The jury members struggled to decide between the excellent junior researcher contributions but finally selected the best presentations for awards: Maria-C. Jentsch (Leipzig): Aspergillus fumigatus in severe equine asthma – Antigen identification and serology to elucidate etiology?, Aline Keilhaue (Leipzig): Increased Aspergillus fumigatus-binding IgG1 and IgA in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in equine asthma – Not simply allergic? , Alexandra Laubschat (Berlin): The impact of infection with the tissue-invasive intestinal nematode Ascaris suum on hepatic antiviral immunity, and Robert M. Mugo (Berlin): Acute Ascaris infection impairs effector functions of natural killer cells in single and Salmonella co-infected pigs.
Also, this meeting sadly marks the end of the professional contributions of four senior immunologists, Prof. Gottfried Alber (Leipzig), Prof. Mathias Büttner (Leipzig), Prof. Bernd Kaspers (München) and Prof. Armin Saalmüller (Wien). The working group thanks these four esteemed researchers for their scientific contributions to veterinary immunology and no less for their efforts to advance the field toward state-of-the-art methods and approaches.