CONGRESS REPORT

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XXXIV. Congress European Society for Artificial Organs

Krems, Austria
September 5-8, 2007

General Information

The Congress was organized under the honorary patronage of Dr. Erwin Pröll, Governor of Lower Austria.


Photo 1: Congress venue


Photo 2: Team of the Congress

The Opening ceremony of the ESAO Congress was organized in the Kloster Und (Photo 3) - it looks back at an almost 400 year long history.

After welcome addresses, a plenary lecture entitled "From Theory to Practice in Artificial History"was held by Dr. Ben Lipps, Chairman of the Management Board of Fresenius Medical Care, Lexington, Massachusetts USA.

After this the prestigious award granted by Wichtig Editore - the ESAO Wichtig Award - was handed over. The winner of the award, Dr. M.-H. Maathuis from University Hospital Center Groningen (Groningen, The Netherlands) was announced by Dr. Michela Zucchetti from Wichtig Editore (Photo 4).

Last part of the opening ceremony was a concert of a famous string quartet of Krems performed by Taner Tuerker.


Photo 3: Kloster Und


Photo 4: Winner of the ESAO Research Award

The main part of the Congress took place on the new campus Krems in the Auditorium Maximum of the Danube-University Krems, Austria (Photo 1) and lecture rooms of the IMC Krems, Austria.

The scientific program of the ESAO Congress was comprised of:

Six plenary sessions:

The importance of the endothelium in health, disease and regeneration by Prof. J. Kirkpatrick (Mainz, Germany)

Development of mechanical circulatory support systems and application of the related technologies to artificial organs by Prof. Y. Taenaka (Osaka, Japan)

Towards biodegradable vascular grafts by Prof. B. Walpoth (Geneva, Switzerland)

Regenerative medicine in the age of biotechnology by Prof. M. Lysaght (Providence, USA)

Hypothermia during and after cardiac arrest: the Vienna brain resuscitation research group by Prof. W. Behringer (Vienna, Austria)

Micro-mechanics of embryonic heart: a case study in bio-inspired engineering by Prof. M. Gharib (Pasadena, USA)

21 sessions with 91 oral presentations and 125 poster presentations, which were discussed in 8 chaired sessions.

2 Lunch Symposia

4 sponsored Symposia

3 Symposia organized by Working Groups

All scientific presentations delivered during the Congress can be divided on topics related to the traditional ESAO fields of interest like: Apheresis, Artificial Heart & Cardiac Assist, Artificial Kidney, Peritoneal Dialysis, DVVH, Vascular Access & Anticoagulation, HD & Modelling, HDF & Uraemic Toxins, Artificial Liver, Biomaterials, Fluid Dynamics, Modelling & Simulation and Tissue Engineering.

On Thursday the "Presidential Dinner"was organized at "Stift Göttweig""(Photo 5) situated on the Göttweig Mountain, which is - because of its location - sometimes called the Austrian Montecassino. The Monastery is placed on a hill 449 m above sea level in the Dunkelsteiner Forest south oft the city of Krems, on the eastern edge of the world-famous Danube Valley called the Wachau.


Photo 5: Stift Göttweig Location of the Presidential Dinner

During this event the Bücherl Award was handed over to Prof. Dr.mult. Dr.h.c. Horst Klinkmann from Rostock, Germany.

On the same day a Classical Concert in the "Minoritenkirche"in Krems (Photo 6) for congress participants was organized. The Stein Minorite Church dating back to the 13th century is one of the oldest Mendicant orders’churches and was secularized in the 18th century. Since then, the Gothic church has been used for various purposes: as salt or tobacco deposit or as headquarter of Stein’s fire brigade. Since the early 1990s the wonderfully atmospheric room with its 14th-century frescos has served as "art room". The Concert was performed by the Jugendsinfonieorchester from Lower Austria and was the cultural high light of the congress. These are 70 musicans between 14 and 21 years.


Photo 6: Clasical Concert in the Minoritenkirche

After this event a "Heurigen Evening"with a typical meal for this region a so called "Brettljausn" with a good glass of vine was organized.

