The IMP community returned to Crystal Springs Resort in Vernon, New Jersey in October 2024 for the annual scientific retreat. Crystal Springs provided a beautiful autumnal backdrop along with excellent amenities and ample space for over 250 students, post-docs, and faculty to listen to a spectrum of excellent talks, engage in lively discussions, and connect with future collaborators.
A strength of the IMP community is the multi-institutional network, and each year this program-wide retreat provides a platform for scientists from Weill Cornell, Cornell Ithaca, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Hospital for Special Surgery to present their work. This year’s retreat proved to be another jam-packed session of fascinating talks, ranging from regulation of immune responses epigenetically, metabolically, and clinically; delving into immune cell subsets including ILCs, NK cells, and phagocytes; examining a multitude of inflammatory and pathogen-driven diseases such as IBD, SLE, Mtb, and Sars-CoV2. There was no shortage of thought-provoking data and stimulating audience Q&A discussions.
During the afternoon, IMP members took a break from science and connected outdoors through a variety of activities including hiking, swimming, soccer, and lawn games! With a refreshed mindset, IMP reconvened for the evening session which commenced with our honored keynote speaker, Dr. Sara Cherry from University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Cherry took us through a series of vignettes that showcased exciting work in her lab investigating the biology of emerging RNA viruses, understanding the innate immune response to these viruses, and identifying effective antivirals through cell-based drug screens. Afterwards, an energetic “blitz”-style poster presentation took place of the traditional 3-Minute-Thesis, during which trainees gave rapid-fire and humorous 1-minute overviews of their project to advertise their poster in the following session. In the poster session, all trainees presented their work through small-group discussions while being evaluated by faculty scorers. The lively poster session then paved the way for the social activities for the night, leading into dinner, karaoke, and dancing.
The animated evening was a great reminder of the fun-filled, close-knit community IMP has created. The next morning, the retreat closed out with more brilliant talks followed by awards based on student and faculty votes. Brooke Fiedler won the Student Speaker Award and Simon Grassmann secured the Post-Doc Speaker Award. Our three Poster Blitz presenters, Ian McBain, Alex McGurk, and Serena Teh, all received an award for braving the newer format, making us all laugh with their speedy presentations. Finally, the Student Poster Session award was a tie between Kathleen Mills and Mariano Aufiero while the Post-Doc Poster Session winner was Sofia Tortora. We returned home tired and inspired, and are already looking forward to next year’s retreat!
Organizing committee: Faculty Gretchen Diehl, Inez Rogatsky, Brad Jones; Students Amanda Chen, Baila Solkosky, Ian Mantel; IMP Coordinator Thelma Lopez.
