Targeting Mitochondria 2021 - Interactive Online
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we announce that also this year’s conference will be held virtually only. In my original Welcome Note posted on our webpage in December 2020 I expressed my confidence that at the latest by the end of summer 2021 the pandemic would be under control and easy traveling would again be possible. Very sadly, reality has proven me wrong. Even our earlier idea of holding a hybrid conference, i.e. in person and virtually, does not appear to be viable anymore, last but not least due to the feedback we have received from all invited speakers. While traveling within Europe currently does not appear to pose any problems, the situation is different for our participants from all other continents. The pandemic is unpredictable, so are executive measures which potentially might be taken by authorities.
Therefore, we decided today, September 13, 2021, to use again the same online format we had last year, with prerecorded lectures and short oral presentations which will be made available to all registered participants for several weeks.
However, to further increase the interactions between speakers and the audience, i.e. to come as close as possible to an “in person meeting” we will set up “Interactive Live Sessions”. During two days, we will dedicate four time periods to interactive discussions & networking. Based on Middle European Time we will have two time periods for “Live Session” on each day of the congress: one time period will be in the middle of the day and the other at the end of the day. All speakers will be present in at least one of these four sessions, depending on their availability and all conference participants should be able to attend “live” at least one session per day. But again, all talks are being recorded and will be made available for several weeks following the conference. More details about the needed rescheduling of our agenda we will post as soon as possible. We can only hope for your understanding, and we hope for your active collaboration. Even though I was wrong in December 2020, I am as confident as much as I can be that our conference series will be “back to normal” next year and I truly hope to see you again, in person (!) at our 13th World Conference on Targeting Mitochondria in Berlin in October 2022.
With my best wishes for you and your loved ones,
Prof. Dr. habil. Volkmar Weissig
President of the World Mitochondria Society
Midwestern University Glendale, Arizona, USA
