CRYO2017 Special Report

A guest post by Fazil Panhwar, student member of the Society for Cryobiology and member of the local organizing committee of CRYO2017. 

Fazil is a Masters student, studying with Society for Cryobiology Governor Professor Gang Zhao, at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei. In addition to his studies, Fazil has been an integral member of the local organizing committee and also led the organization of the ICYR activities. He shares his unique perspective and insights into CRYO2017 in this special report. 

Getting Social at CRYO2017!

After the science wrapped up at CRYO2017, the local organizers arranged a banquet of traditional Chinese fare, including potent local spirit Baijiu. After dinner the student award winners were announced and our outgoing board members recognized for their service to the Society.

Over the following few days a variety of tours were offered by the local organizing committee, including tours to Lake Chaohu, Sanhe Village, an ancient water village, and Mount Huangshan and Hongcun Village, a UNESCO world heritage site. 

Click the thumbnails below to view the high res image. 

ICYR at CRYO2017

The International Cryobiology Youth Researchers (ICYR) had a busy week at CRYO2017 with two social events and the opportunity to actively participate in learning how to chair a session during a symposium. 

On Saturday July 22 the ICYR held a dinner at the Fengda Hotel, which featured a range of Anhui province and other Chinese specialities. The food was an almost endless array of meat and fish and a number of us tasted chicken feet for the first time. Verdict: Spicy and less weird than expected! 

CRYO2017 Report

CRYO2017: The World Cryobiology and Biobanking Conference drew to a close July 23, 2017 after three very busy days of the latest scientific research. The meeting was jointly hosted by the Society for Cryobiology and the China Medicinal Biotech Association and took place at Fengda International Hotel in Hefei, Anhui Province, China.

Congratulations to our Student Award Winners

In 2017 the Society for Cryobiology awarded over $12,000 to our student members in travel grants and prize money. 



Above: All Student Prize Winners and Travel Grant Awardees
Back Row: James Benson, Chair of the Awards Committee; Ilya Savchenko (Israel); Ross Warner (USA); Krishna Ramajayam (India). 
Front Row: Dayong Gao, President-Elect, Society for Cryobiology and Co-Chair of CRYO2017; Nikola Dolezalova (UK); Chandrika Kumari (India); Wenhui Li (China); Krishnaa Mahbubani (UK); Kezhou Wu (China); Jason Acker, President, Society for Cryobiology. 
Not pictured: Wei Di (China); Maryam Hezavehei (Iran); Xueru Jiang (China); Jiaji Pan (USA). 

Each year the Society for Cryobiology invites student members to submit an extended abstract to be considered for a number of awards including the prestigious Crystal Award for best student oral presentation, the Critser Travel Award, sponsored by the family of late cryobiologist John K. Critser, and a large number travel grants to attend the Society's annual meeting in order to present their research. All students presenting a poster at the meeting are also eligible to enter the Best Poster Award. 

Notes From the Director's Desk 

Want to be a student moderator at CRYO2017?

At last year's annual meeting, CRYO2016 in Ottawa, the Society for Cryobiology and the International Young Cryobiology Researchers (ICYR) introduced a student moderator at each symposium to give students the chance to gain valuable experience in moderating a session.

It was such a success that we are repeating it again this year!

If you're a student attending CRYO2017 and would like the chance to practise moderating a symposium please fill in the application form below by June 30.