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Core labs showcase

  • 1.  Core labs showcase

    Posted 02-28-2023 14:03

    Has anyone's institution hosted a core lab showcase or other open event to raise core lab visibility, particularly since Covid? I am new to a position with some responsibility to increase awareness of cores on campus and was thinking to organize a big event, but then wondered what would motivate people to come? Is it worth trying to do something in person now that the world is used to virtual connection? Would a series of more focused events in various parts of campus be more effective? What kinds of events have you participated in and how effective were they?  Thanks!



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    Deborah Hollingshead
    Research Resources Coordinator, Health Sciences
    University of Pittsburgh
    Pittsburgh PA
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  • 2.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 00:50

    Hi Deborah.

    Yes, we have conducted workshops prior to the annual conference hosted by the organisation.  There are several core facilities here and we jointly made 45 minute presentations each in the morning and in the afternoon we held short practical workshops with attendees going in rotation into each lab.  I think it went well and generated a lot of interest especially among the young scientists.



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    Shana Jacob
    Manager-Analytical Chemistry Core Facility
    Sidra Medicine
    Doha
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 07:09

    We've tried various things. We have a quarterly series where a core presents and two investigators give talks about their research that was enabled by use of the core. That has probably been the best marketing. In the past, we had vendor fairs on campus so rather than trying to hold a core-only event we would just leverage that event and setup a few tables to highlight some of our cores.  We've also had core directors do presentations at post-doc meetings to reach that user group more directly. That seemed to work well. There is also a core newsletter that we send out periodically when we want to highlight a new service or recent equipment upgrade/addition. I think you have to try lots of angles if you want to reach the widest audience.



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    Brian Pelowski
    Associate Dean for Research Operations & Infrastructure
    Albert Einstein College of Medicine
    Bronx NY
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-02-2023 11:04

    My group hosted a first ever open house in March of 2022, just as we were allowed to gather in groups unmasked in my state. Each core/group had a poster and table and we opened the event up to our entire center.  We had individual snack bags and a raffle. We had over 400 attendees to our event and are currently planning our second open house.



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    Cassandra Sather
    Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
    Seattle, WA
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-02-2023 11:30

    For many years (10-15+?), each year, all the Cores at Moffitt would setup a booth with flyers, laptop demos, etc., and do a "Showcase" where users would come through, talk to us, and get some pizza and ice cream if their "passport" had enough stamps.  This was managed and planned by "Shared Resources Management" (i.e., Supervisors and Directors of Core Managers) and was generally well attended.

     

    It did not really generate strong leads, but it is more about face time of users with Core staff, and it can be fun, despite being a lot of work to prepare. We have not had one since 2019, unfortunately, and I'm not sure if it will return now that we are in the "Zoom" era and many "dry lab" staff are working remotely permanently.

     

    Our Cores also deliver quick talks to faculty in Departmental meetings, which are generally well-received, especially if the content is tailored to that department.

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    image002

    Sean Yoder, M.S.

    Molecular Genomics Core Facility Manager

    Moffitt Cancer Center

    13131 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL 33612 | tel:  813-745-1917 | fax:  813-745-7265 | email: sean.yoder@moffitt.org

     



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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 08:23

    Good morning.  Johns Hopkins used to have a CORE showcase before COVID.  We did it every year for maybe 5 years.  Food was offered so that was an incentive to get people to come however in my case, I don't think we got any new users from the event.  Maybe other CORES at the event were successful in getting new users though.  Jodie



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    Jodie Franklin
    Research Associate
    Johns Hopkins Univ/Sch of Med
    Baltimore MD
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 08:53
    Edited by Sharon Samuel 03-01-2023 08:53

    Hi Deborah, 

    Our university regularly hosts a Core research day. It features multiple cores on campus, set up poster style, where people can come by, ask questions, and receive additional information or brochures. etc. Our researchers flock to this event. Not only does it increase invisibility, it usually allows cores to follow up with those who have shown interest. We did this event virtually one time, and it was not very well attended. It featured cores in a series of breakout rooms that people could select and come and talk to core members or core directors. Ultimately it was a little awkward. We also have a website that describes several of our institutional cores, kind of a landing pad that can lead to the core's homepage if desired.  I find these events to be fairly effective, with our imaging core receiving at least two additional new researchers after about a 3 hour time frame of exposure.



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    Sharon Samuel

    Lab Manager - Small Animal Imaging Facility
    University of Alabama at Birmingham
    Birmingham AL
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 09:09

    We did a core showcase last year for this exact reason! We did ours during our University research week and offered it up to all core facilities on campus. We had about 35% that expressed interest which was great!

    A couple of things to think about!

    1. Give yourself at least 6 months to plan, we also reached out to vendors to have them supplement some of the costs.
    2. You will definitely need a lot of hands to help the day of the event.
    3. We offered lunch to the attendees, but we required them to get a sign off from at least 5 core facilities.
    4. We had a ted talk style presentation lineup during the showcase. This was not well attended for us and we probably won't do this again. 
    5. Make sure the location you pick is centrally located as much as possible to drive traffic!

    Happy to chat more about this if you or anyone else is interested.

