The Academy of Finland Research Flagships each sail at the seas of their own area of expertise. Each one tries to steer clear of destructive reefs but is still sure to face calm, strong winds and even storms on their voyage. InFLAMES Flagship has now sailed the seas of immunology, immunology-based drug development and/or diagnostics for almost a year, recruiting 42 new crew members along the way. That alone is proof enough that as soon as the ropes were released from the pier, the search for stronger winds and ever faster movement towards the goal began. The end goal, developing new treatments alongside more accurate and earlier stage diagnosis methods, is what we hope to reach together with our Flagship and accompanying fleet. I believe the journey is going to be an unforgettable one.

Thinking back on the past year, the recruitment of crew members truly rises above all else: doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers, PIs, professors, visiting professors, professors of practice, research supportive staff and Flagship supportive services. All these people together form a crew that helped the Flagship to set sail. Together with the Executive Board of the InFLAMES Flagship we have tried to establish the practices to support each and every member of our crew in their research via getting to know each other and adapting new avenues of approach to solve the challenges of their research. I must confess, however, that the constant headwind caused by the COVID-19 has brought its fair share of annoyances. Luckily, we did see some rays of light in the form of the Havsvidden PI conference trip and InFLAMES winter holiday party, both of which could ultimately be organized as planned.

Good communication is of utmost importance for Flagships, and ours got a great boost in the form of communications specialist Liisa Koivula. Visible result of this is the follower count of InFLAMES twitter doubling in the second half of the year, reaching the respectable current number of 500. Additionally, the introductory video by the Academy of Finland and InFLAMES themed issue of the Aurora magazine  garnered great attention national-wide. Recently published inauguration lectures by the InFLAMES professors of practice Timo Veromaa and Juha Laine together with the InFLAMES PI professor Qiushui He are also available for viewing. This work to bring the researchers and their research to the collective knowledge of every citizen through both education and new social media channels continues in the spring. Researchers of InFLAMES Flagship, be ready; your help will be needed.

As the saying goes: “Together we are more”. This applies to the Flagship as well as we held the first InFLAMES Corporate Corner last week. Both our current and new industrial cooperators, together with our researchers, were invited. The interest towards the event was clear and roughly 80-90 participants attended either remotely or on-site, with over 15 different companies being represented. Our work in bringing forward the potential of the expertise and collaborations of the InFLAMES Flagship continues with the four more thematically targeted Corporate Corners next year. A channel to the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has also been opened with the support of Pharma Industry Finland. We want to make our knowledge and potential known both within and outside Finnish borders. The way I see it, the voyage of the InFLAMES Flagship in the seas of immunological research will never truly end. Midpoints will be reached and celebrated in harbors both small and big, but afterwards the voyage will always resume again, without fail, afterwards. The course may change, the ship may grow, but we will always continue sailing forward. And it’s a magnificent feeling, standing on board and working to ensure the winds remain behind the sails.

Kaisa Hakkila, Project Manager