ILPS
University of Vienna Historical Main Building near the Rathaus – City Hall
In spring 2001 the ILPS decided to organize the 8th Phospholipid Congress in Vienna, just before the ICBL Congress in Graz, preventing overlapping with this and other congresses. The advisory committee was helpful to find a correct date. The idea for this combination was that ILPS expected the majority of the participants from America, who could have interest for the Graz congress as well.
So we made through Professor Dr Kurt Widhalm and Mondial Congress the contract with the University of Vienna.
The world is changing. So it happened that the majority of the participants came from Europe in contrast to the primarily American attendance to the 7th Congress in Brussels in 1996. With over 90 technical registrations, 21 papers and 15 posters we achieved our targets. We had expected a somewhat stronger participation from industrial lecithin users on the basis of the early enquiries. ILPS gave congress fee waivers to a number of PhD students, presenting a poster.
The topics were focused on “Nutrition and Biochemistry of Phospholipids”. The four scientific sessions were of a high professional level. The program director Dr Bernard Szuhaj and the session chairs, nominated members of the scientific committee, got a lot of positive compliments for having arranged this list of topics and speakers. We thank all the speakers for their willingness to present the papers. The speakers made all the efforts in carrying out research, preparing the presentation, traveling, presenting the paper and in editing the paper for publication in the AOCS monograph. That book is scheduled to be issued in the course of 2003.
I hope that this congress will give new focus and commitment on Phospholipid research projects. The remarks in various papers, that further long time clinical studies will be needed for substantiating claims, are a challenge for future research. The exchange of expertise might have supported this interest.
Phospholipids research will remain a world wide activity. ILPS would like to be an intermediate in bringing together scientific institutes, universities, governmental organizations and companies for applying for research grants from governmental and private organizations.
Choline and the biological source Phosphatidylcholine were already a nutritive research topic for many decades. Others polar lipids such as Phosphatidylserine, Phosphatidylinositol and Sphingolipids also meet continuous interest for investigating the biochemical effects in health and nutrition. The effects of essential fatty acids as such and bound into the phospholipid molecule structure is another topic for research and product development.
Vienna was a good place for organizing the social program, which has facilitated
the personal contacts. An expert meeting with a relatively small number
of participants still needs a professional local organizing office. Mondial
Congress – Vienna has arranged successfully the Congress location, lodging
and the social program with all the excellent sites and restaurants.
We gratefully
acknowledge the Vienna Congress sponsorship of the companies ADM Lecithin,
American Lecithin Cy, Avanti Polar Lipids, Central Soya Inc., Degussa
Bioactives, Riceland Foods and Roland Arzneimittel.
The ILPS Board will work on the organization of a next congress in 3 years,
for which we will again need the invaluable financial and personal support
of the sponsors.
Willem
van Nieuwenhuyzen
ILPS President 2001-2003