by Kiana Buttiens, PhD Candidate, KU Leuven-Belgium
As a final year PhD student, I was very pleased to get the opportunity from my supervisors to present some of my work at this year’s ASEMV/AAEV (American Society for Exosomes and Microvesicles/American Association of Extracellular Vesicles) 2022 joint annual meeting (September 29-October 3). After a few years of attending meetings and conferences in online settings, joining a meeting in real-life again was a genuine delight. Once you arrive at the conference grounds of Asilomar, you immediately feel that this isn’t just any other conference. The beautiful setting, right at the ocean, sets the tone for the start of an amazing 5-day experience. As I travelled a longer way than most participants--all the way from Belgium--I arrived a bit earlier and got to explore the surroundings. Asilomar is also a California state park, officially called Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds State Park and provides trails via boardwalks along the ocean of the Monterey peninsula with plenty of wildlife sightings.