By Emilio Diez Monedero, Ph.D.
October 23, 2020
SLAS prides itself on taking steps to meet the changing needs of a vital and innovative life sciences community. You work hard, and it is SLAS leadership’s goal to provide meaningful and important services to assist you in your efforts. It is for this reason that we surveyed the membership a few months ago, took a hard look at our membership categories and benefits and made some changes.
Kudos to SLAS Membership and Engagement Council members (Chair Eberhard Krausz of ChemBioCon) for their thoughtful leadership on this, and the Membership Committee (Chair Kenda Evans of Agilent Technologies) and the Student/Early Career Professional Membership Sub-Committee (Chair David Jennions of GRAIL, Inc.), for their energy, idea generation and passion to unite the SLAS community. Their work has been exceptional in studying this issue, and I’d like to highlight a few of the most important changes and additions to SLAS membership options and benefits in my column this month.
This is an important addition to our menu of options. With the exception of your family (well…maybe), it’s likely you spend the most time with the people in your lab. The new SLAS Lab Membership provides group pricing for streamlined access to education and a common community with whom your lab can collaborate efficiently and effectively. Three pricing tiers based on laboratory size are available, and there is opportunity to change lab member names as people move in and out of your lab. The Lab Membership is the newest paid membership category in addition to Premier, Early Career Professional, Student, Corporate and Retired paid memberships.
For those desiring access only to SLAS CONNECTED, now we offer an SLAS Networking Subscription for online engagement with Special Interest Groups and more.
Finally, the complimentary SLAS Contributor Membership ensures notification and access to SLAS public resources, such as the weekly SLAS Point-to-Point e-newsletter. Full details on all categories, benefits and costs can be found here.
The 10th anniversary SLAS International Conference and Exhibition is fully digital and set for January 25-27. At its core are more than 80 scientific talks, 10 Innovation Award finalist presentations, exhibitor tutorials and inspiring keynotes, as well as a full complement of posters and a virtual exhibition hall with giveaways and special offers. SLAS2021 Digital attendance is free for all SLAS Premier Members (and students) – both live and on demand! Non-members can pay $249 to attend SLAS2021 Digital and will be offered a complimentary one-year membership when they register. We know the value of membership far outweighs the price but keeping the life sciences community connected is our main goal during this challenging year.
These casual one-hour Zoom calls began this past summer and have been amazing ways to keep connected with others in the community who have similar interests. Topics have ranged from CRISPR to WomXn in STEM to biotech startups. Topics planned for the next couple of months include the all-important science of beer making (yes, you read that correctly) and tips for presenting science effectively in a virtual world. I know these informal meetings are becoming popular among our community and represent another way to know each other and share interesting (non-work-related) experiences. I encourage you to attend whenever your time allows!
Mentor Match (powered by SLAS CONNECTED) is now a year-round benefit to continue building SLAS’s well-known reputation for helping and assisting one another with career progression. The online tools allow you to register easily, select communication preferences and find a mentor or a mentee. Please enroll today as either a mentor or mentee! I think this is an area both mentor and mentee will enjoy very much, and where SLAS can shine for years to come.
There are two more categories of membership that should be mentioned. Neither are new but both are quite special – SLAS Fellows and SLAS Corporate Members.
SLAS instituted the SLAS Fellow program in 2016 to recognize those who go above and beyond for SLAS and are the backbone of SLAS’s incredible strength. Congratulations to these 2021 SLAS Fellows:
You can view the full Fellows list here.
The SLAS Sterling Corporate Member category is for our valuable partners who desire access to SLAS resources and a unique means of reaching SLAS academic, industry and government researchers with their company’s message, job openings and resources. SLAS’s Senior Manager of Member Services Mary Geismann can answer all of your questions and help you take advantage of your Corporate Member benefits.
Please stay safe – and CONNECTED to SLAS – to help yourself through these challenging times. All the best to you and your families!
