ComBio was held in Christchurch, NZ in 2009, and quite a few of the lab went over to see some good science (and perhaps for other reasons too). A highlight this year was SPrEE – a two-day satellite meeting on protein enginerring and evolution organized chiefly by Wayne Patrick from Massey University. This meeting was held in Cass, a couple of hours west of Christchurch, where a remote University of Canterbury field station (more like a tramping hut than a flashy conference venue) provided the location for some superb science and great scenery. The remoteness of the location kept everyone together, and innovations such as the nano-poster session, the “cook and clean up yourself” (supervised by some superb chef-ery) conference dinner and the inaugural SPrEE morning-after run (Promised attendance numbers the night before: ~20. Attendence in the cold and rain on the morning: Bostjan, Wayne and Joel) made it an extremely memorable meeting.

Plans are already underway for a repeat screening, once we can figure out the best place and time to have it – it is going to be hard to match the first one (it’s never the same after the first time, they say).