New on the block: The workshop reports

Abstract

THERE is no doubt that dissemination of scientific knowledge is the main driver of its progress. Open discussions among scientists, free exchange of the information regarding observations, methods development and challenges help in establishing guidelines and focusing on the identification of the areas requiring attention of the scientific community. Continuous constructive discussions where different perspectives and ideas are shared are key factors in the advancement of knowledge and move the field forward. Convenient forums for such exchange are in person meetings where open, live brainstorming is not only possible but desired.The ISAC has established for its CYTO conference an important discussion platform for cytometrists-the Workshops (1,2). Eleven to 20 workshops are held at each CYTO conference with roughly 60 participants at each workshop. Each year, they have been raising a substantial attention with the cytometry community. This format enables face-to-face interaction of opinionated leaders and interested expert attendees who focus for 90 min on a specific hot topic in the field of single-cell analysis. The highlights of the workshops are the issues raised, the vivid discussions and the final outcomes such as recommendations or establishment of the subject specific task forces within ISAC that will bring discussions further beyond the short annual meeting. However, only few scientists will get the take home message, namely those who attended but all those who were in a parallel event at the conference or not attending at all will miss that valuable information.In this issue, we are proud to present a successful pilot project, the publication of the workshop summaries from the CYTO 2018 conference in Prague. This joint publication of 16 workshop reports is hopefully a valuable resource of information for a broad community interested in new technology directions in cytometry, Shared Resource Laboratories, longterm studies and future trends. We hope that the global cytometry profits from this summary and your input in future project is most welcome.

End of Year Note 2019

“…New SRL communications have already been published and phenotype reports are under preparation by leading experts in phenotyping fields. A big feat was the joint publication of the reports of the workshops held at CYTO 2018 . The report from this year's CYTO conference is published in this issue (see pages 1236–1274).…”