S P R I N G   R E T R E A T 

	ANDREW R.MARKS, M.D. Professor and Chair, Department of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics and Pharmacology Office: Russ Berrie Pavilion| 5th floor | Room 520 Telephone: 212.851.5340 Fax: 212.851.5345 Email:arm42@columbia.edu

Dear colleagues,

I would like to thank everybody in the department who attended the annual retreat and made it so successful.
Our keynote speaker this year was Dr. Tom Maniatis - his presentation was tour de force on his recent work on the role of gene regulation in brain development and function.

This year we had 34 poster presentations and 11 talks (all by trainees). The three winners for this year's poster presentation were: 1st place Karen Wu from the Scheiffele/Dodd lab; 2nd place Xiaoping Liu from the Marks lab; 3rd place Zahra Assur from the Mancia lab.

The science was great. Over 100 members of the Department participated. The talks by graduate students and post-docs were all superb and delivered at a very high level! The poster session provided a great opportunity for the members of the department to learn about each others' science and interact in an relaxed and informal manner aided by refreshments and some wine. Thanks again to all those who participated!

best wishes,

Andy