In the labyrinth of bendy, picturesque cobblestone streets that make up the Groot Begijnhof – a 13th century UNESCO world heritage site in the heart of Leuven, Belgium – a group of enthusiastic scientists congregated for the 2nd Leuven Protein Aggregation Meeting. Following the overwhelming success of the conference's first edition in 2022, the Switch Lab once again brought together top speakers from around the world to talk about the latest developments in the field of protein aggregation.
The Switch Lab, based at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, studies the mechanisms driving protein folding and misfolding. They combine bioinformatics and biophysics approaches to understand how protein aggregation affects the interactome and ultimately leads to neurotoxicity in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's
Despite the rapid acceleration of the protein aggregation field, the lab's PI-duo—Frederic Rousseau and Joost Schymkowitz—noticed a lack of opportunity for the growing community to come together and share their innovations and insights.
"In Europe, a meeting dedicated solely to protein aggregation research no longer existed since the famous Ulm series stopped during the Corona times," Joost and Frederic explain. "We started the Leuven Protein Aggregation Meeting to bring together scientists and clinicians from all career stages who are working specifically on protein aggregation. The response from the community to the initiative has been incredible, reflecting the urgent call for this kind of event."
A stacked speaker line-up
The 3-day program boasted an impressive line-up of invited protein aggregation experts from across the globe, as well as poster pitches and talks selected from abstracts. The International Society of Amyloidosis generously offered four awards for the best abstracts to support early-career scientists in attending the event.
Judith Frydman of Stanford University was just one of the leaders in the field who joined the conference as an esteemed speaker. "The Protein Aggregation Meeting was a really remarkable conference. Only in its second edition, it is already building a scientific community of students and investigators from all stages of their careers." Professor Frydman reflects. "It is truly a public service to the community: a conference of great quality and atmosphere where everyone feels free to ask questions and talk about their research."
Nature Poster Prize
Besides the scientific talks, the program also included several poster sessions (combined with Belgian beers and tapas, of course!) where young researchers had the opportunity to connect with and learn from others in the field. This year, the poster prizes were awarded to Dev Thacker (University of Leeds) in 3rd place, Tina Jacob (Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany) in 2nd place, and Celia Fricke (Technical University of Denmark) in 1st. All the winners received a goodie bag, and the first-place winner received a personal Nature+ subscription generously donated by Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
"This was my first international conference and has been a great opportunity to be properly embraced by the protein aggregation research community. The format of the meeting has enabled me to learn from and network with several researchers whom I admire greatly." Celia Fricke, 1st prize winner of the poster competition, shares. "I am looking forward to coming back in 2026 and showing all of these great academics how my work has progressed!"
