September 8–10, 2006
Meeting Report
9th ILPS International Phospholipid Congress PECS2006 a Success!
Three Lipid associations organized scientific conferences in one venue, orchestrated by staff of the Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Science (BRC-HAS) during September 5 – 10, 2006 in the city Pécs,120 miles south of Budapest, Hungary. BRC Director Lazlo Vigh was conference chair with overall responsibility for the scientific program, with special focus on the ICBL sessions.
Under the umbrella of the 49th ICBL Congress, the “science week” started with an ELIFE workshop with 6 lectures, transferring to the 49th ICBL Congress and ending with the 9th ILPS Phospholipid Congress.
The International Lecithin and Phospholipid Society (ILPS) combined the last 2 ICBL sessions with two additional sessions as the 9th ILPS Congress “Phospholipids for Health” with the focus on nutrition and biochemistry of Phospholipids. Michael Schneider of Lecithos Germany and ILPS Executive Director Willem van Nieuwenhuyzen took ILPS responsibility in close cooperation with the local Hungarian organizers for organizing the ILPS event September 8-11. With positive response of the participants all organizers concluded the “win-win” result of the 3 events in one place.
The ILPS Congress started with an opening mixer on September 8. A fine
congress diner was held for participants of the joint ICBL and ILPS Congresses
on Saturday September 9. The sessions were held in the art-deco styled
marble Congress Hall of the Palatinus Hotel in the city centre. A speaker’s
dinner was held on Sunday September 10, making it possible to leave Pecs
on early Monday morning for a 4 hours bus drive to Budapest airport.
The ILPS scientific program was filled with 4 sessions with plenary
lectures by invited speakers. The Saturday’s sessions were combined
sessions with ICBL with 220 participants, followed by 2 Sunday sessions
exclusively for 80 ILPS registered participants. All abstracts of the
lectures and posters haven been published in Chemistry and Physics
of Lipids, Volume 143, Issue 1-2, September 2006.
Because of the important phospholipid topic we should mention the key note paper during the ICBL opening ceremony: The10th L.L.M. van Deenen lecture was presented by Ben de Kruijff of University of Utrecht, Netherlands with the title: “Membranes, where lipids and proteins meet”. The lipids are organized in bilayers and provide the membrane with its barrier function. The proteins give rise to the specific functions of membranes such as transport, recognition and catalysis. In a new model function the role of the key membrane lipid phosphatidic acid was demonstrated.
Session
Metabolism and function of lipids in the brain, Chair Norman
Salem, Klara Kitajka
The Saturday sessions started with co-chair Norman Salem, NIAAA/ NIH,
Bethesda, MD USA lecturing the function and metabolism of DHA pathways
in the nervous system.
Thomas Brenna, of Cornell University Ithaca, NY discussed the influence
of perinatal long chain polyunsaturate nutrition and prematurity on
neural tissue polyunsaturate composition and function studied in non-human
primates.
Sylvie Chalon, INSERM Tours France presented the effects of n-3 PUFAs
on neurotransmission systems: the contributions of animal models.
László Puskás, BRC-HAS Szeged Hungary discussed
Protein micro arrays for dietary lipid-induced expression analysis
in the brain.
Andrew Sinclair, Deakin University Burwood Australia asked whether
the relationship between long chain PUFA and brain function will reach
the same public status as the "calcium and bone" relationship.
Already 40 years ago a detailed reports on long chain omega-6 and omega-3
PUFA beneficial effects on human brain phospholipids was published.
AA and DHA reduce the impact of depression, schizophrenia and data
in animal models of Alzheimer’s show evidence of benefits from DHA
application.
Benjamin Buaud, ITERG Bordeaux France, discussed the effects of an
n-3 PUFA deficiency on the expression of nuclear receptors and synaptic
plasticity markers in rat brain
Jérémy Skrzypski, University of Bourgongne Dijon France,
has investigated the influence of n-3 FA on the PUFA metabolism in
rat brain in relation to aging.
Session Sphingolipids I, Co-chair Yasuyuki Igarashi, Yoshio Hirabayashi
The afternoon started with Yoshio Hirabayashi, Riken Brain Science Institute,
Wako-shi, Japan presenting the role of glycosphingolipid synthesis in
brain development and survival. L-serine is essential for sphingolipid
synthesis in the neuronal function and activity.
Tony Futerman of Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel classified in the
family of mammalian ceramide synthase gene, the Longevity assurance (LASS)
gene.
Gábor Tigyi, BRC- HAS, Szeged, Hungary presented the structural
analysis of sphingosine-1-phosphate and LPA receptors from computational
models for rational drug design.
Howard Riezman, University of Geneva Switzerland has worked on the biosynthesis,
transport and functions of sphingolipids in yeast.
Co-chair Yasuyuki Igarashi of Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan presented
topological metabolism and transbilayer dynamics of sphingolipids.
Finally Makoto Ito, Kyushu University Fukuoka, Japan discussed the biological
significance of ceramide metabolism in development of nervous and vascular
systems in Zebrafish.
