First Early Stage Investigator Retreat 2024

The Early Stage Investigator Retreat 2024 with 25 participants took place in the charming city of Dresden, bringing together early career neutrophil enthusiasts from all partner sites. Hereby the main objective was to foster collaboration and idea exchange among early-career researchers in an informal, interdisciplinary setting.

To achieve this, the program was filled with interactive workshops and trainings. Of particular relevance was the workshop given by Michele Marass, who captivated attendees with insightful guidance on publishing in high-impact journals. Another highlight of the retreat was a training, where participants had to develop a graphical abstract in a very limited amount of time to present their research topic to their peers. To also further improve lab skills, the team of Trian Chavakis, PI of project C4, provided a lab training, that covered the extraction and analysis of different kind of mouse tissues using a full spectrum flow cytometer. This training was rounded up by a seminar talk about the benefits and pitfalls of single cell sequencing.

Other interesting insights into how to be more resilient in times of mental crisis came from Dominique de Marné, who gave an inspiring mental health workshop, helping us all to be prepared for upcoming problems in the future.

Overall, the Early Stage Investigator Retreat was a wonderful experience for all involved and a significant step towards a strongly connected neutrophil community and we are all looking forward to the next Early Stage Investigator Retreat in Munich.