After almost two years of virtual conferences, it was finally possible to attend an international symposium in person. The scientists of the three DFG Collaborative Research Centres CRC 1009 „Breaking Barriers“, CRC 1450 „inSight - Multiscale imaging of organ-specific inflammation", SFB TR128 „Multiple Sklerose" and the Clinical Research Unit CRU 342 „Organ dysfunction during systemic inflammation" concieved a new symposium concept. Prof. Noelia Alonso Gonzalez, Prof. Johannes Roth and Ruth Langer from the Institute for Immunology at the University of Münster, organized the first international conference "Inflammation and Imaging" that took place from 2 - 4 November 2021 on the premises of the Castle of the University of Münster.

Twenty internationally renowned speakers from Germany, Europe, Great Britain, Israel and the USA discussed current results in the areas of inflammation and infection with a total of 190 participants. The spectrum of the lectures included inflammatory processes at biological interfaces such as the lungs, intestines or skin and internal organs such as the heart or brain. The topics included diseases such as sepsis, multiple sclerosis and myocardial infarction. Infectious agents spanned bacteria, viruses and parasites. The disease mechanisms of systemic infections, which are also of great relevance in the current corona pandemic, formed a further focus of the lectures. Special attention was paid to innovative imaging techniques that allow inflammation processes to be followed live in a living organism. Much of the data presented showed new approaches that could significantly improve the diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory diseases in the future.

In two rounds of presentations, young scientists explained and discussed their own work results in 40 project presentations. Three of these young scientists were each awarded a prize of 250 Euros for their poster presentations, donated by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Reasearch (IZKF) Münster.

Interestingly, every single one of the 190 scientists from the field of immunology and infectiology was fully vaccinated against Corona, demonstrating a clear commitment to 100% vaccination protection by international experts who are well aware about both the risk of infection and the possible side effects of the vaccination.