The Report to Office of International Program, Drexel
Xu Meng
Final Report
It is my honor to receive the NSF fellowship to attend the 9th International Summer
School on Biocomplexity from Gene to System which is sponsored by the NSF,
co-sponsored by the IEEE EMB Society, the University of Houston and ASU. This was
an once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity to attend the summer school and meet with
the distinguished leaders in the field. The summer school also offers me great on my
career, research and opportunity to explore the Turkey’s history and culture.
The summer school was held at Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, July 1-7, 2010.
All of the fellows were staying at the Kilyos facilities of the Bogazici University close to
the Black Sea, a pleasant location.
From July 2-6, 2010, our wonderful faculties offered lectures during the day time. We
gained a deeper understanding of systems biology, insight into cutting-edge research
in molecular dynamics simulations, microfluidic manipulation and also cancer
research using bioinformatics. The content of the lectures are so intriguing to us. The
attractive lectures given by the outstanding professors offer the insights of using
mathematical and computational tools in the biological sciences. All the lectures are
from their own research and give us a better guidance on how to perform our own
research. Besides, even some of the methods may be not suitable for current
research but they offer a good direction when we pursue our own research career
after graduation.
In addition, the make-up of faculty group is another aspect of summer school to turn
up our thumbs. Dr. Fenstermacher and Dr. Good conduct good research and they are
the best people in their research areas. Besides the knowledge they also have much
more experience on how to be a good researcher and a professor. In addition, other
professors who also perform an outstanding research are the young people close to
our age or have the same experience to us. I am so impressed when Dr. Akay
introduce Dr. Demirci’s experience and Dr. May has the same summer school
experience as us. All the experience we gained from them gives us a very nice
guidance on our career decision in two or three years.
What is more, all the fellows are chosen with the best background. Making friends
with such outstanding people and exchanging the research ideas are other wonderful
aspects which the summer school offered us. This summer school helps us to build up
important research social network in the world (USA, Turkey, China and Japan).
At the last day, the summer school culminated in a panel discussion of the current
state of biomedical engineering. We focused on the connections between a single
element and how it influences the larger system. The topics covered a wide range and
included the importance of collaboration, the ethics and politics around genetic
The Report to Office of International Program, Drexel
Xu Meng
information and the importance of interdisciplinary work. All the fellows expressed
their own opinions and discussed with the summer school faculties. I am so
impressed by Dr. Akay’s conclusion at the panel discussion. Also his cutting-edge
idea on educating young biomedical engineering people and how to build up this
important major in the future are really fresh to me and give me a lot of thoughts. I am
sure his idea will be with me in my career life.
During the summer school, we went into the city on occasion. Istanbul is really a
beautiful city with a rich cultural heritage. Our indelible trips to the Dolmabahc Palace
and Hagia Sophia exposed us to Turkey’s vibrant history and architecture. We also
experienced Turkish performing arts at the open air opera titled “Fatih Sultan Mehmet”
and at Tuluyhan Ugurlu’s concert at the Istanbul Archeological Museum.
All in all, I cannot describe the quality of this summer school by words. Its infect and
success will come out as the time goes.
Summer School Gradutaion Summer School Lecture Time Banquet Summer School Panel Discussion the Kilyos facilities – dorm place Black Sea Beach – Soccer Playing Opera titled “Fatih Sultan Mehmet” the Dolmabahc Palace Tuluyhan Ugurlu’s concert Hagia Sophia