    My email is kraftmeg@med.unc.edu



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    Meghan Kraft
    Interim Director of Research Core Strategy
    University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill
    CA
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 09:16

    I am the Core Facilities Coordinator for our University and we have found that today it is most helpful to go where people already are. I have a Core Facilities booth where I've created fact sheets for each facility, a "menu" of Core options with a link to our VPR page which houses more information about every facility, and more. I go anywhere and everywhere including: symposiums, orientations, departmental faculty meetings, research council meetings, council of principal investigators, recruiting events, poster sessions, etc. I also try to get a few cores to come with me with their own booth to give some more in-depth discussion. I've found that while it's helpful to let people know we exist at spaces such as orientations and recruiting events it's even more helpful to be in those same rooms with the research PIs walking around looking at their own posters. Here's my spill: "Do you know about Core Facilities? The best way to describe them is equipment and/or expertise your PI wouldn't be able to have in their own lab but that they can pay for you to use in a Core Facility. My best example is the MIC where there are room-sized SEMs and TEMs. Obviously, you don't have that in your lab but I'm here to tell you we do have it at Texas A&M! And that's just one of 60+ Cores! So later...when you're reading a paper and think 'It would be so cool if we had...' we probably do, you just need to know where to look! Here's a Menu of options with a QR code to a capability search where you can look up a piece of equipment or technique and see where that shared resource is on campus."

     

    Hope that's helpful!

     

    Ashlyn Montgomery | Core Facilities Coordinator | Division of Research

    Texas A&M University

    Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building | 301 Old Main Drive, Rm 1129

    2257 TAMU | College Station, TX 77843-2257

    (979) 845-1182 | amontgomery@tamu.edu

    Have a question about iLab? I am hosting Zoom Q&A Office Hours every Monday from 2:00pm-3:00pm.

    https://tamu.zoom.us/j/99267316956?pwd=YTE1cTlrY1A1RFRtYjJWZ1FVNlZ2Zz09

    Meeting ID: 992 6731 6956

    Passcode: iLabQ&A

     




    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 09:45

    Debbie,

    We have hosted at the School of Medicine (Hopkins) a core showcase where we hold it in a high traffic conference area.  We solicit a limited number of vendor sponsors to help support the event.  Vendors are provided a table to display their products and services.  We also have the cores set up a table with their offerings as well but since space is limited, I believe that we limited it to 20-25 cores.  We also provided a limited number of talks that cores could give during the event in smaller conference rooms.  Breakfast and lunch provided.  In order for people to receive a lunch they had to register and receive a lunch ticket.  This prevented people from just walking up at lunch time, grabbing the food and leaving which is quite common as you probably know. 

    I'll dig up one of our past programs and send it if you wish.  We have not held this event since COVID but it was always well attended. 

    Jeff

     

    Jeffrey A. Smith, M.A.

    Dept. of Oncology

    SOM Office for Faculty Research Resources

    Johns Hopkins University

     




    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 10:42

    We host a reception for new faculty each year, with food and drinks, and the cores presenting posters. That is usually very well attended and nearly always generates new users. Faculty are individually invited, and we have learned that specifically mentioning that food and wine will be available is critical to driving attendance. Letting the researchers talk individually with the core staff and discuss their research and potential projects is also key. We also hold graduate research symposia where students present work they have done with the core facilities. Those are excellent both for letting the students practice presentation skills, and for providing concrete examples of what can be done in collaboration with the cores. On a smaller level, we have hosted workshops highlighting specific instruments or techniques, and sometimes the core directors have asked for time in department faculty meetings to do a short presentation on their core. In person is far more effective than virtual for this. We tried to do the new faculty meet and greet virtually during Covid, and it was a disaster.



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    Natasha Nikolaidis
    Associate Director of Operations
    Purdue University
    West Lafayette IN
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-01-2023 11:44

    Hi Deborah,

    We used to host these events frequently at UCSF. We would get pretty good attendance and traffic to these events, pre-COVID. I don't know if they tried any since the pandemic yet. I can put you in touch with the team who organized them, as I'm not at UCSF anymore.

    Jenn



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    Jennifer Page
    Director, Stem Cell Core
    Salk Institute for Biological Studies
    La Jolla CA
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    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Core labs showcase

    Posted 03-03-2023 09:08

    Hi Deborah, 

    Every year Harvard Medical School hosts a "research cores showcase" for all cores in the area. Being where we are, this usually means there are 50+ cores present at the showcase. It is a 2hr poster session (usually 3pm-5pm, so not a morning or all day thing), there are appetizers and each attendee gets a drink ticket - which is usually a surefire way to draw some people in for snacks & knowledge. It is relatively informal, usually the core staff will end up chatting to each other while researchers "browse" and we let them know we are available for any questions, and/or if we sense someone has a question we'll offer to go over services. We give out brochures to take for later review, which people love because there can be a lot of information. We tend to get a slight bump in inquiries from it.

    Generally people who have questions have a specific project they are looking for help on, and whichever core answers them with helpful info is the one they follow up to (rather than collecting info for a "someday" project). So it might be helpful to do it a few times a year if you have less cores to coordinate. 

    I hope this helps! 

    Ashley



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    Ashley Hurst
    Lab Manager - BPF Genomics Core Facility
    Harvard Medical School
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    Original Message


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