This year's conference focused on the biochemistry of neuronal plasticity during development and adulthood and on experimental models of addiction. Ten keynote lectures and ten symposia outlined the most recent developments in the field and results of distinguished scientists were presented to over one hundred participants including a number of young scientists from 18 countries worldwide. Konrad Beyreuter from Germany reported about the role of cholesterol in neural development and neural degeneration. Another keynote lecture by Nils Brose from Germany contained exciting new results on molecular mechanisms of synaptic short term plasticity and on second messenger cascades and their target proteins. Mary-Jeanne Kreek from the United States gave an interesting overview on the development of opioid argonist pharmacotherapy and covered the development of this field in the past forty years, from the laboratory to the clinic and to human molecular genetics. Bruce Ransom from the United States talked about glutamate release by astrocyte hemichannels and outlined the physiology and the possible functions of these channels. James Fawcett from the UK reported about proteo-glycans in axon regeneration and plasticity whereas Menahem Segal from Israel introduced the field of structural plasticity in cultured hippocampal neurons. Seth Grant from the UK reported about synapses, proteomes and networks: Roots to cognition and Hugo Hämmerle from Germany demonstrated new technical developments related to retinal implants and discussed about the possibility to restore vision by such implants. Heinrich Betz from Germany gave an overview about the glycine transporter in the mammalian CNS and talked about structures, functions and pathologies. Helmut Kettenmann from Germany talked about mechanisms of neuron/glia interaction.
The topics of the symposia were as follows: 1. Formation of cell and fiber layers in the cerebral cortex chaired by Michael Frotscher from Germany. 2. Neurobiological and clinical perspectives of drug addiction chaired by Fred Nyberg and Georgy Bakalkin both from Sweden. 3. Neuro-oncology infection and epigenetics, new perspectives for therapy. This session was chaired by Thomas Ekström from Sweden. The fourth symposium was organised and chaired by Stephan Schwarzacher from Germany and entitled synaptic plasticity and regeneration in the adult CNS. The fifth symposium gave new insights about the regulation of brain function by steroids and was chaired and organised by Gabriele Rune from Germany. Zoltan Sarnyai from the UK chaired a sixth symposium about neuroplasticity and drug addiction the symposium number seven dealt with stem cells in brain and spinal cord repair, chaired and organised by Eva Sykova from the Czech Republic. Rusiko Bourtchouladze from the United States chaired the symposium number eight, entitled genes neuronal plasticity and long-term memory and Anna Katharina Braun from Germany chaired the symposium number nine entitled psychobiology of monoaminergic function and dysfunction. Finally a tenth symposium dealt with glutamate and alcohol and was organised and chaired by Rainer Spanagel from Germany. The programme was supplemented by 33 posters, mainly presented by young investigators.
This conference has been the 6th one on an annual basis in a superb winter resort of the Austrian alps. The comfortable venue and the relaxed atmosphere ensured a maximum of interference between the distinguished scientists and the other participants even outside the scientific sessions. The next year's 7th Neurochemistry Winter conference will again take place at Central Hotel Sölden in Austria from April 2 - 7, 2005. A number of excellent scientists have already committed their participation for the next conference. Complete information is available on the web at http://www.sambax.com/nwc2005.

Alois Saria