Instrumentation has to keep up with the rapidly moving field of science served by flow cytometry. This meeting will bring together the most recent advances in clinical and research flow cytometric techniques and the hardware that has been developed to keep pace with the scientific requirements. Dr Ian Dimmick, University of Newcastle (Meeting Chair).

This meeting will be a comprehensive overview of the issues of returning to work after a career break. It will be Chaired by Dr Maureen Cooper, Former Director, Scottish Resource Centre for Women in SET, Napier University, Edinburgh. Topics under discussion include advice on grants for returners, can you progress in a part time position?, best interview and CV techniques and your rights as a mother/father and scientist

This Users Symposia is designed as a small informal meeting for anyone with questions about microarrays. After you register for the event you get the opportunity to submit up to four questions which will be given to the panel of experts on the day of the Symposium

Many different cell imaging techiques and their applications will be discussed at this one-day meeting.

This meeting will bring together experts to discuss all aspects of using PCR in both routine and research laboratories.

This workshop is aimed at all scientists in a management position. Particularly suited to those moving into lectureship, project management, group leader and lab manager roles. It is also ideally suited for those looking for promotion to a management role. The workshop will be run by Liz Dickson of Yabber Myakka

This meeting is designed to discuss the advances made in ELISPOT technology including the range of cytokines that can be measured, as well as discussions on assay development and applications to both basic and clinical research. “ELISPOT technology” will cover all aspects of the assay development from initial cell stimulation to analyzing spot formation. Dr Sefina Arif (Meeting Chair)

Talks at this meeting include' The use of morpholino antisense oligomers to modify gene expression' by Professor Dominic Wells (Chair), Imperial College, London, UK and “Dressing-up” naked plasmids: development of non-viral gene therapy vectors ' by Dr Dariusz C. Górecki, University of Portsmouth, UK.

Cell- and gene-based therapies are quickly progressing from the lab bench to the clinic. Restoration of damaged tissues in humans thus requires close and significant interactions between basic scientists, clinicians, regulators, biochemical and tissue engineers, and commercial biotechnology. The goal of this meeting is to provide a “snapshot” of the current landscape in Regenerative Medicine, and to highlight outstanding issues in translational biology.

This one-day meeting will bring together experts to discuss how to combat some of the most serious and life-threatening infections which are currently present in our hospitals.

It is becoming increasingly important to be able to grow cells in the Petri dish in a manner that enables cells to function in a way which more closely resembles the activity of their natural counterparts in the body. This meeting will examine some of the advances in technology that enable the recreation of a more natural environment for cell growth in the laboratory.

This meeting is dedicated to the technique of immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation. Presentations by leaders in the field are focused on the technical aspects of IHC as well as the importance of IHC in the areas of drug discovery and diagnosis. Technical and scientific presentations are interspersed with the latest developments from the leading manufacturers of IHC products.

EuroSciCon are pleased to announce the date of their second Glycomics meeting which is to be held on 15 April 2008 at the BioPark, Welwyn Garden City.

Regulatory T cells continue to fascinate scientists as the phenotypic and functional characteristics of the different subsets emerges. The latest focus from key researchers and commercial companies will be presented at this meeting and there will be opportunities throughout the day for researchers and commercial companies to interact.

This meeting, to be chaired by Professor George Salmond, follows on from the previous Bacteriophage meeting in 2006 and will look at the current and potential applications of bacteriophages in the fields of biotechnology, agriculture and medicine. Phage therapy and bacteriophage vaccines will be discussed and the prospects for commercialisation of this technology will be examined.

This meeting will bring together experts studying the mechanism of action of IRES elements and their role in translational control of viral and cellular protein synthesis, to review the latest research in this area. In addition, there will also be a focus on the biotechnological exploitation of these elements, for example in gene therapy and protein expression vectors.

"Proteomics is an exciting area of research that holds promise for the future. It is widely accepted that proteomics holds the potential to identify new diagnostic and or prognostic biomarkers, and drug targets for the development of new therapeutic approaches for fighting disease. Proteomics, the large scale analysis of gene expression at the protein level incorporates structural, interaction and expression proteomics. Using expression proteomics, the aim is to detect and identify all, or a subset, of the proteins in a given sample and find out which of these proteins are present, absent, or differentially expressed in a related sample subject to as specific variation. For example, proteomics enables the identification of protein alterations responsible for the development and the pathological outcome of disease leading to the discovery of new protein markers, “biomarkers”, for diagnostic/prognostic purposes and of novel molecular targets for drug discovery. A combination of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry are the most widely used tools in this area of proteomics, although many other technologies are also currently available and continually emerging. This meeting examines the use of proteomics in the identification of biomarkers using a variety of old, new and developing technologies."

