VI Workshop on APOPTOSIS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE (2002)

With the last vestiges of winter still hanging on in northernEurope, a group of international researchers enjoyed the sunand sand of southern Italy at the VI Workshop on Apoptosis inBiology and Medicine. This conference, held in the lovelyCalabrian costal town of Parghelia on the 25 ± 29th May,2002, brought together around 30 scientists and 30 PhDstudents to share results and ideas on topics ranging frombasic mechanisms of neuronal cell death to immunemodulationin the nervous system, and from experimentalmodels of neurodegenerative diseases to novel pharmacologicaltargets and therapeutical interventions. Organized as aPhD training course on `Pharmacology and Biochemistry ofCell Death', the meeting provided lively discussions during themorning sessions and intense interactions with youngscientists presenting posters during the early afternoon. Thewinning combination of a beautiful setting, a relaxed atmosphere,fresh ideas from the PhD students and plenty of timeto discuss results combined to provide an excellent ideasharingenvironment, and, overall, a very successful meeting.What's more, Dr. Freda Miller (Montreal) was shocked to learnthat an entire Canadian television crew, tired of the endlessCanadian winter, had stowed away in her luggage! Actually, aCanadian television channel was in the process of producinga documentary on Dr. Miller's work, and the crew had cleverlyconvinced its superiors to pay for their Italian vacation so thatthey could document Dr. Miller's Italian vacation. In allseriousness, with biologists getting more bad press thangood lately (think human cloning, the stem cell debate, etc.),the initiative to document the life of a hard working scientist,particularly a woman scientist, was much appreciated.Regardless, all proceedings were exhaustively documentedfor posterity, and all the participants who were NOT FredaMiller were left vying to make enough of an impression tosurvive the final edit and earn a cameo on Canadian TV.