Following in the footsteps of the first two very successful meetings in Cork (2022) and Athens (2023) the third and final annual InPharma meeting took place at the university of Southern Denmark from 10 to 14 June 2024.
The event kicked off with two days dedicated to a comprehensive program by the InPharma consortium, featuring outreach activities, educational training, and specialised scientific sessions tailored for our early stage researchers (ESRs) to showcase their findings. Each ESR had the opportunity to present their research and key results in 20 minute presentations to the consortium following ten minutes for additional questions and feedback from their peers.
A highlight of these first two days was the Shark Tank session, a dissemination and training session for the InPharma ESRs offering them a unique opportunity to identify innovative research ideas which will be game changers in pharmaceutical R&D and pitch them to a panel of industry experts i.e. the ‘Sharks’. In groups of three to four, the ESRs pitched their emerging research to the panel and the other ESR teams who were invited to critically review their chosen game changer in pharmaceutical development. The shark tank panel decided that all groups were so excellent that it was a 4-way tie for 1st prize!
At the end of day two, the spotlight shifted to the open symposium which was jointly organised by InPharma & Nordic POP. This international gathering brought together academia and industry in Odense for insightful discussions on the latest scientific breakthroughs tackling contemporary challenges in candidate-enabling drug formulations. A number of InPharma presentations as well as posters were showcased during the symposia. Posters from all ESR projects were presented and Nicolas Pätzmann (ESR 3) gave an oral presentation during the symposium on his project titled ‘Predictive Computational Models for Assessing the Impact of Co-Milling on Drug Dissolution.
Outside of the scientific events, another highlight of the meeting was the organised trip to the local Odense Zoo, where the InPharma team learned first-hand from Zookeepers on the realities of managing animals in captivity and the role of Zoos in scientific research and public education. The team of Zookeepers also shared their experiences with challenges encountered in care/continuity planning of animals within a Zoo, which highlighted the need for placing animal welfare at the heart of all discussions, including how the 3Rs principles can be applied in zoo settings.
The closing two days of the annual meeting were dedicated to the InPharma/NordicPharmaTrain Summer School. The joint summer school kicked-off with a theory session followed by ten different hand-on training topics taught over the course of three sessions.
A special note of thanks to the Professor Annette Bauer-Brandl, Martin Brandl and colleagues at SDU for their exceptional organisation of a highly successful InPharma/Nordic POP joint symposium.