Last week, we (Krishan and Ingrid) returned from a one week trip to Innsbruck. We attended the 84th European Atherosclerosis (EAS) meeting and the LP(a) satellite meeting “From Bench to Bedside”. Both meetings were in the beautiful town center of Innsbruck.
We arrived on
Thursday with perfect weather and decided to go on a short
sight-seeing tour through Innsbruck. Innsbruck is really a charming
town with a historic old town center.
Friday the LP(a)
meeting started. LP(a) was reported to be an risk factor for
atherosclerosis and CAD 50 years ago, but still not much is known
about the biological mechanism and there is also no drug for LP(a) on
the market. Hence, leading experts were invited to present the latest
results in LP(a) research. It was two days of really interesting
talks, first day more scientific, second more clinical.
After two days
focusing on LP(a), the EAS meeting started on Sunday with the first
meeting highlight. In the opening ceremony held in evening The Anitschkow Prize 2016
lecture was delivered by Professor Peter Carmeliet. He gave a fantasitc
talk about "Endothelial cell metabolism: a novel player in
atherosclerosis? Basic principles and therapeutic opportunities". This excellent talk was followed by small but very intersting musical concert peformed by two sister, presenting the blend of folk and modern music.
The four day long
meeting, was filled with very interesting talks and posters. With
multi tracks it was hard to select the sessions. Despite so many good
talks, we have to point out the keynote lecture held by the Nobel
laureate Michael S. Brown. He was awarded the Noble prize in
Physiology or Medicine together with Joseph L. Goldstein for his work
on the regulation of cholesterol metabolism. He gave a really mind
blowing talk about his scientific career, starting with the discovery
of the LDL cholesterol pathway. It is really amazing what one person
can discover in one lifetime.
Tuesday was the big
day for us two IIEG representatives. Ingrid gave a talk on
“Pleiotropic molecular targets of coxibs revals novel genomic loci
conferring coronary artery disease”, and Krishan had a poster with
the title “Genetic determinants controlling lipid deposits in
different wild type strains of zebrafish (Danio rerio)”. Ingrids
talk was in the big plenary room, on a huge stage. The poster session
was also very well visited, Zebrafish is not well known in
atherosclerosis research and hence the poster was of great interest in
the community.
After exactly one
week, we had to leave Innsbruck on Thursday. Motivated and loaded
with new ideas, we spontaneously submitted two abstracts to the ASHG
meeting in October after our return home. These great international
meetings with so many fruitful discussions really help you develop
new ideas and reminds us why we love to work in research.
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