Welcome
Dear colleague,
It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), to welcome you to the 23rd ECNP Congress in Amsterdam.
This congress has been designed around a basic organising principle: build on what is successful and continue to innovate. At the heart of the ECNP Congresses' success is the scientific programme, and this year's Scientific Programme Committee have excelled themselves in putting together a programme of exceptional quality and interest. My special thanks go to them.
The scientific programme is accredited by the European Accreditation Committee in CNS (EACIC) and the American CME Institute of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc. (PPP).
The programme continues the ECNP tradition of five parallel tracks, balanced between the basic and clinical sciences, poster sessions and brainstorming sessions. This year, two of the brainstorming sessions will be presented by members of the ECNP European Network Initiative (ENI). The ENI is a bold attempt by ECNP to build a European-wide storehouse of standardised patient data for use in clinical studies and pharmacological trials. It now embraces six networks spanning more than 50 participating institutions. Two sessions will be devoted to the initiative, to showcase results and to brainstorm about the project's future direction.
We also have an outstanding roster of plenary speakers, with György Buzsáki (Rutgers University, USA) talking on dynamic hippocampal networks and behaviours; Kaj Blennow (University of Gothenburg, Sweden), our 2010 Neuropsychopharmacology Award winner, on CSF biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease; and Isabelle Mansuy (University of Zurich, Switzerland) on epigenetic regulation of cognitive functions.
Two noteworthy innovations this year are the members' lounge and the Young Researchers' Breakfast, both designed to strengthen the ECNP community in new ways. There will be three Young Researchers' Breakfasts, each allowing 25 selected up-and-coming researchers, amongst whom are the 2010 ECNP Fellowship Award winners, to meet one of our plenary lecturers. We have high hopes for it.
After the trial of webcasting a few sessions last year, most of the presentations from the congress in Amsterdam will now be available as a webcast after the congress on the ECNP website.
For events, this year also looks to be exceptionally promising. The welcome ceremony features Holland's internationally renowned Scapino Ballet dance company, as well as the world-famous pianist Jeroen van Veen. The congress party will be at the Westergasfabriek, in the heart of one of Amsterdam's most vibrant and successful redevelopment districts. These show every sign of being outstanding events.
Satellite symposia, with educational financial support provided by the pharmaceutical industry and accredited by EACIC, have also been organised.
So, thank you for joining us and welcome to Amsterdam!
David Nutt
President
Acknowledgement
Miriam Friedemann, Ohne Titel (Untitled)
The illustration on the cover of this final programme and the other illustrations were kindly made available to us by Theodor Fliedner Stiftung, Germany. The illustrations have been selected from the catalogue “Ins Blaue hinein…” (Into the blue…).
All artworks displayed in this catalogue have been painted during art therapy at the Fliedner Klinik Berlin and were selected for the 1st Autumn Of Colours 2007 exhibition in Berlin, Germany.