Our network didn’t quite make it to the beautiful surroundings of Freiburg for our TE4 training event host by BIOSS at Albert Ludwig University and postponed from 2020. But we are still smiling through the continuing fantasy of online communication and our ESRs have become adept at giving and receiving knowledge in this way. So 14th and 15th September 2021 became two incredible days packed full of inspiring guest speakers – Dr. Taras Sych, Prof. Dr. Marta Bally, PD Dr. Eva Decker, Dr. Maximilian Hörner – and brilliant presentations from our amazing team in Freiburg including demo videos! Leading the science on, as we continue through our second phase of synBIOcarb, were some exceptional joint project proposals from our ESRs – plenty to fuel a group of eager and open scientific minds..