RIGeL Summer School Schnitzmuehle 15 - 16 September 2022

This special summer school was kicked off with a genius backed-up plan for our team building activities "indoor". Although most of us were looking forward to climbing, the expected weather changes kept us no other option but indoors.

The 4D Arena St. Englmar site, however, was fully prepared to host all of us on a range of games and activities. We got to practice and compete in archery and/or minigulf, and above all, awesome team building activities that improved our means of communication and planning and boosted individual interactions.

Next, we were ready to head to the Schnitzmühle Adventure Camp. A great choice for our one-night stay in the heart of nature and in a modern, luxurious and relaxing environment. We checked-in to our rooms and started the first talk sessions followed by poster presentations.

The atmosphere was remarkably interactive and encouraging for many students to ask questions, open discussions and suggest brilliant ideas to one another's projects. The poster sessions were free for attendees to roam around but also very rich with close talks, brief and simple but meaningful schemes and explanations. The first day ended with a delicious dinner-buffet and we all got to hang out at the Bongo bar and spend the night around a warm and cozy fireplace.

Day two was fully packed with more interesting talks and posters. But even more exciting was the guest speaker sessions. Dr. Tillman Michels joined us on Zoom from the iOmx Therapeutics company where he gave us insights on the Development of next-generation cancer immunotherapies and treatments. After lunch, we had Dr. Maximillian Plach, the CEO of 2bind GmbH share his story and career development experience moving from academia to small companies. Both speakers were happy to answer all questions and offer contact details for future communications. The second part of talks and posters followed and the Day was closed with group pictures, elections of best speakers (Jonas Holzinger), poster presenters ( Anna Huber) and best questioners (Nils Schöfer, Roland Schelker, Marcell Kaljanac, Jordi Yang Zhou, Felix Fischer), handing awards and concluding remarks.