9th European Workshop on Lipid Mediators

At the end of June, Cristina, Nina, and Stefanie had the pleasure of attending the 9th European Workshop on Lipid Mediators in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. This event brought together researchers from all disciplines to explore the latest advancements in the field of bioactive lipid mediators. They had an amazing time presenting their posters, which garnered a lot of interest and valuable feedback from other conference attendees. Beyond the scientific discussions, it was also a great chance to connect with fellow researchers and enjoy some traditional Scottish Ceilidh dancing, making the experience enriching not only professionally but also culturally.

 

ASMS 2024

In June, a few lucky PhD students of our group had the chance to attend the 72nd conference of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) in Anaheim, USA. With over 7000 participants, it is the mecca for  mass spectrometry enthusiast from around the world. The dense program, with over 60 oral sessions and 3000 posters, did not make it easy to choose. For lipidomics enthusiast of course the sessions on anything lipid related were the place to be. 

Several presentations and posters made it quite clear that especially novel fragmentation techniques like EAD and OAD offer promising potential for lipid analysis and will surely have a big impact on the lipidomics field in the next few years. There were also interesting novelties reported for lipid data analysis, ranging from an update of MS-DIAL 5  from Hiroshi Tsugawa to the novel ALEX score from Jürgen Hartler, which is a promising concept for quality control of lipidomic datasets. 

Of course our group members Alex, Bianca and Stefanie also presented their own research: In 3 hour-long poster sessions they had the chance to discuss their projects with many interested fellow conference attendees. And to relax after an intensive day of scientific talks and posters, there was always the chance to get a drink at one of the sponsor’s evening hospitality suites. 

Overall, the conference was a great combination of science, networking and entertainment and will surely be one of the highlights of their PhD.

Photos by Bianca de Jonckheere and Alexander Wenger; text by Stefanie Rubenzucker