The 6th edition of the Intercollegiate Biotechnology Symposium (MSB) “Symbioza” was held between 26–28 May 2017 at the campus of Warsaw Life Sciences University, Warsaw, Poland.

At the event, 200+ participants gave ca. 30 oral talks, and presented ca. 60 posters. Compared to MSB Symbioza 2016, the 2017 edition was addressed to younger audience – mainly undergraduate and master students. To come over the communication barriers and make the contact more straightforward, MSB Symbioza 2017 was focused more locally with Polish returning as the official language of the talks. The plenary lectures focused mostly on practical aspects of biotech so that they could signpost future career development, as well as show how biotechnology can change the lives not only of a narrow group of professionals but of the whole society.

Plenary lectures

Prof. Robert Czajkowski, University of Gdańsk & Gdańsk Medical University
Lytic bacteriophages infecting pectinolytic bacteria – from isolation to comparative genomics, and their application as biopesticides

Prof. Wojciech Dzwolak, University of Warsaw
Amyloid – a broken protein?

Prof. Paweł Grzesiowski, Center of Preventive Medicine and Rehabilitation, Warsaw
Human microbiome – source or goal of biotherapy

Prof. Jacek Jemielity, Centre for New Technologies, University of Warsaw
Chemically-modified mRNA for applications in cancer immunotherapy

Prof. Małgorzata Kęsik-Brodacka, Institute of Biotechnology and Antibiotics, Warsaw
Universal influenza vaccine: challenges and perspectives

Prof. Marcin Nowotny, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw
Protein crystallography – how structure of macromolecules can help us understand diseases and create new drugs

Prof Przemysław Wojtaszek, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Flora robotica: from cell biology to biomechanics of plant architectures and biohybrid

Prof. Piotr Zaleski, Institute of Biotechnology and Antibiotics, Warsaw
Baterial antibiotics resistance: role of mobile genetic elements

Student oral presentations

24 students talks were presented in 6 sessions on the following topics: medical biotech, plant biotech, cancer research, biochemistry, microbiology, technological aspects of biotech.

Posters

During 2 poster session, 57 posters were presented by students regarding their laboratory work.

Side scientific events

Workshop in bioinformatics

Topic: Data analysis with “R”
Marcin Kosiński, Krzysztof Słomczyński

Integration events

Urban game

Friday night at the SGGW Campus

Conference party

Saturady night at Willa Matrix

Conference Pictures

➟ Official photos (by Piotr Krupiński)

➟ Backstage photos (by Piotr Krupiński)

Organizing Committee

Iga Jancewicz – head
Julia Mastalerz – vice head, scientific issues
Małgorzata Stachowiak – finance
Aleksandra Kutkowska – PR
Alicja Armatowska – logistics

Daniel Bajerski	Mirosław Barłowski	Marta Benicka	Urszula Budniak
Jakub Dominowski	Michał Gąsior	Aleksandra Grochowska	Katarzyna Hyra
Aleksandra Grochowska	Aleksandra Izdebska	Piotr Krupiński	Mikołaj Kuska
Konrad Łosiński	Dagna Manczarska	Daniel Markiewicz	Sylwia Martyniuk
Norbert Osiński	Agnieszka Paziewska-Nowak	Ewa Ramotowska	Piotr Rokicki
Jacek Rymuszka	Patryk Ślusarczyk	Anna Sobiepanek	Grzegorz Suwała
Julia Sygocka	Monika Tabor	Kamil Trzebuniak	Małgorzata Widomska
Klaudia Wojtachnio	Małgorzata Wydrych	Karolina Zajdel	Klaudia Jurczak
Joanna Baran	Karolina Bogucka	Joanna Dembska	Monika Gromek
Natalia Hawryluk	Sławomir Jaworski	Katarzyna Kalińska	Aneta Karpińska
Kinga Kierzkowska	Agnieszka Kołodziejczyk	Karolina Marczak	Patryk Michel
Tomasz Mróz	Zuzanna Nizka	Rafał Podgórski	Ada Pokropska
Magdalena Rutkowska	Klaudia Samujło	Marta Śledź	Aleksandra Szlachcic
Martyna Trojgo	Marta Wiatrowska	Joanna Boresowicz	Marta Abramczuk

Supporting Institutions