On 8-9th September, the partners of the APPEAL project gathered once again for their annual consortium meeting, hosted by PharmAI Discovery in the historic city of Dresden, Germany. This third General Assembly brought together 40 participants in a hybrid format, including 29 attendees on site and 11 joining remotely, among them the Project Officer and members of the Scientific Advisory Board.
Our colleague Sergi Bayod, from the Drug Discovery department in Leitat, attended the meeting in remote. The meeting provided an excellent opportunity for the consortium to reflect on the achievements of the second project period and align on the priorities and objectives for the recently launched third phase of the project.
Throughout the two-day meeting, consortium partners presented the latest scientific and technical developments achieved within their respective work packages. Particular emphasis was placed on reviewing progress across the project and discussing the strategic roadmap for the coming months. Dedicated sessions enabled in-depth discussions on the advancement of the most promising candidate compounds towards in vivo testing, as well as on the application of in silico virtual screening approaches to identify novel compounds for future experimental validation.
A particularly rewarding aspect of the meeting was the active participation of several early-career researchers from different partner organisations, who presented their scientific work and contributions to the project. Their engagement highlighted the collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of APPEAL, while showcasing the emerging talent driving innovation within the consortium.
From Leitat we look forward to continuing this collaborative journey and to the exciting scientific advances that lie ahead.
