Concluding remarks of Targeting Mitochondria 2017 by Prof. Volkmar Weissig
The 8th World Congress on Targeting Mitochondria was again this year organized in Berlin on October 23-24, 2017. The 8th edition was an excellent platform, this year for 273 participants from 44 countries, to share data, ideas, critical comments and opinions alike.
During two days, more than 40 oral communications and 90 posters were highlighted the recent scientific advances on mitochondria and all related researches such as the methods to evaluate mitochondria function/dysfunction, but also new strategies to target the mitochondria. To access to the final program of the congress, please follow this link.
Pr Volkmar Weissig, as President of the World Mitochondria Society, commented: “The 8th edition of the World Conference on Targeting Mitochondria has, in my opinion, lived up to the positive reputation this conference series has gained over the last 7 years. It was extremely well organized and I believe this meeting has provided again an excellent platform, this year for 273 participants from 44 countries, to share data, ideas, critical comments and opinions alike.
High-quality presentations given by internationally renowned mitochondrial investigators as well as by young scientists who are in the early phase of their professional career in addition to over 100 poster presentations reflected the ever growing importance of Mitochondrial Medicine. The future of Medicine comes through mitochondria; there is hardly any disease in which mitochondrial malfunction is not involved, either as a causative or as an accelerating factor for the origin and progression of the disease.
I was very glad to see so many colleagues and friends who have faithfully been attending almost all of our previous Berlin meetings. I was likewise very happy to see new investigators attending our meeting for the very first time. During my opening remarks I expressed my optimism that new participants will not regret having made the journey to Berlin, which actually was for several of them a very long one. Today, exactly one week after I opened our conference I hope my optimism was justified. The 9th World Conference on Targeting Mitochondria in 2018 will tell. I do look forward to seeing many of you again.
In the center of the European Plain, mitochondria and their aficionados have found a home. Let us maintain the outstandingly high scientific level of all contributions, long talks, short talks, posters and exhibitions alike in order to make the big promise of Mitochondrial Medicine, which is the prevention and cure or at least the development of clinically proven therapies of any disease caused by the malfunctioning powerhouse of our cells, reality.
Thank you all for attending Mitochondria Berlin 2017 and for your active participation as a speaker, poster presenter or as a helpful and critical commentator during the Q&A sessions.
Hope to see you all again next year. The organization of the 9th World Congress on Targeting Mitochondria has already been launched."
At the end of the congress, the scientific committee discerned three awards to distinguished speakers:
Prof. Vladimir Gogvadze from Karolinska Institute, Sweden was awarded for his scientific contribution and his strategic presentation on Mitochondria: a switchboard between various cell death modalities. For more information about this award, please click here. |
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Prof. Maik Hüttemann from the Wayne State University, USA for his short oral presentation about "Modulation of cytochrome C oxidase activity with specific near-infrared light wavelengths attenuates brain ischemia/reperfusion injury".
For more information about this award, please click here. |
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The third award was decerned to Mrs Anne-Marie Heckel, from CNRS-University of Strasbourg, France for her poster presentation on "Development of a Crispr-Cas9 tool targeting mitochondria DNA". - |
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The abstracts book of Targeting Mitochondria 2017 is available in PDF version. It contains all the abstracts of the oral and poster presentations of the congress. To order the abstracts book, please click here. |
To access the final agenda, please click here. To access the pictures, please click here. |
We will inform you very soon concerning Targeting Mitochondria 2018.
Volkmar Weissig
President of the World Mitochondria Society