Oral communication, S1 Special Lecture

Official XXIst International Pigment Cell Conference website - 21-24 Sept 2011, Bordeaux - France | updated: September 04 2011

25 years of the ESPCR

Unlike the USA, where International Pigment Cell Conferences were regularly organized since 1946, reaching Europe only in 1965 (Sofia), the European scientists engaged in pigment cell and melanin research lacked a specialized forum to present and discuss their results and were limited to morphological, zoological, veterinary, dermatological and oncological meetings. The hunger for specialized interdisciplinary meetings induced the organization of regular European Workshops on Melanin Pigmentation (1976 Lyon, 1979 London, 1981 Prague, 1982 Edinburgh, 1984 Marseille and 1985 Murcia). The success of those meeting (due to the interdisciplinary character, and the friendly mood of the wide-ranging discussions) attracting not only European but also many non-European participants and led naturally to the proposal that a European Society for Pigment Cell Research should be formed. At the Murcia European Workshop meeting a formal session was scheduled at which the pros and cons of setting up a European Society were discussed and the formation of the ESPCR was approved. The initial Constitution was duly sworn before a Notary Public in Naples on 11th December 1985, which can be considered the birthday of the ESPCR. The first Council, called the Steering Committee at that time, undertook the first call for membership and was charged with running the society until official elctions, which took place in Sorrento in 1987. The first Council was composed of a President: Giuseppe Prota (Naples), a Secretary and Treasurer: Patrick Riley (London), and Members: Fritz Anders (Giessen), Natale Cascinelli (Milan), Ferdy Lejeune (Brussels), José Antonio Lozano (Murcia), and Hans Rorsman (Lund). The initial letter of invitation to become a member stated that the purpose of the Society was "to promote interdisciplinary knowledge in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and medicine concerned with pigment cells, pigmentation and associated processes in man and other living organisms". This broad aim remains true today. Regular European scientific meetings have been organized ever since the inception of the ESPCR. In the last century there were meetings in Sorrento (1987), Uppsala (1989), Amsterdam (1991), Berlin (1992), Vienna (1994), Lausanne (1995), Bordeaux (1997), Prague (1998), and Ulm (2000). The special lecture will touch on important personages and historically significant topics popular in the last century, and will include brief recollections of the events associated with the official foundation of the ESPCR, the history of the ESPCR Bulletin (launched in March 1987), and the initiation of the Society’s website. Supported by IGA MZ NT 11229-3.

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