16th Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Implications Meeting ¹

The Annual Swiss Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Implications Meeting, organised by the Working Group of Cardiovascular Biology of the Swiss Society of Cardiology, was held on the 7th–8th October, 2010 in Muntelier. More than 140 participants contributed to the meeting during which the presenters showed their latest results on the following topics:

–

Heart Failure and Regenerative Medicine;

–

Clinical Research and Prevention;

–

Mechanisms of Coronary Artery Disease;

–

Unsolved Problems in Arrhythmia.

The scientific programme consisted of four plenary sessions with 23 presentations selected from the submitted abstracts, as well as two poster sessions during which basic science and translational research projects were discussed. The fact that participants from both clinical as well as basic science backgrounds joined together in this meeting resulted in numerous lively discussions during which new bridges were built and existing bridges were further strengthened. This aspect, together with the informal ambiance and the high quality of the presented work contributed to the success of the meeting. Four keynote speakers, Jürg Tschopp from Lausanne, Christian Müller from Basel, Robert Krams from London/UK and Robert G. Kelly from Marseille/France, gave instructive, fascinating and sometimes provocative overview lectures in their respective fields of expertise, which are the inflammasome, cardiovascular biomarkers, shear stress and cardiac development. Prizes were awarded to the best poster and oral presentations.

Our working group aims to foster an active Swiss cardiovascular network for clinical and basic scientists. We were therefore particularly pleased that an increased number of clinicians found their way to this traditionally rather basic science meeting. Most clinical participants were members from one of the following three Swiss Special Programme University Medicine (SPUM) projects: “Inflammation and acute coronary syndromes – novel strategies for prevention and clinical management” (headed by Prof. Dr T.F. Lüscher, University of Zurich), “Advanced cell-based therapies for cardiac repair” (headed by Prof. Dr S. Hoerstrup, University of Zurich) and “Blood pressure and the kidney: interface between genes and environment“ (headed by Prof. Dr M. Bochud, University of Lausanne). We are very happy with this close collaboration between our Working Group and the SPUM projects, and expect to continue and extend this fruitful exchange in the future.

The meeting was supported by substantial contributions from the Swiss National Science Foundation, AstraZeneca, Daiichi-Sankyo Lilly, Siemens, Merck Sharp & Dohme-Chibret, Visualsonics, Servier, Bayer, BioRad and the Kontaktgruppe für Forschungsfragen Member Companies Merck-Serono, Novartis and Roche, for which we are very grateful. This support allowed us to invite the above-mentioned international keynote speakers and to keep registration fees limited to a minimum, thereby facilitating the attendance of a high number of investigators. The interest expressed by the companies in this meeting is highly appreciated, and our discussions with some of the sponsors have further highlighted novel strategies that may facilitate the exchange between the Cardiovascular Scientist’s Network and the companies. For example, this year we received a suggestion from Siemens for a keynote lecture on cardiovascular biomarkers. The organising committee worked this out and identified and invited a Swiss expert in this field. This was a rewarding experience for both the company and the organising committee. After extensive discussions at our General Assembly, it was decided that the next Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Implications Meeting will again be a two-day meeting and will be held in September or October 2011. We look forward to seeing you all there!!