Report of ‘The 3rd Central European Conference - Chemistry towards Biology

The 3rd Central European Conference “ Chemistry towards Biology” was held on 8-12th September, 2006 in Kraków, Poland. The conference was organised by the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University under the auspices of the Jagiellonian University Rector. The local scientific and organizing committee was coordinated by professor Grażyna Stochel who together with the Rector of the Jagiellonian University , professor Karol Musioł and professor Leonard Proniewicz representing Polish Chemical Society addressed the welcome to the Conference participants. The opening ceremony took place at the courtyard of Collegium Maius, the oldest (XIVcentury) building of the Jagiellonian University and after the opening ceremony participants had the chance to visit the JU Collegium Maius Museum with its unique on a world scale old university collections.

About 120 scientists from 18 countries attended the Conference. Invited lectures were given by renowned scientists presenting various areas of biological chemistry research. The participation of young scientists was strongly encouraged by the organisers and Conference Stirring Committee. Thirteen plenary and thirty short lecture as well as more than sixty poster presentations distributed into the seven conference sessions were presented. The scientific sessions were organized according to the following subjects:

  • Biocatalysis
  • Bioinorganic chemistry
  • Biological energy conversion
  • Biospectroscopy
  • Modelling of biological processes and systems
  • New materials in medicine
  • Structural biology

Invited lectures were given by distinguished professorss: Neil Hunter (University of Sheffield), Hugo Scheer (University of München), Uwe T. Bornscheuer (Greifswald University), Paolo Tortora (University of Milano-Bicocca), Per E.M. Siegbahn (Stocholm University), Ernst-Walter Knapp (Free University of Berlin), Stanisław Słomkowski (Center of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Łódź, Poland), Sylwester Gogolewski (AO Research Institute), Roland Sigel (University of Zürich), Jurgen Popp (Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena), Gianni Valensin (University of Siena), Alexander Wlodawer (Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory, Frederick, USA) and Mariusz Jaskólski (A. Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland). The lectures and poster presentations inspired conference participants to long, very exciting scientific discussions not only during the scientific sessions but also during coffee breaks and conference dinner or excursions.

Participants of the 3rd “ Chemistry Towards Biology’ conference enjoyed beautiful Kraków and the Wieliczka Saltmine where the conference dinner took place. The Steering Committee members as well as the participants found the Krakow meeting as an interesting and successful one from both scientific and social aspects. The Conference Steering Committee decided that the next meeting will be held in Hungary and professor András Perczel agree to take responsibility on the 4th Central European Conference “Chemistry towards Biology”.

The program and information about the 3rd Central European Conference“ Chemistry Towards Biology” held in Krakow is available at the workshop’s website: http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/chtb2006


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