Research and opportunities for collaboration will be the focus during the annual UT Metroplex Day, set for Friday, February 3 at the E.H. Hereford University Center.

The event is being hosted by UT Arlington this year. It is open to all faculty, post doctoral fellows, students, and research staff and trainees from UT Arlington, UT Dallas and UT Southwestern.

Metroplex Day is envisioned as a way to create a greater awareness of interdisciplinary biomedical-related research, as well as to stimulate even greater collaborations among scientists at the three UT System institutions in North Texas. The goal is to stimulate ideas about scientific opportunities where biobehavioral and physical sciences overlap.

"All three University of Texas institutions in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area offer outstanding research infrastructures, cutting-edge expertise and innovative opportunities," said Robert Gatchel, the Nancy P. & John G. Penson Endowed Professor of Clinical Health Psychology and distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Psychology. "The purpose of Metroplex Day is to encourage interdisciplinary research across the three campuses and to stimulate projects that leverage the strengths of each institution.

"To date, this purpose has met with great success, and the leadership at each institution continues to support this yearly event."

Sean Mackey

The guest speaker for this year's event is Dr. Sean Mackey, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an expert in the field of pain management. His talk will be on "Opening Windows to the Brain: Lessons Learned from Neuroimaging of Pain."

The program will begin at 8 a.m. in the University Center with poster setup and registration. At 9 a.m., representatives from each of the three institutions will make opening remarks, followed by a presentation at 9:15 a.m. by Jeff Demuth, UT Arlington assistant professor of biology, speaking on "Sex Chromosomes and Dosage Compensation: What We Thought We Knew, Just Isn't True."

Presentations by Luke Rice of UT Southwestern and Robert Rennaker of UT Dallas will follow, before lunch and a poster session. At 2 p.m., Mackey will deliver the keynote address. Presentations by graduate students/fellows from each institution will begin at 3 p.m., followed by a presentation of poster awards at 3:45 p.m. and a closing reception at 4 p.m.

Posted January 27, 2012