2023 BioEPIC Virtual Research Slam

Berkeley Lab’s Biosciences and Earth & Environmental Sciences Areas celebrate BioEPIC during Earth Month 2023! Lead investigators from each of the four Scientific Focus Areas (SFAs) that will be housed in the building will give a brief overview of their programs. Two scientists from each group will present their research in three-minute presentations for a general audience. Attendees will then vote for their favorite talks.
The 2023 Standings:
- BioEPIC Research Slam Champion – Mingfei Chen, postdoctoral researcher, ENIGMA Science Focus Area (SFA), “Journey to the Depths: A Subterranean Society of Microbial Biofilms”
- First Runner-up – Mohammad Ombadi, postdoctoral researcher, Watershed Function Science Focus Area, “Flowing Against the Odds: The Resilience of Watersheds in the Face of Drought”
- Honorable mention – Avery Roberts, graduate student researcher, m-CAFEs Science Focus Area, “A CRISPR Crossover: Harnessing Anti-Phage Defenses for Targeted Editing of Microbial Communities”
- Honorable mention – Bradley Biggs, postdoctoral researcher, ENIGMA Science Focus Area, “Friends or Foes Forged Under Fire? Using Synthetic Microbial Communities to Understand Field Interactions”
Co-hosts:

Cat Adams,
2022 BioEPIC Slam Champion

Lydia Rachbauer,
2022 BioEPIC SLAM Co-host
Representatives:
Belowground Biogeochemistry

Margaret Torn
Lead Scientist

William Riley
Lead Scientist

Lucy Bennett
Graduate Student Research Assistant, UC Berkeley

Ricardo Eloy Alves
Postdoctoral Researcher
ENIGMA

Paul Adams
Lead Scientist

Adam Arkin
Lead Scientist

Bradley Biggs
Postdoctoral Researcher

Mingfei Chen
Postdoctoral Researcher
m-CAFEs

Trent Northen
Lead Scientist

Adam Deutschbauer
Lead Scientist

Jose Manuel Villalobos Escobedo
Postdoctoral Researcher, UC Berkeley

Avery Roberts
Graduate Research Assistant, North Carolina State University
Watershed Function

Eoin Brodie
Lead Scientist

Ken Williams
Lead Scientist

Mohammed Ombadi
Postdoctoral Researcher

Helen Weierbach
Data Science Research Associate