One part of science that I absolutely enjoy is telling others about the research I am involved in. Be it through a blog site, at conferences, or just over a coffee, it gives people a glimpse of what we as scientists are doing and how we can apply the results. So when Genome Alberta asked the Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) project to present at their 2008 BIO International Convention Booth, I jumped at the opportunity. What better way to reach thousands of people and raise awareness of the devastation that the MPB epidemic has caused in Canada (beetle and fungus don't forget) and show the novel approaches we are using to understand this epidemic.

This convention brings together a diverse group of people interested, with representatives from industry, government, technology transfer, technology investment, and of course academia. With such a broad cross section of the research community, I am curious as to whom I will interact with at the display and the questions I will get about the project. Over the next few days I’ll tell you about the people I meet with and what their perceptions of our project are. If you happen to be in San Diego at the convention, drop by and see us at booth 4412 as part of BioAlberta. I look forward to the visits and the discussions.