On August 14, 2024, the Biozentrum scientists left their labs for a three-day retreat on the Campus Sursee. Around 250 researchers from a wide variety of disciplines took the time to get to know each other and make new connections, to discuss scientific issues and broaden their knowledge. The event offers young scientists in particular a platform to connect and to present their research findings.
Prof. Alex Schier, Director of the Biozentrum, kicked off the event with a warm welcome address. He then handed over to Yuping Li, who was recently appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Biozentrum. She gave a talk about her work on large bacterial viruses, so-called jumbophages, and bacterial strategies to combat jumbophage infections.
In addition to the three-minutes talks by scientists from various research groups and core facility, about 200 early-career researchers presented their latest findings during the poster sessions, sparking lively discussions. Prof. David Brückner, another newly appointed Assistant Professor, gave an insightful lecture on the self-organization and information flow in multicellular systems.
Among the highlights of the retreat were the plenary lectures by distinguished guest speakers. Prof. Randall Platt from the neighboring D-BSSE, ETH Zurich, talked on harnessing the CRISPR toolbox to engineer biology, and Prof. Brenda Schulman from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, explored signaling through the ubiquitin system.
