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Jennifer Hope Graduate Student College of Medicine – Microbiology/Immunology 4th European Congress of Immunology – Vienna 2015 Last week, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the 4th European Congress of Immunology in Vienna, Austria as a delegate who was presenting an oral abstract. The conference began in an incredibly unique way – with a live orchestra providing music in between the opening talks! My session, entitled “Molecular Control of CD8+ T cells” was held on the final day of the conference, and was well attended. This was an excellent experience in fielding questions from researchers within the field, and I had two individuals approach me after my talk to further discuss my findings and future directions. Above is me, after attending one of the keynote sessions with fellow Drexel College of Medicine alum, Joseph Fraietta. Overall, the entire conference was a very eye-­‐opening experience, as it was my first conference attended outside of the United States. Each day, a keynote speaker provided an hour-­‐long seminar held around 1pm – and each one of these speakers was someone who is considered to be one of the top experts within their field of research. The poster sessions each day consisted of hundreds of posters, with extremely varied topics from innate immunity to allergies to cancer therapies to basic research into molecular mechanisms of immunity (where my research fits in). During the poster session, there were also several vendors set up throughout the hall who were available with the latest equipment for demonstration or for technical support. This meeting was designed in such a way that I could easily float between different sessions to hear the individual speakers that were of the greatest interest to me. For the most part, in the mornings I tended to go to the shorter talks, such as my own, as they were geared towards current and ongoing research. Specifically, I focused on attending talks centered around adaptive immunity or CD8+ T cells. I particularly enjoyed though the sessions held after the keynote speakers, as these talks provided more of an overview of several years of research within the individual labs and showed how their work was interconnected. In addition to vendors, several scientific communities were in attendance, including AAI (American Association of Immunologists). I took the time to speak with them at length regarding future meetings hosted by the AAI, and more importantly, the new career advisory board they are establishing to assist upcoming graduates with connecting with potential post-­‐doctoral advisors. The entire conference was a very positive experience, which yielded several ideas for expanding my own research as well as possibilities moving forward in my career.