“Science and AI – Friend or Foe?” was the theme of the Medical Faculty’s 22^nd Research Day held in November 2023. Almost 190 doctoral students presented their posters in the first half of the day, which were evaluated by experts. The afternoon programme was opened by Dr. Barbara Marte, senior editor at the scientific journal Nature. She gave the audience insights into the publishing practices of major journals and exchanged views on a panel with, among others, Prof. Dr. Anke Hinney and Prof. Dr. Tienush Rassaf. Three doctoral students then competed in the Science Slam: Lisa Trautmann (BIOME) won the 500 Euro prize for her slam entitled the “Power of expectation” which focused on the topic of placebos. At the end, 20 young researchers received awards for their poster presentations, including the BIOME members Daniel Agranovski, Emily Alefeld, Antonia Belter, Victoria Berg, Hannah Breiter, Kirsten Dombrowski, Lou Hecker, Kai Robin Pfeifer, Ann-Kathrin Schnormeier, Rebecca Steffen, Chiara Wedekind, and Fatma Yalinci. The prizes were donated by the StiftungUniversitätsmedizinEssen.

BIOME's triple-core annual retreat participants gathered off-campus in Cologne again for a translational immunology/infectious diseases/tumour group exchange. The supporting doctoral orga-team consisting of Clara Roggendorf, Anne Petzold, Lorraine Muungani and Xi Wang decided on a broader approach to the selection of keynote speakers this year by inviting Ariane Pessentheiner (University of Graz) to share her experiences of segueing from classic post-doc research into science communications, while the BIOME alumna Anna-Lena Volckmar (University of Heidelberg) discussed the finer issues of In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR). Around eighty MD/PhD candidates presented progress updates on their research projects in talks and poster sessions, with Maren Soldierer winning the award for the best talk, and Sebastian Kromat, Antonia Belter and Lara Kaumanns each receiving prizes for their posters.

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Traditionally, the Ischemia, Reperfusion and Angiogenesis core has always had a wider scientific theme guiding its choice of retreat venue. This year a medicinal plant focus was chosen. As an ice-breaker to kick off the event, the doctorates prepared short presentations on plant-derived agents used in medicine such as coumarine (Marcumar), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), caffeine, acetylsalicylic acid, cocaine, curcumin, digoxin, wild lowbush blueberry, trehalose, Crataegus pinnatifida, and oleic acid (olive oil).

The excellent external speaker, Dr. Sarah Starosta, has analyzed the connection between cancer and depression and found in her mouse model that inflammation can trigger depression. This is of course of great importance as there are many diseases that cause inflammation and are negatively associated with depression. The keynote lecture was followed by listening to and critically discussing the doctoral and expert presentations of research-in-progress. The retreat ended with a group excursion to the Ruhr University Bochum's botanical garden where some of the plants talked about earlier could be identified IRL.

During the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience core retreat in Düsseldorf, members presented their dissertation projects in the form of digital posters. However, before presenting their work, members had to introduce themselves to the group by using a digital "Bio Sketch" comprising of information about "Education" and "Skills", as well as an "About Me" section. Finally, each person had to explain "Why I am pursuing a PhD/MD".

The creativity regarding the bio-sketches was very inspiring and funny, while the presentations of the dissertation projects were very precise and informative, offering a lot of valuable feedback from students to students. After this intense exchange of scientific information, the psychologist Beatrix Stahlberger gave an impressive interactive keynote talk on the subject  "Emotional Intelligence - Personal + Social Competence" which was followed by a workshop and coaching session focusing on difficult situations young researchers may face during their doctorate thesis. The retreat ended with a networking get together where informal exchange was possible.