Health, Harbor, Hamburg: e:Med celebrates collaboration

The charming port city of Hamburg hosted Germany’s systems medicine community in late November days. The e:Med Meeting 2024 on Systems Medicine opened the doors of brilliant Helmut-Schmidt Auditorium in the beautiful campus of Bucerius Law School to its guests, speakers and participants from all over Germany and beyond. For three days, participants learned how systems-oriented research improves patient outcomes in talks by 10 invited speakers, 23 selected talks, 19 flash talks, 61 posters. The four main themes of the meeting this year were Bioinformatic Approaches, Modelling, Translational Approaches, and Systems Medicine of Diseases. 

e:Med Meeting 2024 marks a decade of systems medicine research success in Germany

BMBF representative Katharina Peter, director general Life Sciences and Technologies, and e:Med Spokesperson Professor Markus Scholz, Leipzig University, officially opened the conference. Hearing the kind words on the success of systems medicine, researchers in the hall felt honoured and joyous. Chronic inflammatory diseases exemplified the discussion on translating systems medicine into routine clinical practice, in Professor Philip Rosenstiel’s (UKSH Kiel) insightful opening lecture. After listening to exciting new results on Bioinformatic Approaches in Systems Medicine, the participants enjoyed the evening lecture by Professor Iris Shai (Ben Gurion, Harvard, Leipzig Universities), where she showed us how to boost health and longevity by leveraging diet. Despite the cold and rain, as expected of a November night, our cozy and shimmery get-together at the venue remained unaffected. The foyer was full of good food, delightful music and the gentle lights shining on the lively discussions in the poster hall, the perfect atmosphere for inspired scientific discussions.

Day two of the conference was like a potluck dinner—perfect blend of flavors and experiences. The program featured keynotes, selected talks, industry presentations, flash talks from young scientists, posters, and networking sessions topped off with a sweet treat of the long-awaited boat tour. We started with an exciting keynote by Professor Klaus Pantel (UKE Hamburg) diving into liquid biopsy research, the current state and potential of this diagnostic approach. In the modeling session, we explored various applications of modeling, ranging from clinical decision support to the analysis of molecular interactions by young scientists. The networking talk of Professor Ursula Klingmüller (DKFZ Heidelberg) informed on  LiSyM-Cancer’s translational perspectives. Professor Tanja Zeller (UKE Hamburg) discussed how systems medicine research can bridge the gap between molecular discoveries and clinical practice, paving the way for more personalized diagnostics and treatments. Following her talk, researchers presented their latest findings on various diseases via overarching systems medicine methods. Our industry sponsors, LIFE&BRAIN and Olink, informed on the latest innovative products and technologies their companies offer to the community. Professor Eran Elinav (Weizmann Institute of Science and DKFZ Heidelberg) revealed his work on host-microbiome interaction and its impact on human health, reminding us of the multilayer of factors determining our individual health status. After such a long day of conference, scientists found themselves on a party boat along the Elbe river in the port of Hamburg. With the silhouette of Hamburg behind, they relaxed and recharged by dancing to the hit music with a side of crab and fish.

>>> to the Gallery <<<

Young scientists used creative approaches to make their research posters eye-catching and gave brief, engaging flash talks to explain their work. Some arrived fully prepared with props; another filmed a trailer of the research. Afterwards, participants engaged in vibrant discussions during the following poster sessions. Jorge Duque Escobar’s flash talk was voted by the audience as the most creative flash talk. Sebastian Volkmer, Jana Tauschke, Angela Maennel and Paridji Jhawar enjoyed being the winners of the Poster Awards, voted by the scientific program committee. Congratulations to all winners! Cherry-on-top came from our generous partner NaWiK: they gifted each flash talk presenter a seminar voucher to mark the final e:Med Meeting.

Professor Angela Relógio (MSH Hamburg) opened the third day, which focused on translational approaches in Systems Medicine. She presented TimeTeller, a non-invasive methodology that takes advantage of the body’s own circadian rhythm to improve physical and mental health and to promote therapy efficiency. Participants were as well impressed by the final session, Translational Approaches in Systems Medicine, which highlighted research on clinical applications such as personalized risk prediction and therapy optimization. This session demonstrated the practical success of systems medicine research.  A special demonstration, the Molecular Inflammation Board in chronic inflammatory disease featured clinical scientists and physicians Professor Konrad Aden, Professor Florian Tran (both UKSH Kiel) and Professor Samuel Huber (UKE Hamburg). They show-cased clinical success in inflammatory bowel diseases, on how implementation of systems medicine translates into patient care.

With the closing ceremony, eloquently and enthusiastically led by Dr. Matthia Karreman, e:Med Spokesperson, we came to an end: An end to e:Med Annual Meetings, yet not to the e:Med community which, with longstanding funding from the BMBF, has succeeded in establishing systems medicine in research and application throughout Germany. The systems medicine community is therefore well prepared for the challenges of our future, which begins now. A huge thank you to all the participants, invited speakers, industry sponsors and partners, our hosts and vendors, and in particular the BMBF for making this conference a great success.