Abstract
United European Gastroenterology (UEG) is the flagship of all gastroenterology in Europe, representing 16 ordinary and 46 national societies. In turn, it is not surprising that the UEG Week has become one of or, maybe, the most relevant of the meetings worldwide in the field of Gastroenterology. A substantial number of 13,203 participants from 114 countries attended the UEG Week in 2015, fostering such a view.
My career as a clinician scientist started in 2006, and now I hold the position of an assistant professor at Ulm University in Germany. My aim is to develop novel pancreatic disease models based on differentiating human pluripotent stem cells and genetically engineered mouse models. The first time I joined the UEG Week was in Berlin in 2013. From the very beginning I was engaged by the tingly atmosphere of the UEG Week and, to my great surprise, both abstracts I had submitted received attention from the UEG Scientific Committee. One abstract dealt with the role of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) during pancreatic cancer formation and the other with our initial efforts to drive human pluripotent stem cells toward the exocrine pancreatic lineage. The latter was selected for an oral presentation, while the ATM poster won a Top Poster Prize providing me with a free ticket for the Post Graduate Teaching Programme at UEG Week in Vienna in 2014. However, in any case I would have joined the UEG Week in Vienna in 2014 with its Post Graduate Teaching Programme, an absolute ‘must see’ which perfectly complements the main meeting. Here, the exciting atmosphere unifies state of the art clinical/basic research with novel standards in clinical care across Europe, hands-on teaching courses, round table discussions and several interactive sessions.
At this point, I would like to draw the putative participant's attention to the variety of different award categories announced by the UEG including dozens of travel awards, the Poster Champ Awards for the five best daily posters, the prestigious Rising Star Awards for emerging clinical scientists with a very promising track record, and the Top Abstract Prize. From all of the meetings and international conferences I have experienced, I can assure you that the various awards are not only a unique appraisal of our work, but also an opportunity providing motivation to strive for even better research in the future.
But is an award really the right term to describe what UEG has set up at this stage? Instead, I would consider the awards category more as a unique and novel opportunity to access new resources for funding of either clinical and basic research in the field of gastroenterology. Here, the Research Prize and the five Top Abstract Prizes particularly stand out. Each of the latter is honoured with € 10,000, which can be freely spent on your future research. But let's put this in relation to the funding landscape in gastroenterology: (a) the Top Abstract Prizes are awarded only on the basis of the quality of your scientific work; (b) importantly, the support received is free of restrictions providing a unique resource for risky research investments that would be rather difficult to fund otherwise; (c) most importantly, in case your work is selected for one of the Top Abstract Prizes you get the unique opportunity to present your work in the Plenary Session of the meeting, and with a total number of 13,203 participants in 2015 you can imagine the tension you will feel when you enter the stage having not only a huge crowd but also a professional audience in front of you; (d) finally, the UEG has launched the UEG Journal as an official platform to report on novel findings and cutting-edge research in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology. Of note, UEG Journal achieved a start-up impact factor of 2.08 to underscore the potential of the society’s journal. Here, the Top Abstract Prize winners get the unique opportunity to finally outline their research field in an invited review article undergoing peer-review. All in all, the UEG has put together a unique package for scientists at all stages of their career, which is exclusively driven to support reputation, interaction and the careers of the Top Abstract Prize winners. From my personal perspective, this is a unique chance which offers unequalled opportunities.
Having said this, one may ask for strategies to be selected for a Top Abstract Prize, considering the more than 2000 abstracts presented at UEG Week? Honestly speaking, I believe that there is no strategy better than to report on solidly conducted research spiked with a fancy technique and complemented with a clinical outlook. We received the Top Abstract Prize for the development of ‘A pancreatic differentiation platform to study cystic fibrosis in a dish’. In this particular situation I was in the fortuitous position to report on a virtually complete story at the time of abstract submission in 2015. The top abstracts are chosen by the UEG Scientific Committee from a pool of abstracts which have been top-ranked and thereby pre-selected by external referees. Having previously reviewed abstracts myself, I know this ranking process quite well and it requires rapid assessment of quality, cutting-edge potential and thorough study performance reported in a half-page content. Therefore, your abstract needs to pinpoint these issues and the central theme of your work to raise the curiosity of referees. This makes writing of an abstract even more difficult than a full article as the entire information has to be conveyed in a shorter framework. So, take your time and avoid ‘incidentally’ written abstracts. Usually, I start with the development of the title which should be an eye-catcher to stimulate the interest of the reader in the rest of your text. Essentially, the title should condense the entire abstract information in one sentence. A precise writing style devoid of ordinary language, filler words and unnecessary sentences applies throughout. These style rules should then be used to introduce your topic effectively in a way that people from other fields are able to track and judge your claims. Keep in mind that nothing is worse than an untaught reviewer! Then, you introduce your hypothesis or outline why your work is required and, after a very condensed methods part, report your results. Finally, you should underpin the added value of your work to the field and give your work a translational fate in case you report on basic research. Your clinical research should explain the immediate value and the potential to change clinical guidelines and to underpin the benefit for patients' care. Following these suggestions may increase your chance of winning but, of course, is no guarantee. However, in case your work is not selected for a prize, do not be disappointed, just present it in one of the various poster formats which the UEG has set for scientific exchange and networking, and enjoy the scientific discussions with your peers at the E-poster terminals. Complemented with printed posters, this will allow you a more detailed presentation and also assessment of your work and will give rise to novel ideas and projects. But still, even if you would just like to visit the UEG Week without submitting an abstract, it remains a ‘must see' for young gastroenterologists striving for further education, networking and scientific exchange in an international, multi-cultural environment.
So mark up your calendar now in order to have the time for writing an abstract for UEG Week 2016, as abstract submission is open from is open from January 15 to April 29. Highlight these dates for UEG Week Vienna 2016 in your calendar:
29 April 2016: Deadline for abstract submission 12 May 2016: Deadline for early bird registration fee 8 September 2016: Deadline for late registration fee 9 September 2016: Deadline for late breaking abstract submission 15–19 October 2016: UEG Week 2016 in Vienna Find out more, visit www.ueg.eu/week
Be sure to meet me there.