More than 50 of the centre’s researchers gathered together at this second annual meeting in the beautiful setting of the Helsinki University Zoological Station. The station is situated at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland in the northern Baltic Sea. While we mostly discussed cell biology in the context of barriers and got up to date on the news from the centre, we were also lucky enough to get a tour of the station (including the aquarium rooms) and learn about the ecosystem research conducted there.