Gordon Research Conference Immunology 2022 Recap
I have just returned from my first international trip since 2018, having attended my first Gordon Research Conference. The GRCs have a long-standing tradition as being opportunities for scientists to talk about new ideas. They started in the 1920s at Johns Hopkins University, and have since grown into an entity in its own right, with topics spanning the breadth of science. The Immunochemistry and Immunobiology meeting is the longest-running meeting on immunology, having started in 1966. The meetings are purposely kept small (less than 200 attendees) in order to facilitate camaraderie, and I was excited to have my application accepted. While the trip was so invigorating and exciting, I am physically depleted by the schedule, travel, and time difference. I had to test COVID antigen-negative in order to reenter the United States, but my taxed immune system must have let me catch a bug, which makes deep work really draining for me. However, I want to put down my memories of the GRC Immunochemistry and Immunobiology, in which I saw some of the rockstars and brilliant thinkers in the field, and inspires me to pursue cutting-edge research in my own lab.
Even before my spouse and I were married, he started to accompany me to some of my conferences, as they provide us to experience wonderful new locations together. For this trip, we also brought 2 of our children (the other decided to pass on the trip in order to attend camp).
Gelato. Every day, gelato. La Jijonenca Sirvent Verdú
For my middle child, it was her first time out of the country, and the youngest, it was the first time in her memory to go overseas, as she had accompanied me to a conference in Kyoto as an infant. It can be quite challenging and stressful to travel to another country in general, let alone with children, but as parents we want our children to have the opportunity to be visitors to another land and culture.
Baby Lancaster and Husband in Tokyo (2017)
Baby and Husband enjoying all the meats al fresco (2022). Urartu al foc
Having grown up in a military household, I had taken international travel for granted. Now having lived in a smaller city in Texas for a couple years, I realize that many of its residents had not had such life experiences, and that it could make foreign places and people seem very inaccessible. For me, the highlight of the trip was when our middle child, who can be easily made anxious by uncertain surroundings and new foods, expressed that while she was initially apprehensive when we arrived, she now enjoyed living in another country and wished we could stay longer. There are few greater pleasures as a parent than to see your child visibly grow in wisdom and into herself.
Middle daughter, living her best life in Barcelona.
She purchased this item herself and was so proud to wear it around.
Trying new Foods. Turns out, Dim Sum is amazing! We ate at 101 Dim Sum twice, it was truly delicious.
This year it was held in Castelldefels, Spain, in the Catalonia region and just outside of Barcelona, and chaired by Drs. Facundo Batista and Alexander Rudensky. In addition to the conference, I had the opportunity to join my family in visiting the beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean, Platja Castelldefels and Platja Pineda; the Castle of Castelldefels; and take day trips into Barcelona via the local train system.
Touring Castledells Castle
Youngest daughter photobombed this kind stranger’s picture and he sent it to us. Ciutadella Park
Husband (and Editor). Ciutadella Park
This little one has ridden trains in three continents.
The conference was held in the Gran Hotel Don Rey Jaime, but since we had young children we wanted a place that could allow us to stay together (not quite possible in the typical European hotel room) and rented a double-bedroom condo in the Castelldefels urban center. To attend the conference, I had a 30-minute walk that included a challenging hike up the hill to the hotel, or a 7 Euro taxi ride. Despite eating well and not having my usual workout routine, all the walking was enough to keep me in shape!
In my blogpost about conferences, I pass along advice that a conference attendee should challenge oneself with a social goal. Part of being a scientist is to be known among our peers, which is the substantive point of having these conferences.For me, who has definitely felt imposter syndrome in immunology, I challenged myself to mingle with some of the leaders of immunology and not always retreat to the safety of people my own age. Since I was not staying in the hotel anyway, it made it hard for me to develop a clique to latch onto, so I would often find random open tables to sit at during meals. For the first breakfast, I saw a couple of those immunology rockstars sitting together, and I went over to join their table. While they were a little gruff, they accepted my awkward chit-chat, and so I count that as a personal win!
I had been initially excited to attend the conference because the invited speaker list read as a who’s-who of immunology, and their talks did not disappoint. I was so amazed by the quality of presentations, even those on aspects of immunology that I am not particularly interested in. As much of the data presented are unpublished, I will not summarize them here, but here were some of my favorites: Diane Mathis, Harvard Medical School; Jason Cyster, University of California San Francisco; Gabriel Victora, Rockefeller University; Sophia Liu, MIT; Matteo Iannacone, San Raffaele Scientific Institute; Morgan Huse, Memorial Sloan Kettering. I also got to meet, in-person, a graduate student from Madrid, who is coming to do research in my lab this fall! She was so kind, and I am excited to work alongside her on her project.
Because of my grant deadlines, I did not have time to print a new poster, so I brought the one I had presented in May at the AAI conference. I am not a big fan of either presenting at or attending poster sessions, as I prefer the polish of a delivered talk, but I understand that this is a good opportunity to engage directly with the audience one-on-one, and this was also my chance to share my research with the conference with use of a visual aid. Having been assigned a poster session during the latter half of the conference, I was worried that the overwhelmed participants would be more likely to skip the sessions, but I was so happy that many people were excited by the project. I basically spoke about my research non-stop. I got some great tips from newer scientists, and also appreciative nods from the more distinguished faculty. In all, it was a good sounding board for the newer project, and also to showcase the most recent paper.
It was so incredible to attend an international conference again. I value the chance to interact with scientists from different countries, as it reminds me of how global the niche science really is. I am already excited for GRC 2024 and hope it is once again in Castelldefels. The town really grew on me, and now that my family and I figured our way around, we are ready to explore more of beautiful Spain. Who knows, perhaps I will be giving an oral presentation on my own exciting research next time around?