OUTREACH EXTENDING OUR CONNECTIONS
the community and beyond to introduce ourselves and share our operations and research with interested individuals and groups, fellow researchers, elected officials and students. How strange it was to have these sorts of opportunities curtailed in March with only photos to remind us of the spirited youngsters who crowded and invigorated our halls and labs in January. Lab Manager Charlie Wall helped orchestrate our most ambitious, but only tour of 2020.
2020 began audaciously as the Gates Center and Gates Biomanufacturing Facility staff teamed up to host a late January field trip for close to 100 Colorado Academy’s seventh graders, teachers, and parents. Following a request from Gates Center Advisory Board member Kevin Reidy, whose daughter’s teacher expressed interest in a campus visit, former Gates Center Lab Manager Charlie Wall choreographed a half-day involving bus arrivals and parking, presentations, lab tours, and even a police car barricade to guarantee our guests’ safety as they crossed the street to tour the Gates Biomanufacturing Facility. Kevin Reidy followed up with thanks to the more than 25 staff who made the day possible: “I am extremely grateful for all the efforts made by you and the various team members at Gates and GBF to put on what was an amazing demonstration of the advanced stem cell research, manufacturing and clinical delivery that is occurring on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. There is no doubt that you changed the path of a least one student yesterday, and I hope you enjoyed the exposure to our young students as well. Undoubtedly, there will be an M.D. or Ph.D. that will come out of this pool of students someday!” Over the years, the Gates Center has focused tremendous time and effort on expanding its reach. We have enjoyed welcoming guests to campus as well as reaching out within 60
Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine
Summer soon arrived, campus COVID-19 checkpoints were established, and researchers worked to schedule and accommodate the small percentage of Gates Center staff allowed in the labs at one time. Long in planning, Research Administrative Manager Carmen Garcia, now retired Lab Manager Charlie Wall and others also focused on and orchestrated the Gates Center’s complex physical move from its home of thirteen years on the eighth floor of Research Complex 1 North to a new space on the fourth floor of Research Complex 2. Housing Gates Center administrative offices as well as the Morphology and Phenotyping and Stem Cell Biobank and Disease Modeling Cores, it is a space we look forward to sharing in the future with colleagues and guests, alike. Although the pandemic cut Gates Center physical ties, we worked hard to maintain them virtually. As described in our Education section, we designed a weekly Gates Center Summer Virtual Webinar Series for our Gates Summer Internship Program’s Class of 2020, covering a host of topics, all of which is recorded and available on our Gates Center website. Similarly, we planned for our Gates Center Seminar Series to begin in the fall featuring new Gates Center members, Gates Grubstake Fund awardees and guest speakers, recordings of which could be accessed from our website, as well. Finally, we ruminated over how best to handle an event that has become near and dear to our hearts. The festive Gates Center’s Charlie’s Picnic has enabled us an annual opportunity to assemble our Gates Center members, Gates
