My friends were a bit incredulous when I first told them where I would be spending one of my October weekends. "You are going on a biochemistry retreat? What, are you going to sit around and 'talk science' all weekend?" "Well," I replied, "I suppose I will find out, but I doubt it. Surely not the entire weekend!" And so it was that I found myself at the annual Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology Departmental Retreat, October 6-8, 2000.

So, on Friday afternoon, approximately 80 faculty members, research scientists, techs, and graduate and undergraduate students converged upon the Southwest Research Station in the Chiricahua Mountains. After being welcomed by the Grad-Students-in-Charge, Kenny Friedrich and Kara Nyberg, some of us settled in cabins, while the rest of us (including me) pitched tents on the lush lawns surrounding the buildings. "Moving in" was quickly followed by a brief informational meeting and dinner, which we had the option of eating outside. Having never been to the Chiricahuas before, I was amazed by the beauty I found there. The Research Station is set in a small valley surrounded by tree-covered slopes and towering red rock cliffs. Outdoor mealtime entertainment is provided by the incredibly tame wildlife -- does with fawns, foxes, ringtails, and skunks put in regular appearances. The skunks are especially fearless; one had the temerity to walk across my feet during its quest for crumbs from the table. (I was not about to move!)

The science began in earnest on Friday night. Our keynote speaker was University of Washington's Dr. Mark Roth, who described his work with holocentric chromosome segregation, among several other topics. Several presenters followed him in short order from the UA. The next morning we were "up and at it" early, as we had a full load of talks from various faculty and students to get through. The afternoon was split between a poster session and free time. I presented a poster on "Flavin-induced aggregation of the alpha subunit of bacterial luciferase." Having never attended a poster session before, I admit that I was feeling somewhat apprehensive. My fears were soon forgotten, however, when I realized halfway through the session that not only was I no longer nervous, I was actually having fun!

During free time, Dr. Bill Grimes led some of the students on a hike to nearby Fly Peak. We made it back just in time for dinner, much to our relief and the skunks' delight. Dinner was succeeded by another round of presentations and a faculty "roast" which was another new experience for me. "Roast" here indicates an occasion for the graduate students to poke some fun at their professors, all in good humor of course. In this case, the roast took the form of a slide show in which faculty heads had been pasted onto the bodies of famous people. (Dmitry Kondrashov and Kelly LeFevre also wrote a nice song about Dr. Bill Montfort's preference for shorts over pants.) Bedtime for most was quite late, despite the final round of presentations and the poster session starting early the next day.

In all, I found the retreat to be a very worthwhile experience. It was exciting to learn about the research in other labs -- I learned an amazing amount about genomics, mRNA processing, checkpoints, DNA binding proteins, crystallography, molecular motors, &etc. &etc. &etc. Never have I been bombarded with such an onslaught of different topics! But it was also wonderful to meet new people, and to get advice from others about their experiences in the field of science. Did we "talk science" all weekend? You bet -- at the presentations and poster sessions, of course, but also over meals, on the hike, relaxing at night... Yup, we talked science the entire weekend, and it was great.

Nikki Jarrett, UBRPer in Dr. Baldwin's lab, Biochemistry