Marissa Saunders, a graduate chemistry student at the U, has been given the opportunity ofa lifetime.
Saunders is one of 74 American studentswho were chosen to attend the prestigious 59th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Lindau, Germany. The meetings bring together doctoral students from around the world to meet and have a chance to interact with Nobel Prize winners from the past 50 years. This year, the meetings will be held June 28 through July 3 and will be dedicated to chemistry.
“This trip is an amazing opportunity,” Saunders said. “It’s one of the biggest gatherings of scientist. It shows the past 50 years of how science has evolved.”
Back in October, Saunders and other doctoral students from the U applied for consideration to their U advisers before having their applications reviewed at a national level. Saunders was the only student from the U selected to attend these meetings.
Saunders’ current research was reviewed as part of the application process. She is working with Gregory Voth, the director at the Center for Biophysical Modeling and Simulation. The center works to build models of proteins on computers to figure out how they work and how to manipulate them.
“We are trying to find ways to simulate proteins to better understand them,” Saunders said.
During the meetings, Saunders and the other studentwho attend will have the opportunity to listen to lectures from past Nobel winners and other notable scientists from around the world. Also, they will be given the opportunity to have lunches with the scientists to discuss research ideas, problems, as well as how to balance life with their studies.
Two physicians, Frans Karl Hein and Gustav Parade, and Count Lennart Bernadotte of Wisborg, a member of the Swedish royal family, started the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. The goal of the meetings was to help spread the knowledge between Nobel Laureates and young researchers across the globe by providing an international forum.
The 59th Lindau Nobel Laureates Meetings will have 580 young researchers from 67 different countries in attendance as well as 23 Nobel Laureates from the past 50 years.
“There will be lots of students from the U.S. that could we could collaborate with in the future as well as hundreds of delegations from across the world,” Saunders said.
For more information on the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting go to: http://www.lindau-nobel.de/WebHome.AxCMS and for more information on Saunders’ research go to http://www.cbms.utah.edu.