University graduate student Diana Yoon spends her time developing a gel to replace damaged cartilage in a person’s knee, but she never gets the chance to share her work with anyone outside the university.

Yoon will receive that rare opportunity at the Bioscience Research & Technology Review Day on Nov. 17 in Stamp Student Union. It’s an annual event that allows students from life sciences and engineering to display their research and make contacts with local professionals and peers. Yoon, who attended last year, said she’s going again to display her updated research in the poster presentation session.

“There’s a lot of interesting work going on,” Yoon said. “I also got some feedback [last year], which is really good for me.”

The event is just one part of the university’s push to stay competitive in the biosciences, officials in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences said. Recent developments in genome sequencing and host-pathogen interaction issues such as influenza or biological weapons make bioscience a hot field, said Robert Infantino, associate dean of life sciences.

“If you just open the newspaper, the A1 section of The Washington Post will have a story about biosciences every day,” he said.

Six symposiums will be held at Bioscience Day on topics such as the study of genes and brain damage recovery. The event began several years ago to showcase efforts in the “booming area” of bioscience to outsiders and university peers, said Gene Ferrick, assistant to the dean of chemical and life sciences.

“This is such a large place that sometimes we don’t know what’s going on within our own walls,” Ferrick said.

Kimberly Sproat, the fellowship coordinator for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, will be one of numerous representatives from outside the university at the event. She will evaluate university students as candidates for the center’s spring, summer and fall fellowships. Sproat attended Bioscience Research Day in previous years, and said it’s a good way for her to meet local science majors.

“I like it when students approach me and introduce themselves to me and know what they’re looking for, even if it’s just saying, ‘I’m looking for an internship this summer,'” she said.

Bioscience students at the university should become more marketable as facilities are upgraded to bring in more faculty and research grants. Biosciences are university President Dan Mote’s No. 1 academic priority as the university plays catch-up in the field compared with peer institutions, Infantino said.

“Placing this emphasis on biosciences is getting in the game late,” Infantino said. “Biosciences have a higher opportunity for discovery and pay returns in terms of grant money.”

Facilities such as H.J. Patterson Hall are too old to remain functional and keep the university competitive in bioscience, Infantino said. The $56 million Bioscience Research Building under construction next to the Biology/Psychology Building plays a significant role in advancing university bioscience work, he said. The building is scheduled for completion in August and will house up to 35 principal investigators.

The state has become more competitive in biosciences through the development of the Interstate 270 corridor, Infantino said. I-270, northwest of the Capital Beltway, has a cluster of biotech companies such as Gaithersburg’s MedImmune, one of the state’s largest biotech companies. MedImmune will send representatives to Bioscience Research Day next month. Maryland also houses extensive bioscience work at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

“This area has a real potency to be the [nation’s] biggest center in biotechnology,” said Kousik Kundu, a graduate student working on pharmaceuticals.

Kundu won a prize for best presentation in chemistry at last year’s bioscience research day. Like Yoon, Kundu said he appreciated the chance to meet researchers outside of his department. While the university and state wait for studies and initiatives to take off in the long term, students will get busy updating their posters for when bioscience experts descend on the campus.

“It’s an opportunity to see the breadth of research going on on campus,” Infantino said. “It’s a great way to have all that set out in front of you.”

Contact reporter Tom Howell at howelldbk@gmail.com.