Junior Faculty Scholarships

I am deeply grateful to the IES Committee for selecting me as one of the recipients of the Junior Faculty Scholarship, which allowed me to attend the 13th Biennial Congress of the IES. I was also truly honored to learn, after attending the conference, that I am the first and only IES member from my country, Thailand.

Over the five days of the IES conference, I witnessed an outstanding event packed with an abundance of knowledge and exceptional speakers, offering a unique balance between basic research, translational science, and clinical applications. I learned so so so much from this conference—not only gaining new knowledge but also reflecting on my current research and generating fresh ideas for future studies. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to catch the updates on the latest advances in eosinophil research, understand the current challenges in the field, and identify research gaps worth exploring. This premier event was a great way for newcomers to learn both the historical foundations and the most up-to-date developments in the field in a short period of time. One of the most inspiring aspects of the IES was how senior members encouraged junior trainees to ask questions first, ensuring that we could learn as much as possible. This truly reflects the IES community’s dedication to support the development of the next generation of scientists.

I can confidently say that IES is one of the best and most impactful scientific conferences I have ever attended. It allowed me to engage in face-to-face discussions with researchers across the eosinophil biology field—from early-career investigators to legends of the field whose papers I have read for years but never imagined I would meet in person. The atmosphere of IES was uniquely warm and welcoming, filled with smiles and friendship at every level, while providing an unparalleled opportunity to connect, collaborate, and advance our shared work with extraordinary engagement from all participants. It was easy to reach and converse with anyone, creating meaningful connections. I also made several new friends, many of whom I am confident will become my collaborators in both scientific and non-scientific endeavors in the future.

After this conference, I am committed to sharing the knowledge and insights gained with my colleagues in Thailand and across the region, and to encouraging them to participate in IES activities. I am certain that more researchers from Thailand will join the next IES conference. Hope to see you all again at the IES 2027 conference in Canada!!!

I was privileged to attend the 13th Biennial Congress of the International Eosinophil Society with the support of a Junior Faculty Scholarship. My independent laboratory was founded in 2023 and focuses on regulation of eosinophil specialization in unique tissue environments. Support from the scholarship enabled me to bring two lab members to the meeting—as newcomers to the field of eosinophil biology, they benefitted tremendously and received excellent feedback on their nascent projects. In addition to reconnecting with colleagues, I formed new connections that are already blossoming into exciting collaborations. From my perspective, the most remarkable aspect of the meeting was how it featured contrasting elements that synergized to form a cohesive and compelling scientific program. Though it was an intimate and highly topical meeting, the projects and data presented were stunningly broad in scope. Although the meeting was unified by a single cell type, presentations catalogued eosinophil interactions with a myriad of other cell types including hematopoietic progenitors, mature immune cells, fibroblasts, epithelial cells, adipocytes, and neurons. Many of these studies illustrated beneficial roles of eosinophils including prevention of liver injury, inhibition of tumor metastasis, and positive regulation of bone marrow reconstitution following chemotherapy. These findings are especially timely for long-term evaluation of the growing population of patients using eosinophil-depleting therapeutics. Another contrast that I enjoyed was between presentations examining the sub-cellular biology of a single eosinophil through high-resolution imaging and those that presented clinical findings from large patient populations. Time was also discussed at extremes, from DNA catapults that manifest in less than a second, to long-lived eosinophils that exert effects over weeks. Finally, in addition to cutting-edge findings, the Gleich and Lifetime Achievement Award Lectures encapsulated decades of development and exemplified the field’s evolution. Altogether, these contrasting and complementary elements of the 13th Biennial Congress made it a compelling meeting for all attendees, and a particularly enriching conference for early career members and newcomers to the field.