Old Members’ Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund report – Anuja Bothra (2023, Interdisciplinary Bioscience)

In July 2025, I had the opportunity to attend and present a poster at the LMB-IP Graduate Life Sciences Symposium in Cambridge thanks to the support from the Old Members’ Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund. The event was organised by graduate students of the prestigious MRC-LMB (Laboratory of Molecular Biology), Cambridge, and Institut Pasteur, Paris. It was therefore a great opportunity for me to present my first year DPhil research at this large-scale event.

My poster covered my efforts to understand the mechanism of a pH-sensitive amino acid transporter called SLC7A4, which serves as a model to study ligand transport and membrane protein structure and function. I was thrilled to have been awarded the Best Poster prize for my work, which included a certificate and an Amazon voucher! I was also extremely pleased with not only the engagement, questions, and feedback that I received from fellow participants at the symposium, but also the interesting work that others were doing across Structure Biology, Immunology, Molecular and Cell Biology.

Besides the poster session, I attended multiple talks from lecturers from both the UK and France, as well as students who gave excellent insights into their research through student talks and 3-minute theses. I was particularly interested in a talk on protein moonlighting which arises from protein multi-localisation resulting in multi-functionality. The tools discussed in this talk could prove relevant for further work in my DPhil, which is exciting and useful. There were also interactive workshops on “Diversity in Science and Beyond”, and “Spinning Out Scientific Research” which gave space to thought-provoking discussions and exchange of ideas. The symposium concluded with a formal dinner at Homerton College which was attended by early career researchers and other PhD students, making it an excellent networking opportunity.

Overall, this was an incredible learning experience for me, and I got to network with leading experts in the field and make connections with students from different universities from many different countries. I am grateful to have received funding from Univ for this symposium as the opportunity was very useful and special in inspiring and motivating me for advancing my research. I am immensely grateful to the Trustees of the Old Members’ Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund for helping to make this trip to Cambridge possible!

Published: 22 August 2025

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