Welcome back from summer vacation! We hope you have all had a chance to relax and get new energy and inspiration over the summer.

Let us take a moment to share some highlights from the Inflammation Network from the past year:

Annual Inflammation Network Day

On March 13, we hosted our fifth annual research meeting, where we were honored to welcome three outstanding keynote speakers: Dr. Shen-Ying Zhang from Rockefeller University in New York & Institut Imagine in Paris speaking about genetics of herpesvirus infection in the brain, Professor Artur Schmidtchen from Skåne University Hospital & Lund University presenting his work on a novel immunomodulatory peptide to treat severe bacterial infections, as well as Professor Ulla Birgitte Vogel from the National Research Center for the Working Environment & DTU going who went through many years of work form her group on environmental causes to low-grade inflammation and impact on human health and disease. Local speakers also provided interesting talks on macrophage biomarkers in chronic inflammatory liver disease (Professor Henning Grønbæk, Dept. Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital (AUH)), and on interferon gamma release assays in tuberculosis diagnostics and disease management (Ass. Professor Andreas Fløe, Dept. of Respiratory Diseases and Allergy, AUH). The day was filled with inspiring presentations and lively discussions and, in addition to the keynote lectures, the program featured a series of flash talks by early-career researchers. Congratulations to flash talk winner Jasmine Atay!

LightRail Seminar Series – Two years of knowledge sharing

We would also like to highlight the LightRail Seminar Series that has now been running for almost two years! The series aims to bridge basic and clinical research in the fields of inflammation, immunity, and infection. It has become an important platform for knowledge exchange and networking across research environments promoting translational projects and collaborations at Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital. A heartfelt thank you to all speakers and participants who have contributed to the success of the series, which included topics on kidney inflammation and therapy, link between infection and cancer, drivers in inflammation in immune-mediated diseases. Please mark your calendar and save-the-date for our next LightRail Seminar on “Macrophages in inflammation and cancer”, which is scheduled for September 2: https://health.au.dk/en/the-inflammation-network/display/artikel/lightrail-seminar-2nd-september

New PhD programme in Inflammation at Health, Aarhus University

We are happy to announce a new subject specific PhD program in Inflammation offering various exciting courses, international seminars, journal clubs, and meetings for PhD students within the topics of infection, immunity, and inflammation (https://phd.health.au.dk/programmes/graduateprogrammes/subject-specific-phd-programmes).

Call for new ideas

To further strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration, we warmly encourage you to submit new ideas or proposals for activities that could support this goal. Whether it is workshops, joint projects, or new formats for knowledge exchange—please share your suggestions with our network coordinator (ape@au.dk; https://health.au.dk/en/the-inflammation-network).

We are looking very much forward to continuing the various initiatives of the Inflammation Network and hope you will join us for many more inspiring (network) events and activities in the months ahead.

Chair of the Inflammation Network, Trine Mogensen