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Researchers get caught up in scientific advances 

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For the 11th consecutive year, graduate students organized the Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Research Conference to provide an overview of the field through lectures, paper and poster presentations.

The two-day event, held in the Science Pavilion, attracted nearly 100 researchers to share their results. The event featured two keynote speakers. On Nov. 21, Tony Yan of Brock University presented thoughts on vaccine development. On Nov. 22, Stephen Laplante (at right) spoke about research challenges, methodologies and drugs currently in development targeting HIV and the Hepatitis C virus at the international Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical firm.

Pat Forgione of the Chemistry and Biochemistry department said that this is the only department he is aware of where graduate students organize conference of this scale. "This is the first time I've seen students take on that kind of responsibility," said Forgione.