The date of the next ERS Lung Science Conference (LSC), which will focus on ‘Mechanisms of acute exacerbation of respiratory disease’, has been announced as 7–10 March, 2019. The announcement comes following this year’s event, which saw a record number of participants join ERS in the Portuguese town of Estoril.
The focus of this year’s event, the 16th LSC to date, was ‘Cell-matrix interactions in lung disease and regeneration’. The event attracted over 200 delegates from around the world, marking the largest number since the conference began.
As in previous years’ the structure and content of the conference was particularly aimed at early career researchers as a platform to boost their careers – offering an opportunity for them to interact with peers, mentors and cutting-edge abstracts. 94 abstracts were presented in total.
Young researchers attended to learn from experts in the field as they presented on related topics including: pathological and mechanistic disease similarities; intersecting immunity and inflammation; and modeling disease with organoids.
Additional to the expert-led presentations, ERS presented three main awards to recognise eight distinguished poster presentations; the best oral presentation; and the best abstract submitted for the Young Investigator Session (The William MacNee Award).
The eight winners of the Distinguished Post Presentation Award received a voucher for a book of their choice to be selected from the ERS Bookshop. The Best Oral Presentation Award and William MacNee Award winners both received free registration to the upcoming ERS International Congress taking place in Paris – and an additional €600 bursary.
Awardees at LSC 2018
1) Young Investigator Session ‘The William MacNee’ Awardee: Dr Catharina Mueller for her presentation ‘Laser-capture microdissection, mass spectrometry and immunohistochemistry reveal pathologic alterations in the extracellular matrix of transplanted lungs’
2) Best Oral Presentation Awardee: Dr Marko Nikolic for the presentation ‘Towards human lung regeneration in end-stage respiratory failure: geneticallymodifiable 3d organoid culture of human embryonic lung stem cells enables for the first time the study of human lung development in vitro’
3) Distinguished Poster Awardees:
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Mr Vahid Kheirollahi
Abstract: Anti-diabetic drug metformin imposes anti-fibrotic effects by controlling fibroblast plasticity -
Dr Muriel Lizé
Abstract : MIR449 protects airway cilia and healthy lung aging -
Ms. Magdalena Szczygiel
Abstract: The dynamic of tumor–stroma interactions in lung cancer -
Dr. Bartosz Pilecki
Abstract: Microfibrilla-associated protein 4 promotes experimental asthma by modulation of airway smooth muscle cell phenotype -
Dr Jennifer Cairns
Abstract: ELK1 gene deletion promotes early fibrotic changes and up-regulation of fibrotic genes in the aging lung -
Dr Anne-Sophie Lamort
Abstract: Tumor-derived granulocyte chemotactic protein 2 cooperates with neutrophil proteinase 3 to drive lung adenocarcinoma -
Mr Chandak Upagupta
Abstract: The integral role of lung extracellular matrix in myofibroblast differentiation -
Dr. Hannah Woodcock
Abstract: mTOR regulates TGF-ß induced myofibroblast differentiation
Further information about the 2019 conference will be released later in the year, including abstract submission and registration details.