Site coordinator Esther González-Padilla and Director Markus Heidenblad have been busy bees the past months preparing the kick-off and getting ready to welcome 200 participants in Forum Medicum:

– We’re celebrating the launch of SciLifeLab Lund as one of four new SciLifeLab sites throughout Sweden. In total, there are now six SciLifeLab sites nationally, located in Lund, Gothenburg, Linköping, Stockholm, Uppsala and Umeå, each adding unique expertise and cutting-edge research infrastructures to further advance Swedish life science research, says Markus Heidenblad.

Participants with different backgrounds

– We are currently fine-tuning the last details, but we are very excited that it is such a popular event! We were not expecting to have to activate a waiting list but we are beyond happy that so many have registered. We have a fun day prepared, says Esther González-Padilla and continues:

– We are expecting people from various backgrounds. There will be attendees from all over Sweden representing the other sites and technology platforms of SciLifeLab but the majority of people will be representing the Life Sciences hub surrounding Lund. We have people coming from the research community in Lund, the healthcare sector, SLU Alnarp, and Copenhagen University among others, but also from MAX IV and ESS. So we have reached a lot of different people, which was also our goal.

What can visitors expect?

– We hope that they will get a glimpse of the fantastic research resources and capabilities available through SciLifeLab, both in Lund and at the partnering sites. Also, given the number and background of the registrants, the meeting will be a great opportunity to connect with new people and one of our goals is that it will spark a lot of new collaborations, says Markus.