Fifth Annual ToxTalks 2018 Graduate Student Symposium:

Thank you all for attending and making our fifth ToxTalks graduate student symposium a hit! We hope you thoroughly enjoyed the presentations and the social at Club Ilia. We also greatly appreciate the feedback you provided to us as well, and hope to use it to make next year's symposium even better.

The Stats:

• 56 people registered;
• 18 oral and poster presentations;
• Judges: Dr. Vicki Marlatt, Dr. Chris Kennedy, Dr. Heather Osachoff, Dr. Katerina Vasilenko, & Bonnie Lo;
• 1 keynote speaker: Dr. Jennie Christensen (TrichAnalytics Inc)

Congratulations to the ToxTalks 2018 Presentation Winners:

5 minute presentation category: Kate Mill & Battsetseg Ilziikhu

15 minute presentation category: Jaclyn Parks & Anna Smith

Poster category: Michael Moreton & Stephanie Bishop

Fourth Annual ToxTalks 2017 Graduate Student Symposium:

The Stats:

• 64 people registered;
• 22 oral and poster presentations;
• 5 judges
• 1 keynote speaker: Dr. Peter Ross (Vancouver Aquarium)

Congratulations to the ToxTalks 2017 Presentation Winners:

5 minute presentation category: Debra Reeves & Anna Smith

15 minute presentation category: Leslie Saunders & Lianna Gendall

Poster category: Feng Lin & Marina Giacomin

Third Annual ToxTalks 2015 Graduate Student Symposium:

The Stats:

• 43 people registered;
• 13 student presentations;
• 3 judges
• 1 keynote speaker: Vicki Marlatt
  

Congratulations to the ToxTalks 2015 Presentation Winners:

5 minute presentation category:

• 1st place - Leslie Saunders "Bioaccumulation and biotransformation of UV filters in fish"

15 minute presentation category:

• 1st place - Thea Van Rossum "Microbiome response as a sentinel for freshwater contamination: examples in agriculture and mining."

Thank you all for attending and making our second ToxTalks graduate student symposium a hit! We hope you thoroughly enjoyed the presentations and the social at Club Ilia. We also greatly appreciate the feedback you provided to us as well, and hope to use it to make next year's symposium even better.

The Stats:

• 39 people registered;
• 11 student presentations;
• 3 judges
• 1 keynote speaker: Adrian Debruyn
  

Congratulations to the ToxTalks 2013 Presentation Winners:

5 minute presentation category:

• 1st place - Alex Cancelli: "A time-dependent model to assess the efficacy of treatment wetlands in remediating oil sands processed wastewater"

15 minute presentation category:

• 1st place - Alex Reers: "The effects of organophosphate flame retardants on endocrine signaling pathways in human cancer cell lines"

The Stats:

• 36 people registered;
• 16 student presentations;
• 3 judges
• 1 keynote speaker: Peter Chapman
  

Congratulations to the ToxTalks 2012 Presentation Winners:

5 minute presentation category:

• 1st place - Mandy McDougall: "Bioaccumulation and environmental risk assessment for iogenic organic substances"
• 2nd place - Tao Eastham: "Modelling selenium: Bioaccumulation in an aquatic food web"

• 1st place - Bonnie Lo: "Exploring a mechanistic approach to understanding selenium accumulation in aquatic food chains"
• 2nd place (tie) - Heidi Currier: "In vitro screening, and use of an animal model, the zebra finch, to identify possible endocrine disrupting effects of TBECH"
• 2nd place (tie) - Lilian Wong: "The effects of insecticide p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE on androgen receptor signalling in the human LNCaP prostrate cancer cells"
• Honorable Mention - Lee Grenon: "Persistent organic pollutants and type 2 diabetes mellitus"

Tox Talks Vision from the Beginning:

ToxTalks Symposium began in 2012 with the intention of becoming the first of many annual graduate student symposiums to come.  Given the strong support and encouragement received so far by faculty in three different SFU departments (REM, Biology, and Health Sciences), as well as the current global need for research on contaminants, we strive for this event to be an important platform for students to collaborate locally on a global issue, and strengthen drug/carcinogen/pollutant research taking place not only at SFU, but also across the region. 

ToxTalks Symposium coincides well with other current initiatives on campus to strengthen toxicology research on campus, in British Columbia, and ultimately, Canada.  ToxTalks Symposium can become a meeting place for student researchers to build a community of peers concerned with contaminants.  Students will be able to turn to one other for collaboration and support, as well as for assistance in hosting future guest-speakers or facilitating discussion or research collaboration groups.