Scientific conferences are important drivers of innovation and institutional health, spreading cutting-edge, unpublished data, allowing scientists to test ideas in real time and helping host institutions recruit allies and future hires. By that yardstick, the steady expansion of the Rutgers Health Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases (i3D) biannual symposium says a lot about the institute’s own growth.
This year’s two-day meeting on “Immune and Metabolic Responses to Pathogens” in late May drew a record 150 attendees to the Paul Robeson Center in Newark. Organizers split 27 talks between Rutgers scientists and outside speakers, a deliberate choice to widen the conversation and raise i3D’s profile beyond its campus. New faculty members were front and center. Recently recruited i3D assistant professors Tania Wong and Jack Hsu built the program and emceed sessions ranging from immunometabolism and respiratory viruses to maternal–offspring immunity.
“Giving newer investigators a platform helps highlight emerging ideas and voices—it’s a way to shape what comes next,” Wong said. To read the full story.