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What is unique about Telluride Science workshops?
Telluride workshops are like no other; it is like going back to grad school and being in your oral exam. Workshop participants barely begin their presentations before the questions begin. I've seen people start to present background information but they never get to their own research as the audience peppers them with questions. It’s totally different from any other meeting because it's so informal and collegial. Attendees ask questions not to sound smart but because they are really interested in the topic, often providing completely different views. This collegial atmosphere spawns so much discussion that I come away from workshops feeling like I learned a lot about other attendees’ research, but I also walk away with new ideas for my own projects. I love the format and the location. Telluride Science makes it so easy to arrange these intimate groups of scientists and provide exceptional support for us.
How has Telluride Science impacted your career?
Telluride Science has enhanced my career in each of my roles as attendee, organizer, and in leadership. As an attendee, I received robust feedback from workshop attendees whose questions challenged my ideas, dramatically broadening my interpretation of my own work, as well as learning about others’ work. Organizing workshops gave me the opportunity to create a completely new workshop joining researchers with differing backgrounds but shared interests. The flexible, informal workshop format has led to innovation and collaboration. As a member of the Telluride Science board and in the presidential line, I got valuable experience working as a team, learning to listen, to compromise and how to be innovative in the face of the pandemic!
Is there a grand challenge cryopreservation could potentially solve?
People are most familiar with successful cryopreservation applied to in vitro fertilization, but artificial cryopreservation spans a huge range of problems - from human health to endangered animal and plant species conservation, to preserving plant material for food security. Cryopreservation plays a key role for in vitro fertilization, holding frozen embryos until the most optimal time in a women’s cycle. Complete organ cryopreservation could have monumental impact for organ donations, particularly kidneys, whose 4-hour viability drastically limits donation. But cryopreservation extends far beyond human medicine, helping preserve coral reefs and potentially bringing plants to the moon or Mars for space colonization.
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