PILOT Annual Retreat 2024 – Schloss Reisensburg

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From June 24 to 26, members of the TRR359 consortium gathered at the beautiful Schloss Reisensburg close to Ulm for the annual PILOT Retreat. The event brought together 73 scientists and offered excellent opportunities to connect in person, exchange ideas, and engage in vibrant scientific discussions.

Throughout the three-day retreat, Principal Investigators shared insights into the current status of their PILOT research by giving engaging talks, highlighting recent progress and fostering lively scientific discussions. In two poster sessions, all PILOT postdoctoral researchers and doctoral candidates presented their work, which resulted in lively discussions, networking and interactions with other PILOT researchers and constructive feedback.

A highlight of the first day was the keynote lecture by Oliver Pabst (RWTH Aachen), who shared fascinating insights from his research on the developing gut immune system.

The second day of the retreat offered a diverse and stimulating scientific program, combining presentations by PILOT members with contributions from three further invited guest speakers who also work in the field of perinatal immunology. This combination of perspectives provided valuable insights into the consortium’s core research themes and enriched the overall discourse.

In the afternoon, the General Assembly provided a forum for reflection and planning. The Steering Committee presented a summary of achievements during the current funding period and shared an outlook for the upcoming year. A major focus was planning for the PILOT International Symposium, scheduled to take place in Freiburg in April 2025.

Following the assembly, all attendees participated in small group discussions covering key strategic themes such as gender equality, support structures for early career researchers, internal communication, Open Science, and public outreach. These discussions were instrumental in identifying areas for further development and collaboration within the consortium.

The program also included an interactive workshop on Good Scientific Practice, led by Elizabeth Schröder Reiter (LMU). Participants engaged in thought-provoking discussions on theoretical foundations, practical implementation, and real-life challenges related to responsible research conduct.

The informal evening gatherings further fostered personal connections and continued many of the discussions that began during the day.

The retreat concluded on Wednesday with the Poster Awards and the presentation of the LAUNCH 1 Awards, followed by a final wrap-up session led by the Steering Committee.

Overall, the PILOT Retreat 2024 was a great success, offering an excellent forum for scientific interactions, networking, and the initiation of new collaborative projects within PILOT. Beyond that, it marked an important milestone in strengthening the cohesion and continued development of the PILOT consortium.

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LAUNCH 1 Awardees and Steering Committee (SC) members

From left to right: Philipp Henneke (SC), Mathias Hornef (SC), Katrin Kierdorf (SC), Sebastian Baasch, Roland Immler, Natalia Torow, Claudia Nussbaum (SC), Markus Sperandio (SC)

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Winners of Poster prizes and Steering Committee (SC) members

From left to right: Markus Sperandio (SC), Katrin Kierdorf (SC), Alina Semenjakin (A02), Nisreen Ghanem (B03), Julian Brück (A01), Samuel Wald (B03), Philipp Henneke (SC), Marleen Eckert (A06), Kaushikk Ravi Rengarajan (B05)