Nearly 40 Nobel Laureates and over 600 selected early career scientists from around the world attended the 2023 Lindau Nobel Meeting. This year's meeting focused on research in physiology and medicine. On the last day of the annual meeting, all participants traditionally travel by boat across Lake Constance from Lindau to the island of Mainau. CIBSS was part of the research exhibition on the cruise ship, organized by Baden-Württemberg International, which featured some of the most innovative research institutions in the state. The Cluster of Excellence was represented by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Ramona Emig. She presented her own research and that of the Cluster as a whole to the attending Nobel Laureates, young researchers and political representatives. This is her report of the day:
On a boat with Nobel Laureates
Postdoctoral researcher Ramona Emig presented the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS at the 2023 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
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Together with five other young scientists from the University of Freiburg, I had the great opportunity to embark on the boat trip from Lindau to the beautiful island of Mainau for the last day of the meeting. Well prepared with banners representing the core of our scientific interests and lots of demonstration tools, we left Lindau early in the morning. Even before the official opening by moderator Kimsy von Reischach, the young scientists in particular were rushing to the booths and picking our brains to learn as much as possible about Freiburg as an excellent location for cutting-edge science. It was great to see the excitement, curiosity, and multitude of new questions I was met with when I talked about the complex biological communication networks that CIBSS studies.
Among the highlights of the trip were the Science Pitches – a short talk format where I also had the opportunity to share my excitement about the signaling research at CIBSS with this fantastic audience. After the pitch, even the Minister of Science, Research and Arts for the State of Baden-Württemberg, Petra Olschowski, made her way to the CIBSS booth to learn more about how we study the language of life.
After arriving on Mainau Island, I spent the rest of the day with the other participants of the meeting: We listened to a panel discussion on the implications of climate change for global health, followed by brief summaries by Nobel Laureate William G. Kaelin Jr. and young scientist Hadeer Elhabashy. The day ended with a nice picnic on the island, and party music and dancing Nobel Laureates on the way back.
All in all, it has been an amazing experience to meet all these great people, and I will certainly take much of this excitement with me as I now return to the laboratory to further my own contribution to signalling research.
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"Imagine, each of you, now, starts talking in your native language and at the same time starts touching all your neighbours. That's madness, isn't it? But that is exactly what is happening with the trillions of cells in our bodies.” Dr Ramona Emig used the diverse and international audience as an analogy for biological signalling during her science pitch. Pictured here with moderator Kimsy von Reischach to her left.
Dr. Ramona Emig
Ramona Emig joined the Institute of Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine led by CIBSS member Prof. Dr. Peter Kohl in 2017, where she completed her PhD in 2022 and is currently working as a postdoc and takes part in the CIBSS Launchpad Programme. She is particularly interested in how mechanical forces affect cell-cell communication in heart disease, to better understand the interplay between fibrosis and inflammation. She has identified a signalling mechanism by which fibrotic tissue stiffening can attract immune cells to the heart. This is a promising target for new therapies. In her free time, she coaches goalkeepers at TSV Alemannia Freiburg-Zähringen.