Concluding Remarks of Targeting Mitochondria 2019 by Prof. Weissig, President of World Mitochondria Society
Our 10th Anniversary World Congress on Targeting Mitochondria has come to an end. As in all the previous years we met again in Berlin, Germany. It appears to me that in the center of the European Plain, mitochondria and their aficionados have found a true home.
On October 28th and 29th we welcomed 285 attendants from all continents, with 37 nationalities, representing both the academia and the industry. During two very long and intense days, over 130 exciting lectures, short oral communications and poster presentations given by both established scientists and young researchers gave an impressive insight into currently ongoing scientific and corporate efforts to eventually find a cure for mitochondrial diseases.
This very successful meeting, and I dare to claim it was the very best we ever had, was made possible by an entire year of careful planning and organizing by Prof. Marvin Edeas and the support of an outstanding Scientific Committee and Advisory Board.
My heartfelt and sincere “Thank You” goes to all involved in setting up this great meeting. We are in particular grateful to the “Father of Mitochondrial Medicine”, Prof Douglas Wallace for his acceptance of our invitation and for opening our conference with the Honorary Lecture about “Mitochondrial Genetics and Human Diseases”. At the end of our conference, Prof. Wallace also gave the concluding remarks, during which he reminded us how far we actually all have come in the field of Mitochondrial Medicine, considering that over 40 years ago nobody even knew about the existence of any connections between mitochondria and human disease. His outlook into the future gave reason to be optimistic and certainly had an energizing effect on all conference participants.
The 10th Conference on Targeting Mitochondria covered in particular four specific areas. Three sessions were dedicated to first, the recent advances on mitochondrial dysfunction and dynamics pertaining to chronic diseases, second to the role mitochondria play for a healthy skin (the largest organ humans have) and third to clinical trials and potential mitochondria-based therapies.
In addition, a mini-symposium at the beginning of the second conference day organized and chaired by Prof. Carsten Culmsee highlighted the role of actin-regulating proteins on mitochondria in health and diseases.
Thank you all for attending Mitochondria 2019 and for your active participation as a speaker, poster presenter or as a helpful and critical commentator during the Q&A sessions. Last but not least I would like to sincerely thank our corporate sponsors for their financial support and for their active participation in our conference. I am already now looking forward to the 11th edition of our World Conference on Targeting Mitochondria and I hope to see many if not all of you again next year.
Prof Volkmar Weissig
President of World Mitochondria Society
