AN INVITATION TO THE CITY OF OXFORD

As President of the EBRS, I would like to invite you to the XII Congress of the European Biological Rhythms Society from 20 – 26 August 2011.

The research aims of many branches of biology and biomedicine are to deduce fundamental mechanisms and to understand how these processes are compromised under abnormal or pathological conditions. In this regard the field of chronobiology – the study of periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms and their adaptation to environmentally generated rhythms - represents one of the great success stories in biology. The best understood of these periodic phenomena are circadian rhythms – those rhythms that organise 24h daily activity, and often referred to as “the body clock”. Circadian researchers have generated a real understanding, in multiple groups of organisms, of how genes and their protein products interact to generate stable 24h cycles of cellular physiology and behaviour. We also understand some of the mechanisms whereby the environment interacts with these clocks so that internal time and solar time are appropriately coupled and aligned. In addition, considerable insight has been gained regarding the central role of internal time in regulating broad areas of physiology and behaviour, including sleep and seasonal rhythms. In our own species we now know that disruption of internal time can lead to major disorders and diseases ranging across mental health to cancer. Medical practice is now greatly benefiting from this knowledge, not least from the delivery of therapeutics at the appropriate time to enhance clinical outcomes. In little over 20 years we have moved from “black box” speculation to real mechanistic insight and clinical application.

The field of chronobiology has come of age, but many key questions remain unanswered and many links with clinical practice remain to be established. New knowledge in these areas will be the focus of this congress. We hope to see 500 delegates attending the meeting and will be considering topics over a broad range of disciplines. The Congress will be structured around symposia, plenary lectures and poster sessions, and a special symposium: Cells to Circuits: Circuits to Behaviour. All will be led by the foremost researchers and clinical scientists across the world. The aims of the XII Congress are to create an interdisciplinary environment in which researchers at every level can learn, generate novel ideas and form new collaborations. The EBRS has a strong tradition of supporting young scientists at the PhD and early post-doctoral level with travel fellowships and awards and we aim to maintain this practice for the XII Congress. The full programme for the meeting and further details of the society can be found in the rest of this website.

Russell G Foster FRS President of the EBRS Head, Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, University of Oxford