# BMI Annual Retreat ![BIG students at the beach](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_28_10__1920x685/public/2025-06/all%20students%20crop.jpg?itok=lin8Oleb) ## expand\_more Every May, the BMI students and staff go on a two-day retreat at an idyllic location in New England. After a busy semester, we use this time to unwind, reconnect, and talk science! Open all sections Close all sections ### 2025 Retreat - Kennebunkport, ME expand\_more ![BMI students in 2025](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2025-06/IMG_6155_0.jpeg?itok=pSltO0Td) ### 2024 Retreat - Provincetown, MA expand\_more The BIG Annual Retreat was held at the Blue Water Resort on May 17 & 18, 2024, in Provincetown, MA. The agenda included several talks from upper year students, group discussions, a key note speaker, and lots of socializing! ![BMI group](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/resized_for_web_3869.jpg?itok=Bp3fDs9Z) ![Bus group](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/bus_5231.jpg?itok=xgz1gdcq) ![Boat](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/boat_5225.jpg?itok=n2XnXqzI) ### 2023 Retreat - South Yarmouth, MA expand\_more The BIG Annual Retreat was held at the Blue Water Resort on May 19 & 20, 2023, in South Yarmouth, MA. The agenda included several talks from students, discussions, and lots of socializing! ![Group retreat](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/group23.jpg?itok=pqdEEXvN) ![Social hour](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/social_hour.jpg?itok=2xjR2-VN) ![Bean bag 2](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/bean_bag_2.jpg?itok=TMxGH20t) ![Table 3](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/table_3.jpg?itok=Ar1pMcPR) ![Table1](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/table1.jpg?itok=i6F4ufyA) ![Table 2](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/table_2.jpg?itok=hMr0vp8V) ![Table4](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/table4.jpg?itok=zwQP6wh2) ![Bikes](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/bikes.jpg?itok=Tvwx2CRO) ![Cards](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/cards.jpg?itok=Zaq2s2nM) ### 2022 Retreat - Falmouth, MA expand\_more After a 2 year hiatus, the BIG Annual Retreat was held at the Seacrest Hotel on May 13 & 14, 2022, in Falmouth, MA. The agenda included several talks from students, discussions, and lots of socializing! ![BIG retreat 2022](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/big_retreat_2022_tw.jpg?itok=leZu6ySU) ![Retreat volleyball](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/img_7738.jpeg?itok=fTLRKKAT) ![kanjam2](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/img_7755.jpeg?itok=AgiVGJ_Y) ![tabledinner](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/img_7710.jpeg?itok=MiZ5IB3o) ![group discussions](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/img_7723.jpeg?itok=5EQNTHqq) ### 2019 Retreat - Ashland, MA expand\_more The second annual BIG retreat was held at the Warren Conference Center in Ashland, MA, on September 13 & 14, 2019. The agenda included several talks from students and faculty, discussions, and many social events. ![group 2019](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/group_2019-_1000.jpg?itok=FClgbS8h) ### **2019 Student Talks** **Yixuan He** *Poly-Exposure Risk Score of Common Diseases* **Masahiro Kanai** *Cross-population fine-mapping of complex diseases and traits* **Aparna Nathan** *Multimodal single-cell analysis of 70,000 memory T cells from a Peruvian TB progression cohort* **Raehoon Jeong** *Why do some variants in transcription factor motifs not disrupt its binding?* **Doug Yao** *Quantifying genetic effects on disease mediated by assayed gene expression levels* **Kate Lachance** *The role of RNA degradation on mitochondrial gene expression* **Alison Barton** *Investigating likely-causal, coding variant associations from imputed UK Biobank exome data* ![kayaks 1](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/retreat_kayaks_2-1000.jpg?itok=LkYC0IoO) ![kayaks2](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/retreat_kayaks2.jpg?itok=90H9RhC1) ### 2018 Retreat - Beverly, MA expand\_more The first all-BIG retreat was held at the Wylie Inn and Conference Center in Beverly, MA. The program included social events and numerous talks from students and faculty. ![Wiley](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/wiley_retreat_group_2018-1000.jpg?itok=pKSENhae) ## 2018 Annual Retreat #### **2018 Student Talks** **Jacob Luber** *Discovery and Validation of a Gut Microbiome that Improves Athletic Performance* **Tiffany Amariuta** *IMPACT: A data aggregation strategy to infer cell-state-specific regulatory elements accurately predicts motif binding and significantly captures polygenic trait heritability* **Luke O'Connor** *Polygenicity of human traits is explained by negative selection* **Rebeca Borges Monroy** *Somatic Retrotransposition in the Aging Human Brain* **Zachary Chiang** *Mapping the epigenome in situ* **Qingbo Wang** *Landscape of multi-nucleotide variants in 125748 human exomes and 15708 genomes* ![Group beach](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/group_beach_665.jpg?itok=xhHlbBAe) ![kayaks](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/kayaks_665.jpg?itok=lV0UDNf1) ![Pool](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/pool_665.jpg?itok=-2ZlLkXe) ![Table dinner](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/table_dinner_665.jpg?itok=DO6BdU5u) ![Games](/sites/g/files/omnuum6836/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/bigphd/files/games_665.jpg?itok=VsFfDcEh)