Feedback from the Science Café at the 7th European Bioanalysis Forum Young Scientist Symposium

The 7th Young Scientist Symposium, a meeting again organized as a hybrid online event by young scientists for young scientists under the umbrella of the European Bioanalysis Forum and in collaboration with the Universities of Bologna and Ghent, included a variety of interesting presentations on cutting-edge bioanalytical science and processes. On the morning of day 2, the meeting hosted their traditional Science Café around the theme: 'How has COVID-19 changed our future?' in which the Young Scientist Symposium organizing committee engaged with the delegates on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the careers of young scientists working in a bioanalytical (industry or academic) laboratory, that is, things they lost, for good or for bad - things they gained, wanted or unwanted, things they learned about themselves and their industry. This manuscript provides feedback from those discussions.

Feedback from the Science Café from the Sixth European Bioanalysis Forum Young Scientist Symposium

The 6th Young Scientist Symposium, a meeting organized by young scientists for young scientists under the umbrella of the European Bioanalysis Forum vzw and in collaboration with the Universities of Bologna and Ghent, included a variety of interesting presentations on cutting edge bioanalytical science and processes. Integrated in the meeting, an interactive round table session, the Science Café, discussed the challenges related to sustainability for bioanalytical lab activities. This manuscript reflects conclusions from these discussions. They can provide our community a compass for future business practices to embrace more sustainable laboratory activities considerate of smarter use of a wide array of resources and laboratory tools, resulting in increased wellbeing for our next generations and our planet.

Future of Probiotics and Prebiotics and the Implications for Early Career Researchers

The opportunities in the fields of probiotics and prebiotics to a great degree stem from what we can learn about how they influence the microbiota and interact with the host. We discuss recent insights, cutting-edge technologies and controversial results from the perspective of early career researchers innovating in these areas. This perspective emerged from the 2019 meeting of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics - Student and Fellows Association (ISAPP-SFA). Probiotic and prebiotic research is being driven by genetic characterization and modification of strains, state-of-the-art in vitro, in vivo, and in silico techniques designed to uncover the effects of probiotics and prebiotics on their targets, and metabolomic tools to identify key molecules that mediate benefits on the host. These research tools offer unprecedented insights into the functionality of probiotics and prebiotics in the host ecosystem. Young scientists need to acquire these diverse toolsets, or form inter-connected teams to perform comprehensive experiments and systematic analysis of data. This will be critical to identify microbial structure and co-dependencies at body sites and determine how administered probiotic strains and prebiotic substances influence the host. This and other strategies proposed in this review will pave the way for translating the health benefits observed during research into real-life outcomes. Probiotic strains and prebiotic products can contribute greatly to the amelioration of global issues threatening society. The intent of this article is to provide an early career researcher's perspective on where the biggest opportunities lie to advance science and impact human health.