8th Neurochemistry Winter Conference
March 25 – 30, 2006

This year’s conference focused on neuroimaging and plasticity, and translational research of Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases.

A number of keynote lectures and eleven 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 16 countries worldwide.

Eva Sykova (Czech Republic) presented recent results on stem cells and biomaterials for treatment of CNS injury. Tobias Bonhoeffer (Germany) presented rules for synaptic plasticity and Peter Kalivas (USA) reported about plasticity in excitatory synapses mediating cocaine addiction. Kai Kaila (Finland) introduced the field of neuronal anion regulation and GABAergic transmission in brain development and epilepsy. Winfried Denk (Germany) presented a keynote lecture entitled “watching the brain compute and tracing its wires: new methods to solve old riddles”. Gary Bassell (USA) reported about neuronal mRNA traffic, local translation and fragile X syndrome and Klaus Ballanyi (Canada) about multiphoton look at activity patterns associated with the rostral or caudal boundary of the respiratory centre.

The topics of the symposia included (with the organizers in parentheses):
Innovative methods in neuroscience and appicability to neural plasticity and learning (R. Bourtchouladze, USA), spine plasticity (S. Schwarzacher and M. Kiebler, Germany & Austria), synaptic function and plasticity (N. Brose and T. Kuner, Germany), role of CRF and glucocorticoids in stress-related CNS disorders (Z. Sarnyai, UK), brain cell imaging (K. Ballanyi, Canada), glutamate receptors and signaling in addictive behaviour, from the lab to the clinic (R. Spanagel, Germany), novel genetic technologies and their implicaitons for research andtreatment (G. Breen, UK), mechanisms and features of epileptogenesis in humans and animal models (P. Fabene, Italy), presence and regulation of the endocannabinoid system (A. Sulcova, Czech Republic), plastic changes in the epileptic brain (Y. Bozzi, Italy) and new trends in neuroimaging-methods behaviour and genes (G. Schumann, UK).

This conference has been the 8th 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 9th International Neuroscience Winter conference will again take place at Central Hotel Sölden in Austria from March 24th – 29th, 2007. A number of excellent scientists have already committed their participation for the next conference. Complete information is available on the web at http://inwc.sambax.com.


Prof. Dr. Alois Saria
Date: 20/07/2006