Dr. Miller will be presenting her perspectives and work on Repair and Regeneration of Mammalian Tissues via Endogenous Stem Cells, and we are exceptionally excited to have her open the day of programming for our 2026 Life Sciences Symposium as our faculty Speaker.

Join us for trainee talks to learn whats hot and new across a broad spectrum of life sciences!

Session 1 Schedule & Talk Titles

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Topics in the past have included sex as a variable in biological research, equity in the sciences, and current gaps in research due to historical inequity

Submit your topics for discussion with the panel in the registration form!

Preview posters, network with other attendees and speakers, visit sponsor booths to learn about products and services, and enjoy a free lunch.

Dietary restrictions may be submitted during registration.

We are able to provide lunch free of charge thanks to the generous support of our sponsors.

Join us for the second round of trainee talks to hear more about what is going on in the life sciences!

Session 2 Schedule and Talk Titles:

Talk 1: TBA

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Workshop Session A: Science Outreach and Community Engagement

Dr. Jay Shendure is a professor appointed in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. Shendure is the lead scientific director for the Seattle Hub of Synthetic Biology and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Shendure is the recipient of the Curt Stern Award from the American Society of Human Genetics (2012), the Richard Lounsbery Award from the National Academy of Sciences (2019) and the Mendel Award from the European Society of Human Genetics (2022) and is an elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In 2025, Dr. Shendure was also elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). He serves or has previously served as an advisor to the NIH Director, the US Precision Medicine Initiative, the National Human Genome Research Institute, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and the Allen Institutes for Cell Science and Immunology. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard Medical School in 2007.

Dr. Shendure’s work is pioneering in the early development of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and in exome sequencing, which he has used to reveal genetic drivers of congenital disorders. His work spans from fundamental genomics to translational toolkits, including cell-free DNA diagnostics for cancer and reproductive medicine; massively parallel reporter assays, saturation genome editing; combinatorial single cell molecular technologies; and genome editing based molecular recording technologies. Jay will be presenting on this “DNA Typewriter,” and ENGRAM in his keynote talk.

Trainee poster session

Students from all departments represented in the LSI and beyond will present posters on their research for a general audience.

A poster competition is held, with judging by postdoctoral researchers and staff. Additionally, a “peoples choice” poster prize will be awarded based on survey feedback

This is a fantastic opportunity to network with the speakers of the day and graduate students from various departments to foster new collaborations and further develop your work.