On Friday there was the Gala Dinner in the Römerhalle in Mautern (Photo 7). During this party the ESAO Innovation Award and the 3 Poster Awards were announced and handed over to the winners (Photo 9). The dixiland group "Jazz House Ramblers"enjoyed all participants of the Gala Dinner with excellent music. The participants had also the possibility to dance. Later in the evening Prof. Falkenhagen showed us his talent to play the drums (Photo 8).


Photo 8: Prof. Falkenhagen played the drums with the Jazz House Ramblers


Photo 9: Evaluation committee for the Poster Awards (Glasmacher, Buscaroli, Kertzscher and Weber) together with the winner of the second price N.W. Guldner and Prof. Walpoth as representative of the winner of the first price - M. Cikirikcioglu and the third price - A. Nakada

At the Congress there were 376 participants from 29 countries, Austria, Belgium, Brasilia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Herzegovina, Iran, Italy, Japan, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, The Netherlands and USA.

During the congress several companies took part in the industrial exhibition.

All abstracts and Congress information are printed in the special issue of the Interantional Journal of Artificial Organs. Vol. 30 No. 8, August 2007 (edt. Wichtig Editore, Milano/Italy) available on-line (http://artificial-organs.com).

Fresenius Medical Care was the major sponsor of the XXXIV ESAO Congress. The congress was also sponsored by Athro-Kinetics, Bank Austria, BioTec Systems Krems, BioTec Area Krems, Ecoplus, Gambro, IMC and Technopol Krems.

Statistics of the Congress

Number of participants

During the XXXIV Congress of the European Society for Artificial Organs 376 participants from 29 countries have been registered.

Participants by country (total 376)

Number

Country

Number of participants

1

Germany

99

2

Austria

93

3

Japan

36

4

Italy

25

5

Poland

25

6

USA

18

7

Belgium

14

8

Macedonia

7

9

Spain

6

10

South Korea

6

11

Sweden

5

12

France

5

13

Slovakia

4

14

Switzerland

4

15

Czech Republic

4

16

China

3

17

Iran

3

18

The Netherlands

3

19

Slovenia

3

20

Brasilia

2

21

Great Britain

2

22

Russia

2

23

Bosnia-Herzegovina

1

24

Bulgaria

1

25

Canada

1

26

Hungary

1

27

Serbia

1

28

Singapore

1

29

Thailand

1

Oral presentations by country (91)

cont. number

Country

number of people

1

Austria

4

2

Belgium

7

3

Bosnia-Herzegovina

1

4

Brasilia

1

5

Canada

1

6

China

1

7

Czech Republic

2

8

Egypt

1

9

France

2

10

Germany

17

11

Hungary

1

12

Iran

2

13

Italy

12

14

Japan

12

15

Macedonia

2

16

Poland

8

17

Russia

1

18

Serbia

1

19

Singapore

1

20

Slovakia

1

21

Slovenia

2

22

Spain

1

23

South Korea

1

24

Sweden

1

25

Switzerland

5

26

USA

3

Poster presentations by country (125)

cont. number

Country

number of people

1

Austria

12

2

Belgium

2

3

Canada

1

4

Czech Republic

1

5

France

1

6

Germany

9

7

Great Britain

2

8

Hungary

1

9

Iran

2

10

Italy

23

11

Japan

22

12

Macedonia

7

13

Poland

22

14

Russia

7

15

Slovenia

4

16

Spain

2

17

South Korea

4

18

Sweden

1

19

Switzerland

1

20

USA

1

Winners of the Awards 2007

Winner of the Poster Awards

 

Name

Town / Country

First Price

M. Cikirikcioglu

Geneva, Switzerland

Second Price

N.W. Guldner

Luebeck, Germany

Third Price

A. Nakada

Kyoto, Japan

Winner of the Innovation Award

Name

Town / Country

D. Rodriguez-Martinez

Madrid, Spain

Winner of the ESAO Research Award

Name

Town / Country

M.-H. Maathuis

Groningen, The Netherlands