BSCR Travel report - International Vascular Biology Meeting 2024, Amsterdam
Bronwyn Berkeley, The University of Edinburgh
The international vascular biology meeting set off with a bang - the banging of drums that is. The main auditorium of the Beurs van Berlage in central Amsterdam was filled with researchers from across the globe and were welcomed to the opening ceremony by a lively drumming band over a backdrop of imagery of Amsterdam and vascular research. The Beurs van Berlage was the old commodity exchange of the Netherlands and would be the venue for the exchange of vascular biology knowledge from 2-5th July under the slogan of “you are as healthy as your blood vessels”.
This is one of the largest vascular biology meetings with daily keynote speakers from internationally recognised scientists and emerging stars. 33 parallel sessions were available including tissue engineering, lymphangiogenesis, non-coding RNAs, epigenetic regulation and vascular remodelling in the uterus. There was also a dedicated poster session as well as the opportunity to meet and network with other researchers at lunch and coffee breaks.
The Aletta Jacobs award session showcased 6 female researchers’ work who are PhD students or within 1 year of their defence. Aletta Jacobs was the first woman to attend a Dutch university, obtain a medical degree and is known for establishing the world’s first contraceptive clinic and her involvement in the suffrage movement. This session highlighted some exciting researchers in the field of vascular biology and covered areas including the generation of a model to sense in vivo tension at vascular junctions, development of perfusable cerebrovascular organoids and the role of PLVAP in fenestration. The session chairs informed us that the conference comprised of 55% female attendees, representing a diversity in research that I hope to see in all aspects of the academic research structure.
This meeting was an ideal opportunity to update my knowledge of the cutting-edge advances in the field of vascular biology, meet with old network connections and develop new connections with research colleagues from across the globe. I am in the final months of my PhD and this was a wonderful final meeting to attend and showcase my work in poster format. It was also very valuable to discuss this career stage with others and gain insights into the research portfolio of different research institutions. I presented my work on the shared responses of blood and lymphatic endothelial cells to acute myocardial infarction. The poster boards were roughly grouped by research topic. My poster area was filled with exciting works in the field of lymphatic vascular biology including the effect of Prox1 enhancers on its function, a single cell atlas of skin lymphatics and the role of PDE2A on lymphatic junction maturation.
As I have a keen interest in lymphatic biology I was pleased two attend not one, but two dedicated sessions on the topic! In the first, Taija Makinen and Oliver Stone presented some visually stunning works. Prof. Makinen explored how and why lymphatic endothelial cells have their characteristic oak leaf shape. She discussed the morphology of cells and their cytoskeleton under stress and how this confers their ability to form wither zipper or button-like junctions. Dr. Stone discussed the developmental origins of the blood and lymphatic endothelium. The second session covered topics including Hippo signalling’s role in regulating cell sprouting ang lymphangiogenesis, the trafficking of antigens from the peritoneum to mediastinal lymph nodes and how beta-1 integrin scaffold localisation affects angiopoietin-TIE-Foxo1 signalling.
The beauty of such large and diverse meetings is the opportunity to be exposed to fields of research that I would not ordinarily. One such session was that on vascular remodelling in the uterus and placenta. In particular, the work of Kara McKinlay in the development of in vivo models for menstruation was both exciting and with a touch of humour as she declared “I aim to show you the non-pregnant uterus is worthy of interest too”. Learning about the lack of appropriate in vivo models of menstruation was quite eye-opening. In addition, it was interesting to learn about the paucity of understanding of the vascular biology of menstruation and her work in this area.
There was a focus on early career researchers with a dedicated session with the motto: “science of the future - the future of science”. 6 young investigators were selected based on the excellence of their abstracts. These talented researchers discussed work spanning cytokine microenvironments, PPARD’s role in acute lung injury, Apold1’s role in endothelial cell injury and the evolutionary origins of scavenging cells at the blood brain barrier.
The conference concluded with the young investigators’ symposium featuring Maria Kotini’s work on brain vascular architecture, Kari Vaahtomeri’s work on lymphatic cell migration and Sikander Hayat’s work in generating a spatial atlas of atherosclerosis from publicly available data.
Overall, these were a wonderful few days in Amsterdam and a tour-de-force of vascular research from both early career and recognised scientists from across the world. The 2026 edition of the meeting will be held in Adelaide in South Australia.
