ARCTiC hosted its inaugural Kick-Off Symposium on the 17^th September 2024 at the picturesque Holmen Fjordhotell near Oslo. Organised by the ARCTiC founding members, this symposium was attended by autophagy researchers from Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo and The Arctic University of Norway. 

Vojo Deretic (University of New Mexico School of Medicine, USA) joined by zoom as a keynote speaker, where he provided an overview of the Autophagy, Inflammation & Metabolism (AIM) Center in Albequerque, and shared his novel insights into membrane atg8ylation and its manifestations.  

Fulvio Reggiori (Aarhus University, Denmark) also attended in-person as a keynote speaker and shared his exciting new developments in selective degradation of aggregates by autophagy.  

Several short talks from young researchers highlighted the novel and exciting autophagy research happening within ARCTiC. This included presentations on the global landscape of autophagy regulation (Nathalia Chica Balaguera), the role of omegasomes in autophagosome formation, expansion and closure (Viola Nähse), regulation of hypoxia-induced mitophagy (Patricia González Rodríguez) and autophagy regulation of ferroptosis during carcinogenesis (Swarupa Panda/Tor Erik Rusten).  

There were numerous opportunities for scientific discussion and networking, culminating in a team-based autophagy quiz that was won by Nikolai Engedal, Camilla Raiborg and Laura Trachsel Moncho.