Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the website of the 7th Dutch Endo-Neuro-Psycho Meeting 2008 (ENP2008). The annual ENP Meeting has grown over the past decade into a unique national forum aiming at the exchange of knowledge among various research disciplines, and has stimulated and enforced endocrine and brain sciences in the Netherlands. Last year, the ENP2007 had over 650 participants. Some of our history as an annual scientific exchange in the fields of endocrinology and neurosciences can be found here.

To maintain its aims, the organisers of the ENP2008 have compiled a programme focusing on topic-oriented sessions. The suggestions of many scientists were carefully analysed and the selected proponents now act as session moderators. Generally, each session features an internationally renowned senior researcher (from the Netherlands or abroad), who will present his or her view on the topic and its future prospects, followed by a number of junior scientists who contribute with their latest results in the field. This is reflected by the (recommended) standard format of a session: a 30-min introduction by the main speaker and a number of 15-min presentations by young postdocs or Ph.D. students. This approach has proven to create an ideal atmosphere to also promote interaction between established senior scientists and junior investigators, fulfilling yet another important aim of the meeting. In addition, poster sessions are organised which are open to both young and established scientists. The organisers encourage researchers to submit an abstract for one of the three poster sessions at the ENP2008.

In contrast to last year’s meeting, which was a four-day meeting, this year the meeting is scheduled over 3 days. By having five parallel sessions throughout the meeting, the number of sessions is similar to last year. In this way, the organising committee aims to maximally facilitate interaction between scientists from the different disciplines. To further optimise this interaction, the programme shows smooth transitions between these disciplines. The focus of topics moves from endocrinology and molecular and cellular neuroscience on the first day, to cellular and behavioural neuroscience on the second day, ending with behavioural, cognitive and clinical neuroscience on the last day of the meeting. Over the years, the number of interdisciplinary sessions has steadily increased. The organisers hope that you will agree that the ENP2008 programme offers many exciting sessions on most recent developments in fundamental, pre-clinical, and clinical research.

The ENP2008 will again—like all previous meetings—be held at the Golden Tulip Doorwerth Hotel. The pleasant atmosphere of this conference site has proven to be very stimulating for scientific and social exchanges, and no doubt it will do so again in 2008. Because of the expected high number of participants, the organisers strongly recommend and request room sharing. This will permit all your colleagues to be accommodated on site, thus sharing the atmosphere in the evening hours.

Finally, the organisers would like to stress and acknowledge the important contribution of the session moderators: they organised the sessions and together they are responsible for this year's exciting programme. In addition, the ENP2008 would not exist without the generous financial support from our sponsors.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Doorwerth.

On behalf of the organising committee,

Huib Mansvelder, ENP2008 chair