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The fourth Epigenetics Retreat was a great success

The fourth epigenetics@HelmholtzMunich retreat took place on November 7th – 8th 2022 close to Lake Ammersee in Bavaria.

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The annual, two-day retreat brings epigenetics@HelmholtzMunich members together for scientific and social interactions with the aim to learn more about epigenetic research at Helmholtz Munich and to promote community building amongst the participants. It was expertly organized by our Epigenetics Board of PhD students: Alissa Finster (Schmoller Lab), Ana Janeva (Hörmanseder Lab), Lorenz Pudelko (Cabianca Lab), Meghana Oak (Hörmanseder Lab; EpiCrossBorders), and Mrinmoy Pal (Torres-Padilla Lab).

The retreat kicked off with an icebreaker session that was followed by the first scientific session of the retreat with 15 min talks of Jei Diwakar (Bonev Lab), Henning Ummethum (Hamperl Lab), and the EpiCurious-Awardee Luisa Egert from the Stricker Lab. The short talks were presented Carole Zaratiegui (Cabianca Lab) and Yagya Chadha (Schmoller Lab). After the lunch break, the session continued, and Gabriele Lubatti (Scialdone Lab), Tomas Zikmund (Hörmanseder Lab), and Maria Solovey (Colomé-Tatché Lab) gave insights into their research projects. After the short talks by Huiwen Li (Schneider Lab), Andreas Ettinger (Torres-Padilla Lab; Microscopy Core), and Melisa Gomez Velazquez (Teperino Lab), Hannah Marchi introduced the Statistical Consulting Core Facility of Helmholtz Munich. During the poster session, the researchers highlighted key questions, and techniques and had the chance to discuss opportunities for intracommunity collaboration. Novel project ideas based on community expertise were further explored in innovative breakout sessions.  

In the evening, the Doctoral Researchers and Postdocs rebuild the da Vinci catapult using materials from the laboratory in groups. The functionality and throw distance of the catapults was examined during the get-together. During the scientific session on the next day, Aikaterini Symeonidi (Colomé-Tatché Lab), Yuqiao Gao (Jeremias Lab), Nada Al-Refaie (Cabianca Lab), Gemma Comas-Armangue (Teperino Lab), and the EpiCurious-Awardee Adam Burton (Torres-Padilla Lab) had the chance to present their work during a 15 min long talk. Arohi Khurana (Schmoller Lab), Florian Noack (Bonev Lab), Tobias Schmidt (Stricker Lab), Marco Stock (Scialdone Lab), and Vlera Fonda (Uhlenhaut Lab) advertised their projects in short talks as preparation for the poster session in the afternoon. Afterwards, the Doctoral Students Initiative DINI at Helmholtz Munich introduced their activities to support the graduate students' community, and how they connect the Graduate Student Office, management, and graduate students.

The feedback from the participants about the organization and the activities of the retreat was positive and we thank the venue and the organizing committee for such a well-organised, dynamic and interactive retreat!