Report on the Local Chapter Meeting 2019
The 2019 annual meeting of CRS Local Chapter Germany was hosted by the University of Leipzig, one of the oldest universities in Germany. The overall topic of the meeting was “Functional Biomaterials and Release of Nucleic Acid Drugs”. In the lecture hall and foyer of the Biotechnologisch-Biomedizinisches Zentrum (BBZ) of Leipzig University, 19 presentations of invited scientists as well as selected young researchers were given on a variety of topics, ranging from hydrogel formulations to in vitro models. 73 posters were presented in two poster sessions of 1 hour each. 24 young scientists also volunteered to present their posters in a poster flash session in front of the full auditorium. The 60 second time limit for the poster flash presentation revealed to be not only a challenging task, but also a lot of fun. To bring the first conference day to a close, we organized a small dinner for all participants in a relaxed local restaurant in the city center with burgers, beer and chocolate dessert.
Two young scientist awards were granted for best oral and poster presentation of the meeting: Eilien Schulz, a PhD student from Gregor Fuhrmann’s group in Saarbrücken received the award for her presentation on “Myxobacteria-derived vesicles are biocompatible and show inherent antimicrobial activity”, while the poster award went to Jan Krieghoff from Michael Hacker’s group in Leipzig for his contribution “3D-Printing of tubular conduits from a 2-component hydrogel premix”.
In addition, the audience award was given to Michael R. Agel „Curcumin loaded nanoparticles as effective photoactive formulations against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria“ from Udo Barkowsky’s group in Marbug.
With 120 participants, the meeting was a great opportunity for networking and the local chapter is looking forward to this year’s meeting which will be hosted by Olivia Merkel at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
We would like to thank the Controlled Release Society as well as Mibe GmbH Arzneimittel, Abbvie and the BBZ for their support of our meeting.
Michael Hacker and Michaela Schulz-Siegmund
