More than 60 researchers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States met for a lunch-to-lunch meeting at Lysebu, Oslo, September 26-27, 2019. The meeting was a great success, with excellent international keynote speakers and a mix of early-career researchers and senior researchers participating.

In the first session, group leaders from the Norwegian centers gave short updates from their groups regarding ongoing projects and future plans.

Isabelle C. van Gelder, MD, PhD, Professor, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands, gave a lecture entitled “Atrial fibrillation: not just an arrhythmia”, underscoring the complexity of atrial fibrillation. She emphasized that atrial fibrillation almost never comes alone, and should be considered a “wake up call”, and an opportunity to address relevant comorbidity and lifestyle issues. Addressing such factors timely and adequately may prevent progression of atrial fibrillation and reduce the risk of complications related to atrial fibrillation.

Francesca Cesari, PhD, Chief Biological Sciences Editor, Nature, gave us intriguing insights into the editorial processes in Nature, with important advice on what to do (and not to do) if you want to publish your work in high impact journals. Cesari also chaired an interactive session for early-career researchers, on how to present your research and why and how to give your best elevator pitch. This session was extremely popular among the young researchers; six of them preparing for the abstract session next morning.

The abstract session on Friday morning included 6 presentations from young researchers, and these presentations were of very high quality, both scientifically and the way they were presented. A committee consisting of Francesca Cesari, Michiel Rienstra and Morten Grunnet selected one of the abstracts to win the Best Abstract Presentation Award, to be presented by Francesca Cesari at the end of the meeting.

Morten Grunnet, PhD, Dr. Scient., CSO Acesion Pharma, Copenhagen, Denmark gave a talk on “Development of new therapeutic drugs for atrial fibrillation”, illustrating the long journey from a good idea through basic science investigations, pre-clinical studies into clinical studies for a promising compound.

Daniel B. Mark, MD, MPH Professor of Medicine, Vice Chief for Academic Affairs, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Director, Outcomes Group, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Editor-in-Chief, American Heart Journal was one of the senior investigators in the famous CABANA trial. He gave a talk on the results of the CABANA trial, but also included important notes on use and interpretation of statistics, challenging some of the “statistical truths”.

Ole Gunnar Anfinsen, MD, PhD, Consultant Cardiologist, Section for Arrhythmia, Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, presented data on ablation from a Norwegian perspective.

At the end of the meeting, Francesca Cesari presented the winner of the Best Abstract Presentation Award, Arnela Saljic, with her abstract “NLRP3 inflammasome is activated in the atrium of an ovine model of sustained obesity”. The award winner received a diploma and 5000 NOK, and a free subscription of the Nature journal.

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