Series of 90-minute webinars, every 2-3 months, starting on Monday 11th January 2021

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The 2021 EMBRN meeting scheduled for Utrecht has been postponed to the summer of 2022 due to COVID-19.

In the meantime, we would like to host a series of 90-minute webinars, every 2-3 months, with a keynote speaker and presentations from MSc, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, who will be completing their studies, or other graduate students with very interesting results. This will give them a chance to present their results as there are currently no opportunities to present in person at scientific conferences.

We ask EMBRN members with junior researchers to select one person from their group to submit an abstract to the webinar that fit the theme of the research best (Title, Authors (Surname & initials), Affiliations, max. 100-200 words main text) for consideration to be included in the first webinar. Seven students will be selected to make presentations of 8 minutes each (plus 2 minutes Q&A). If many abstracts will be sent, the chance is that many will also unfortunately not be able to be selected. Please, do not be too disappointed if your abstract is not selected. We will provide an additional opportunity to present your work at our next EMBRN meeting in 2022.

The theme of the first webinar is Mast cells as targets for novel treatments (Chair: Prof. Marcus Maurer) – Date of webinar: Monday 11th January 2021 – successfully finished –

The theme of the second webinar is “From mast cell biology to mast cell-targeted treatments”
Date of webinar: March 3rd, 2021 – successfully finished –

The theme of the third webinar is “Mast cells in health and disease”
Date of webinar: May 3rd, 2021 – successfully finished –

The theme of the fourth webinar is “Basophils and Mast Cells in Health and Disease”
Date of webinar: September 27th, 2021 – successfully finished –

Further webinars are planned in May and June next year on “Mast Cell in health and disease” and “Mast cell functions in allergies and infectious diseases”. A separate call for these topics will be sent at a later date.

We look forward to your abstracts and hope, despite the difficult circumstances, that our webinars will provide a stimulating forum for presenting your research.

Kind regards,

Francesca Levi-Schaffer & EMBRN Council