It was a great pleasure to welcome Professor Mootaz Salman from the University of Oxford to the Medical University of Gdańsk.

Professor Salman delivered a fascinating lecture on blood-brain barrier dysfunction in neurodegeneration, showcasing elegant work that combines patient-derived stem cells, organoids and organ-on-a-chip technologies to better understand neurological disease and identify new therapeutic strategies.

The visit provided a wonderful opportunity for discussions with colleagues from the Medical University of Gdańsk, University of Gdansk and Gdańsk University of Technology. These conversations sparked new ideas, highlighted exciting opportunities for collaboration, and were particularly inspiring for our students and early-career researchers.

Thank you, Mootaz, not only for sharing outstanding science but also for your openness, generosity and enthusiasm throughout the visit. We hope this is only the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration, and perhaps the first of many visits to Gdańsk.

A special thank you as well to our colleagues from Uczelnie Fahrenheita, Danuta Gutowska-Owsiak, Maciej M. Jankowski, Marcin Fijałkowski, Krzysztof Basiński, Michal Kucewicz, whose discussions made the visit even more engaging, and to medical student Mikołaj Fijalkowski for joining us for lunch—it’s always wonderful to see the next generation of scientists taking part in these conversations.

And of course, we couldn’t let Mootaz leave Gdańsk without a tour of the city. The weather even decided to cooperate—for once! We hope to welcome him back soon for more science, more collaborations, and another visit to our beautiful city.