The Vastenhouwies are back from their trip to Vienna!
The EMBO Workshop, Awakening of the genome: The maternal-to-zygotic transition, finally took place on May 18th, 2022. The 3rd edition of this meeting was supposed to be held in 2021 and was postponed due to COVID-19. The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP, Vienna, Austria) hosted the event and welcomed ~120 scientists to share their latest research. For many of us, it was our first in-person conference and we were thrilled to be reunited with colleagues and friends, and to network off-screen. Many thanks to the organisers for putting together a wonderful program, great and insightful talks, poster sessions, and social dinner gatherings - memorable gala dinner at the Vienna Museum of Fine Arts and classic beer garden socializing atmosphere.
The Vastenhouwlab also took the opportunity to have a joint retreat with members of Andrea Pauli's lab (IMP, Vienna). Nadine and Andi (both former postdocs in the lab of Alex Schier, back when the Schier lab was at Harvard, Cambridge, USA) united their labs and organized a day of mingling and chalk talks. The Vastenhouwies also got to explore the insides of the IMP and visit the Pauli lab's fish facility. Thank you Hann and Krista for capping the retreat with a fun and competitive evening of Zebrafish Jeopardy!
Looking forward to the next EMBOmzt meeting 2 years from now, which will be held in Basel, Switzerland.