CYTO 2018
CYTO 2018, the 33rd Congress of the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC), took place in the Prague Congress Centre, April 28 to May 2. The largest scientific conference dedicated to cytometry, CYTO unites researchers and companies involved in flow, image and mass cytometry, cell sorting, advanced microscopy, data analysis, development of fluorescent probes and other fields. A range of scientific workshops addressed current issues with regard to diagnoses of both frequent and rare malignancies, issues pertinent to standardization and calibration, high content analyses, new software solutions and much more.
From scientific tutorials to lectures, CYTO covered topics spanning from immunology to other novel applications in cell biology and microbiology. Keynote speakers included Dayong Jin (new fluorescent probes) and Tulio Pozzan (fluorescent proteins and probes; lecture dedicated to Nobel laureate Roger Tsien), Andreas Radbruch (immune system and microbiota), Bernd Bodenmiller (tissue mass cytometry), Mike Borowitz (rare hematological diseases), Giuseppe Pantaleo (adaptive immune system’s memory), Guillaume Monneret (sepsis) and Nima Aghaeepour (data analysis). Attendees learned about controversies arising from simultaneous detection of proteins and mRNA in single cells.
With a ‘who's who’ of cytometry present at this conference, organizers and attendees included ISAC president Paul K. Wallace and many other prominent executive committee members and councilors (including our own Tomas Kalina of the Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University). CYTO serves as a place for conversation and breeding new ideas. An essential part of this process were phenomenal commercial exhibits by companies revealing new instruments and products.
On Wednesday, May 2, an outreach effort aimed at high-school students, CYTO Youth, was organized by Julianne Hill of National Institutes of Health, U.S. and her team of scientists.
David Novák
This was the greatest CYTO in the history of ISAC, with close to 2000 participants. It makes me proud we had the privilege to host it in Prague – see you in Vancouver next year. Tomas Kalina, ISAC councilor
CYTO Youth
On Wednesday, May 2, an outreach effort aimed at high-school students, CYTO Youth, was organised by Julianne Hill of National Institutes of Health, U.S. and her team of scientists, educators and volunteers as part of the CYTO 2018 conference.
The event opened with an inspiring speech by J. Paul Robinson, introducing students to the basic principles applied in cytometry and cell sorting. Students then attended workshops focused on function of antibodies and antigens, optics and fluidics in a flow cytometer, immunophenotyping and the simultaneous analysis of many different cellular markers.
Afterwards, the students were given a guided tour through the commercial exhibition at CYTO, with an opportunity to ask questions at the booths of companies influential in cytometry and related technologies. A closing talk by Joni S. Moore of the Perelman School of Medicine, U.S addressed clinical use of cytometry and cell sorting.
Thanks to Julianne Hill, Gelo Dela Cruz, Paul Wallace, Dan Callen, Haley Pugsley, Joni Moore, Roxana del Rio-Guerra, Tomas Kalina, Jozef Janda, Alexis Conway and others who helped organise this fun and valuable event.
David Novák, CYTO Youth volunteer
CYTO Youth congress was great for me. The organization was awesome, I very much appreciated the small interactive workshops in groups. R. S., high school student, 3rd grade
