The GSRS was founded in 1996 by Kate Smith and Leslyn Hanakahi as an "In-house-retreat-for-graduate-students." The symposium is organized entirely by graduate students in the BBS.  Since its inception, the GSRS has established academic and corporate connections, as well as formed a tradition of communication and innovation throughout the biological sciences at Yale.

Each year, the keynote address has been given by a prominent scientist.

1996 Dr. Fred Richards

leader in science of protein structure and folding; tenured Yale MB&B Professor

1997 Dr. Bruce Alberts

President of the National Academy of Sciences; author of "The Molecular Biology of the Cell"

1998 Dr. Daniel Koshland

former editor of PNAS and Science; works on enzyme structure and mechanism, signal transduction and chemotaxis

1999 Dr. Eric Lander

one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project

2000 Dr. Gunter Blobel

1999 Nobel Prize for his discovery that "proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell"

2001 Dr. Eric Wieschaus

1995 Nobel Prize "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"

Recipient of 1989 Nobel Prize for his research on the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes

This year the keynote address will be given by:

Dr. James Rothman