TY - JOUR T1 - News from the Underground: What were the most important scientific/clinical take-home messages for juniors? JF - Breathe JO - Breathe SP - 333 LP - 335 DO - 10.1183/20734735.015914 VL - 10 IS - 4 AU - Rica Zinsky AU - Anne Olland AU - Anders Bjerg AU - Andras Bikov AU - Szymon Skoczyński Y1 - 2014/12/01 UR - http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/10/4/333.abstract N2 - The ERS International Congress has traditionally been a splendid opportunity to present current updates in clinical respiratory medicine and new research findings. This year’s programme was packed, making it impossible to attend all sessions, but juniors interested in specific fields were there for you to highlight the most important take home messages from the 2014 ERS International Congress in Munich.Amongst the most important news for the clinicians was the publication of a Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines update [1]. In the updated guidelines, the heterogeneity of asthma is emphasised, suggesting the need of “4P” (Personalised, Predictive, Preventive and Participatory) treatment regimes. Another clinically important issue recognised in GINA and the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines [2], is asthma–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome (ACOS). ACOS has a special pathophysiological and clinical characteristic and large-scale studies have been initiated to investigate it. In the future of individualised medicine, validated biomarkers are urgently required that can assist in the correct phenotyping of lung diseases and may help to predict treatment responsiveness. A huge number of novel molecules has been introduced for the treatment of airway disorders. The presented studies clearly highlighted the priorities of future research topics, namely the need to investigate methodological and physiological factors and to cross-validate biomarker studies between different centres in large cohorts of subjects.A number of sessions at Munich showed that epidemiology and environmental exposure are vital factors in translational research. The biggest buzz was surrounding the Sunday Grand Round session “Chemicals made to harm”. New … ER -