Katie E. Hillyer
School of Biological Sciences
P.O. Box 600
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington 6140
New Zealand

As the winner of the 2017 Metabolites Travel Award, Katie E. Hillyer, who is a Postdoc Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, presented at Metabolomics 2017. Here is what she reported from the conference:

"Metabolomics 2017, the 13^th annual conference of the Metabolomics Society was held on 25–29 June 2017, at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC) in Brisbane, Australia.

The conference theme was ‘Building Bridges’, which included six themes: systems biology/metabolic modelling, natural products/metabolite identification, advancing the field, edibilomics, health and medicine and environmental metabolomics, plant and model organisms.

There was also a strong focus on engaging and supporting early career researchers and students, with 31 travel awards and prizes, the majority of which to support the attendance of these groups. Out of a total of 535 delegates, 50% came to the conference for the first time and 36% were considered early-career (including students). There were a total of 136 oral presentations and 280+ poster presentations, in addition to sponsored luncheons, workshops and social activities. Social highlights included the Early Member Network (EMN) organised quiz night and the fabulous conference dinner at the BCEC plaza ballroom (and the following dance off between attendees).

I’d like to thank both the Local and International Organising Committees of the Metabolomics Society, the EMN, the sponsors and also all the delegates for such a fantastic event."