15th Cardiovascular Biology and Clinical Implications Meeting ^†

Report

The Annual Swiss Cardiovascular Biology and Clinical Implications Meeting, organised by the Swiss Society of Cardiology Working Group of Cardiovascular Biology, took place from October 1–2, 2009 in Muntelier. The meeting highlighted recent progress on the following topics:

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Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease

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Cardiac Arrhythmias

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Heart Failure

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New Therapeutic Targets in Cardiovascular Medicine

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Regenerative Medicine

With over 140 participants with a clinical as well as basic science background, the meeting was a major success. Four keynote speakers, Ulf Landmesser from Zurich, Nikolaus Marx from Ulm/DE, Andrew C. Newby from Bristol/UK and André G. Kléber from Bern presented instructive and fascinating overviews of their respective fields of expertise. The scientific programme consisted of five plenary sessions with 21 presentations selected from the abstracts submitted, together with two poster sessions during which fundamental and translational research projects were discussed. The scientific quality of the presentations exceeded expectations. Stimulating a wide-ranging exchange of ideas between junior and more advanced scientists, the new poster sessions format was very well received. Prizes were awarded for the three best poster and oral presentations.

A novelty this year was the presence of members of the Swiss SPUM (Special Programme University Medicine) projects “Inflammation and acute coronary syndromes – novel strategies for prevention and clinical management” (headed by Prof. Dr. T.F. Lüscher, University of Zurich) and “Advanced cell-based therapies for cardiac repair” (headed by Prof. Dr. S. Hoerstrup, University of Zurich). The SPUM is a new clinical research funding tool of the Swiss National Science Foundation that aims at promoting and reinforcing clinical research involvement among clinicians in Switzerland by supporting multicentric, multidisciplinary projects with a translational character in the areas of cardiovascular diseases and neurosciences. While these programmes have started only very recently, the participants are keenly interested in using the Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Implications Meeting as their yearly platform of exchange. By changing the meeting title to Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Implications Meeting, our working group aims to foster an active Swiss cardiovascular network for clinical and basic scientists.

The meeting was supported by substantial contributions from Novartis Pharma Schweiz AG, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Menarini, Bayer, Merck Sharp & Dohme-Chibret and Takeda, to whom we express sincere gratitude. This support enabled us to invite the above-mentioned international keynote speakers and to keep the registration fees to a minimum, thereby facilitating attendance by a large number of investigators. The interest expressed by the companies in this meeting is highly appreciated, and our discussions with some of the sponsors have highlighted novel strategies that may facilitate exchanges between them and the Cardiovascular Scientists’ Network. We plan to further develop these ideas and implement them in 2010. The next Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Implications Meeting is scheduled for October 7–8 at Centre Lœwenberg, Muntelier.