Right: Kimberly Kontson, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

On Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, FDA held its fourth Science Writers Symposium, to engage and inform journalists about how the agency is applying science to critical public health issues. The free, all-day event featured lab tours and presentations on timely, research-based topics, including: the science of patient input on medical product development; how advances in simulation and modeling are helping speed treatments to patients; and how agency researchers are working to understand and prevent the mysterious reemergence of diseases such as mumps and pertussis (whooping cough). The lab tours featured research on Ebola and stem cells and showcased the computer technology FDA has developed to support the demands of Next Generation Sequencing. For more information, visit FDA's website.

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