Dr Ayesha De Souza, St Georges Hospital Medical School, London (Meeting Chair)

Dendritic cells continue to provoke much interest amongst immunologists by virtue of their key role in a number of aspects of the immune response. In this meeting, we will aim to address some of these and will cover topics such as: types of DC, DC markers and maturation, the importance of DC in innate and adaptive immunity and their use in immunotherapy.

"Plant biotechnology offers an unprecendented opportunity to produce modern, recombinant pharmaceutical proteins at scale, quickly and at low cost. In essence, a “low-tech high technology”, it has the potential to address many of the global health issues that cannot be solved using conventional technologies. This meeting follows on from the first Molecular Farming meeting in January 2006, and will visit the latest advances and enabling technologies, and review the progress that is being made towards the first commercial products." Chair - Professor Julian Ma, St Georges Hospital, University of London, UK

“This will be a novel programme which should be of interest both to the academic community interested in structural genomics and proteomics and also the industrial community involved in drug discovery”. Professor Sir Tom Blundell FRS, FmedSci, Professor and Head of Biochemistry, Chair of the School of Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge (meeting chair).

With a good degree, perhaps a PhD or maybe you have a couple of post-docs under your belt, you start to realise that the majority of senior scientists within your organisation are men! Of course they are not expected to juggle a career with family commitments and we all know that single-mindedly following one's ambition comes more naturally to the male of the species! So, how can you break through the glass ceiling and achieve your goals?

This one day meeting will bring together women from many different scientific backgrounds and at different stages in their careers, all with inspirational life stories, who are challenging the old order. There will be talks and advice from experts to help with CVs, grant and fellowship writing, interview techniques, time management, networking and a whole host of the other skills required to not just survive but thrive in science.

View the latest agenda here ....

The talks at this meeting, which takes place on 25th September 2007 at the BioPark Welwyn Garden City, will examine the role of toll-like receptors in innate immunity to infections covering different members of the TLR family as well as different microbial ligands.

The latest agenda can be viewed here.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is composed of specialised endothelium which physically separates the central nervous system from brain microvasculature, and prevents movement of many substances between the two. Only a very limited number of molecules are able to cross the BBB including those that are lipid soluble, those for which there are specific transport systems and small molecular weight molecules (below about 500 Daltons), making drug delivery to the brain a real challenge. The aim of this meeting is to provide an update on BBB endothelial cell (patho)physiology and function and to discuss novel approaches CNS drug delivery.

Dr Charlotte Lawson, Royal Veterinary College (Meeting Chair)

The meeting will involve presentations from both academia and industry and will give an overview of current techniques employed in the assay of chemokines and chemotaxis in the context of current immunological research.

Meeting Chair: Dr James Pease, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London

"Following on from the very successful Euroscicon 2005 meeting "DNA micro arrays: from target collections to profiles", our 2007 meeting will focus more on downstream applications. The focus of this meeting will not as much be on the in-house preparation of micro-arrays, but rather on the subsequent data processing steps, validation strategies, and the translation of validated findings into biological / clinical context."

Dr Eric Shoenmakers, Nijmegen, The Netherlands (Meeting Chair)

New Year, New Start

If you're considering setting up a Biotech business, EuroSciCon's meeting "How can I spin out my research and become a company?" can provide you with information on financing and other issues.

"The main goal of this meeting is to get together clinical and basic immunologists trying to gather insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of human diseases and immunotherapy. Due to the limitations of the human system, these investigations often rely on the use of animal models developing spontaneous diseases. In this meeting we will evaluate the pros and cons of some of the most used and valuable animal models of disease and some new models, which will open new therapeutic ways to treat human diseases."

Meetings Chair: Dr Sonia Quarantino, University of Southampton

"The diversity of T cell subsets and functions makes it imperative that they can be identified, characterised, propagated, traced in vivo and their function elucidated effectively. This one day EuroSciCon meeting will provide the ideal opportunity to hear both the commercial companies presenting new techniques and academics highlighting their latest findings in this area. Similarly, there will be opportunities throughout the day for the audience to interact with these speakers and discuss their results in an informal setting." Meetings Chair: Dr Catherine Derry, Science Communicator

"The goal of the meeting is to bring together experts to discuss concepts and to exchange data in the field of vaccination against cancer. The focus will be on rational design of vaccines aimed to induce immunity against molecularly defined antigens where immune outcome and efficacy can be measured." Meetings Chair: Prof Freda Stevenson, University of Southampton

The aim of this symposium is to recognise that the control of cell differentiation requires an in-depth understanding of the growth conditions and signals cells require in order to differentiate in a particular manner. This will be exemplified by a carefully selected panel of speakers who will share their experiences of controlling cell growth and differentiation using a range of alternative approaches. Meetings Chair: Dr Stefan Przyborski, University of Durham