First European Chemokine and Cell Migration Conference (ECMC2015)

Historically the European scientific community has a strong impact on the research on chemokines. In fact the first chemokine, neutrophil activating factor (NAF or MDNCF, later renamed into NAP and CXCL8) was almost concomitantly discovered independently in two European (Switzerland and Germany) laboratories and in one laboratory in the US. A strong European scientific community has since evolved with a marked contribution from Switzerland. In 1994 the first Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Chemotactic Cytokines was held in the US. In 2004 the meeting was moved for the first time to Europe where it continued until 2012. During this time the meeting attracted more and more scientists becoming one of the largest GRC's. The presentations made by the international speaker panels increased the participation of European students and PostDoc while registration of young scientists from overseas diminished. As consequence, in 2014 the conference returned to the US where many attendees from America participated. However, the conference attracted a markedly reduced number of young scientists from Europe, because for many laboratories the travel and registration expenses were prohibitive. Therefore a group of established chemokine researchers from different European countries proposes to organize in 2015 a high rated condense international conference in central Europe with affordable registration and accommodation fees: The first European Chemokine and Cell Migration Conference (ECMC2015), which will take place in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. The conference is not meant to compete with the well-established GRC, but rather should complement the American based conference in Europe. As a rule invited speakers of the last GRC will not present at the ECMC 2015. Moreover, much room will be given for the presentation and discussion of submitted abstracts. In addition two poster sessions are planned.The organizing committee of the ECMC2015 is composed of 7 scientists, who are well established in the chemokine research. In addition an experienced conference manager helps in organizing the conference. The committee has agreed on a program grid that consists of 1 keynote lecture (40min + discussion), 28 invited speakers (25min + discussion), 12 abstract presentations (10min+ discussion), 7 poster presentations (5min) and 2 poster sessions (90min). All 5 chairpersons are asked to give a 10 min introduction to the panel. The budged of the conference is about 140'000 CHF based on 140-150 participants. About 70'000 CHF have to come through sponsorship. The organizing committee is seeking to obtain the sum from different parties including the SNSF.