The young investigators' science blog
This October, I had the opportunity to attend the first Neuroinflammation Summer School, which was held in association with the Venusberg Meeting on Neuroinflammation and took place in Spain. The School was organized by Prof. Michael Heneka and featured many prominent academics that specialize in various aspects of neurodegenerative disorders and inflammation within the central nervous system. It was quite a journey to reach the … Continue reading Science by the sea
In day-to-day work, we characterise mouse strains, KO mutants or a certain protein. This report here however, is an attempt to elucidate the properties of the 2016 Cluster Science Days participants. This year, the attendees could use their breaks between fantastic talks and poster sessions to unveil some information about themselves. They could place their coloured stickers (red – University Hospital Bonn, UKB, blue – … Continue reading Cluster Science Days 2016: Offline blog survey reveals the Cluster’s spirit
In the recent article by Christine Schuy, you have already heard that studying microglia, the brain resident immune cells, is very interdisciplinary. It can therefore be challenging to find conferences that exactly fit this topic, especially if one is looking for an even narrower topic: the role of microglia in Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2016 in Toronto is the major conference on … Continue reading The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto – putting own research in a broader context
This past spring, I had the privilege of working for three months at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, where I worked in Ulrich von Andrian’s lab. Funded by the IITB program, my objective was to deepen my knowledge of immunological research and to become exposed to new research methods, such as multiphoton imaging. The project I worked on dealt chiefly with the immune system … Continue reading Sophie goes Harvard: Do it the American Way
We as “microglia scientists“ work highly interdisciplinary. This is both exciting and challenging at the same time. We are neither neuroscience experts, nor immunology experts and this challenge becomes particularly apparent when you are planning to attend a conference. You have two possibilities: You can either attend neuroscience conferences, often together with a lot of electrophysiologists (Yes, I know: It is really great stuff they … Continue reading “Microglia in the Brain” – An outstanding conference for all microglia specialists
To be honest, when in spring 2015 an email from the cluster dropped in our mailbox, offering ten IITB travel awards for the autumn school of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI), we weren´t familiar with the concept of the autumn school at all. Getting more information about the program and the speakers from the autumn school, we got excited and decided to apply. But … Continue reading The autumn school Merseburg – Immune system for beginners (and of course refreshers)
Würzburg and Franconia are most commonly known for beautiful castles and superb wine. However, the University of Würzburg is better known for the 14 Nobel Laureates who have researched and taught there, including Harald zur Hausen, who received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for his discovery that human papillomaviruses can cause cervical cancer. Prof zur Hausen spent his post-doc years from 1969 to … Continue reading Of viruses and lipids – SphingoFOR 2123 Workshop Würzburg
In early September 2015 we, two PhD students from Beatrix Schumak’s lab at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, headed south to our neighboring country Austria. Our destination was the Austria Center Vienna where we attended the 4th European Congress of Immunology. Due to flight schedules we got lucky and had two days to see the beautiful city of Vienna before the conference … Continue reading More than Mozart! – A trip to Vienna and the European Congress of Immunology
The Christmas markets have already opened and the year is now quickly coming to an end. When looking back at this year, one of the great [german: toll] Conferences (at least for all immunologists working in Innate Immunity) was the Toll Meeting. The meeting´s name is actually derived from the pattern recognition receptor in drosophila named Toll. The Toll protein was initially identified by Christiane … Continue reading The Toll Meeting 2015 [toll (German): great, amazing, fantastic]
Fascinating talks and poster presentations, networking with spirited fellow students and broadening our horizons were the main attributes of this year’s perfectly organized Cluster Science Days. For two days the ImmunoSensation members, including many doctoral candidates and postdocs, group leaders of the University Hospital Bonn, the LIMES and caesar institutes and the DZNE, as well as invited guests, gathered in a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. … Continue reading Cluster Science Days 2015: A meeting to remember