February 2010
Happy New Year from a cold and snowy Brussels.
In 2009 the EIC organised an extremely successful EIC Cocktail Party at the Soares dos Reis Museum with sponsorship from "Porto Cidade de Ciência" (an organisation of the City to support Science) which welcomed the European Iron Club to the city of Porto with an excellent buffet. This presented the opportunity for members of EIC, together with friends from Europe, USA and Australia to meet in convivial surroundings.
We are now preparing for the next EIC Meeting, which will be held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Information on this meeting is included in this Newsletter. Further information concerning the programme, preparation of the abstracts etc will be placed on the EIC website and on the event’s website: www.eicmeeting2010.org. As usual, bursaries will be available to assist members to attend. Please consult the website for further information as to the application procedure.
I look forward to meeting you all in the Netherlands in September 15th-17th, 2010.
Roberta J Ward
Report on BioIron Meeting in Porto, Portugal, 2009
The 3rd Congress of the International BioIron Society and the 8th International Symposium on Microbial Iron Transport, Storage and Metabolism took place from June 7th to 11th, 2009. It was held in the Porto Congress Centre Alfândega on the banks of the Douro and was superbly organised by Graça Porto and Maria de Sousa, together with their enthusiastic collaborators.
The morning plenary sessions covered global iron traffic and evolution: erythropoiesis and iron recycling: microbial iron metabolism: iron, immunity and inflammation,: cellular iron metabolism: systemic iron homeostasis: tissue iron metabolism: and, finally haemochromatosis. Poster sessions spread across three afternoons which were followed by concurrent sessions (which included for the first time in a BioIron meeting - but not for EIC members!) a session on iron, brain and neurodegeneration and a symposia on iron overload and novel technologies.
The meeting closed with the first Ernest Beutler lecture - Ernest Beutler died on October, 5, 2008 at 80 years of age. This was given by Nancy Andrews of Duke University entitled “Iron as Engine of Basic Biological Processes and Disease: The Future of BioIron”, followed by the Gala Dinner in the magnificent setting of the Palacio da Bolsa.
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