The Department of Physiology & Biophysics held its annual retreat on September 13 and 14 at the Sleeping Lady resort near Leavenworth, Washington on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. Nearby fires, a common occurrence in the summer, caused hazy skies but provided spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

The retreat opened with comments by Bertil Hille about former chair Wayne Crill, who initiated the annual retreat in the mid 1990s. Wayne passed away several weeks ago, after a long illness.

Science events featured presentations by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty and a poster session. This year’s best poster winners were senior fellow Jonathan Driver, a Sackler Scholar in the Asbury lab, and graduate student Juan Angueyra, in the Rieke laboratory. The plenary lecture was presented by John D. Scott, the Edwin G. Krebs – Speights Professor of Cell Signaling and Cancer Biology, HHMI Investigaror and Professor of Pharmacology at the UW School of Medicine.

Entertainment featured the annual skit presented by graduate students in the PBIO Department and musical entertainment by Randy Powers and his group, with guest performances by Sharri Zamore and Andrea McQuate.