BMS YIS 2013: Thank you from the organisers!

Thank you to everyone who attended Aprils Early Career Investigators Symposium on 'Advances in Microcirculation', the outstanding talks and scientific discussions showed that there is an exciting future for microcirculation research in the UK. The symposium covered topics ranging from angiogenesis to inflammation and vessel permeability, investigating physiological and pathological aspects of the functioning microvessels. We were overwhelmed by the mature and confident selected oral communications given by early career investigators ranging from first year PhD students to young post-docs. Not only were the talks well paced and informative, the scientific questions that followed demonstrated a clear understanding and thirst for knowledge. This was also evident in the poster session where discussions continued and collaborations began to form, the high standard making prize selection a difficult process.

As organisers we would like to thank everyone who attended for making it a successful meeting. The engaging conversations throughout the day and well into the evening showed the young investigators are continuing the traditions of senior members, both it terms of microcirculation research and excessive consumption of alcohol!

Although the first meeting of its kind we trust this will not be its last!

Kind regards,

Melissa, Claire and Alessio

Thoughts from the BMS President: Stuart Egginton

The recent BMS Young Investigators Symposium organised by Melissa, Claire & Alessio was a great success, deemed to be ‘the best value for money conference I've ever been to’ by one delegate! Attendance was from far and wide, including a student all the way from Moscow. The talks covered a broad range of topics and were all well presented. With few senior colleagues present the speakers, chairs of sessions, and audience seemed more relaxed which encouraged some really good discussion around excellent science. On this evidence, the future of microcirculation is in good hands!

Lots of competitive prizes were handed out, and hopefully the opportunity for networking will produce tangible results in the future. There certainly appears to be an appetite for a repeat of this format of meeting at some point, with potential organisers showing interest which is encouraging. In addition to the hard work of the organisers, we are indebted to Donald Singer who gave welcome local support. Registration costs were kept to a minimum by generous support from the British Heart Foundation, the British Pharmacological Society, the Company of Biologists, the Physiological Society, and the Richard Bright VEGF Research Trust, complementing core support by the BMS and the exhibitors (Moor Instruments and PromoCell). Please visit the meeting blog site (http://bms-yis2013.blogspot.co.uk/) for some reflections and meeting pictures.

To see you list of prize winners visit the meeting blogsite at the following link:

http://bms-yis2013.blogspot.co.uk/