I was very grateful to have been awarded the BALR Travel grant to attend the ATS Conference 2024 in San Diego, USA. As my first ever international conference it was a really rewarding experience. I was lucky to have an abstract accepted for a poster discussion session, where I shared my research, which focusses on the relationship between macrophages and the respiratory microbiome in COPD.
I was able to engage in discussion about the wider context of my research and the impact of my methods on investigating host-pathogen relationships in the airways. It was also a great opportunity to learn about the current insights on macrophage function from leading experts in the field. I particularly enjoyed a talk titled “Biology of macrophages in health and disease”, where they discussed the heterogeneity of macrophage populations in the airways. Approaching the write-up stage of my PhD, hearing about the latest findings and techniques being used in the field will really help with the discussion of my own results.
A huge thanks again to BALR for supporting my attendance to the ATS. I enjoyed it a lot and left with new perspectives on my research. I’d highly attending recommend the ATS conference!
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