Lund Respiratory Network, LURN, was officially started in May 2003 and was constituted as an association in March 2010. It is an association established to facilitate collaborations in respiratory research. The aim is to connect and highlight research in the airway area and contribute to the exchange of knowledge and cooperation among colleagues in the country's southern healthcare region.

LURN works to strengthen the position of respiratory research by:

• being a forum for knowledge exchange in the field of respiratory diseases
• promoting the interest of lung research locally and nationally
• working to enable young researchers to work in a translational environment between basal medicine and clinical research
• enabling lung medical research results being communicated to the public
• contributing to a stimulating collaboration between colleagues and the pharmaceutical industry.

It was then agreed on that LURN will work with three major tasks for students:

• Collaborations on research programmes
• Coaching of PhD students
• Spreading the word about respiratory research to undergraduate students.

LURN annual meeting 

The first LURN meeting was held in 2003. Since then the meetings have grown bigger and bigger for each year.

The LURN annual meeting is a 2-day gathering, at Ystad Saltsjöbad, open to preclinical and clinical research groups from both national and international universities. Also, region representatives as well as external organizations and companies are welcome to attend. 

Since 2016, the program have had a theme each year and the invited speakers range from well-known international keynotes to senior and junior researchers and PhD students.