The LIBST symposium took place on Friday 30 November. In the morning session, four LIBST researchers talked about the progress of their research. François Chaumont showed us how very specific molecular biology approaches could be combined with broader approaches to understand how plants face water deficits. Bernard Hallet explained the fascinating world of rotifers and their remarkable genome repair properties. Yvan Larondelle told us the story of some lipids that could intoxicate cancer cells. Finally, Albertus Viljoen showed us how AFM could measure interactions between cells, a mechanism used by bacteria to form biofilms.
The afternoon session offered us the opportunity to listen to presentations by international speakers. Each year, this session is devoted to a major cross-cutting theme likely to be of interest to the greatest number of people. The theme chosen for the 2021 edition is the link between nutrition and health, with a particular focus on the impact of dietary fatty acids. This year's session was organized in association with the Belgian Nutrition Society and the Louvainn4Nutrition initiative. Its title was "Fatty acids are a key in human health status".
Three guest speakers were invited, Prof. Calder (UK), Prof. Michalski (France) and Prof. Ecker (Germany), whose work in relation to dietary fatty acids is internationally recognized. These three internationally renowned speakers illustrated their research on the bioactive role of certain groups of fatty acids or on certain specific fatty acids in human physiology, focusing on different functions and related pathologies: immunity, cardiometabolic health, and colorectal cancer.