It was a particular honor to be invited by the students of the International Giessen Graduate Centre for the Life Sciences (GGL) to deliver a keynote lecture during the annual conference which features an exciting and diverse program covering ten interdisciplinary research sections. The two days were packed with fascinating talks covering diverse topics ranging from ecology and bioresources to reproduction, cardiovascular disease, immunity and metabolism.

Apart from the great conference, it was particularly nice to return to my Alma Mater – the Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen – and to catch up with old friends and colleagues in the various departments. Also, I was very impressed by the new buildings (on and close to the life science campus) – an extraordinary demonstration of how well the University is developing and growing.

I would like to thank the students of the ‘Protein and Nucleic Acid Interactions’ section of the GGL very much for the kind invitation and the entire GGL team for the hospitality!

Picture courtesy of Dr. L. Lück, managing director of the GGL