8th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience

This was truly a global and large event reflecting IBRO's core mission of promoting international collaboration and exchange of scientific information as it was attended by more than 4200 neuro-scientists including 1500 from developing nations. The meeting was a major event as IBRO was celebrating its 50 th anniversary in 2011 and SINS was celebrating 150 th anniversary of birth and Unity of Italy. The venue was centrally located at Medicean Fortress (Fortezza da Basso) close to the main railway station of Flor-ence which provided admirable congress facilities to run several scientific sessions concurrently. Most of the delegates were accommodated within walking distance of the fortress, ranging from 5-star hotels to budget/student accommodation. Dr. Gaetano Di Chiara, Cagliari, Italy was the chairperson of local organising committee of this Congress. In order to encourage the young neu-roscientists from countries with limited resources, IBRO organised for the first time a pre-congress Young Investigator Program (YIP) which aimed to assist budding neuroscientists to present their scientific achievements, to meet their senior colleagues, to establish collaborations and to plan future exchange visits. Through this training program, 83 young researchers from developing countries (Asia-31, Latin America-29, Africa-19 and Eastern Europe-4) spent one month in selected European laboratories. Their lodging and travel expenses from the host laboratory to Florence were covered by the YIP. In a nutshell, YIP provided PhD students and post-docs an exceptional prospect to ascertain collaborations and learn new techniques, and at the same time, presented a magnificent opportunity to western European researchers to expand their view on neuroscience research in the world. Dr. Micaela Morelli, Cagliari, Italy was the chairperson of YIP who looked after and handled this programme successfully. Overall 9 plenary lectures, 7 special workshops , 14 special events, 20 parallel symposia and 40 parallel workshops were organised during this five days congress. Daily 10 workshops were planned in two sets of 5 parallel workshops in early afternoon and late afternoon sessions, which covered almost all topics of neuroscience research ranging from fundamental brain facts to therapeutic interventions for the control of brain disorders. In addition, more than 2000 posters were displayed daily according to different categories of diverse themes of IBRO World Congress & social impact. The best posters were awarded by SINS under Young Investigator visiting Programme poster prize scheme. The Congress started with a warm and traditional Tuscan welcome on July 14 at 5:00 PM. This late-afternoon …