Meeting report: 7th Fabisch Symposium for Cancer Research and Molecular Cell Biology--regulated intramembrane proteolysis in cancer development and neurodegenerative diseases.

Multhaup. Ferdinand Hucho, honorary chairman of the Luzie Fabisch Foundation, stated: ‘Luzie Fabisch donated to the Freie Universität Berlin a sizeable sum of money and dedicated it to ‘‘Cancer Research and Cellular Biology’’. To give the donation maximum impact, the university decided to set it aside for young, not yet settled researchers of the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, who wish to organize a symposium related to their field of research.’ During the meeting, young scientists were given plenty of opportunity to discuss these topics with highly recognized researchers in the field, and the size of the meeting with approximately 60 participants, including 15 invited speakers, reflects this. As a new feature, 6 young investigators had the opportunity to present and discuss their data in short talks integrated in the meeting program. Furthermore, young investigators presented and extensively discussed their data in the poster session. The Verum Foundation, which promotes basic research in neurodegenerative diseases, supported the young scientists by awarding the best talks and posters of young investigators (Box 1), which had been selected by an independent jury of national and international speakers and participants of the meeting. Regulated intramembrane proteolysis (RIP) is a central cellular event which is of crucial importance for normal functioning of the immune and nervous system. If the tightly regulated RIP process is disturbed, it might be associated with diseases, such as leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Today, our understanding of the RIP process is only partial and many questions on functional and molecular levels are still open. To discuss these scientific issues, scientists from 5 European countries and Japan met at a symposium for RIP in Potsdam, Germany, on October 5–7, 2011. The two major aims of the meeting were (1) to give all participants the opportunity to present and discuss their current research data on RIP and (2) to build up a network for successful cooperation between different groups working on RIP. The venue selected by the organizers Daniela Kaden and Gerd Multhaup was the Seminaris Seehotel in Potsdam, located at the beautiful lake Templin. It was the 7th meeting in a row funded by the Luzie Fabisch Foundation and a follow-up meeting to the 6th Fabisch Symposium for Cancer Research and Molecular Cell Biology – Enzymes in Physiology and Pathogenesis: Signaling by Secretases in 2009 organized by Lisa M. Munter and Gerd Received: April 26, 2012 Accepted after revision: July 2, 2012 Published online: August 30, 2012 D i s e a s e s