Image: Professor Harry Dailey and Dr. Amy Medlock organized the international symposium 'Unraveling the Mysteries of Heme Metabolism' in Cape Town, South Africa April 17-21, 2023. The symposium brought together an outstanding and diverse cadre of life scientists to interact and brainstorm on new discoveries, ideas and directions in basic, clinical, and applied research on heme biology and porphyria. Sessions highlighted leaders in their respective field, with speakers representing internationally recognized research teams. A special “Updates on Porphyrias” session was organized by Kristen Wheeden, president of United Porphyria Association, and included to provide patients, physicians and researchers the most recent information on porphyrias and their treatments. The symposium was organized to coincide with the retirement and in honor of the contributions of Professor Peter Meissner. Professor Meissner's primary focus was on disorders of heme metabolism and more recently he expanded his work to postgraduate education and early career researcher development across the University of Cape Town. The symposium was attended by more than 70 researchers, graduate students, physicians, patients, and patient advocates from more than 7 different countries.
