Review the most important research results, especially of the research papers published by the research community in this last year, was the aim of the XI Portuguese Polar Sciences Conference at the University of Coimbra. A very important action to consolidate the Portuguese Polar Program and maximize the participation of Portugal in international polar organizations.

Alexandra Alves, Cármen Sousa, Pedro Guerreiro, Sandra Silva e Stefan Abreu Fernandes, researchers from the CEIB group of our centre, were present in this conference and presented their scientific posters about this theme.

Cármen Sousa was also invited to lead one of the sessions during the congress and a workshop of APECS Portugal.

The research of this group is focused on the evolution of the immune system including phylogeny, transcriptomic, qPCR and metagenomic approaches and physiology in antarctic fish, thus contributing to a better understanding of how these fish evolved in extreme environment and predict their response to climate change.