A virtual issue for the CBCS Summer School 2017: focus on hot topics

The Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science (CBCS) Summer School, now in its 5th edition, keeps attracting the best young scientists to the ESC Heart House for five exciting days of science, networking, and career building (https://www.escardio.org/Education/Courses/Organised/Basic-science-summer-school). With a faculty of 26 for 70 participants, interactions between the more senior and junior colleagues are intense and rewarding. The leadership and organization includes the Scientists of Tomorrow, ensuring that the program includes the priorities set out by the young community. At this occasion, the journal provides access to a selection of recent papers that relate to the science and hot topics presented at the meeting. In the session on cardioprotection, novel insights in key mechanistic pathways and challenges for translation are discussed by Sean Davidson and Gemma Vilahur. This is a hot topic indeed with the lack of a positive outcome in the CIRCUS trial,1 which triggered soul-searching and research into reasons for failure of translation.2 The ESC Working Group on Cellular Biology of the Heart have published a position paper to provide guidance for future research.3 Meanwhile, original research on the mechanisms in remote post-conditioning in the journal4–6 triggered discussion through letters to the editor and editorial comments.7–9 Succinate metabolism of the heart may be a new target as reviewed by Pell et al.10