CQ1 Virtual User Meeting
von Réka Enz
When users of new high-tech equipment meet, they have a lot to talk about. However, in the aftermath of the corona pandemic the first European meeting for users of Yogogawa´s CQ1 imaging cytometer was held in a purely virtual format in January 2023, and as such showed all the pluses and minuses this format brings.
On the positive, the hosts from Yokogawa Germany and Cenibra GmbH were very pleased by the several dozens of attendees over the two sessions of scientific talks and discussions. Given the participation from Germany, Switzerland, France, the UK and some other countries, there was a lot of content on offer for very limited travel effort. 8 international speakers shared their science and their experience with the CQ1 and answered questions. The range of topics extended from viral cell biology through cancer and neuroscience to bacterial microbiology and the vibes were very positive in spite of the “talk-to-a-screen-only“ setting of the event. After three years of virtual presentations it was obvious that all the speakers were handling the situation with absolute professionality, and the respective poll in between showed a clear preference in the audience for the virtual vs. the physical meeting.
However, a central shortcoming of such a purely virtual event was notable as well. The informal – and nevertheless crucial – exchange of information over food and drinks, the bits and pieces and tricks of the trade was missing to some extent.
Which lets the organisers think about a hybrid mode for next time and bring together the best of both worlds. Mingling, offline conversations, conference snacks and drinks for those who make the travel, combined with the electronic transmission of the content for those who can´t.
And in the meantime Cenibra will implement some ideas for a new format of regular exchange of tips and tricks within the CQ1 community. So, stay tuned …
We would like to thank all speakers for their great presentations and interesting talks!
Prof. Dr. Yohei Yamauchi (ETH Zürich, Switzerland): Cell Biology of Virus infections
Dr. Lisa Sevenich (GSH, Frankfurt, Germany): The new insights into tumor-stroma interactions in brain metastasis by confocal microscopy and 3D reconstruction
Özlem Yavas (InSphero AG, Zurich, Switzerland): Quantifying beta-cell proliferation in pancreatic islets by 3D colocalization analysis of confocal images
Lise Harbom (AxoSim, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA): In Vitro Drug Discovery Models NerveSim® and BrainSim®
PD Dr. Claudia Stäubert (University Leipzig, Germany): HCA3 and GPR84 – two metabolite-sensing GPCRs with opposing functions in innate immune cells
MD PhD Stefan Florian (Charité Berlin, Germany): High-resolution multiplex immunofluorescence confocal imaging in breast cancer biomarker discovery