University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Beakers ’n Beer: Brewing collaboration

Adrian Levesque of CCR (center) enjoys some suds and conversation with Chris Borrelli (left) and Joe Wawrzyniak, both from Roswell Park. Photo: JIM BISCO

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By JIM BISCO

Published: September 30, 2009

There’s nothing like the friendly flow of beer to put a head on collegiality and conviviality. For the past seven years, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) consortium has been bringing doctors, researchers and other professionals out of the confines of offices, laboratories and cubicles across the medical campus and community, and into a casual atmosphere promoting a collaborative spirit.

The new season of Beakers ‘n Beer kicked off Sept. 24 at Ulrich’s, the Ellicott Street mainstay tavern for more than 140 years that now has become a fixture of the downtown medical campus. A wide range of people filled the venerable bar and dining room, spilling out onto the sidewalk on this warm fall day.

The consortium coordinates the event. Those who wish to attend register at rsvp@bnmc.org. Just inside the door, each registrant receives tickets for two free cups of draft beer and a free serving of chicken wings and other finger food.

“It’s a way to get the researchers, doctors and staff out of their labs and talking to each other,” says Kari Root Bonaro, director of communications and government affairs for the BNMC. “The whole campus is represented, as well as people from within the community who are seeking this sort of networking opportunity.”

Bonaro says that, depending on the location and time of year, between 80 and 175 people attend. The event site alternates with other places in the vicinity, including Campieri’s at 888 Main St. and the DoubleTree Club Hotel at 125 High St.

“We go to socialize with other departments from the university, but also with people from Roswell Park, Hauptman Woodward, Buffalo General, Cleveland BioLabs—just a whole slew of different groups that attend this. It’s more of an atmosphere to just get people talking to each other,” says Adrian Levesque, urban visualization and multimedia specialist at the Center for Computational Research (CCR) in UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.

“There might be somebody who needs computing, but they aren’t aware of the resources available. We sit and talk with people, just let them know what we do, catch up on people we haven’t seen in a while. It’s just more of a casual atmosphere and a chance to get collaborations going.”

Joe Wawrzyniak, a research affiliate at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, concurs. “It’s a great atmosphere to collaborate. Working in a lab, you don’t always interact with people. This is a good opportunity.”

The crowd on this kickoff night is standing shoulder to shoulder in the bar area or gathered in small clusters in the dining room. A few people are quietly taking in the camaraderie.

“It’s a good tool for building relationships between the various groups that you normally wouldn’t get on a day-to-day basis,” observes Sam Guercio, senior systems administrator at CCR. “When you’re out in a social gathering, people tend to mingle a little more, especially when beverages are flowing. It’s amazing that beer is sort of the common language between a lot of people. It sort of breaks down the doorways that are normally in the way of people talking to each other.”

Queuing up for the buffet, Kevin Albaugh, president and CEO of Intensive Energy, an engineering consultant firm and a volunteer with the UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR), says it’s a fertile ground for collaboration. “The areas of interest are broad. It’s a good idea stage and good business for new companies.”

Rebecca Stadler, a registered patent attorney from Buffalo who is seated at an outdoor table, came to the event directly from the Life Sciences Commercialization Lecture Series ("The UB Tie to the Manhattan Investment Banking World: Why Buffalo is on the Radar" being the topic) held in the Center of Excellence. “This gives me a good idea of what’s happening in research,” she says.

Piotr Chomicki, a senior math major at UB, wandered in hesitantly, a first-time visitor.

“I came to see the type of networking going on. I have an interest in going into biomedical oncology and wanted to see if I could talk with someone here,” he says. Soon, he is introduced to CCR’s Levesque and a conversation begins.

“Everybody here is really friendly. It’s all a very similar type of person who works down here so it’s pretty easy to intermingle at a gathering like this. But it helps to get everybody in one spot,” says Guercio. “You can’t organize a meeting for every group of the medical campus to figure out what everybody does and how we can interact with each other and collaborate. We would not be able to do that in a formal sense. But here we go, Beakers ‘n Beer, stop by for a quick brew and a chat and see what happens. And they pack it in.”

The next B-‘n-B will be held at Campieri’s on Oct. 29, followed by DoubleTree Club Hotel on Nov. 19, and back to Ulrich’s Dec. 10. The gatherings are always from 5 to 7 p.m. on a Thursday. For more information, click here.