2023 HUPO travel awardee reflections

Samantha Balboa
When I saw that the next international HUPO conference was in Busan, South Korea, I was extremely excited because I had always wanted to visit another country outside of North America. I had only ever been to Mexico to visit my relatives and was eager to expand my horizons by experiencing a culture that was so different than my own and learning about incredible science in my first international conference. When I received confirmation of my abstract acceptance and then notification of a US HUPO travel award to attend the conference, this exciting possibility became reality. I arrived in Busan a day before the HUPO conference to recover from traveling and explore the city, which was incredible. One of my favorite parts of my experience, aside from the amazing talks I attended and people I met, was walking to the convention center and seeing the mountains peek through the skyscrapers. As the HUPO conference concluded, I departed Busan with an admiration for the beautiful city, wonderful connections, and appreciation for the importance of scientific collaboration.

Jonathan Lei
By supporting my attendance at this past 2023 HUPO World Congress in Busan, South Korea, I was able to present research our team has been hard at work on to better understand the landscape of therapeutic targets for cancer patients. One memorable event was attending Dr. Yu-Ju Chen’s talk and learning about the latest in proteomic profiling technologies to accelerate precision oncology. It was fascinating to take in how multi-disciplinary fields such as engineering, physics, biology, and medicine can come together to make breakthroughs in technologies to advance the field in comprehensive characterization of tumors. Although my expertise is not in physics nor engineering, it is through experiences like these where our work can be shared and to also be inspired other world-class scientists working in diverse areas outside our own. This award has provided the opportunity to make such important connections as we strive to improve the lives of cancer patients. Despite all the rain we had, I was also able to explore outside the conference where I discovered how the city of Busan is unforgettably beautiful and took my breath away. Please accept my deepest thanks for graciously gifting me with an International HUPO Travel Award.