Behavioral patterns that precede many suicide attempts, pharmacogenetic tests that predict response to psychiatric medications, and understanding the way in which transcranial magnetic stimulation helps relieve severe depression are all part of the 4-day agenda here at the 28th European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Congress.
The meeting begins Saturday, August 29, and runs until September 1, 2015, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
"We start the scientific sessions on Saturday, to make a tighter, 4-day meeting that's maximally time-efficient for participants," ECNP President Guy Goodwin, MD, said in an ECNP Congress newsletter. Dr Goodwin is also professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
The first five scientific sessions will take place prior to the keynote session — ECNP's official welcome to congress participants — after which primatologist Fans de Waal, PhD, professor of psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, will present his keynote address, Prosocial Primates: Cooperation and Empathy. Dr de Waal is known for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates.
A total of six plenary lectures are scheduled throughout the congress, with topics ranging from neural correlates of chronic early-life stress; the role of motivation and reward in mental disorders; improving the speed and efficacy of antidepressant treatments; impulsivity and compulsivity; anxious temperament; and whether or not it's time for immunopsychiatry.
As has been done in previous meetings, the ECNP plans to offer "rapid-fire" poster sessions in the poster podium room, during which researchers will have 5 minutes to present highlights from their findings. Rapid-fire poster sessions are scheduled from Sunday through to Tuesday at 12:15 to 12:45 pm.
"The ECNP has also been a key participant in restructuring the European Brain Council," Dr Goodwin observed. "And our hope is to get the message across that research into mental illness is undervalued."
Founded in 2002, the European Brain Council is a coordinating council formed by European organizations in neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, and neuroscience, as well as patient organizations and companies from within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
Its overarching goal is to eliminate discrepancies between the huge impact that brain diseases have on the one hand and the modest resources allocated to researching these diseases on the other.
The ECNP is also actively seeking ways to interest diagnostics and biotech companies in using the organization as a vehicle for developing applied neuroscience.
Dr Goodwin noted that the European Union's Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has provided a robust model for funding translational research — the core activity of ECNP.
"It's therefore very exciting that the ECNP network for experimental medicine has recently won the opportunity to bid for a major grant under the IMI's PRISM program," he observed.
Members of the ECNP are now seeing the fruits of their new information strategy, whereby they aim to take a more proactive stance in any public debate relating to treatment issues in psychiatry.
And as was reported by Medscape Medical News from last year's ECNP meeting, the psychotropic drug reclassification system — complete with an app — is progressing as planned.
The first phase of the new Nomenclature Project was unveiled last year at the 27th ECNP Congress. The new system aims to reclassify psychotropic drugs from being symptom-based to being pharmacology-based.
"This is more than just a name change," Joseph Zohar, MD, head of the ECNP task force on nomenclature, told the press.
"This will change the way we talk about medications and reflect to our patients the rationale in choosing a particular medication."
As part of the ECNP's commitment to junior scientists, "we are continuing with our career development sessions," Dr. Goodwin added, "with a career veteran discussing practical, day-to-day career challenges, such as how to give an effective talk and how to make a winning poster in an open, interactive format."
Last but not the least, there will be a dedicated patient session for the first time this year, entitled, Emerging Role of the Carer — How Healthcare Systems Need to Change, to be held on Saturday, August 29, at 14:00 pm in the Emerald Room.
The program of the 28th European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Congress is available online.
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Cite this: What's Hot at ECNP 2015? - Medscape - Aug 27, 2015.
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