Submitted Abstract
In order to position Luxembourg as an international research hub, the LCSB organises a bi-annual international Parkinson’s disease Symposium. The first symposium was held in 2012. The second edition, the “2nd International Parkinson’s Disease Symposium” took place from 3 to 4 October, as a joint event with the “45th Annual Conference of the German Society for Genetics” (1-3 October 2014). Both events were hosted at the Légère Hotel in Munsbach, Luxembourg.The goal of organising the events jointly was the fact that they complemented each other and attracted more participants to both events. They both brought together worldwide distinguished academics in the field of neuroscience and neurology to exchange about state-of-the-art research and technologies. Topics are based on fundamental research in the fields of neurogenetics, systems biology and connectomics and bridge towards clinical translation. While the Annual Conference of the German Society for Genetics dealt with Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, epilepsy, autism and other disorders of the nervous system, LCSB’s symposium focused on Parkinson’s disease. In addition, a workshop on molecular mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease was be held in between the two conferences. This event showcased the “PD map”, a freely accessible knowledge depository describing the molecular mechanisms of PD as molecular networks.Besides talks of renowned scientists from universities such as the California Institute of Techology (USA), Edinburgh University (UK), University of Tübingen (Germany), young researchers had the opportunity to present and discuss their projects and findings during the young researchers session. There was one such session in both days, featuring a total of 5 researchers. Other young researchers presented their results in the poster session during breaks throughout the entire duration of the symposium. Having the two events organized jointly allowed for collaborations between LCSB and external partners, that otherwise would not have happened, as we have initiated 14 new collaborations and strengthened existing ones.