Session Sphingolipids II, chair Åke Nilsson
The first Sunday
session was again devoted to Sphingolipids. Åke
Nilsson, University of Lund, Sweden introduced the topic with answering
the question: Sphingolipids in the gut. What are the key issues? Dietary
milk sphingolipids show in vivo studies in animals and humans positive
effects anti-tumour effect on experimental colon cancer.
Peter Slotte, Åbo Akademi University Turku, Finland told that sphingomyelin
interacts with cholesterol in cells, reducing desorption rate and oxidation
susceptibility.
Willem F. Nieuwenhuizen TNO Quality for Life, Zeist, The Netherlands
presented the dietary sphingolipids effects on lowering plasma cholesterol
and triacylglycerol and preventing liver steatosis in APOE*3Leiden mice.
Unfortunately Erich Gulbins University Medical Clinic, Essen, Germany
could not present his paper on the rregulation of cell functions by ceramide-enriched
membrane domains.
In his place Willem van Nieuwenhuyzen, Lecipro Netherlands gave a presentation
on nutritive aspects of soy phospholipids with emphasis on choline supply.
Rui-Dong Duan of University of Lund, Sweden presented his work on the
enzymes sphingomyelinases and ceramidases in intestinal mucosa. The expression
of alk-SMase is subject to change by dietary factors and some anticancer
drugs.
Karel van Erpecum, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
finalized the session with demonstrating the relevant influence of bile
salts on molecular interactions between sphingomyelin and cholesterol
in the biliary and intestinal tract
Session Marine Phospholipids, chair Michael Schneider, Lecithos Germany
Erik Lovaas, University of Tromso / BioSea Management AS, Norway lectured
that Marine Phospholipids derived from fish and fish by products could
become the third generation of omega-3 products. He claims that MPL facilitate
O-3 FA transport over the blood-brain barrier, prohibiting O-3 FA deficiency
in the brain.
Joseph Hibbeln, NIAAA/ NIH, Bethesda, MD USA presented the preliminary
positive influence of O-3 FA in reducing aggression and violence in groups
of alcoholic people, after that this effect was significantly demonstrated
in animal trials, increasing brain serotonin.
Hee-Yong Kim of the same NIAAA/ NIH institute MD was the Alpha and the
Omega of this event, since she gave already a lecture at the ELIFE session
and now she presented her work on effects of brain Phosphatidylserine
in Neuronal Signaling.
Dori Pelled, Enzymotec Ltd, Migdal-HaEmeq Israel told that O-3 Phosphatidylserine
affects positively the cognitive performance and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) in children.
Maud Cansell, ISTAB - University of Bordeaux, France compared the metabolic
fate of n-3 PUFA in plasma and liver of rats supplemented with marine
lipid-based liposomes or fish oil.
Hogne Hallaraker Natural SA, Hovdebygda, Norway presented in the last
paper the functions of Long Chain Phospholipids. His company carries
out in cooperation with institutes a number of clinical studies with
the focus on manufacturing enzymatically transesterified phospholipids.
Sponsorships
In order to keep conference fee attractive all three associations gratefully acknowledged the sponsors:
Avanti
Polar Lipids Inc, USA,
ADM Midland – Lecithin Group, USA
Spectral Service Laboratory GmbH, Germany.
Media sponsor Agro Food Industries Hi-Tech, Italy promoted this Congress
in their journal and website.
The sponsors made it possible that invited speakers could be given travel support. ILPS acknowledges gratefully all speakers, who made the efforts in preparation the abstract, presentation and long travel time to and from Pecs.
Future activities
-The abstracts of the 4 sessions are available here as a PDF file.
-The European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology has invited the speakers of the 2 Sphingolipid sessions to submit a dossier-type publication. The EJLST chief editor and the 2 session chairs as guest editors will review and edit the Sphingolipid dossier
-We are pleased to report that Lacprodan PL-20 dairy concentrate with enriched Sphingolipid and Phosphatidylserine levels was short listed as innovative ingredient during the Health Ingredients Europe in Frankfurt Germany, November 14-16.
-ILPS Board will discuss the possibility for organizing the 10th ILPS Phospholipid Congress in the coming years.
Pictures
Below are some pictures from this year's event. Click on the picture thumb to view a larger version.
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F.
Spener, M. Legrand |
Marine
Phospholipid Speakers |
P.
Slotte |
Pecs
Ceremony |
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Pecs
Grand Palace |
Pecs
Band I |
Pecs
Band II |
Pecs
Building |
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Pecs
Church |
Pecs
Church II |
Pecs
Folkore Band |
Pecs
ICBL Poster Award |
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Pecs
Impression |
Pecs
Market |
Pecs
Yong Speaker |
Pim
Nieuwenhuis |
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Sphingolipids
II Speakers |
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For more event pictures, point your browser to this link: www.icbl2006.hu/photos.html.
Willem van Nieuwenhuyzen
ILPS Executive Director
