Around 60 young researchers from the Cluster of Excellence PMI met on March 13 and 14, 2024 for a scientific exchange at the Maritim Seehotel on Timmendorfer Strand.

The Young Scientist Retreat offered a varied program in a sunny atmosphere. In a block of lectures, the newer Cluster PIs Prof. Henriette Kirchner, Prof. Manuel Liebeke, Prof. Markus Hoffmann, Prof. Malte Spielmann and Prof. Elmar Wolf presented themselves and their scientific work and gave suggestions for collaborations. In a guest lecture, Dr. Thomas Walle from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg gave exciting insights into his research and his career path as a clinician scientist. The new communication platform "PMI-interact", the JupyterHub bioinformatics server as a digital platform for teaching and the Statusplus volunteer portal were also presented. Many young researchers gave an insight into their research with inspired flash talks. In addition, Dr. Joana P. Bernardes and Dr. Hanna Graßhoff were elected as speakers of the PMI Academy.

The programme was rounded off by the workshop "How to use your career as a vehicle for growth & impact", offered by Dr. Amani Said from Spain (Success beyond the Lab), which provided the opportunity for self-reflection on one's (scientific) career and helped to recognize and use individual strengths and talents.

In addition to the scientific exchange, personal  exchange was in focus. Therefore, there was also an extensive evening program with a science slam by Tim Hollstein and an interactive quiz.