THE 13TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ETRS
in ‘De Meervaart’, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 21–23 September 2003 in retrospect

Dear ETRS members

A couple of months ago the 13th Annual Meeting of the ETRS was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Although competition with other meetings was high in this period of the year, 382 people attended the yearly ETRS meeting, coming from twenty-two countries. Without being immodest, we can say that the meeting was very successful: the scientific level was extremely high, there was a very good attendance until the last session of the last day of the meeting and the location at ‘De Meervaart’ was much appreciated. The industrial exhibition was situated in the central hall of the meeting venue, which allowed a good exposure and made it easy for the delegates to visit the exhibition.

Scientific programme
The scientific programme committee has tried to present a broad spectrum of topics concerning wound healing. To meet this goal the programme was divided into different categories in which invited reputable investigators and young promising scientists were offered to present (an overview of) their work. It began with an opening lecture on embryonic stem cells given by Prof. Dr Christine Mummery. Although the technique was unwilling at some part it was an excellent presentation entitled: Embryonic Stem Cells: a Future in Tissue Repair.

During three teaching sessions basics of clinical as well as scientific aspects of wound healing were discussed by some of the top scientists in the field. In the extracellular matrix remodelling session different extracellular matrix components and their role in tissue repair were addressed with an accent on collagen synthesis, cross-linking and remodelling. In the second basic scientific teaching session the role of different cell types in wound healing was elucidated. Apart from fibroblasts, keratinocytes and inflammatory cells, such as macrophages, the role of stem cells in wound healing becomes more and more evident. In the third teaching session the accent was laid on clinical developments in tissue engineering in different tissues, such as urologic tissue, hepatic tissue, the nervous system and bone. Not only scaffolds materials but also the importance of manufacturing strategies, such as mechanical loading, and the role of cells were reviewed.

Two plenary sessions comprised review presentations by invited speakers. The ‘clinical practice’ session did not focus solely on treatment but also economical aspects as cost effectiveness were addressed in chronic wounds. Overviews were given on burn wounds and the importance of local therapeutics in these wounds. Fundamental scientific reviews about tissue substitution and the role of growth factors, signal transduction and other molecular processes in scar formation and angiogenesis were given in the other plenary session.

Leading as well as new coming companies in the field of wound healing were given the opportunity to present the latest developments in their field during sponsored symposia. Three companies have taken the challenge and composed and presented an interesting programme.

Ample time was scheduled for free presentations to allow all categories of scientists to present their work. A total number of 108 abstracts were selected for oral presentations, these abstract were divided over fourteen sessions, ranging from tissue engineering to quantitative measurements and inflammation to extracellular matrix organization. The six best abstracts submitted by ETRS members younger than 40 years were selected to be presented in the young investigators award presentation session.

The jury, composed of five members of the ETRS board, was unable to appoint a single winner: Dr Sorensen from Copenhagen, Denmark and Dr Patel from Cardiff, UK shared the best presentation prize. All presenters in this session received a 500 GBP travel award and a atractive souvenir. Both winners received an extra prize of 250 GBP each.

Authors of the other eighty-three abstracts were invited to present their work as a poster, twenty of which were selected to elucidate their work in a three-minute bullet talk. Furthermore, the three best posters submitted by ETRS members were selected by a jury from the board, and these were Dr Toriseva from Turku, Finland, Dr Chassot, from Nice, France and Dr Dalton from Bristol, UK. They all received an award of 500 GBP and an atractive souvenir.

Fortunately, the Amsterdam weather offered a warm welcome to our guests. We experienced one of the last summer weekends. Although the nice weather was interrupted by some rain on Monday evening, the last day of the conference was warm and dry again. The welcome reception and the conference dinner offered ample opportunity for some relaxing moments. The dinner was held at the magnificent ‘Marble Hall’ in the Royal Tropical Institute.

Some critical remarks should be made also: for some years we have noticed that the majority of people who attend the ETRS annual meetings are not members of ETRS! On the other hand, the majority of ETRS members do not come to the annual meetings! This is actually a rather surprising finding and I intend to come back to this subject during my term as President of ETRS, by sending out a questionnaire on some subjects that are important for the ETRS members and for the future of this society.

Nevertheless, thanks to the submission of very good abstracts, we can look back on a meeting with a high scientific quality and a very good atmosphere; therefore we would like to thank all participants for their contribution.