Plan for october

A little early to worry about considering we are in middle of May, I nevertheless have a news to share with you.

I think I might end up going to the Synthetic Biology 4.0 conference/mission in Hong Kong this coming October. I have five months to prepare for it, but I'm nonetheless very excited. If I'm lucky I might take about a week off and visit my relatives in Korea and Japan after SB 4.0.

I won't be presenting anything at the conference though. My understanding of the ethos of synthetic biology is nowhere deep enough for me to actually present something in front of professionals and industry insiders who'll be clouding the joint. I'm going to the conference as a student, someone who wishes to get some first hand learning directly from people at the forefront of the science of synthetic biology and do something people can't do with telecasting. Meet the people and ask questions to them.

Again, I'm very excited. I've toured around China before (during vacation), but this will be my first time in Hong Kong. Not to mention the kind of people I'll be able to see there. Maybe Craig Venter will be there too. I know he attended the SB 2.0 at UC Berkeley before... Hmm. Maybe I should pack in his autobiography and get it signed.

As for the travel expenses, I think I might be able to coax some foundation to finance part of the ticket price. I think I can afford the discounted SB 4.0 hotels out of my own pocket... The cheapest ones at least. And I won't be needing much money in Korea and Japan since I'll be mooching off my relatives. The whole thing (surprisingly) comes out as being quite affordable to me. I'm looking at ~$1900 for around two week trip across three countries, so that's a real killer bargain.


Speaking of trips, I think I might take one this summer too, if I can take time off from my college work and brushing up on synthetic biology studies. The PAX 2008 in Seattle sounds like good fun. I've always wanted to visit Seattle anyway (I've only been to L.A and S.F.).