European Peptide Society

Sixth Hellenic Forum on Bioactive Peptides

The 6th Hellenic Forum on Bioactive Peptideswas was held again at the Conference and Cultural Center of the University of Patras, Greece on May 18-20, 2008 under the auspices of the European Peptide Society, the newly founded Hellenic Peptide Society, the "Leonidas Zervas" Foundation and the University of Patras. The meeting, which was organized by the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Patras, was very successful, having attracted an attendance of 180 scientists from 10 countries and 40 European academic institutions.

The scientific programme included 24 invited lectures, 7 short oral presentations from young Greek scientists and 67 poster presentations which covered various aspects of peptides such as therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines.

During the opening session and after the introductory address by the  Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Prof. Paul Cordopatis, the forum was addressed by the Chairman of the European Peptide Society, Prof. Jean Martinez and the Rector of the University of Patras, Prof. Stavros Koubias, who also declared the opening of the Forum.

The main event of the session was the ceremony for the presentation of the 1st Dimitrios Theodoropoulos Memorial Lecture Award, introduced and established by the organizing committee of the 6th HFBP and the Hellenic Peptide Society; the realization of this award was possible thanks to the financial assistance of the Polychroniades family, Zetta and Antonis, and in recognition of  Dimitrios Theodoropoulos life's work. The late Professor Theodoropoulos greatly contributed to the advance of peptide chemistry in Greece and was also one of the first professors of the University of Patras who dedicated all their efforts to the development and expansion of this establishment to its present status.

The nominations and the voting procedure for the 1st Dimitrios Theodoropoulos Memorial Lecture Award were co-ordinated by the National Representatives of EPS. Both final candidates had received equal votes and the award was therefore presented to Prof. Anna Maria Papini (Florence) and Prof. Luis Moroder (Münich). The former chairman of the EPS  - and a close friend of D. Theodoropoulos - Prof. Raniero Rocchi(Padova) presented the work of both awardees.

The opening session  was concluded with the lectures of Prof. Papini, concerning the use of modified peptides in the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and of Prof. Moroder, depicting the importance of disulfide knots for Collagen Models.

The invited speakers who covered the next two days were: Prof. F. Albericio (Barcelona), Prof. D. Andreu (Barcelona), Prof. E. Benedetti (Napoli), Prof. R. Boelens (Utrecht), Dr. V. Dive (Saclay), Prof. A. Eberle (Basel), Dr.. I. Georgousi (Athens), Prof. S. Hamodrakas (Athens), Dr. J-F. Hernandez (Montpellier), Prof. G. Kokotos (Athens), Dr. K. Kosmatopoulos (Evry), Prof. N. Lambrou (Athens), Dr. Th. Maina (Athens), Prof. J. Martinez (Montpellier), Prof. T. Mavromoustakos (Athens), Dr. N. Oikonomakos (Athens), Prof. T. Pajpanova (Sofia), Dr. K. Poulas (Patras), Prof. N. Rahman (Turku), Prof. A. Tsarbopoulos (Patras), Prof. Ch. Tsatsanis (Herakleion) and  Dr. K. Uray (Budapest).

Six younger greek researchers also had the opportunity to present their work during the 'short lectures' session. In addition, the high standard set by the 67 posters, greatly contributed to the Forum's organization; some of these poster contibutions were selected by the Scientific Committee to be included in the 'Proceedings' volume in addition to the 'Lectures' and 'Short Lectures' sections.

The official languages of the Forum were both Greek and English, with a full cross-translation service. The topics covered by the speakers were, among others, the synthesis of potentially therapeutic peptides, phosphinic peptides as metalloproteases inhibitors,  developments in neoglycopeptides and glycogen phosphorylase, expression and  characterization of the acetylcholine receptor polypeptides, chimeric peptides of opioid receptors, cryptic peptides for tumor immunotherapy, radiolabelled peptides in tumor imaging and therapy, etc.

The Forum was rounded off with by banquet, given at the "Rio Beach Hotel", although the surprisingly rainy Greek weather meant that the swimming-pool and party events were transferred indoors. Before dinner, the delegates had the opportunity to attend a specially- produced performance dedicated to traditonal Greek songs and dances from various regions, performed by folklore dancers from the Municipal Cultural Deprtment of the city of Patras. This was followed by dinner and a very nice late event that included both live Greek and world music and of course dancing from almost all the attendants!

The 7th Hellenic Forum on Bioactive Peptides will be organized in Patras on May 14-16, 2010.