XIth International Symposium on Amyloidosis PDF

Preface

The XIth International Symposium on Amyloidosis was held at the Marine Biological Laboratory campus in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA on November 5-9, 2006. There were 275 attendees at the Symposium and 198 papers were presented. The focus of the meeting was new basic science and translational research in the systemic amyloidoses. The scientific program included presentations on the mechanisms of disease and cellular toxicity, AA amyloidosis, familial amyloidosis, AL amyloidosis, clinical trials, and emerging translational approaches. We thank the International Organizing Committee for choosing speakers, reviewing abstracts, and supporting the meeting in so many ways.

The Symposium opened with a tribute to Dr. Alan S. Cohen for his outstanding contributions to amyloid research. In 1967, Dr. Cohen presented his discovery of the fibrillar nature of amyloid at the First International Symposium on Amyloidosis in Groningen, the Netherlands, setting the pace for future work on amyloid protein identification and interaction with the microenvironment of tissues. Dr. Cohen is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Amyloid: The Journal of Protein Folding Disorders.

The Keynote Address of the Symposium was given by Dr. Stanley Prusiner, Nobel laureate for his discovery of "prions," the class of infectious agents that replicate without nucleic acid and contain a protein which polymerizes into amyloid. Dr. Prusiner's research has led to significant progress in understanding neurodegenerative diseases and diseases of the central nervous system. We enjoyed a tour and dinner at the Kennedy Museum and Library in Boston on the eve of Election Day in the US. The festive occasion included a welcome by Dr. Karen Antman, Dean of Boston University School of Medicine, and an eloquent after dinner talk by a patient who described her painful experience with AL amyloidosis in 1996 just after her marriage. She is in remission now and has 2 beautiful adopted children. A standing ovation was a tribute to her stirring speech that reminded us what our work is all about.

The International Society of Amyloidosis formally thanked Dr. Robert Kyle for his work as first President of the Society. Dr. Kyle established the Society as an official group with bylaws indicating our purpose to promote research, education, clinical studies, and symposia worldwide.

Dr. Giampaolo Merlini assumed the Presidency of the Society until the next Symposium, proposed for Italy in 2010.

We are very grateful to an anonymous donor for generously supporting the meeting and for suggesting the Marine Biological Laboratory site. We also thank the National Institutes of Health (R13 DK077562) for their support of keynote speaker travel expenses and awards to young investigators and students. The large number of young scientists at this meeting promises a healthy future for research on amyloidosis.