The German Society for Cytometry celebrated the 20th anniversary of the society with great success in Leipzig this year. It was wonderful to have so many participants around and we were especially happy that so many young scientists were interested and curious to follow recent developments in cytometry (DGfZ-2010-Abstractbook).
We celebrated with a special opener this time. Prof. Dr. Valet and Prof. Dr. Radbruch recalled old times when cytometry was in its beginnings and only visionary people thought of (and believed in) applications for single cell analysis, which are routine now. Both of the speakers focussed on the past activities of the German Society but also presented new concepts which evolved over the years. (Valet-DGfZ-2010)
The anniversary was also an excellent opportunity to award Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Göhde the honorary membership of the German Society for Cytometry. His exceptional pioneering work in the field of flow cytometry and his strong commitment to the fight against Aids/HIV and malaria in developing countries are only two of his achievements to be mentioned. His ideas and inventions are now part of the daily routine in clinics and experimental design in basic research in countless laboratories world wide. (Laudatio: Laura Theodori).
This year the conference followed the motto: ‘Cytometry goes Nano’. We wanted to start a discussion on how developments in nanotechnology might provide new advantages for single-cell analysis. Setting up a dialogue between Nanoscience and Cytometry was a successful and exciting experiment. Going nano not only means developing new instruments which enable to measure on the nanoscale range, but also developing new labelling strategies based on nanosized material or using these materials to alter functions within cells. Increase in cellular resolution to better understand the interaction of nanoparticles and cells on a molecular level are important challenges and might also be part in improving healing strategies in medical sciences. Find the stimulating program in the DGfZ-2010-Abstractbook (.pdf).
Exchange of ideas on a scientific, cultural and personal level occurs naturally and is a important characteristic of the meetings of the German Society for Cytometry. Speakers and participants of more than ten different countries participated in the conference. The society is very heterogeneous in its research topics and people with an open mind will get manifold impressions of various applications, which might be of interest for their research field. People were interested in pushing the limits of optical resolution and willing to understand structure and function of cells even in heterogeneous populations and thereby contributing significantly to urgent problems in life sciences, health care, nutrition or even climate change. Discussions during the sessions, the poster presentations, the coffee breaks and the conversation during the dinner, documented the stimulating exchange of knowledge and arguments and impressions can be found here
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We want to thank all the speakers for taking time to come to this meeting and sharing their data on current topics of Aging, Regeneration, Nano -Tools -Medicine -Technology, Immunology, Water, Microbiology and -Omics.
We want to thank the exhibitors for providing an overview of state of the art instrumentation and getting their experts on-site for discussion.
We want to thank all young scientists for their participation and their enthusiasm in presenting their data, which was essential for the spirit of the meeting. And we want to thank our young Klaus-Goerttler award nominees and winners, for their professional and lively organisation of the Klaus-Goerttler Session at the end of the meeting.
And last but not least we want to thank the Leipziger Kubus for hosting us and all the people that helped to organise the meeting and get it running.
The venue of the 21st annual conference will move to Bonn in 2011, but we will take along the spirit of the meeting. So we say farewell to all the participants of the DGfZ 2010 in Leipzig and Welcome back to the DGfZ 2011 in Bonn.
Susann Müller (organisation 2010, past president DGfZ)
Elmar Endl (president DGfZ)