My attendance of the 2006 American Society for Cell Biology conference in San Diego was an extremely useful, productive, and enjoyable experience. One of the major benefits of being able to attend the meeting was being afforded the opportunity to present some of the results from my recent research in two different venues. I gave a mini-symposium presentation in a gap junction sub-group meeting and presented a poster at a session within the meeting at large. The mini-symposium talk was my first opportunity to make a formal presentation of my research at a scientific meeting. This type of experience is critical for my development as a research scientist and proved to be a very positive and productive experience. It was also an excellent venue to be able to present my ability to perform research to establish my credibility in the field, which could perhaps open opportunities for future employment. I was also able to present a poster of my research results during a session within the main conference. During the poster session, I was able to meet many other members of the gap junction field and discuss my findings with them. This was very important to start to establish myself as a scientist within the field of gap junction research, and the feedback on my research project was useful for determining what future directions to take with the project. It was also critical for establishing possible laboratories in which to pursue a post-doctoral position as a step forward in my career development.

Being able to attend the meeting exposed me to some of the latest developments in research in my area of interest, gap junction channels. A subgroup meeting had 12 presentations strictly devoted to gap junction research, and several poster sessions had sections specifically devoted to gap junction research. Several presentations and posters were on topics directly relevant to my research. Communications with other research scientists led to very useful exchanges of information, which should help me to make further progress in my own research project. Being able to attend the meeting was also a great opportunity to learn about cutting edge research taking place in cell biology at large. I was also able to gain further exposure to the breadth of technical approaches and research areas in the broader field of cell biology beyond the area of gap junction research. This was very useful in terms of placing the research done in our laboratory in the context of cell biology as a whole and very helpful in terms of keeping long term research goals in mind.

Generally, the experience of attending the conference was extremely positive, motivating, and productive. Many opportunities to meet with other scientists in my field proved extremely useful. The opportunity to present my work was very successful and important for my learning, development, and growth as a young scientist. The opportunity to travel to the conference was truly a great learning experience and one that is greatly appreciated.