The Keystone Symposia on „Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health“ just wrapped up in Banff, Canada, and our lab was lucky to be part of it! The conference brought together a great mix of immunology and geroscience researchers to discuss how the immune system changes as we get older and how that impacts different organs.
The MicroOrganoLab was represented by Anna-Sophie, who presented a poster on female resilience. Her work investigates the effects of menopause on the immune system—a topic that definitely got a lot of people talking at the poster sessions, especially given how understudied female-specific aging factors still are at the moment.
The four days were filled with a great mix of sessions, covering everything from cellular rejuvenation to systemic inflammation. It was particularly encouraging to see a stronger focus on human-centered models and a bit less reliance on traditional mouse studies.
The long lunch breaks—sometimes up to four hours!—gave everyone a chance to head out into the Banff backcountry, whether that meant visiting Lake Louise or just walking through the fresh powder. It created a really cozy atmosphere that made it easy to actually connect with people. The evening poster sessions were another major highlight, leaving plenty of time to look around at all the research and really dig into long, deep discussions about new ideas.
Overall, it was a fantastic, well-structured event. We’re super happy Anna-Sophie got to share our research there, and she came back with plenty of fresh ideas for her own project!
