Early career researchers take the floor at RESCEU’s virtual 4th GAM

RSV research has a bright future judging by the good work and implication shown by the early career researchers during RESCEU’s virtual 4^th General Assembly Meeting (GAM). Indeed, this year’s edition wanted to bring into focus the contribution young scientists are making to the project which intends to build knowledge on RSV for the future development of effective RSV preventative options and therapeutics.

Early career researchers involved in RESCEU were given the opportunity to present the progress that has been made in their respective work packages. Ting Shi and You Li (both research fellows at the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh) presented a systematic literature review on RSV and the current estimates of burden of disease; Deniz Öner (Jannsen Pharmaceutica), Joseph McGinley and Gu-Lung Lin (University of Oxford ) disclosed their findings on presumed risk factors and biomarkers for RSV-related severe disease and related sequelae. As for Xiao Li (University of Antwerp), she focused on retrospective resource use analyses from existing databases and networks whilst Joanne Wildenbeest (University Medical Center Utrecht) offered a presentation on prospective data collection. In fact, assembling existing RSV data to inform policy‐making and regulatory decisions is one of RESCEU’s main objectives.

“I was very pleased to present the updates for our WP” explained Xiao Li. “It also helped me to co-ordinate and communicate more with our WP and other WPs” she added. For Gu-Lung Lin this first virtual meeting was a success. “It gave us the chance to receive updates from each WP in the RESCEU consortium during the coronavirus pandemic”.

In this sense, Joseph McGinley also highlighted the fact that RESCEU virtual GAM “showed that science need not be constrained by the pandemic”. For McGinley, the event proved how the RESCEU consortium continues to push the boundaries of its understanding of RSV disease.
In similar terms summarized Ting Shi her experience: “The RESCEU virtual meeting provided the most updated and comprehensive research on RSV disease. It was a huge success, especially under the challenge of COVID-19 pandemic”.Although the meeting was initially planned to take place face to face in Edinburgh, it was moved online once the pandemic broke out. This new format did not prevent knowledge sharing and science debate. “Although it was a virtual meeting, I felt very engaged and the synergy was very positive” observed Li.